Beer and Solidarity

John Gorzynski

The photograph above shows John Gorzynski and his vegetables before a hurricane devastated his family's farm last Autumn. Nestled in a valley of the Catskills, Gorzynski Ornery Farm is where John, a longtime advocate for organic agriculture and small-scale growers, has been farming for over 20 years.

To raise support for Gorzynski, last week's Farm & Beer Expo at Brooklyn Brewery, the latest in a series of hurricane relief events, brought together select craft brewers who focus on the use of local ingredients.

Beer Ingredients

An enchanting array of small-scale brewers had names like Wandering Star, Sierra Nevada, Tundra, Lagunitas, Peak Organic, Ommegang, White Birch Brewing, and Empire Brewing. The latter seemed to be run by goths.

Last week's crowd included the collaborative Shoe Town to Brew Town, a design and ecology platform whose idea is that small resource-sharing breweries can be a centerpiece of a regional economic development. For that to happen, craft brewers, green building engineers, and microbial scientists, need to collaborate – hence the platform.

The message from last week's event seems to be that if brewing wastes can enrich food chains, the craft brewing community can also be a source of solidarity for small farmers in trouble.

The event's organiser, Jimmy Carbone (on the left in the photo above), co-creator of The Good Beer Seal, also has a weekly radio show Beer Sessions Radio.

Photos by Juren David.

John Thackara is a writer, speaker and design producer, and director of Doors of Perception. In addition to this blog, he is the author of twelve books including In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World and Wouldn’t It Be Great If….

More from John Thackara

When Tech In Care Is Evil
I spent the last two weeks in-and-around a care home in England that looks after people with dementia and terminal illness, and their families – including, this time, mine.

Food As A Commons
People go hungry not because of a shortage of production, but because the food available is too expensive, or they lack the land to grow it on. In California, the prototype of a combined social, political and technical solution has been launched which promises to unlock the food system crisis.

Presence and Encounter — How We Meet Is As Important As Why
I’m not suggesting that we abandon social media — just that we cultivate a hybrid approach so whenever someone says “online” someone else says, “and what about offline?”. Or when we find ourselves inside, someone else says: “and when do we go outside?”

Keep Your Stuff Alive
What would fashion be like if it was more than a an act of consumption with no meaning beyond the point of sale? What kind of system would improve the quality of our fashion experience without increasing the quantity we consume?

Cloud Commuting
A two-year project in Belgium proposes new relationships between people, goods, energy, equipment, spaces, and value. Its design objective: a networked mobility ecosystem.

Jobs | December 02