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And it was all… yellow

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Posted by Esme Peach on 01 August 2012

 

Yellow is my mum’s fave Coldplay song.

 

She tells me this every time I mention I’m on tour with Coldplay. So, in tribute to my mamacita, and because the song was playing on loop in my head throughout the tour, I thought we’d have a 24 hour Coldplay Yellow challenge on Twitter.

 

My challenge was photographing and tweeting everything yellow I saw, especially food. And the challenge to all our Twitter followers was to do the same.

 

A taste of my yellow photo diary is below or the full set is on Pinterest and also on Instagram (@oxfamontour) if you’re not already following us there.

 

Rach now thinks I’ve gone insane with colour obsession. And I think she may have a point. I am still seeing every street I walk down through a hazy yellow lens and humming…

 

Look at the stars

Look how they shine for you

And everything you do

Yeah, they were all yellow…

 

http://oxfamontour.org/coldplay/and-it-was-all-yellow/?show=slide

 

What’s your ma’s fave Coldplay song? You never know, we may launch a Twitter challenge in her honour too…

 

See yellow things and more from the tour on pinterest.com/oxfamontour

Follow us on Twitter: @oxfamontour

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Tipsy mums and Rock and Roll dads

 

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Tipsy mums and Rock and Roll dads

 

Last night the band finished their set and ran to a smaller stage out in the audience to do a few songs. Behind the stage a couple started to kiss and the crowd went wild. That’s when I started to look around me and notice the vast range in Coldplay’s audience. They have the groupies up the front in homemade t-shirts and sneakers, the boys who stand and rock their heads and then there are the ‘others’. Ladies and Gents I would like to offer this blog as a tribute to all those tipsy mums and rock and roll dads in the Coldplay audience.

 

After much time spent on tour watching the band, I have developed a new way to view the gig, through the eyes of the audience. Now I spend much of my time watching people’s reactions and dancing to the songs whilst the band plays. I adore watching the escape that Coldplay creates for many. You know the story, all the kids are at your parents and you and your partner get a night out to let your hair down like you did before the school runs. I’m talking about the rock and roll dads and tipsy mums, I adore you! The dads all slamming your fists in the air and allowing Coldplay to take you into a trance like state where you can rock your head without your teenage son moaning! I enjoy even more watching the ‘tipsy mums’. You know the type. I’ve been one myself. Your partner buys you a ticket, you stand screaming lyrics to the songs into their face and dance around them with the help of a white wine or two. He stands smiling at key points when he knows he needs to, purely to keep you happy. The rest of the time they stand with a blank expression on their face, exchanging looks at the other blokes in the same position as them. Their eyes say it all;

 

‘Look what I have to take home in the car later!’

 

‘At least your missus isn’t screaming Guy’s name like she’s 16’

 

But I love it. Ladies letting it loose like they did to Bay City Rollers all those years ago. Even cracking out a mum two-step, knowing it’s been too long since you danced you forgot how to, or holding back because you feel past the age of jumping up and down and rocking out. I say let it all go. You are a delight to watch and I love watching you all!!

 

Tipsy mums and rock and roll dads you are an inspiration to us all and I can imagine a real driver in why a band would create beautiful songs for you to sing to in your pinot grigio haze. Keep us all happy and whatever you came from let it go, tonight is your night to be a tipsy mum and rock and roll dad, embrace it!

 

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http://oxfamontour.org/coldplay/tipsy-mums-and-rock-and-roll-dads/photo-53/

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Coldplay crew become food rock stars!

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 07 August 2012

 

Today was the perfect day in my Oxfam world. After much time spent on the tour and thousands of people signing up from the audience it was the crew’s turn to sign up with Oxfam and get involved with our food costumes. It was a delight to hear that so many people in the crew wanted to get involved with Oxfam and it didn’t take much to get the boys into food costumes and let their inner rock star come out.

 

Thanks everyone in the Coldplay crew for joining in. Enjoy the pictures, I hope they make as happy as they make me!

 

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Introducing the GROW method: Ways to Feed Your Family and Fix the Broken Food System

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 09 August 2012

 

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Every decision you make in the supermarket and in the kitchen, from which bananas to buy, to where to store apples at home, has a big impact. Your choices when it comes to food may seem small and inconsequential, but they make you a part of the ‘global food system’.

 

We talk a lot about the food system in the GROW campaign. But what exactly is it and how are we part of it?

 

The food system is the big names; the food companies, governments and organisations, but most of all it’s people. People that grow the food, but also all people that buy it and eat it. So that’s, well, everyone. When we talk about the food system, we’re talking about you.

 

The food system isn’t working. The result? Some rather scary statistics on obesity levels in developed countries (50% in some countries) coupled with the fact that 1 in 7 people elsewhere in the world go to bed hungry every night. Problems with the food system can affect every one of us, with rising food prices meaning millions of families are having to make changes to what goes into the shopping basket.

 

Small steps, big changes

 

How can we fix the food system? If the system is all of us, and the huge corporations are running the show, that’s a pretty daunting task, right? Well it doesn’t have to be.

 

We, as consumers, have a massive influence on the food system. The choices we continue to make ensure that things happen a certain way. Collectively, we have the power to change the system as it stands by making positive steps in our daily routines to demand better and ensure a positive future where everyone has enough to eat.

 

If we all start to make small changes to the way we buy and eat, to protect the natural resources we rely on and ensure support for the farmers doing the hard work, the current system that is failing us will be pushed out to be replaced by one that supports everyone.

 

Trust us, you’re pretty powerful. It was you who made campaigns like Make Trade Fair a global household name. And you can use that power again.

 

What if?

 

If you have ever made a choice when it comes to buying, storing or eating food, you are powerful. Don’t believe us? Just look at how big an impact your individual action can have:

 

What If: we swapped beef for beans once a week?

 

If urban households in the US, UK, Spain and Brazil were to swap beef for beans in their chilli once a week for a year, the greenhouse gas emissions saved would be equivalent to taking 3.7 million cars off the road.

 

What if: we kept apples in the fridge instead of the fruit basket?

 

Keeping apples in the fridge keeps them fresher for longer and can save 1 in 6 apples being sent to landfill in some countries, creating harmful greenhouse gases. The emissions created by the 5.3 billion apples a year wasted in Brazil, India, Spain, the Philippines, UK and US is equivalent to burning 10 million barrels of oil.

 

Share your food stories

 

Stories about food, about how things grow and why we eat them, have become lost, because the way food is distributed makes it hard for us to think about the source. We want to revive the story of food. Over the next few months, we want you to share stories about how you cook and how you’re making a difference to the way your family thinks about the things they eat.

 

Food is what we all share. It’s something that brings us all together. And it’s an excellent place to start when it comes to building a better, fairer and more sustainable future. That’s why over the next few months we’re going to share with you some easy ways to feed your family and help to mend the broken food system; together we call them the GROW Method.

 

There may be broken links in the food chain but your buying power makes you a mighty and strong one. And we think everyone demands better.

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Transformation at a Coldplay concert.

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 10 August 2012

 

Here is a guest Blog for a Oxfam volunteer Kelsey from Foods Resource Bank, an Oxfam grant receiving organisation. Here she provides an amazing insight that change can be big or small.

 

On Wednesday 8th August in Chicago, I went through a transformation and became a giant corn cob. Not only did I go out in public, but I went, to a COLDPLAY CONCERT, as a giant corn cob.

 

It sounds ridiculous but I had a lot of fun and even more importantly I discovered that even at something as big as a Coldplay concert at the United Center in Chicago, you find small transformations happening around food, farming, hunger and finding people who care about changing injustice around the world.

 

Officially I was there as a volunteer with Oxfam America to help promote their GROW campaign, and yes I admit I was lured by getting to see Coldplay perform. But I also had a less obvious reason to be there. During the day, when I am not volunteering as a corn cob impersonator, I work for an organization called Foods Resource Bank (FRB). FRB works to grow lasting solutions to hunger by connecting communities, churches and farmers in the US to small-holder farmers and their families around the world. Currently our volunteers in the US are supporting 57 agricultural development programs in 34 countries around the world.

 

This year FRB received a grant from Oxfam America to bring FRB volunteers, especially US farmers, overseas to see firsthand the transformation happening through agricultural development. So, I decided to volunteer to lend FRB’s support and to learn more about what Oxfam does.

 

When the doors of the United Center first opened, I was unsure about how my five minutes with Coldplay fans was going to transform many hearts or minds. But as I and the other Oxfam volunteers started chatting to fans I remembered that change happens on a continuum.

