PULSE PICS

Bird life, vikings, corgis on postboxes and a celebration of dance....

It’s pretty easy to put some bunting up and crack open a bottle of something nice, but it takes real effort to celebrate HM the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee like this! It is the first time that a British monarch has celebrated such an important milestone, and Knitting Nana and Sarah Quittenton helped Newport Pagnell to mark it in style - with these outstanding postbox toppers. They give new meaning to the term ROYAL Mail!

The sharp eye of photographer Colin Kempster resulted in these splendid shots of local birdlife, captured at the FloodPlain Forest Nature Reserve. See more of his superb images on Instagram @pixbycurvy

Pics: Colin K em pst e r

Pic: Sammy Jones

When Les Misérables returned to Milton Keynes Theatre for a much anticipated monthlong stay, the venue decided to shout about it from the rooftops...or rather they projected the iconic image onto the side of the venue! International Dance Day was acknowledged with two nights of marvellous movement at Milton Keynes Rose. Many dance groups participated in the show, which was curated by MÓTUS, and highlighted the variety on offer here in the new town; from street and parkour to indian and belly dance.

Milton Keynes Museum is used to all sorts of visitors, but the vikings are without doubt some of the most formidable! They paid a visit to the history hub for the return of the Museum’s annual History Festival.

Coping with current crises and food insecurity

As the world grapples with converging crises of conflict, cost of living, and climate, the war in Ukraine exacerbates the threat to precious life and resources.

How we got here is much bigger than what we can cover on this page. But the butterfly effect of these crises converging, particularly following a global pandemic, demonstrates a clear and present danger to people’s lives all over the world.

Just as inflation, energy costs, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on the climate crisis make sobering news, the impact on our globalised food system has staggering humanitarian and geopolitical consequences for us to consider too.

Food security concerns

While the World Bank estimates a 37% spike in food prices across the globe, we’re feeling the impacts here as British shoppers are reported to be facing the biggest grocery price hike in a decade which is already evident with the increasing demand on UK food banks.

This focus on food security raises a critical question we need to ask ourselves: How can we (re)build a more resilient, future-proofed, food system?

There is plenty we can do on this front alone – from shopping locally or growing our own food to reduce our food miles and support the local economy, and eating less meat, to composting household food waste instead of sending it off to landfill.

More people than ever are having to turn to food banks to feed their households

We need to act now

The latest report from the UN’s IPCC warns that we must take swift and aggressive steps to transition away from fossil fuels if we hope to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.

The years of research that have gone into the report call for drastic measures to be taken now if we are going to achieve net zero in thirty years. There are several ways we can support some of these measures but one major mitigating factor that we can all do our bit to act on immediately in our everyday lives is to reduce our food waste and shift towards a more plant-based diet.

“The greatest potential… comes from changes in food demand”

The numbers behind this show that food systems are responsible for a whopping 42% of global emissions, and 28% of households’ carbon footprints.

There is plenty we can do on this front alone – from shopping locally or growing our own food to reduce our food miles and support the local economy, and eating less meat, to composting household food waste instead of sending it off to landfill. Food for thought and next steps

There is undeniably a lot for us to cope with right now. But rather than bury our heads in the sand, we can strengthen our capacity to face these global crises and respond with resilience and creative power.

We can be active participants in bringing about the change we want to see. Yes, we should switch up our daily habits to be more sustainable (- see our Library of Ideas for more on that), but we believe that to make impactful and long-lasting change, being part of a strong and resilient community or group provides the essential support we all need too.

> For more information on Transition Town Milton Keynes, visit: www.transitiontownmk.org or email: transitiontownmk@protonmail.com