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Ian Herbert - 'Swanpool Environmental Film Festival 2016'

30/6/2016

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​The SEFF is now an annual event and this year's event on Saturday 2th June was as popular as ever, with 150 booking for the catered event and more phoning at the last moment to fill the remaining seats. As people entered film clips were screened with aerial footage of Winton Wetlands and the short film ‘A Magic Place’, showing Mokoan before the lake was built. Ron Litjens beautiful photographs of the Yea Wetlands were also set to music.

The first session commenced with Kate Auty talking about ‘Community ENERGY’, starting with the technical side – a photo of a wind turbine tower and the good news that in Victoria new construction is underway again. Kate is now Commissioner for Environment & Sustainability for the ACT and there the news is even better – they’ve signed up for 100% renewable energy by 2020. The rest of Kate’s talk was about the ENERGY of communities; how from starting small a movement can grow and larger projects can be tackled. We wish the Euroa community well with their investigations into pumped hydro, utilizing the existing water storages.

​The film ‘Polyfaces’ followed which documents the methods and the history and the social life at Polyface Farm in Virginia, USA. It was produced by an Australian crew including the co-director Isaebella Doherty and her partner Andreas Øverdahl who came to Swanpool and answered questions following the screening. The questioning continued on over afternoon tea.

Dr Kerryn Higgs was the next speaker and she gave a stunning talk titled ‘Collision Course: The Growth Delusion’. Many of the audience gave her a standing ovation at it’s conclusion. Amongst the graphs and statistics presented were some from Will Steffen from the Australian Climate Council. By chance (not prearranged) Will Steffen featured prominently in the film ‘Anthropocene’ which followed. We thank Flaxmoor Productions in the UK for making this available to us free of charge. It was an excellent film and asks the question not so much whether humans have caused a new geological epoch but what type of future will we shape for ourselves?

We’re rapidly approaching the ‘Limits to Growth’ spelt out by the Club of Rome of which Kerryn is now an International Fellow. Copies of her book ‘Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet’ were quickly sold out and additional orders taken.

After dinner the final session commenced with some of Professor Michael Clarke’s own team photos set to music. Mike is Head of Life Sciences at Latrobe University. He gave a very personable talk, starting with his own life growing up with nature and his own teenage explorations, especially of ‘The Prom’. The talk included a degree of audience participation, identifying some ‘common’ bird and plant species. But are they so common today? His talk title was ‘Ecological Literacy, ambivalence and inspiration’ and explored our connections with wildlife around us. Unfortunately we’re losing that connection and losing the species. To quote Jodi Mitchell, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone ..”. Mike went on to tell us about four of his own local heroes including his own father-in-law who over his lifetime cleared trees, changed his farming practices to more sustainable methods and then fenced off and planted along the creeks. Data from a Ph.D. student was presented on the effects on vegetation of different periodic fire regimes and questions on this subject were prominent in question time. It’s good to hear that Victoria is finally moving away from percentage based targets to asset focussed prescribed burning.

The final film for the evening was ‘Tarkine in Motion’ – 72 artists visited the pristine Tarkine region in Tasmania in the Easter of 2015. This film had breathtaking vision and haunting music. It sent a very strong message that we need to protect such remaining wilderness regions from the pressures of development. The film was provided to us without charge by the Bob Brown Foundation and we’ll send them a donation to help them continue the fight. The Foundation is hoping to get it declared a National Park and World Heritage Area and to open a hiking track through this beautiful place similar to the Overland Track.

The evening concluded with heartfelt thanks to our speakers, the film producers and our sponsors – GBCAM, the Gecko CLaN, Granite Creeks Landcare Network and a community grant from Benalla Rural City. Thanks were also extended to all the wonderful Swanpool volunteers.

It’s difficult to summarise a whole day of information, contemplation and inspiration in just a few short words. There was also time for socialising and sharing the food provided by the Swanpool Catering Team. All we can really say is that if you missed out this year, please book early next year.

Ian Herbert, Event Organiser, on behalf of Swanpool Landcare and Benalla Sustainable Future Group 
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Swanpool Environmental Film Festival 2016 - in pictures

30/6/2016

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Plastic Free July

29/6/2016

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We can all do something to refuse single-use plastic - the challenge is quite simple...attempt to refuse single-use plastic during July and be part of the solution to the growing problem of plastic pollution in our environment.