 

My antics as Kelsey Corn Cob was what was needed to get someone to sign up for Oxfam updates, it would also be the transformational spark needed to get some one more involved in the issues Foods Resource Bank and Oxfam are working on. Some of these people could even be inspired to volunteer, to travel overseas, to become empowered and energized and ultimately work toward change on Capitol Hill, around the world or at home in their own community.

 

Change happens through all types of actions and FRB and Oxfam are two organizations working toward transformational change, both in people’s minds and hearts, but also on their dinner plates, in their fields and within the global food system. Sometimes it takes vegetable costumes and canvassing a crowd, sometimes it takes direct advocacy, sometimes it takes celebrities, sometimes travel, sometimes blog posts, Facebook, brochures, videos and tweets and sometimes a personal connection with someone you don’t know.

 

How will you transform the world and GROW lasting solutions to hunger?

 

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The GROW Method: Tackle hunger every time you shop

Posted by Rosie Cowling on 14 August 2012

 

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There are simple things you can do every day, to help tackle hunger that affects 1 in 7 people around the world.

 

In the GROW Method, we’ve come up with some easy ways to help you be a thriving, supportive and sustainable part of that big thing we’re always going on about – ‘the food system.’

 

What is the ‘food system’ and how is it ‘broken’?

 

The ‘

’ is the global network between farmers and food producers in fields, sellers in markets and supermarkets, and consumers in their local shops and kitchens. Everyone has a part to play in it and if any of the links in the chain are broken, the system won’t work properly.

 

The way we produce food is putting a lot of pressure on the environment, with agriculture responsible for nearly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change – along with unfair distribution and rising food prices – is compromising the ability of small-scale farmers in the developing world to grow food.

 

Small-scale farmers – what’s the big deal?

 

Small-scale farmers and food producers are not just a small part of the food system – they are its backbone. In many developing countries, they are responsible for the bulk of food production. In Zambia, for example, up to 80% of food is produced by small-scale farmers.

 

Studies show that growing populations and increasing economic development may lead to an increase of 70% in global demand for food by 2050. Small-scale producers are ideally placed to provide the extra food needed, but they currently suffer a lack of support and infrastructure, for example in accessing markets to sell their goods for a fair price.

 

Women farmers are particularly vulnerable to a lack of support and resources. 43% of the world’s agricultural labour force is women, yet they own just 10-20% of land globally. If women were given the same access to resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by around a quarter, feeding a potential 150 million hungry people.

 

Get involved

 

You can find the GROW Method on Pinterest, the Oxfam website and Facebook.

 

If you are in Australia, Mexico, Spain, UK or US, you can share recipes and cooking tips on your local Oxfam Facebook page:

 

Intermon Oxfam (Spain)

 

Oxfam America (USA)

 

Oxfam Australia

 

Oxfam GB

 

Oxfam Mexico

 

If you are in another part of the world, visit the global GROW Facebook.

 

Have you tried out the Method yet? Take a photo of your recipe, or find one you love online and share it with us on Pinterest by pinning it and tagging it #GROWmethod.

 

The ‘GROW Method’

 

Here are five easy ways to change the way you shop, cook and eat to make the food system work better for everyone:

 

Support small-scale farmers

We need to protect the 1.5 billion people living on small farms around the world growing food to feed themselves, their families and their communities. Looking out for Fair Trade products and brands when we shop is a great way of doing this and it gives us a connection to producers that we have lost.

 

Save food

In rich countries, we throw away almost as much food every year as consumers as Sub-Saharan Africa produces in a year (222 million tonnes), creating harmful greenhouse gases when it ends up at a landfill. We can create less waste by storing our fruit and veg better and using up leftovers in inventive ways.

 

Cook smart

Turning your stove down to simmer after the water in your pan has boiled may seem like a small thing but if all urban households in Brazil, India, the Philippines, Spain, UK and US did it every time they cooked for a year, over 30 million megawatt hours of energy could be saved. The benefit for the environment would be greater than if these same households each planted a tree seedling and let it grow for ten years. And what about if sometimes you used no heat at all?

 

Buy seasonal

A lot of energy is wasted creating the conditions to grow out of season. By discovering what’s growing near us, we’ll find fruit and veg that not only tastes sweeter because it’s in season, but is also using a lot less energy to get to our plates.

 

Less meat and dairy

Think you know what you’re putting in your chilli con carne? You might be shocked to read that a 500g packet of beef contains 6,810 litres of water. OK not literally, but that is how much water is needed to produce just enough meat for one meal. If just one family swapped beef for beans in their chilli, they could save nearly 6000 litres of water in just one meal, creating less harmful greenhouse gas emissions from food production and cattle, in the process.

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr_h62aW3R8[/ame]

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Copenhagen – The Princess of Cycling

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 28 August 2012

 

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As I write this I’m sat on a tour case, stage left with the band playing Princess of China, hence the title inspiration. Tonight is electric, I turn to my left and look out onto the 50,000 people that fill the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. As the white spot light highlights the boys, the full moon provides a natural spot light on the stadium and the avid fans that sing along to the mixed vocals of Chris and Rihanna. I’m back on tour and what a wonderful place to start my European adventures spreading the GROW word and engaging people in a new way of thinking about their food, a place where sustainability starts with a capital S.

 

As I met the volunteers today they jumped off their bikes and let them rest with the hundreds of other bikes that were propped unsecured around the stadium walls. Ever the vision of the future! I didn’t want to feel left out so I too jumped on a bike and rode to Christiania, a freetown in Copenhagen that derived from a squatted military site where residents grow their own food, live in sustainable and create their own rules. As you wind down the small paths through the village every wall is covered in Danish design and art work. There are falafel stalls and tea shops, art studios and music spaces. Although the place has some demeanour of the late squatters and the freedom hippies that are still there, it is still a place of learning and a place where everyone can take something from. I took inspiration from the squatter’s ability to fight back and keep their own space, create unity and provide sustainable and creative lives for themselves. So this blog is an introduction to my commitment for the rest of the tour to make life style changes small and large such as is suggested in the GROW method. Wish me luck! I’ll keep you all updated.

 

But back to the tour case, where Coldplay are singing Paradise. I had forgotten how memorizing the sight of thousands of wristbands glowing in the night sky is, moving like a ocean as I scream too, “para, para, paradise”, it would be rude not to right?! The Danish crowd have created their own paradise right now, singing the lyrics and rocking like pop stars. They are cool, stylish and together are an entity on its own, moving with the band or creating their own version of viva la vida. Copenhagen you sure set the bar high for the first gig. Europe can you do any better?

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Making a music film the Coldplay way

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 03 September 2012

 

Last night! Wow!

 

Last night was the filming of the Coldplay film, some of you have already had the amazing opportunity of experience of xylo bands. A beautiful creation by one man, Jason Regler and one that was swept up by Coldplay and taken on an ever evolving, year long adventure throughout their gigs. Last night was a beautiful thing for me to witness. With the support of Oxfam France and their amazing volunteers we spoke to hundreds of Coldplay fans about our GROW campaign. After we had finishing dancing around in banana suits and talking GROW we packed up to watch the gig. This gig had a new sort of buzz to it. People were electric on a higher level than before. Perhaps it was because the sun had been shining throughout the day and was started to produce a pink and sun kissed sunset, perhaps it was because we were in Paris, the city of art and creation or perhaps it was the 80,000 people that were pouring into the stadium.

 

The show started with a bang. The sun had set and 160,000 wristbands lit up the arena. It was one of those special moments which will stay with you a life time! Then came the really exciting moment, when Princess of China started to play and Rihanna entered centre stage behind the boys who were out on the x stage in the crowd. She walked down to join them and together they sang the melodies of a song that brings international pop music to a new level, the song that has an aura of connectivity. This married with the wristbands provided an illustration of what Coldplay do best… Bring people together, with the 80,000 audience plus the crew, who stood out backstage to watch. It’s the story of this tour for me I guess, being all over the world but connecting and sharing stories with Oxfammers all over the world.

 

Thank you Coldplay for a night I won’t forget…ever!

 

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Fan Fashwan

Posted by Esme Peach on 06 September 2012

 

One of my very favouritest things on this leg of the MX tour has been fan fashion.

Just when I think there is no other humanly-possible way to customise a t-shirt, paint your face up, or Mylo Xyloto yourself, I meet a new fan who styles it up in a whole new way.

 

But before I share my top Coldplay-fashwan pics, I thought I’d give you some of my Oxfam roadie tips style tips too, ’cause you never know, you may be an Oxfam roadie one day too.

