Festival aims to ride wave of action

CHANGEMAKERS, local groups and community members will gather at Torquay’s foreshore next weekend for a new environmental festival.

The inaugural One Planet Festival aims to provide education about climate change and inspire attendees to take climate action in either their personal lives, within their communities or at a national level.

The free event is a collaboration between the Surf Coast Parents for Climate and Surfers for Climate, with a core team of six local mums at the helm.

Parents for Climate co-organiser Laura Billings said the festival was intended to be a fun and positive event for the whole family and community to get involved in.

“We live by the motto, ‘From action springs hope’ and that’s what we hope we can impart on everyone that attends the festival,” she said.

“People really care, and they want to do something, but sometimes people don’t know where to start.

“[We’re] really hoping people can walk away feeling really inspired and empowered about what they can do, because I think that’s part of the problem when it comes to things like climate change, people can feel very overwhelmed.”

Enabled by a grant from the Surf Coast Shire, the event will feature a broad variety of talks, workshops and activities for attendees to engage with, as well as live music, local food vendors and an “epic” kid’s zone.

Ms Billings said more than 55 businesses and community organisations doing their bit to “make a better planet” had registered to participate in the festival.

Highlights include a talk from well-known local environmentalist Graeme Stockton, a performance from students at Bellbrae Primary School and gardening workshops from the team at the Common Ground Project.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to trial e-bikes, check out an electric vehicle exhibition and watch a series of short documentaries.

“It’s really trying to make people aware of what’s actually already happening on the Surf Coast and groups they can connect with and businesses they can support,” Ms Billings said.

An array of recycle stations will also be set up for items that are typically hard to recycle, with the aim of boosting awareness of the services available to the community and allowing attendees to drop off goods to be recycled.

“We’re just hoping we can see as many of the community come along and get involved as we can,” Ms Billings said.

“It’s not doom and gloom.

“It’s really about envisaging the kind of future that we want for ourselves, and our future generations.”

The One Planet Festival will be held on Saturday, March 16 between 11am-5pm at Torquay’s Elephant Walk.

For more information, or to register for tickets, head to oneplanetfest.com.au