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Free fruit fires the Energy Cycle

Shoppers at Pottsville Beach markets, received fresh, locally grown fruit on Sunday from Greens candidate, Giovanni Ebono. The price tag for the free lunch was a demonstration of the Energy Cycle, an exercise bike that rang a bell when the rider used the same energy required to grow and transport the food.

A colourful group of supporters celebrated the positive impact of local food on global warming, the regional economy and our well-being.

Giovanni Ebono blames agribusiness for accelerating global warming. “The destruction of forests for mass production of food, the use of fossil fuels to make fertiliser, power industrial farms, and to process and transport food all contribute significantly to climate change.”

He said, “the family farm, regional industry and small business have all suffered as a result of global agribusiness.” He quoted the example of the last independent dairy in the Northern Rivers, which closed last year following Pauls' implementation of exclusive supply contracts to make more profits for its new Italian owner.

Mr Ebono's latest book, Sydney's Guide to Saving the Planet, contains 101 tips for reducing your environmental impact and his popular radio show, The Generator, regularly features local farmers and small businesses working to build a new regional economy based on sustainable principles.

“We must find regional solutions for food, energy and water, to halt global warming and become less dependent on cheap oil and the global economy that is driven by it.” he said. “When it comes to food, we should 'think globally, act locally'.

The Energy Cycle exhibit allowed voters who had eaten the free fruit to expend the calories they had just eaten on an exercise bike. A bell indicated when the amount of energy used on the bike equalled the amount of energy required to create and transport the fruit from an industrial farm 900 kilometres away. This is the average distance that fresh fruit and vegetables are estimated to travel currently in Australia. Processed food travels an average of 2,700 kilometers before it reaches the customer.