 

1. On a hot Canadian tour leg, shorts are the best option. Cool, easybreezy, plenty of hooks to hang your radio mic on, and packing and unpacking tour cases and setting up an Oxfam case requires the kind of strange movements that make skirts a liability. Flashing your knickers at fans may work for pop goddesses and Marilyn Monroe, but you are an Oxfammer so decorum first, please!

 

2. No matter how hot it is, do not wear anything open-toed. An Oxfam banner may collapse on your feet and slice off your toes at any given time. Comfy trainers are best for all that dashing between front of house and backstage and chasing after errant carrots.

 

3. Fashionistas may tell you that matchy-matchy is for sinners, but colour coordinating yourself with the Mylo Xlyoto artwork and flashing wristbands is strangely addictive.

 

4. ….as is colour coordinating yourself with the lovely VIP ticketing rep who also has a penchant for colour blocking.

 

5. As well as being fashion-forward in its autumnal colour palette, the tomato outfit provides extra warmth in colder British venues as it also comes with a tomato titfer. Here’s me flexing the vegetable vibe before being apprehended by some local bobbies at Arsenal.

 

6. Pack a pair of flipflops for showering in the venue, jumping on the bus and into your bunk superquick. No one likes a smelly pair of trainers by their pillow.

 

7. I love upcycling and recycling clothes as it’s a sustainable way to shop. But not every country has Oxfam shops for stocking up on new finds. So have a mooch around the local vintage and thrift shops on your day off instead. Toronto had some amazing gems – see my lovely new 50s skirt which was a total bargain. And very Coldplay yellow.

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8. If you can work food into your day off outfit, you get bonus GROW campaigner points. If you can’t be dressed as a food stuff at all times on tour, the least you can do is rock a lovefoodhateinjustice look by working food into your outfit. My watermelon skirt is just one day-off foodie fashwan option in the backpack.

 

Here’s a pick of some of the best Coldplay customisation on the tour so far:

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So… tell us. What are your top tips for Coldplay-ising your look pre-gig?

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Coldplay flying the flag for Oxfam at the Paralympics!

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 10 September 2012

 

Last night saw the closing of what organisers call the greatest Paralympics games ever! And why were we happy at Oxfam? Because Coldplay flew the flag for not only Great Britain but also for Oxfam, amazing!

 

The closing ceremony was one to be jealous of for not attending. Titled the ‘festival of fire’ this event was a celebration of what had been achieved of the past two weeks by athletes from all over the world. Reports from the Paralympics have noted that this event has changed the views of those disabled and will forever. What else could make your prouder than seeing we had turned a corner on the perceptions of disabled athletes? Well something else also made me equally as proud. From being sat in Munich, having a small break in the tour whilst Coldplay and some crew went to London, I could see Coldplay showing the world how much they supported Oxfam. Keeping a keen eye on twitter the feedback and talk about Oxfam and Coldplay was amazing, tweets such as;

“@Beckyweckywoo: ooh a quick flick on channel 4 and Coldplay are wearing @Oxfam t=shirts! Yay :) ”

 

“@PeterGraystone: My best moment of last night so far. Coldplay are all wearing #oxfam logos…”

 

“@thursleyfarmer: …Great lighting and #oxfam logo on #Coldplay band makes me very happy.”

 

“@LizzieCass: Watching the #closingceremony… Chris Martin has a @oxfam logo on his t-shirt!!! What a legend! @oxfamontour I bet you’re pleased!!”

 

And if you missed out then you can watch for yourself some of the highlights, like Chris with his Oxfam logo here, here and during one of my favourite songs here. All I can say on behalf of all the Oxfam staff throughout the world is THANK YOU COLDPLAY for showing the world how much you care about reducing poverty and suffering and knowing that being humankind is important!

 

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A day in the life of Oxfam on Tour from Oxfam Novib

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 11 September 2012

 

On the 6th September we had the pleasure of Oxfam Novib taking over the oxfamontour twitter account and giving us a live minute by minute update of what it was like to be on tour and what exciting things happen at any given time whilst campaigning at a Coldplay gig. Here is a lowdown of what happen just in chance you missed the twitter feeds:

 

09.24 Today is Coldplay-day. This afternoon 20 Oxfam Novib volunteers will promote the GROW campaign @Coldplay in The Hague, the Netherlands. Now preparing final stuff at the office.

 

12.06 The city is bustling. Fences are being placed. Food stalls are coming in. The first fans are already waiting and Rachel already set up the Oxfam stall! Nice!

 

13.10 Off to Coldplay!

 

15.09 All volunteers are in and ready to rumble. We put up balloons, a flag and some nice T-shirts. After the briefing everybody is ready to g®o(w)!

 

15.18 Mhh. So far this live blog-experiment… We are in a 3G-deadzone… Not able to upload any pics and blogs it seems. But hè, I keep on trying! :-) And follow us on @oxfamontour or #lovefoodhateinjustice or http://www.oxfam.org/coldplay!

 

16:58 As fans wait for Coldplay our volunteers are the real stars of the venue. Dressed up as corn, bananas, pea and tomato they gather as many new GROW-supporters as possible! Nice work!

 

21:00 And at 2100 hours its showtime!

 

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Could you afford your favourite ice-cream if food prices went up?

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 16 September 2012

 

Check out this guest blog from Uli, Oxfam Germany. This blog is available in German and English. See below for the English version.

 

Eva steht auf Schoko, Andreas mag Banane, Philipp bevorzugt Mango, Julia Vanille und Sahra würde Stracciatella bestellen – als wir bei der Vorstellungsrunde im Münchener Olympiastadion zur Einstimmung unsere Lieblings-Eissorte nennen, würde wahrscheinlich jeder der zwanzig freiwilligen Helfer/innen eine Kugel nehmen. Vier Stunden später, kurz bevor Coldplay die Bühne entern, denkt keiner mehr an Eis. Dafür lieben alle Rachel, die heißen Tee und Kaffee organisiert hat.

 

Grauer Himmel, dicke Regentropfen ein kalter Wind haben es den Oxfam-Aktivist/innen beim zweiten der vier Coldplay-Konzerte in Deutschland nicht gerade leichter gemacht, mit den Fans über die Mahlzeit!-Kampagne und verschiedene Aspekte von Ernährung zu sprechen. Thema bei den deutschen Coldplay-Konzerten ist die Kampagne gegen Nahrungsmittelspekulation „Mit Essen spielt man nicht!“ Dabei ist der Gesprächseinstieg denkbar naheliegend: Stell Dir vor, eine Kugel Eis kostet zehn Euro. Oder überlege mal, wie viel Geld Dir bleibt, wenn der Drink, den Du gerade gekauft hast, nicht vier sondern vierzig Euro kostet.

 

Ungefähr so geht es vielen Menschen in armen Ländern. Sie geben häufig mehr als die Hälfte ihres Einkommens für Nahrungsmittel aus. Zum Vergleich: in Deutschland sind es zehn bis zwölf Prozent. Steigende Preise schlagen in armen Ländern sofort auf die Lebensbedingungen durch. Steigen die Preise, wächst der Hunger. Eine Ursache für steigende Preise ist die Spekulation mit Agrarrohstoffen wie Mais, Weizen oder Reis an den Börsen. Investoren haben Nahrungsmittel als lukrative Anlagemöglichkeit entdeckt, begünstigt von einer Liberalisierung der Märkte. Die Preise werden mittlerweile stärker von den Finanzmärkten beeinflusst als von den Interessen der Menschen.

 

Dagegen kann und muss Bundesfinanzminister Schäuble jetzt seine Stimme erheben. Er vertritt Deutschland auf europäischer Ebene bei den Verhandlungen über die Reform der Finanzmarktrichtlinie MiFID, die auch die Nahrungsmittelspekulation betrifft.

 

Erfreulicherweise unterstützten auch in München viele Coldplay-Fans die Forderung. Spätestens als zum ersten Song ein Feuerwerk den Himmel über dem Olympiapark erleuchtet, waren auch Regen und Kälte vergessen. Mindestens eine Person musste sich darüber ohnehin keine Gedanken machen: Laya war in das Erbsenkostüm geschlüpft und hat so nicht nur viele Blicke auf sich und die Kampagne gezogen, sondern war auch ausreichend warm angezogen.

 

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Now for the English version

 

Eva likes chocolate, Andreas loves banana, Philipp prefers mango, Julia’s favorite is vanilla and Sahra would order stracciatella. When we were talking about our favorite ice cream during the introduction at the Olympia stadium, every one of the 20 volunteers chose their favorite.

