2012 Oxfam tour Blog (oxfamontour.org/coldplay)

[Tash]

Auckland – The home of farmers markets and inspirational local food production

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 11 November 2012

 

As I landed in Auckland, New Zealand, I was in desperate need of relief from the jet lag that hits you from flying half way across the world. A fresh fruit salad followed by fresh tea and a pastry was in order and of course I wanted it to be seasonal and local. Not knowing the area I jumped on the laptop to search for a suitable cafe and found the website organicjetsetters.com. This site provides you will organic hang outs in all corners of the earth. So no matter where you are you can always grab good food.

 

But more on Auckland, Auckland is home to the Matakana market, the birth place of the slow food movement in New Zealand. This farmers market is a delight of sustainable produce. But this isn’t the only food market in town. Auckland is the king of celebrating sustainable, local food in markets. Gore street market runs every Saturday and is complete with live bands to accompany your feasting.

 

For me the delight of Auckland is Out of Our Own Backyards. This website provides a service for people to sell their extra produce from their backyards to people in their local area and in turn buy other peoples. This site has potential to provide a model for people to be able to contribute more effectively to the global food market. Imagine a world where we used this model to generate food. It would reduce food miles, provide space for every scale of farmer to contribute their produce to the market and in turn gain a strong market price for it. It could also encourage more food grown in homes as those people without work could cultivate their own livelihoods. Obviously this is just one model and very much an Oxfam on Tour dream situation but hey you can dream.

 

So that’s Auckland. A city of food inspiration and one you can refresh yourself in from the organic eateries and markets. I can feel my jet lag flying away. Thanks Auckland!

[Tash]

Sydney – the city of straight talking kids

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 16 November 2012

 

Sydney is the city that everyone has heard of. Like many other cities Sydney has the architecture, famous landmarks and culture that everyone craves. To compliment this, the city is built around harbours, surrounded by the beautiful landscape of the Blue Mountains and to top it off, leads out to the famous Bryon Bay beach, renowned for surfing and kite flying.

 

Sydney has all you need to make it a place you would never leave. But what really finishes this place off for me is its constant energy and vibe from the young residents. Being one myself there is something very exhilarating about seeing straight talking kids (I use this word with a sprinkle of dramatic license). In Sydney these kids are not only one step ahead but the topic they focus on is one of my particular loves, food. Youth Food Movement is a group of 20-30 year olds from all walks of life who are passionate about food. They focus is where there food comes from, who made, how much it costs and the best way to cook it. Yep these guys are clued up on food and are creative on how they share their knowledge. Lately they have run ‘Reel Food Nights’ where they share their knowledge on food through film nights. Complete with Sydney’s own Veggie Patch Van. A food truck that specialises in vegetarian food produced in sustainable ways.

 

But one I am keen to join is the ‘Ride on Lunch’ event. If you have been following us on Instagram you notice I love to cycle around the cities the tour has visited so I was super excited when I saw this event.

 

Ride on Lunch is a day of cycling around Sydney to the best markets and food joints followed by a picnic lunch in the park with the goodies purchased on the ride. The ride will serve you up the best knowledge of sustainable food joints in Sydney with a side potion of examples in how easy it is to live more sustainable, finished off with a dollop of site seeing! Sounds like the best way to lunch in the city.

 

Yep, Sydney you are smooth and sophisticated with an air of sustainability and straight talking kids. Just how I like my cities and one I’d like to stay in.

 

[Tash]

Australia is awesome!

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 20 November 2012

 

So I’ve been in Australia now for 8 days and what an amazing 8 days it has been. It started with a woosh of warm wind as I stepped off the plane from New Zealand. From here we were straight to Melbourne for the first night of Coldplay in Australia. For me it was my first time in Australia and I was very excited about it. Not only was I campaigning on food justice, something I’ve campaigned on for many years, but I was also with one of the world’s biggest bands and I was excited to be ending my year with a bang.

 

Melbourne really blew me away. Here I met with some super keen GROW campaigners who volunteered for Oxfam Australia. Oxfam Australia work on their own policies and programmes around the world, much like all the other Oxfams. And like all Oxfams they are part of Oxfam International. Oxfam International acts as a global umbrella for all Oxfams. So when we need global action, we all work together as a global movement to apply pressure to decision leaders to ensure we stop hunger around the world.

