Swanpool Environmental Film Festival coming up in June

Off-Grid Living Festival both unique and vibrant

The Off-Grid Living Festival is a unique and vibrant one day festival displaying the best of off-grid living and sustainable lifestyles. 

With traditional crafts demonstrations, talks and workshops, latest sustainable technologies, alternative living ideas, delicious off-grid food stalls, entertainment and hands on play space for the kids.

For just one glorious day Centennial Park in Eldorado (North-East Victoria) will be transformed into a melting pot of intriguing delights to see, touch, taste, share and enjoy.

Learn more about the festival.

Shepparton acts to tidy up its waste act

N

early everything we buy becomes waste within six weeks, according to Environment Victoria.

“Every wheelie bin of waste we produce from our home, equates to 70 wheelie bins of waste from the mining, manufacture, production and sale of the materials in that bin,” it says.

Our reckless waste of food is among that and amounts to 20 per cent of the food we buy. Edible food is simply thrown away.

Our efforts to combat and control climate change would be more effective if we simply stopped wasting so much of what we buy, including foodstuffs.

The City of Greater Shepparton is acutely conscious of the problems associated with waste, and the sorts of waste and now is introducing a food waste collection for all households in urban areas.

The city’s Waste Education officer, Jean Young, has said every household must have a green lid bin, meaning people will now be able to place food waste as well as garden waste into the bin. 

Ms Young said: “I am seeking motivated volunteers who would be interested in attending festivals, markets and other community events where they would inform residents of the new service, how it works and most importantly why we are doing it! Volunteers will get to wear an awesome Back to Earth shirt!! You can do one event (for a couple of hours) or multiple - any involvement would be fantastic!

“If individuals have any other engagement ideas or groups they are involved that may be interested in hearing about the rollout – please let me know,” she said.

The first event for which volunteers will be needed is at Shepparton's St Georges Road Festival that is taking place Sunday 27 November.   

More information on the new service you can be found on the council website or by phoning Ms Young at 5832 5207 or via emailing Jean Young.

More about rubbish and the complications it has for climate change and the distressing waste it is to life in a broader sense can be found at Environment Victoria and the Lunchalot website.

Make sure you make room for the Sustainable Liviing Festival

Block out February 8-23 in your diary.

That’s the dates for Victoria’s annual “Sustainable Living Festival”.

However, the big weekend of the festival is set for Friday to Sunday, February 14, 15 and 16.

Educational speakers, informative workshops and displays the help us understand more about what sustainability really means – make the effort, be a part of the festival.

Enthusiasm meets apathy, with a smile

Prof David Karoly -
an enthusiast.

David Karoly is one of life’s enthusiasts.

His work as a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne enables him to understand the dire difficulties the world faces as climate change begins to bite, but his smile, jovial and almost upbeat sense of positivity seemingly defies his knowledge of what is ahead.

David was one of four who spoke last night at the launch of the University of Melbourne’s 2013 Festival of Ideas.

The Professor of Climate Science at the university’s School of Earth Sciences, along with a postdoctoral research from the University, Sophie Lewis, have had the article: “Hottest 12-month period confirmed – so what role did humans play?”, published yesterday (September 2) on The Conversation.

The Karoly/Lewis article is peppered with rather alarming figures about what will unfold in Australia with the final paragraph saying:

“The model experiments also show that these types of extreme Australian temperatures will become more severe and more frequent in the future, with further global warming”.

What humans have done to earth’s atmosphere is a tragedy, but almost as tragic is the fact that last night’s (September 2) launch of the festival; a festival that could, and should, ignite the thinking of Victorians, attracted an only half-full Clarendon auditorium at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The realities detailed in The Conversation article are unquestionably alarming, but equally alarming, and probably more concerning, is public disinterest, or apathy about the undeniable and certain difficulties we all face.

Schedule in a visit to the Sustainable Living Festival

Should a visit to Melbourne be among those things you have to do in the next few days then allow some time to visit the Sustainable Living Festival that continues until Sunday, February 26.

Melbourne's Sustainable Living Festival.

According to its website, “The Sustainable Living Festival raises awareness and provides tools for change by showcasing leading solutions to the ecological and social challenges we face. The Sustainable Living Festival aims to inspire and empower everyday Australians to accelerate the uptake of sustainable living.”

The festival began in 1999 the event was staged at Hanging Rock and featured exhibitors from Austria, New Zealand and the United States.
However, due to increased audience and volunteer numbers, the event relocated in 2001 to Melbourne’s Alexandra Gardens and so with a new audience and an urban flavour, the event showcased more than two hundred exhibitors and presented over one hundred seminars.

The Festival was on the move once more in 2003  and turned to Melbourne’s newest landmark, Federation Square.

It had a new emphasis on developing a cultural, creative festival, the event reached out to an awakening mainstream audience. It is here that the Festival has settled for the past seven years, experiencing rapid audience growth with crowds of over 100,000 people.

Not surprisingly, the Festival has evolved much since its inception. As it approaches its eleventh year, the Festival continues to reflect the growing momentum and cultural dynamics within the community.

“If there is one thing we can say for sure about the future of the Sustainable Living Festival, it is that it will continue to change shape as we continue to learn about more sustainable ways to live on the planet,” the organizers said.