 

Four hours later, right before Coldplay enters on stage; everyone has forgotten about Ice cream and is thankful for their hot chocolate, brought to the volunteers by Rachel.

 

Grey sky, heavy rain and a cold wind at the second of four Coldplay gigs in Germany, were not the ideal circumstances to talk to the fans about the GROW campaign. But with inspiration from our introduction I found an easy way to talk about our campaign: Imagine that an ice cream cost you four euros… Think about how much money you would have left from your weekly budget if prices went up and the ice cream that you just bought now doesn’t cost four euros but forty! What else could you possible buy if a small ice cream costs so much money?

 

This is the situation for many people in developing countries. They often spend more than half of their income on food. Compared with Germany this is enormous. Germany only spends 10 to 12% of their income on food. If food prices rise in poorer countries then people can’t afford food and hunger rises as an obvious result. One reason for the rise in food prices is due to food speculation.

 

Food speculation is the buying and selling of contracts called futures that were originally set up to secure a consistent price for farmers on their products. Investors have found out that food is a lucrative way to invest. But the gambling on futures contributes to the price of food going up. This means today food prices are more influenced by financial transactions than by the need of the people. For Oxfam this is simply not acceptable as it ignores the needs of the poorest people throughout the world and keeps them hungry.

 

This is why we came to talk to Coldplay fans. During our German shows we are asking Coldplay fans to sign up to our new petition that calls for their finance secretary to ensure food speculation is transparent with set strict rules, to stop food prices increasing and failing the poorer populations. Happily a lot of Coldplay fans throughout the Germany have been supporting the campaign and will continue to do so throughout next week. If you didn’t get the chance to sign our petition you can here.

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A veggie on tour

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 19 September 2012

 

As published in ‘The GROW Method: help fix the food syste with every bite’, on the blog a few weeks back one way to create change in your own life and globally is to reduce your meat intake. Meat has become part of our everyday life (I know veggies, not everyone’s). A slice of pepperoni pizza for lunch, chicken curry for dinner, without knowing I am capable of eating meat in every meal. So I took the decision that I was going to create change whilst being on tour and become a veggie for a week. Not just any week either, the week where the tour spent a lot of time in Germany, the country known for its sausage. For those who didn’t see my tweets, here’s how my week went in veggie meals and sausage cravings.

 

Day One: Munich: Lovely salad from our onsite tour caterers, Eat to the Beat! Lush. For dinner I ate garlic potatoes and green veg but I couldn’t help perhaps later I would be hungry. So after loading out of the venue that day I ate some chips (crisps) and homemade salsa. Sooo good!

 

Day Two: Munich: This morning I woke up and made my way to the venue to enjoy a fruit salad topped with pine nuts, a fruity way to start the day. At lunch time I dodged the pulled pork and homemade scotch eggs for a falafel with salad. I defiantly left the canteen feeling less full and had lots of energy to greet fans in Munich than my usual meat coma.

 

Day Three: Leipzeg: The best day of the week in catering! Roast dinner day, for those who aren’t British, a roast dinner consists of meat and potatoes roasted in the oven, mashed carrots and parsnips, peas and cauliflower cheese. Although this time I stayed away from the roast chicken and munched on cauliflower cheese instead!

 

Day Four: Leipzeg: Today was the day I was feeling the tiredness of life on the road and back to back gigs, so I did what any English girl would do and ate chips (we British are famous for our chips)!! Of course I mixed them with something I had never done before and replaced the fish with Portobello mushroom with red onion and goats cheese. Defiantly one share with friends back in London.

 

Day Five: Prague: This day started of amazingly! I had a veggie sausage roll from the tour canteen with mash potatoes and onion gravy. A dish from my home town area, Lancashire, England. It was so nice to prove my granny wrong in admitting that you can have a traditional meal without meat.

 

Later that day my vegetarianism was tempted again with the worse food possible. As I walked through the city centre there were kebab places and burger stalls everywhere I turned. A late night jaunt after the day setting up was about to end in horror with a tempting burger. But then I remembered a treat I once tried here when I was a student. Czech fried cheese, served on a hamburger bun with mayonnaise and salad, a heart attack in a bun, but defiantly worth a try.

 

Day Six: Prague: Today was the day of salad as I explored the salad bar in the tour canteen. Usually I don’t have room for this due to the meat on my place. But I ventured into new realms of avocado, chickpea and tomato, waldolf salad and feta, tomato and spinach salad. Like a vegetarian tapas, I loved it!

 

So now I’m back to the beginning of a new week on the tour and my veggie week is over. Whilst doing this week of vegetarianism, alongside the huge benefits that it has had on the environment, I have also discovered my ability to find veggies exciting!

 

In a recent report released by Oxfam it explains the risk of lack of water availability in the world and the effect this is having on the world’s ability to produce extra food for the growing population. Did you know it takes 60 pounds of water to produce one pound potatoes, but it takes 9000 litres to produce one pound of beef. Such a difference in water means that a vegetarian diet would free up water to produce extra food for the growing population.

 

But this week has really opened my eyes on my ability to become vegetarian, not feel the need to eat meat and the exciting things you can do with vegetables.

 

If you have any good veggie ideas please share them! I’d love to find out what veggie recipes Oxfam on tour followers have from all over the world!

 

Here’s a few I found interesting things I found you can do with veg; Veggies and Me, Post Punk Kitchen,

 

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Interview: Coldplay video director Mat Whitecross [part 1]

Posted by Esme Peach on 20 September 2012

 

Part one: Oxfam’s Esme Peach talks to director and friend of the band Mat Whitecross on baths with Coldplay, making movies, and dancing politicians. Part two will be published tomorrow.

 

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Esme: What ho, Mr Whitecross! Thanks for chatting to me for Oxfam on Tour.

 

Firstly, massive congrats on Paradise winning Best Rock Video at MTV’s VMAs! Those elephants have developed iconic status for Coldplay fans – we’re always seeing elephant heads on tour and the fans wearing them tell us how much they love that video.

 

Why do you think it’s been such a big hit with people all over the world? Is it because everyone loves a lonely furry elephant?

 

Mat: I’d love to pretend it’s all down to the video, but it’s the song that people love, really. If there’d never been a video, the track would have done just as well. To give you an idea – the band released the song on YouTube a few months earlier but with a simple title card and no images – and it reached 40 million hits on its own!

 

But with the

video, I do think people enjoy the fact that the band clearly don’t take themselves too seriously – they take the music and the causes they support seriously, but they’re more than happy to run around the desert on their day off dressed in elephant suits. And as much as I love Thom Yorke and Bono, I bet neither of them can unicycle in a big furry outfit. Although I’d love to see them try…

 

E: How did you start making music videos for Coldplay?

 

M: I met them in my first year when we were students at UCL (University College London). We were all in halls together, and I remember meeting Chris when he dragged me into a communal washroom and we sat in the empty bath fully clothed while he played me a new song.

 

I used to turn up and film their gigs on a handycam. Every so often we’d shoot a video – one time I ended up pushing Chris around central London on a supermarket trolley for a track on their Blue Room EP called ‘Such A Rush’.

 

After they were signed, we shot a video for

– it was pretty terrible; I didn’t know what I was doing, but they were very sweet about it. I went off to work on films, they went off to become one of the biggest bands in the world, but we stayed friends and I’d always see them when they weren’t on tour.

 

They were always good like that – keeping in touch with all their old friends from college. I lived in Guy’s room for a while in Highgate when I couldn’t afford a place in London, which meant I could stay here and work as a runner. And then years later they invited me back to film them recording Viva La Vida in the studio.

 

E: My favourite music video of yours is Coldplay’s

. Tell me about the inspiration behind that and how it all came together…

 

M: When I was filming the guys in the studio for Viva, Chris mentioned Gwyneth’s brother Jake had seen a clip of the former Russian President Boris Yeltsin dancing, and they’d talked about how great it would be to use it for a music video. I sat with a researcher for a few days and pulled all the best clips of dancing politicians we could find. I’m sure there are more we didn’t have time to source, because it all came together really quickly – they wanted to get it out before the album launched. As with most of the videos I’ve done with the band, the initial idea really came from them, and then they left me to get on with it.

 

E: What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt about making music videos that you wish you’d known when you started out?

 

M: I grew up wanting to make feature films, and I think my main mistake when I started doing shorts and music videos was doing too much – I’d try and cram a whole film into a 3-minute track. Writing a short story or a poem is a completely different skill to writing a novel, and I think the same’s true of film. Be ambitious, by all means, but don’t try and squeeze in too much – the beauty of a short, whether it’s a music video or a drama, is you don’t have time to explain everything, so you can be as mysterious and surreal as you like. Embrace your limitations!