 

Currently Oxfams around the world are working on the GROW campaign. As part of this campaign we are ensuring that people around the world have land to produce food from. This is where our land grabs petition comes in, which we were discussing at Coldplay gigs in Australia.

 

Our land grabs petition asks the World Bank, one of the largest investors in land, to become a leader in land sales and ensure that the people who live on the purchased land have rights and are protected. They can do this through putting a freeze on all land sales and rewrite sale agreements to ensure that all land sales honour the people living on the purchased land. Makes sense really, would you want to be throw from your home so a company could buy the land from underneath you?

 

For more information on this check out our land grabs blog and get clued up about our latest petition so you can help us spread the word and build support.

 

So now I know you are all clued up on the petition and have taken action with Oxfam I want to share my top ten moments so far from being in Australia;

 

1, Having over 2500 Coldplay fans sign our land grabs petition in just three shows – with another show still to go!

 

2, Having The Pierces sign our petition, thank you girls!

 

3, Watching Coldplay show their support from Oxfam on daytime tv show ‘Breakfast on 7’ whilst they performed next to Sydney Opera House

 

4, Having lots of people enter their Coldplay fan fashion on twitter, you can see our entries here

 

5, Hearing 45,000 people in Sydney sing along with the band, louder than I’ve ever heard in 9 months!

 

6, Discovering I wasn’t too far from my home in the UK when I found English soap opera Coronation Street on TV

 

7, Trying vegemite (a yeast extract spread) on toast with cucumber

 

8, Meeting a Koala

 

9, Having my Dad sing along to Viva la Vida on internet video chat whilst he watched the band play from the UK – cute ey! I love technology!

 

10, Watching 60,000 wristbands light up Melbourne! After a six week break on the tour this seemed ever more magical

 

Australia is a country that listens to Oxfam and understands our desire to stop world hunger. The Coldplay fans here are loud, fashionable and active. They have also shown us some huge Aussie love and for that I’m so proud to be here and campaigning with you guys on our World Bank petition. Thank you everyone for all your support.

 

Now I want to see even more tomorrow in Brisbane. Lets end this leg of the tour with a bang!!

 

[Tash]

Did you make it to our Top 10 Oxfam on Tour fashion contest?

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 20 November 2012

 

Here’s a little sneek peek of who made it into the Top Ten of Oxfam on Tour’s fan fashion contest:

 

The winner will be announced tomorrow after the show. Good luck!!

 

[Tash]

#OOTfashion contest winner announced

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 21 November 2012

 

So it’s time ladies and gentlemen to announce the winner of our Oxfam on Tour fan fashion contest.

 

Let me start by saying wow and thank you! Wow because we had over 50 entries for our OOTfashion contest all of which were amazing and so creative in their Coldplay inspired ways. The entries came from all over the world from Brazil and Wales to the Philippines and New Zealand.

 

For me it was amazing to see that we have active Oxfam followers all over the world. So thank you to each and every one of you for spreading the word and entering our contest. You truly are a global movement and can’t be stopped!!

 

So down to the topic in hand… The Winner!!

 

After much time spent deliberating over our 10 ten. Coldplay’s wardrobe assistant finally made a decision.

 

And the winner of a Coldplay signed t-shirt is……………….

 

@ZoeBambi

 

For her glow in the dark dress.

 

“It captures the MX vibe and would look great under black lights” commented CP’s wardrobe assistant.

 

Well done @ZoeBambi. You’re t-shirt will be with you shortly.

 

[Tash]

The Ultimate Aussie Experience

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 26 November 2012

 

From being in Australia I have had the pleasure of meeting Oxfam Australia’s campaigning volunteers. All of which were inspirational in their own way. This guest blog written by Oxfam Australia’s GROW campaign coordinator Clancy Moore and Oxfam volunteer Patrick Cooper, provides you with an insight into the ultimate Aussie experience at Coldplay. Maybe one day soon you’ll get involved too?

 

Meeting every week, sharing experiences and learning campaigning skills, Erica, Yolande, Barb, Tina, Tim, Rena and Agus are the Melbourne GROW team.

 

Together they are a group of Oxfam supporters committed to campaigning for a future where everyone has enough to eat. As sadly, 1 in 8 people go to bed hungry every night. That’s a total of 870 million people going hungry. At Oxfam, we fight poverty and injustice. Giving poor people the tools to help themselves is a big part of this. Especially, when it comes to people putting enough food for their families.

