hamburger - fast food vs slow food



Rod Quantock was moderator for the debate, Fast
Food is good for you.



Hamburger, the cultural event at Burrinja over the weeked was a great success. My congratulations to the Burrinja team who were inspired to put it together.

The debating teams...from left to right:
David Jewell - TVAG, Joy Serwylo, Cr Samantha
Dunn, Rod Quantock - moderator, Paul O'Halloran
and Nick Johnson - comedian.

Fast Food Friday saw the debate, Fast Food is Good For You, moderated by Rod Quantock and a screening of Supersize Me. Compelling and many hilarious, if not dubious, reasons were put forward by both sides to argue their case. It was very entertaining, the room was packed with people who brought along their picnic dinner to start the night's entertainment.

Local artist, Joy Serwylo, put foward some
hilarious reasons as to why fast food was
good for you.

Slow Food Sunday was a different affair. Community members came to workshops to learn how to make zines, soft sculptures and collages. The key theme, the proposed McDonalds in Tecoma.

Rod Quantock presenting some of Joy's 'interesting'
graphs to prove her point of why fast food is
good for you on Fast Food Friday.

TVAG provided lunch with a sausage sizzle and scones with jam and cream. TVAG are currently raising funds along with the No Maccas in the Hills group to fund the appeal for the VCAT hearing.

If you'd like to be kept up to date with what's happening with the No Maccas in the Hills campaign you can visit their website here.

Fast Food is Good For You, the Black Box at Burrinja
was packed for a night of hilarity.

rod quantock, oxfam and climate change

Last night I went along to Rod Quantock’s show Bugger the Polar Bears, This is Serious, a fundraiser for the Dandenong Ranges branch of Oxfam. Oxfam spoke about the Sisters on the Planet campaign and showed the plight of Ursula from the Carteret Islands in the Pacific. The islands are being inundated due to sea level rise and Ursula is actively seeking higher ground on behalf of her community.

Rod Quantock's show, although hilarious, addressed the very serious matter of climate change. Rod took us on a riotous journey including an interactive time scale from the big bang through to today, a sample of the mainstream media and climate science in a way only he can. He also shared his passion for passionfruit sponges, only wish I had one to give him!

The Carterets are a small group of islands off Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. The community has built sea walls and planted mangrove trees, but they cannot stop the erosion from eating away the shoreline and destroying their gardens. “We have lost our staple food crop, which is swamp taro. We can grow a bit of bananas, but that’s also going down,” Ursula explains.

Islanders are surviving on fish and coconut. Ursula’s people are being forced to migrate, but she is determined they will have a place to go where their culture and dignity are preserved. She has set up an organisation called Tulele Peisa, or “Sailing the waves on
our own”, to coordinate the relocation. They have secured land in the Tinputz district of Bougainville and are moving forward with plans to build houses.

Ursula’s story highlights the need for urgent action to address our ever increasing rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Rod’s show did the same thing too, in a very funny, yet serious way.

We cannot sit back, we all need to act to ensure those in power know we demand action now, our children’s very existence depends on it.

rod quantock does oxfam in the dandenongs