 

E: When you’re not making music videos for Coldplay, what else do you get up to? What projects are you working on currently?

 

M: At the moment I’m mostly concentrating on dramas and documentaries. I’ve just finished directing a couple of films - Ashes, and Spike Island - which will come out early next year.

 

Ashes is a road movie thriller starring Ray Winstone as a man with Alzheimer’s, and Jim Sturgess as his long-lost son, who decides to spring him from a mental hospital and take him back to see his wife, Lesley Manville. It’s a really great cast – we also had Jodie Whittaker and Luke Evans in key roles. It was a really hard film to put together, a very personal story, and I’m proud of the way it turned out.

Spike Island is a coming-of-age story set in 1990 about 5 kids in a band who will stop at nothing to see their idols the Stone Roses play their biggest ever gig. They can’t get tickets, so it turns into a heist movie – but instead of breaking into a bank, they’re breaking into a festival. It’s a really lovely bitter-sweet script by Chris Coghill, which is premiering at the

next month.

 

I’m currently working on an adaptation of David Peace’s book, GB84, which is being written by Paul Viragh and produced by Andrew Eaton at Revolution Films. It’s the most exciting project you could imagine – a thriller set against the backdrop of the miners’ strike, about how MI5 colluded with the government to destroy the union movement and the miners’ way of life. It doesn’t get any bigger than that. It’s a throwback to the American conspiracy movies of the ’70s, like The Conversation or Parallax View; for me, it’s the kind of smart, relevant, exciting television that we’re constantly hailing HBO and other US channels for making, but that’s very hard to get financed over here. So we’ll see.

 

I’m also working on a TV drama with the writer Simon Stephens for Kudos and the BBC – it’s a multi-stranded drama in the vein of Traffik or Amores Perros, and all the protagonists are women, which feels like a breath of fresh air. And there’s a horror film I’d like to shoot set in a hospital.

 

E: Wow! How many hours in your day?! Anything else?

 

M: Well now that school’s begun, i’ve starting working on a documentary about the children in Kids Company, a charity which Coldplay support. The idea is to chart a year in the life of these kids’ lives.

 

And since I’ve finished on Spike Island, I’ll start pitching on music videos again. They’re always fun to do, and a real antidote to the years of development hell you tend to suffer on a film. With a video you might have the idea on a Monday, shoot on the Wednesday, and stick it online on the Friday. Bliss…

 

Come back tomorrow for part two of Mat’s interview…

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Interview: Coldplay video director Mat Whitecross [part 2]

Posted by Esme Peach on 21 September 2012

 

Part two of our interview with director Mat Whitecross. Mat talks to Esme Peach about his top roadie survival tips, being inspired by film and dressing up as an aubergine…

 

E: From Cathy Come Home to The End of the Line and Bully, films have often been used as a springboard for campaigning. What role do you think film can play in inspiring and informing people about the social and political issues that Oxfam campaigns on?

 

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M: I think it’s incredible if films can have that impact. I always flit between thinking films can change the world and then thinking they can’t influence anyone. But people are getting smarter about using film as a tool -

definitely put environmental issues on the agenda in a way they hadn’t quite been before, for example – for people who had been ignoring the facts up until then.

 

The main problem is how do you avoid simply preaching to the converted? On my films Road to Guantanamo, Shock Doctrine and Moving to Mars, the key method of getting them out to a new audience was not in cinemas, where people shell out £10 and make a conscious decision to see a film, but on TV, where you can flick onto a channel by mistake and see something that changes the way you see the world. And now the internet and pop up screenings are achieving that in a new way. It’s so much easier to click on something that intrigues you, and two hours later you’ve had your eyes opened to something you might never have considered before.

 

E: I imagine you’ve spent a fair bit of time shooting on tour and backstage at gigs. What’s your top tour survival tip for our Oxfam roadie?

 

M: Ear plugs, definitely! I’ve never invested in a pair, and I’ve risked tinnitus many times in search of a good angle on stage, lying right up against a speaker playing to 60,000 – not a good idea! The roar of the crowd at Wembley left my ears ringing for 2 days. I couldn’t sleep!

 

E: Which films have inspired you the most on social justice issues?

 

M: The first film I ever saw that really inspired me in that sense was The Battle of Chile, about the Pinochet coup in ’73 – I watched it when I was quite young, and it really resonated with me. My parents were Argentine refugees who’d been imprisoned during the Dirty War. It wasn’t until years later that it really came together for me, when I was working with Michael Winterbottom on an adaptation of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, and we watched it again – and I realised how formative the film had been in shaping my view of the world, showing me how fragile democracy can be, and how imperialism wasn’t a thing of the past, but a living, breathing phenomenon still present in the world. The Fog of War was revealing in a similar way.

 

I saw Shoah when I was young too – and that had a huge impact on me. Also Iraq in Fragments, When I Came Home, Gaza Strip and When the Levees Broke. I’m not sure if the filmmakers would particularly label them campaigning films, but they could certainly have been used in that way.

 

E: What’s the most memorable live Coldplay gig you’ve been to?

 

M: Each one is unique – I feel the same way when people ask me to name my favourite film – I can’t choose one or I’ll be betraying all the others! But their first gig at the Laurel Tree in Camden was pretty incredible. I feel very lucky to have experienced that. And a little more recently, the

was very moving…

 

E: Why did you become a supporter of Oxfam? Was it Coldplay’s influence…?

 

M: My mum was a supporter of Oxfam since she settled in Oxford with my dad in the ’70s. She was a good friend of one of the founding members Clarinda Peto, and we’d often go collecting round our area. She and my dad would always remind me and my brother Tom how lucky we were to have been born in England at the end of the 20th century. Not what you want to hear when you’re a mardy teen, but it obviously sunk in eventually!

 

E: And finally, we like to make our GROW volunteers dress up as vegetables on the tour. We’re cruel like that. But all in the name of GROW! If you had to dress up as a particular food, what would it be and why?

 

M: An aubergine probably. I remember a friend had to dress up as one for a student fashion show. I reckon I could definitely pull it off in style.

 

Thanks for chatting to me, Mat. Can’t wait to see Spike Island at the London Film Festival this autumn. Oh, and happy birthday!

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Exclusive video! Us Against the World – a thank from Coldplay

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 25 September 2012

 

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Yesterday I woke up to a

from the Coldplayers, saying thank you to the band, the crew and Oxfam for an amazing Mylo Xyloto tour. It was an amazing moment to know that Coldplay fans really are clued up about the GROW campaign, and understand the importance of working towards fixing the food system and ending unnecessary hunger around the world.

 

Watch Coldplay MX 2011/2012 Tour Tribute on Youtube.

 

It seems video is the way to go when saying thanks… As a thank you for the last 9 months that you have spread the GROW message and followed, chatted to and told people about @oxfamontour, Coldplay have released an exclusive video of ‘Us Against the World’. Coldplay wanted to say a big thanks to YOU for signing up to the GROW campaign and taking positive action towards changing world hunger.

 

Oxfam on Tour presents Coldplay’s Us Against the World

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAvOZhOKoFs[/ame]

 

Over the past few months, I have travelled through 14 countries on the Mylo Xyloto tour, attending nearly all of the 58 gigs, talking to Coldplay fans about the GROW campaign. And what a pleasure it has been!

 

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Having being thrown into a global tour, I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who understood the reality and issues surrounding food, and who wholeheartedly wanted to stand up and say, we don’t want hunger anymore, we want to tell our friends, change our foody ways and push politicians to stop the hunger too.

 

I’ve spoken to farmers in Portland, food recycle charities in LA, crew members who grew up on farms in England, PhD students in Philadelphia, and most importantly Coldplay fans globally, who all agree that together we can create change easily if we tell the right people and take action.

 

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Some 26,000 people in 5 months have signed up to do more with Oxfam and as a result we have already created change; individually, the US and UK governments are reforming food aid sent from their countries to ensure we get food to people in crisis more effectively. Both governments have committed to doing more for small scale farmers. Without the push from Coldplay fans, this wouldn’t have been possible.

 

It doesn’t stop here

 

And this is just the beginning. Next month we’ll be asking you to get involved with an exciting new campaign to protect the rights of poor people to the land that they use to grow food for their families. When this land is taken away from people against their will – sometimes with threats and physical force – this is called a land grab.