 

So every Thursday for the last 6 weeks, the team has come together to the Oxfam office in Melbourne for workshops on the issues surrounding food and how we can gain a fairer food system. Impressively, after each week, this exciting bunch of all-star campaigners are putting knowledge into practice by engaging their friends and the public in campaigning activities and in turn are helping change the world. They’re activities have been inspiring in volumes with them running events such as, asking friends and family to sign postcards calling on Australia PM, Julia Gillard to play an active in role in tackling global hunger, putting Oxfam seedlings around Melbourne business district for GROW week and holding their own campaign dinners and picnics on World Food Day for people to share a meal and talk about ways to fix the broken food system.

 

Just last week, the GROW team were engaging with Coldplay supporters to help Oxfam stop poor people being kicked off their land in dodgy land grabs. Dressed up as a taco, a big pea, corn and carrots, the GROW team and their friends signed up more than 1000 Coldplay supporters to help stop land grabs.

 

Exciting stuff, yea? So if this sounds like something you want to get involved in then contact your local Oxfam staff member.

 

 

So now I guessing you want to know what it’s like to be so involved with Oxfam, well Oxfam Australia volunteer Patrick Cooper gives us an insight into the ultimate Aussie Coldplay experience.

 

If you can imagine 50000 people, an enormous stadium, the biggest band in the world, crazy lights, pyrotechnics… and people dressed as carrots and tacos, then you can only begin to imagine the weekend of concerts that Coldplay invited Oxfam to in Sydney.

 

Coldplay, as most of you would be aware, are one of Oxfam’s greatest and most influential supporters globally, and were lovely enough to invite along some of Sydney’s most vibrant Oxfam volunteers, to spread the message of the GROW campaign, with the theme of the night educating the masses about Land Grabs. It was a partnership between Oxfam in Australia and Oxfam UK, to bring to light this contemporary issue of social and environmental injustice.

 

As one of the volunteers myself, it was such a fantastic experience, to see the amount of people in the crowd that were wanting to learn more about this issue and sign the petition that will be sent to the World Bank in April, to hopefully place a freeze on lending for six months and allow positive action to be taken. A big help for us out there pounding the pavement, was that any mention of Coldplay’s support for the campaign immediately had people interested and willing to support. I guess it is true that Coldplay fans are socially aware, hopeful of change and willing to support anything Chris Martin puts his name too.

 

In my opinion, all the volunteers got immersed in the cause and had a great time themselves, with an abundance of smiles and some even taking their support to the next level by dressing as carrots, bananas, tacos and tomatoes. The crowd loved this aspect, because let’s be honest who doesn’t want to have their photo taken with a taco?? People were not only signing a petition, they were learning fun facts, to later impress their friends with, about the important work of the GROW campaign (did you know that bananas are grown in 130 countries across the tropics, with 90% produced and consumed by small scale farmers who currently need support to grow locally).

 

I think the evening was a great success for Oxfam, all the volunteers were motivated to educate and spread the word about the issue of Land Grabs to thousands of people in Sydney, the crowd got to have fun and join the global community of activists on social media with some fun snaps and of course to finish the evening off with the visual and audible spectacular that is a Coldplay concert was something very special and memorable for all of us volunteers!!! Let’s hope they come back again soon.

 

[Tash]

It’s as cold now as when I left – A year on tour

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 18 December 2012

 

I’m sat back in my London flat with the Christmas fairy lights brightening my room. I’m back in the UK, after 9 months being on the road and it’s as cold here as when I set out on this adventure in Edmonton. I remember running back to the house in April, at the last minute to pick up my winter coat; surely in L.A it’s going to be warm?! Well actually on arrival to Canada they were three inches in snow and I was pleased to be wrapped up in my coat.

 

My first memory was walking into what I thought was a huge arena in Edmonton. I was wrong though as this was quite small compared to Stade de France which has a capacity of 80,000 people! All the crew were busy running around in their own worlds creating the stage, rigging the lights and doing a sound check. It was daunting to say the least! Then I found my own little friend (my tour case), we had an instant connection and became best buddies, well at least I relied on my case, as my new home for the months ahead. My tour case was a treasure cave packed full of Oxfam delights with t-shirts, food costumes, badges and stickers. Such delights that went on to feed the minds of Coldplay fans and speak the GROW word throughout the world.

