On Friday Caroline Lucas MEP, who was Ethical Politician of the Year and named one of the Guardian's 'Top 50 eco heroes',  opened the Transition Network Conference in Cirencester and was then picked up in the new Nailsworth Car Club car and made a visit to Ruskin Mill College to look around the farm and market garden before talking to 300 in Stroud.

In Nailsworth Caroline meet Farmers and Students who were using Bio-Dynamic methods. She was impressed that all the cultivation was done by horses, a way of avoiding the use of oil and also engaging students to relate to animals. John Marjoram, who has known Caroline for over 20 years said her optimistic vision should be an inspiration to all green movement. Later in Stroud after a press conference at Star Anise cafe she spoke to 300 people in the Sub Rooms, Stroud on 'The Future of Food'

Photo: John Marjoram introducing the speakers and Kathy Dimock

Read more at: http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/

Questions from the Stroud News and Journal to Caroline Lucas

1. What message will you be aiming to put across during your talk on Friday - 'The Future of Food'?  My key message will be that we need to urgently refocus national and European food policy, so that we prioritise local and organic food. Our current food system is overwhelmingly dependent on oil - for transport, for pesticides and fertilisers, and for packaging. As oil gets more expensive, and harder to extract, our current food system risks becoming even more costly and unsustainable. And as more land gets taken for biofuels, there are added risks to global food security. But there are also many solutions to these dilemmas, solutions which will make our food healthier as well as more sustainable - I'll be outlining what those solutions are, and how we might make the necessary changes.

2.You are visiting Stroud for the first time? Do you see this as an important town and district for the party? What work are you impressed with in the area?It's not my first time, and Stroud has always had a special place in the Party's history, because it was one of the first places that Green Party councillors were ever elected. The Green Party is going into this year's localelections with more confidence than we've ever had.  We're in an incredibly strong position. We already have a record number of councillors, on a record number of local councils. Stroud constituency received the fourth highest Green vote in the country in 2005.

In last year's District Council elections we received 23.4% of the vote across the District and 35% in the 12 wards we contested. This year we are putting up candidates in all 17 wards being contested in Stroud District, something we have never achieved before. Eleven of the 17 candidates are women.Councillor John Marjoram is now the longest serving Green councillor in the country, already in a record 7th term, and it is likely that the first Green MP in the South West willbe here in Stroud.

Our Green District Councillors had a huge input into the Council's Environment Strategy last year and were instrumental in helping to keep open the town's Maternity Hospital in 2006. The local Party also fought to save Weavers Croft, an in-patient assessment and treatment hospital for older people with mental health needs - though its future remains uncertain. In February Stroud Greens welcomed a committed new member - 99 year-old Kathy Dimock (who is now 100). So Stroud is a hugely important place for the Party, and a real inspiration to us.

3.What else do you hope to gain from your visit?  I look forward to talking tolocal people about howthe Green Party isbecoming an increasingly serious and credible political forcewhich makes a real difference in Stroud. I will be highlighting the Green opposition to theclosure of local Post Offices in Nailsworth and Stroud - a huge mistake, which will damage the local community, and make life more difficult for a great many people. In recent weeks, Greens on the Town and District Councils have campaigned against these proposed closures, and the District Council is now looking at the possibility of subsidising those threatened with closure to keep them open. Stroud Greens are involved in a variety of other campaignswhich I hope to draw attention to, including opposing the expansion of Gloucestershire airport and the proposals for a huge incinerator near the town. In recent years, Stroud has seen the creation of two community supported farms, and I look forward to hearing fromNick Weir from Stroud Community Supported Agriculture,one of our speakers at Friday's event.

4.Do you see a bright future for the Green Party and do you offer a genuine alternative to the main parties? Can you gain an MP soon and could it be in Stroud?   There's definitely a bright future for the Green Party - although the other parties might talk green, they certainly don't act green.  Look at this Labour Government, which says climate change is the greatest threat we face, and yet gives the go-ahead to a massive expansion of Heathrow airport, for example, even though aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.  More and more people are recognising that if they want real action on social and environmental justice - on affordable housing, for instance, or investment in renewable energies - the way to get it is to vote for the real thing - to vote Green.