 

Land grabs are happening in countries all over the world, like Guatemala and Tanzania, and they happen because rich investors want to use the fertile land to grow food to export to rich countries like the US and UK. This not only makes the people who live there homeless, it makes hunger worse in the country they live in.

 

Us Against the World; a very fitting song for such a matter, don’t you think? So sit back and enjoy a treat from the boys and remember – you can create change from your own home by getting more involved with Oxfam. Keep your eye on our blog and your local Oxfam website (see the bottom right corner of this page for your nearest Oxfam) to find out how.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Be part of our latest campaign and take action with Oxfam on Tour

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 08 October 2012

 

After returning back from a 4-week tour with the Coldplay crew, I found Oxfam House awash with activity. It seems October is one of the biggest moments in the GROW campaign globally and homes are at the centre of it.

 

Why homes?

 

From my many nights sleeping in my bunk on the tour bus it was a slight relief to return home to my own bed and lovely housemates in London. I suddenly realised how much I loved having home comforts around me, you know the deal, your favourite blanket, chair and spot in the garden to read your favourite book. But what if this wasn’t the case? What if I came home and found that my house had been destroyed without any consideration for the things, memories and livelihood that it held? This is a reality for many people living in developing countries due to ‘land grabbing’.

 

Eh? What’s land grabbing?

 

A land grab is when companies buy up huge amounts of land to make equally as large profits. When the use of this land violates human rights, disregards the social and environmental impact of the sale and doesn’t allow for meaningful participation of the community in the use of the land then this land sale is dubbed a ‘land grab’.

 

Often the land that is sold is home for many thousands of people, and without any consideration, these people are thrown off the land – sometimes violently. The investors are then able to use the land to create produce and profits, whilst people are left destitute without the belongings, home or land to live off that have been grabbed from underneath them, hence the term land grabbing.

 

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But what about little old you sat watching this from your own home?

 

Well guys, you are the key. The World Bank are at the heart of such investments as they are one of the biggest investors, lenders and advisors in land sales. But they are also the ones that hold the most power in this situation. If they can introduce stricter, more transparent land sales, where land investment is fairer and ensures that the people living on the land are considered, then they can create a sustainable move forward in investment and fighting poverty.

 

How can you help?

 

Help out through signing our petition and telling the World Bank you want them to stop all land sales for six months to create a fairer way in land investments.

 

Then what? Tell everyone!

 

You are a global network of Coldplay fans united by the fact we need to create change. We’ve created change in the US and UK governments in just five months, now let’s do it globally. Share this blog and petition link, tweet, change your Facebook status, email your neighbour, be creative and let’s put some pressure on the World Bank!

 

OxfamGB got active in London and took over the city through land grabs, depicting how land grabs are effecting developing countries.

 

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Here’s how land grabs are having human effects in Guatemala.

 

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To find out more about how land sales are pushing people into poverty, download Our Land, Our Lives: Time out on the global land rush‘

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Happy Birthday Oxfam, from Coldplay fans worldwide!

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 14 October 2012

 

Before the Coldplay gigs, volunteers all sit together to talk about the campaign, Oxfam and which costume they will wear. One question that I always ask them is, ‘Where and when did Oxfam come into being?’ This question is ever more important this weekend as it’s Oxfam’s 70th birthday!!!

 

Yes, 70 years today, The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, as it was then known, met for the first time in the Old Library above the University Church on Oxford High Street to discuss how they could get food to desperate civilians in occupied countries during the Second World War. It was a controversial issues as it was mid-Second World War, when many people were suffering in their own countries with families separated, food rationing, and tight economies. But still some remarkable people led the way from Oxford to fight food injustices around the world.

 

70th years on and things are remarkably similar with tight economies and food injustice around the world, but with one, very large, significant change. Now it’s not just a few people sat in a church in Oxford, it’s hundreds of thousands of people globally that unite with Oxfam to fight social injustice.

 

Oxfam has also changed dramatically. At our heart we are still fighting food injustices with our GROW campaign. But now we are a global organisation working in 92 different countries to deliver humanitarian responses and work with partner organisations through our development programmes.

 

We also do a third thing really well, campaigning! Something you can all help with from your own home or by supporting your local Oxfam. But don’t worry if you don’t have an Oxfam close by, you can get in touch and we can do something together. Or you can take the lead and create your own change initiative like Coldplay fan Sian did (more next week on this).

 

Today you can do something to celebrate Oxfam changemakers by tweeting your birthday wishes to @oxfamontour (as creatively as possible!) – and we’ll put your works of art and video on our pinterest wall of fame.

 

But for now sit back and enjoy our birthday wishes from people all around the world, you never know you might see someone you know…..

 

@VeraInes42: Happy Birthday in Portuguese is “feliz aniversário”. :D

 

@Thailize_Rocha: Feliz aniversário!! Happy Birthday an admirer of Brazill!

 

@plu134340: 생일 축하해! Happy birthday in korean :)

 

@dawsonrose: “Mutlu Yillar!” from Turkey J May there be many 70!

 

@Foczi: Wszystkiego najilepszego! It’s in Polish :D

 

@suegofaults: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Still have my Oxfam buttons from the concert J

 

@Annette13061982: Gefeliciteerd met jullie verjaardag! The Nethelands

 

@ MiNessa01: Happy Birthday / Grattis på födelsedagen @Oxfam @oxfamontour from two proud supporters from the UK & Sweden,@bashfulberryman and me :)

 

@LuzColdplay: Congratulations from Argentina J

 

@Chazzy42: Happy 70th Birthday. 70 years of inspiring and changing the lives of poeple all over the world. Carry on doing what you do best!

 

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#GROWWeek 2012, See what’s hapening near you.

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 15 October 2012

 

It’s 15th October, do you know what that is? It’s the Monday that kicks off GROW week.

 

At the centre of all our lives is food. We cook it, share it with friends and family and enjoy it is differently all over the world, and to each and every one of us it is equally powerful. Hence #GROWWeek, a week of celebration and inspiration, bringing together of farmers, bloggers, consumers, cooks and campaigners on everything food related and showcasing how globally can create change in food injustices.

 

Every day on the widget below Oxfam will give you a roundup of what’s happening where, with twice daily blogs, photos and loads of ways to get involved and take action.

 

Here’s a flavour of what will be happening this week:

 

  • Hunger Banquets in Milan and Rome, Italy
  • A week of action on sustainable consumption in Indonesia
  • In Latin America, the South American Football Confederation will celebrate World Food Day with Oxfam and partners
  • Launch of the GROW Method in Brazil
  • Land grab stunts in Canada and Spain
  • World Food Day dinners across America
  • Restaurant and DIY meals to raise awareness about food

 

AND we’ll have a guest blogger who will share her diary of living the GROW method for a week. Sharing her favourite moments, daily quotes and tips on doing it yourself.

 

So keep an eye out below to see how people are joining to together to celebrate food near you and calling food change to ensure everyone has access to food, always!

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Coldplay fan Sian shares her diary for GROW week.

Posted by Sian on 19 October 2012

 

Coldplay fan Sian came to our attention when she tweeted about her fundraising blog. Sian, from Darlington, England, decided she was going to do something to create change in her own way and support Oxfam through living the GROW method for a week. She asked her friends and family to sponsor her for a week full of vegetarianism, buying local food and reducing her food waste.

 

So of course we interviewed her for GROW week and asked her to share her diary with us. Check out what song got her through the week and her discovery of new food.

 

Name: Sian

 

City: Darlington, England

 

Coldplay activity: Living the GROW method for a week

 

Money raised for Oxfam: £50 and still counting!

 

How did you find out about Oxfam?

 

I looked into Oxfam a lot more after attending my first Coldplay concert. I already knew how involved Coldplay were with the organisation but I learnt to understand it a lot more after noticing the Oxfam campaigners at the gigs. This made me do some research into Oxfam and get more involved.

 

What inspired you to get more involved with Oxfam?

 

My school is very ‘into’ fundraising and encourages others to do so. I’ve always been a busy person and felt very guilty for not doing my own fundraiser and I wanted to feel good about helping others. Also I felt as being a Coldplay fan that it was my duty to get involved.

 

What did your family think about your GROW method week?

 

Surprised! That I’d decided to do something I’d never normally do and organise it all by myself. I think they realised how independent I can be!

 

What did your friends do to help you?

 

Well they all sponsored me! They also came round with me to collect donations and kept my spirits up during the week!

 

Did you discover any new foods?

 

Veggie burgers and soup! I’m usually a tomato soup girl, but I realised how much variety there is and they are a very helpful way of creating a dinner from your leftovers.