 

But of course those badges didn’t give themselves out and over the past 9 months I’ve met over 1200 Oxfam volunteers across 16 different countries, all with amazing stories and an overwhelming passion for social justice and Coldplay. Yeah you guys were the ones that kept me going after weeks of gigs where I would walk outside the venue, slightly shrivelled and battered from bus road trips and showering in venues, to find 20 smiling, excited faces, who would ignite me again for a night of campaigning and partying to the band. Thank you guys!

 

Such energy from our amazing Oxfam campaigners around the world meant that we were able to sign up over 33,000 people at the Coldplay gigs to join the GROW campaign. Were you one of those people who got fruity with our volunteers dressed as fruit? If you miss your photo from the night you can catch it here on the Oxfam on Tour Facebook gallery.

 

For all those people who signed up you made our campaign a huge success. In the US and UK we had campaigning wins, as Coldplay fans told US government to reform the food aid sent overseas and the UK government to support small scale farmers to lead the way in providing food for our future population. So congratulations everyone! Our voices are being heard throughout the world!

 

But don’t worry if you fell off the Oxfam on Tour wagon and haven’t been following us since you signed up at the gigs then you can grant us a Christmas wish and do something to change your foodie ways, check out the previous blogs to find out how.

 

So I guess there is to say is THANK YOU;

 

THANK YOU to everyone for joining Oxfam in creating change in the food system and ensuring that people don’t go hungry anymore

 

THANK YOU to all the volunteers who helped me along the way and spoke to so many of Coldplay’s fans

 

THANK YOU to all the Coldplay crew for your help on the road and putting on food costumes to fight food injustice

 

THANK YOU to Coldplay for giving Oxfam the opportunity to be on the road with you and for supporting us throughout the world!!

 

Now stay tuned for Oxfam on Tour’s year in pictures to be released on Christmas Day. Will you be in our year of pictures?

 

[Tash]

I’ve walked through 3 continents and now it’s time for Goodbye from Rachel @ Oxfamontour

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 21 December 2012

 

So for those of you who have been following Twitter you will have shared my highs and lows of the Coldplay tour of the past 9 months. I have lived the last 9 months of my life from a rolling suitcase, wearing my lucky black jeans (I did wash them..sometimes) and a pair of brown pumps!

 

I have had some amazing adventures and seen many different corners of the world from Seattle to Sydney, I’ve loved every minute of it. But I couldn’t have done it alone, not without the 1220 volunteers, 7 different Oxfams across the world and you guys, the thousands of Coldplay fans. So as I say goodbye I thought I would give you some highlights of my time on the road, through my tired feet.

 

But before I do I want to say THANK YOU!

 

Thank you to each and every one of you who took action with the Coldplay tour. Working with you online and offline and sharing our GROW vision was inspiring to see! Keep up the good work Coldplayers!!

 

30th July: Boston: After a night of talking to Coldplay fans about GROW I walked through the crowd and stood to watch Coldplay sing Paradise, with confetti all around my feet.

 

 

31st July: Chautauqua Lake: Today drove to Chautauqua lake, New York, to take a pit stop during the day and used my feet to learn how to wake board in the lake.

 

 

August: Detroit: I woke up in Detroit where I came across a whole group of fans who also do stuff with their feet too. Well their shoes at least. These fans had done an amazing job of painting their shoes to match the Mylo Xyloto album cover.

 

 

Summertime: Manhattan: I woke up from our overnight bus journey to walk over the highline and alongside the Hudson River in Manhattan.

 

 

August: New Jersey: I was walked the ground of the Izod Center (american spelling especially for you Americans) in New Jersey. A second home for the band and what an amazing gig it was!

 

 

August: St Paul: My tiny feet (size 3 UK) went on a bike ride (obviously I was still attached) and rode down the Mississippi River in St Paul.

 

 

November: Brisbane: This is where my adventures ended. In Brisbane

 

 

Yes all these adventures plus the 62 shows that I walked through 124 hours of dancing to Coldplay songs at the show. I think I might need a new pair of shoes!

 

 

So onto new adventures for me, complete with a new pair of shoes that I get for Christmas (please Santa). But again thank you and congratulations to you all for being amazing Coldplayers and campaigners!!! Keep up the good work!!

 

Lots of Brit style love, Rachel xoxox

[Tash]

Oxfam on Tour – A Year in Pictures

Posted by Rachel Edwards on 25 December 2012

 

Merry Christmas everyone! As a gift from us to you we wanted to offer our year in pictures. Are you in these pictures? If so give us a shout!