 

Did you have anything that kept you going through the week? A song, snack, picture etc.

 

My friends definitely did and Oxfam. I can’t thank Oxfam enough for all their support and encouragement. Also of course a bit of Coldplay! ‘Every Teardrop is a Waterfall’ was on constant replay!

 

I love your quotes, what made you start a daily quote?

 

It was to encourage people to get involved, words are powerful things and used in the right way can make a huge impact on people.

 

What was the most important thing you learnt from doing the GROW method week?

 

I never realised how much work Oxfam does with people internationally and what an impact their work makes on others. Since completing the GROW method week I am much more efficient now with food and try to buy local to reduce air miles and support local farmers. It made me realise that although I may have a bad day at school, there are millions of people out there who are much worse off and need your help.

 

What advice would you give people who wanted to do something like you too?

 

DO IT! It gives you such a buzz helping others and doing something. Using an idea you’ve thought of and developed is also a lot of fun and changes people’s mindset towards you. It’s hard but it’s a great way to help people less fortunate than you and although the challenge is hard it’s so easy to get involved and Oxfam, who are extremely helpful and supportive!

 

Sian’s GROW week diary.

 

What’s is all about?

 

I recently got a email from Oxfam and they’ve opened up my eyes to this campaign all you need to know about the GROW method is here and if you want to know more about getting involved click here and to Join GROW click here.

 

I’m going to get people to sponsor me on a GROw method week, if you want to do the same download a sponsorship form here, wish me luck!

 

The GROW Method- DAY 1

 

I’ve started my GROW method week and I’m over the moon with the amount of interest I’ve had from class mates, friends and Oxfam. I can’t thank you all enough. From all my sponsors (I’m still getting more at the moment) so far I have around £50. This week will be challenging and I’m sure I will enjoy it! So here goes my weekly diary of living GROW method.

 

Breakfast: I kick started the day with a breakfast of toast and homemade jam!

 

Lunch: For lunch I had some potatoes, vegetables and a slice of margarita pizza. To finish I had a pot of strawberry yoghurt to which one person decided it would be funny to read out the ingredients and tell me it contained crab-which of course it did not!

 

Dinner: For dinner I had planned to go out for a meal with friends and devour another margarita pizza! But got stuck in traffic and couldn’t make it so had to settle for some tomato pasta and a cup of Yorkshire tea! For dessert I had a cheeky chocolate bar – but made sure it was fair trade!

 

The GROW Method – DAY 2

 

Hello again! Going veggie today was proving hard as I had to resist some beef curry!

 

Breakfast: I had my braces tightened yesterday evening and I went down stairs and made some toast again but discovered I could not eat it! My teeth were hurting too much! Had to settle for porridge!

 

Lunch: For lunch I ate some vegetables and potatoes along with some vegetarian gravy and a pot of yoghurt to finish!

 

Dinner: I settled for some pasta again tonight but this time spaghetti!

 

I think soup is on the agenda tomorrow :)

 

Today I went food shopping buy local/fair trade items as a key point of the GROW method is to eat local to support local farmers and ensure people globally get a fairer price for their produce.

 

Below are just a few of my items I managed to snap before they were cooked!

 

GROW method – DAY 3

 

Oh dear, having some technical difficulties with the laptop sorry for the late post!

 

Breakfast: Ok so I started off the day with porridge again as still having brace problems!

 

Lunch: I was very upset to find no vegetarian option at school today for lunch so had to settle for a jacket potato beans and vegetables! I then had to have my fair trade Kitkat as I was still hungry!

 

Dinner: When I got home I was welcomed to some lovely spicy tomato soup made from the tomatoes we didn’t use in our pasta. This proves it’s easy to eat your leftovers as the GROW method promotes being careful with your food to reduce food waste. It was yummy too!

 

All is well with the GROW method; it’s hard, but not as hard as I imagined but certainly not easy! Can’t thank Oxfam on tour enough for all their support so far! Here’s to Oxfam :) I’m very excited to see how much has been raised! I’ll leave you all with these beautiful quotes I found!

 

Quotes of the day:

 

‘No one has ever become poor from giving’. – Anne Frank

 

‘You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give’. – Winston Churchill

 

GROW Method – DAY 4

 

WOAH, today I almost ate a haribo! We had a netball match against Darlington town netball team and we won so we were given haribo gummy sweets as a prize but I had to pass it on as gummy sweets contain gelatine. Gelatine is a protein product that is present in animals so I couldn’t eat it. Anyways hello again!

 

Breakfast: I finally got to have toast again Yey with chocolate spread mmmmm.

 

Lunch: For lunch I had some spaghetti pasta at school with some carrots and some chocolate sponge!

 

Dinner: For dinner I finished my day with beans on toast.

 

And here’s a quote goodnight!

 

Quote of the day:

 

‘I believe the world is one big family and we need to help each other’. – Jet Li

 

GROW Method – DAY 5

 

Only two days left! Where has this week gone! It’s been extremely fun though and although people have tried to tempt me I’ve stayed strong!

 

Breakfast: For breakfast I had weetabix :)

 

Lunch: I then had some lovely cheesy pasta, peas and chips for lunch!

 

Dinner: I then had leak and potato soup for tea (aka dinner)! The recipe for it is below.

 

Quote of the day:

 

‘Every charitable act is a step towards heaven’ – Henry Ward Beecher

 

GROW Method- DAY 6

 

Hello! Sorry I didn’t post yesterday I was very busy at school helping with a school open day then had to go to Teesside shopping! Anyway

 

Breakfast: to start the day I had banana yoghurt and a cereal bar!

 

Lunch: I had carrot and coriander soup!

 

Dinner: I had a veggie burger and chips!

 

GROW Method- Day 7:

 

Breakfast: This morning I had eggy bread. This is cheap and tasty dish of bread soaked in eggs and then fried. Try it out to use up your left over eggs and bread.

 

Dinner: I was then naughty and skipped lunch! I just forgot and had some pasta for tea. I would have killed for a Sunday roast though WA :’)

 

Quote of the day:

 

‘I don’t wish to be everything to everyone, but I wish to be something to somebody’ – Javan.

 

So that’s it! My grow method week is done, sad face. I really enjoyed it and it has made me appreciate what I’ve got much more. I can’t thank everyone enough for supporting me particularly my friends and Oxfam on tour. So goodbye and a massive thank you!!

 

Leek,Onion and Potato Soup

 

Ingredients

 

4 Large Leeks

 

2 Medium Potatoes peeled and diced.

 

1 Medium Onion,Chopped small

 

2oz butter (50g)

 

11/2 pints water (850ml)

 

10fl oz Milk ( 275)

 

Salt and black pepper

 

1) Cut off the tops and roots of the leeks and get rid of the tough outer layer. Split them in half lengthways and slice them finely. Then wash them thoroughly and drain.

 

2) In a large saucepan melt the butter then add leeks potatoes and onion stirring them into the butter.Add salt and pepper to season and cover to let the vegetables sweat on a very low heat for roughly 15 minutes.

 

3)Add the water and milk and bring to simmering point and put the lid back on and let the soup simmer gently for a further 20minutes (or until the vegetables are soft).

 

4) Then put it into the liquidizer and blend to a purée or press through sieve.

 

5) Return the soup to saucepan and reheat gently and serve.

 

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The world has gone Gangnam style crazy

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 30 October 2012

 

Sat at my desk listening to the radio it seems South Korean rapper, Psy, has taken the world by storm with his new catchy pop song Gangnam Style. So of course I had to do a little research about this song! What was it that made this song so big, where was Gangnam and why does this song start alarms bells ringing in my head?

 

It’s huge popularity is evident the first time you hear its electro beats and bass. But it also turns out, Gangnam style mean to dress classy and dance cheesy. Well I’m half way there.

 

Gangnam style derives from the reality that is Gangnam, a 15 square mile neighbourhood in South Korea covered in designer boutiques and women with amazing style. It’s reported that living in this neighbourhood in an average apartment could cost you $700,000 – 18 times the average national salary. Yes it seems Gangnam houses the wealthiest 1% of South Korea’s population. Now alarms bells are going off in my head. It seems Gangnam style personifies our global situation where no country can escape the current system of wealth separation. One in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. These wealth separations are throwing the hungry into states of increased levels of food deprivation and malnourishment.

 

Or maybe not?

 

It seems the world Food and Agriculture Organisation published its Hunger Report on October 9th 2012. This report states that the fight against hunger is working as the number of under malnourished people has dropped from nearly a billion to 868 million or 1 in 8 people.

 

Woohoo the fight in nearly over.

 

Well, not exactly. In 2000 world leaders met at the United Nations to create global targets for the world, these would ensure that by 2015 poverty would be decreased. These targets are called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

 

One such goal was to half the number of people living in hunger. The result of such halving should mean that by 2015 fewer than 600 million people should be living in hunger. The reality of this target is that we are closer to 900 million than 600 meaning that globally we are significantly off target.

 

What needs to be done to ensure we meet the MDG on hunger?

 

We need a radically new approach in the way we grow, share and manage food and other natural resources is needed if we are to tackle hunger.

 

We need our governments to take action on this to transform our food system into one that is fairer and more sustainable!

 

And we need to put pressure on corporations who produce food to ensure profits don’t come before farmers, consumers and the environment.

 

You can start by doing this in your own home. Here are a few tips:

 

- Next time you go shopping choose fairly and sustainably produced food, you can look for fairtrade logos and read the labels carefully to find out where your food is from. Stay tuned for a label low down blog special later in the week.

 

- Use every part of your food to reduce the amount you put in the bin. Nothing like some left over reinvented into a picnic for days in the park (yes, even in the winter with a lovely soup).

 

- Use Gangnam style to spark conversations with friends. I would even try a little expressive dancing to warm yourself up this winter and get them talking about food.

 

- Express your concerns to your decision markers, create dialogue through different media channels like twitter or use your blog space. Or you can help us apply pressure by signing petitions, taking pictures and using your voice with our actions on twitter by following @oxfamontour.

 

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Fan fashion contest: win a signed tour tshirt!

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 02 November 2012

 

From being on the road since April there are many exciting new things I experience and see but one that gave me the most inspiration was the hand-made, redesigned fashion that I see at Coldplay shows.

 

My roots in Oxfam started as a student, volunteering in the Oxfam vintage clothing boutique in Manchester, England, so seeing fans all over the world use clothing in innovative and sustainable ways brought a whole new insight for me into what Coldplay fans are capable of. That’s why we have decided to run a contest, to show off the stylish, the creative and the downright wacky fan fashion from the tour!

 

The contest will run from 2nd November – 18th November

 

Entering the contest is easy. All we want you to do is to take a picture of yourself in your home-made Coldplay fashion item, tell us how you made it and tweet it to @oxfamontour before the 18th November.Remember to put a full stop in front of @oxfamontour (or put it at the end of the tweet) so that all your followers can see it!

 

Like these for example:

 

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.@oxfamontour This is my own Coldplay creation, made from my upcycled oxfamontour T-shirt #OOTfashion

 

“Here’s me in the Coldplay t-shirt I just made with glitter pens, felt and fabric glue. @oxfamontour #OOTfashion”

 

Your collection will showcased on our pinterest board alongside style icons from New Zealand and Australia gigs. We’ll be especially looking out for upcycling, vintage and environmentally friendly designs. The judge of the competition will be Coldplay’s very own wardrobe girl, Tiffany! The prize? A signed tour T-shirt from the band themselves.

 

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a customised Coldplay t-shirt already, why not get creative and make one from an old t-shirt? Here’s some ideas on methods and materials easily found at home or in your local art supply shop to get you started:

 

  • Cut out butterflys and symbols from Coldplay’s album artwork from felt and stick over the t-shirt
  • Use tie-dye to create swirly patterns like the lightshow on the tour. How to tie-dye a shirt
  • Use fabric glue to write words and patterns on your t-shirt and then throw over glitter

Rules: If you are under 16 please don’t take a picture of yourself, instead just take a picture of the item of clothing. 16 and under = no faces and only first names!

 

Guidelines for winning: The competition prize will be awarded to the entry that oozes creativity and is innovative in their use of sustainable and upcycled materials.

 

So what are you waiting for? Get creative, dig out your Coldplay style and enter Oxfam on tour’s Coldplay fashion contest.

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Oxfam on Tour is coming to New Zealand

Posted by Michael Smith Oxfam New Zealand on 07 November 2012

 

Coldplay are starting their next leg of the Mylo Xyloto tour on 10th November, as part of this we are heading to New Zealand. Oxfam New Zealand staff member, Michael Smith, tells us more about why we’ll be at the Coldplay gigs talking to Coldplay fans.

 

At the upcoming Coldplay show in Auckland we’ll be asking fans about food topics that affect them. Do you buy Fairtrade certified products? Why? Why not? Are food prices too high? Should New Zealanders support Pacific producers more? These are some of the issues at the root of our GROW campaign for food justice, and we can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

 

There is a growing movement of people fighting to preserve our environment and prevent the depletion of our precious natural resources. In New Zealand in particular we pride ourselves on our clean green image, our efficient farming techniques and eco-conscious outlook. It’s this desire to minimise our environmental footprint that’s seen a rapid rise in the sustainable food movement.Sustainable food not only has a smaller carbon footprint but it also encourages green, open spaces in our increasingly urban lives. Going green with your food choices means looking out for locally grown produce – giving us the relative luxury of supporting our local, small-scale farmers.It could mean growing your own food, whether herbs in a window box or on a luscious lifestyle section. You don’t have to be an expert to give it a go and even the smallest spaces can be converted into a vege patch or herb garden. Another part of going sustainable means eating seasonally, which gives your body more of the nutrients as and when nature intended. The food is fresher and the nutrients are better preserved. Surely it’s a more natural way to be eating?

 

Sustainable food has been given a powerful boost by the rise of the farmers’ market, a common feature of the weekend landscape in many parts of the country. This is where small Kiwi producers cut out the middle-man and sell fresh local food directly. And have you seen the New Zealand fruit and food share map? You simply add your foodie freebies onto the map and source free-of-charge goodies growing around NZ. From feijoas and grapefruit to rosemary, walnuts and olives, it’s surprising how abundant gratis grub is! Others take an even more leftfield approach to food – in communities across NZ there are guerrilla groups venturing out under darkness to plant underused spaces with fruit trees and veggies.

 

We’re fortunate enough to be able to make these choices – in countries like New Zealand we have the power to decide when, where and from whom we get our food; we can vote with our wallets every time we shop. And we’re interested to hear what you think about sustainable food and how you choose what you eat. Add your comments below.

 

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From New Zealand with love

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 11 November 2012

 

All the way from New Zealand, Oxfam staff member Jason Garmen gives us a guest blog about his experience at the first gig in a while for Coldplay and Oxfam on tour.

 

I love food. And I hate injustice. Well, to be accurate, I don’t hate anything – it’s counter to my belief system. But injustice is wrong. It’s not natural, it’s not inevitable, and it’s up to us to do everything we can to move beyond it.

 

Today was one giant leap in the right direction. 40,000 people from all overNew Zealand, here to see an epic show by Coldplay – a band that loves food and hates injustice. And our charged-up posse of Oxfam staff in veggie costumes got to talk to so many fans last night so thanks to every single one of you who signed up to support the GROW campaign and find out more about how you can help Oxfam end the injustice of poverty.

 

There were so many good conversations about food in that arena – where it comes from, what’s in it, how much do we need, should GM ingredients be labelled, how lucky we are to have enough to eat (even if it does seem expensive), how many places in the world there still are where people don’t have enough, and most importantly, all the ways that Oxfam is helping people to have a better food future, from Vanuatu to Niger and beyond.

 

While there is great work being done on sustainable agriculture, stopping land grabs, reigning in food commodity speculation that drives prices out of reach, and more, the news is not all good. Climate change drives food insecurity. Unpredictable weather means people don’t know when to plant, yields are low, or crops fail altogether.

 

Here inNew Zealand, our government has just locked in rules that make our Emissions Trading System functionally useless. Adding insult to injury, we’ve just found out thatNew Zealandwill not sign up to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. That means this country no longer has a legally-binding commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas pollution…which is among the five worst per capita in the developed world.

 

Climate change is already making it harder for vulnerable communities to grow the food they need. But while our government is moving in the wrong direction, so many of you that we talked to today are moving in the right direction. And that’s cause for optimism, because the power of the people is stronger than the power of any government. And what powerful people tonight! Chris kept commenting from the stage how amazing you were. So if you want to help more in New Zealand keep an eye out on Oxfam New Zealand website and any emails you will get from us in the future.

 

Incidentally, if you ever get a chance to dress up like a tomato and talk to strangers about food, I recommend it. Good conversation starter.

 

So thank you Coldplay for putting on such a great show. And most importantly thanks to all the fans for not only listening to the music, but listening to the ways you can get involved and help make this planet the kind of place where no one goes hungry, no matter where they happen to have been born.

 

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