Plastic Free July aims to raise awareness of the amount of single-use disposable plastic in our lives and challenges people to do something about it. You can sign up for a day, a week or the whole month and try to refuse ALL single-use plastic OR try the TOP 4: plastic bags, water bottles, takeaway coffee cups and straws. You can also sign up your business, group or school. There are plenty of ideas on the Plastic Free July website.

Plastic Free July is an initiative of the Western Metropolitan Regional Council (WMRC) in Perth, Western Australia. It was developed by Earth Carers staff and started as a local community initiative in 2011 to educate residents on the important notion of 'reuse'. Last year over 36,000 people from 85 countries joined the challenge.

Every bit of plastic ever made still exists in the earth somewhere. Aside from the negative health impact of food and beverages being stored and cooked in plastic it is estimated that 8 million tonnes of plastic enters the oceans per year where it entangles and is ingested by wildlife. Of the top 10 items found in ocean debris 5 are associated with beverages.  Australians send 1 million tonnes of plastic to landfill each year. Most of our commonly used disposable plastic items are a convenience and in one weekwe go through 10 billion plastic bags worldwide.

Every day we encounter single-use plastic: bags, water bottles. straws, food packaging & takeaway coffee. We can all take steps to avoid plastic becoming a problem. Remember your shopping bags and water bottles; refuse over packaging & choose reusable alternatives and pick up plastic litter. When you sign up Plastic Free July will email you ideas, tips and recipes each week in July. By taking on the challenge, refusing single-use plastic in our own lives we can together make a difference.
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Source:  Notes provided to John Lloyd by Jenny Geer, BSFG Plastic Bag Action Group
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Swanpool Environmental Film Festival 2016 a sellout!

28/6/2016

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Last weekend's annual Swanpool Environmental Film Festival at the Swanpool Cinema, a joint effort of BSFG, Swanpool Landcare and the Gecko CLaN, was a sell out event.

Three thought provoking films - 'Polyfaces', 'Anthropocine' and 'Tarkine In Motion' - alternated with an excellent choice of presentations by inspirational guest speakers. Prof Kate Auty opened the festival and facilitated a Q&A session following the screening of 'Polyfaces' with its Co-Director Isaebella Doherty and Cinematographer Andreas Overdahl.  Both Dr Kerryn Higgs' presentation  ‘Collision Course: The Growth Delusion’ and Professor Michael Clarke's presentation  ‘Ecological Literacy, ambivalence and inspiration’ were highly valued and greeted with hearty applause.

Catering by Swanpool Catering Team volunteers sustained the audience during breaks which provided wonderful opportunities for audience members to both network and catch up with friends.  

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For full program details - Download the Slideshare presentation. 
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Sustainable Housing Forums - July 9 and August 13 2016

23/6/2016

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The flier for the first of two Sustainable Housing Forums BSFG will be conducting this year is available on the link below. It will be held on Saturday July 9th from 1 to 4.30 pm at the Winton Wetlands Hub.  Please help to publicise this forum by distributing the flyer to others who you think may be interested in attending.

Information about the second forum on 13th August, which will focus on retrofitting existing homes (to be held on 13th August, will be sent out next month.
Sustainable Housing (New) Forum --July 9th 2016
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Report referencing BSFG Community Energy Presentation to be considered by council on Wednesday 15 June after 6 pm. 

14/6/2016

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BSFG recently made a presentation to council about community renewable energy, including seeking support from council to apply for funding from the New Energy Jobs Fund to develop a Future Energy Plan for Benalla.  

The council asked Larissa Montgomery and Veronica Schilling to write a report which will be presented to the Policy and Development Committee on Wednesday 15th June. The report is very detailed and very positive and well worth reading.

This report is included in the agenda documents for the Policy & Development committee meeting of June 15th  (refer pages 20 to 26) on the council website,  The recommendations in the report are very positive.
 
This meeting is a public meeting, as was the meeting in May when I made the presentation on behalf of BSFG. I was overwhelmed by the number of BSFG members who came along to that meeting to support the presentation.

The meeting on Wednesday 15th is another important meeting as the council's Policy & Development committee will decide whether they accept the recommendations and what actions they will take.

​Once again I believe it would be a good idea if some members of BSFG were in attendance to hear the discussion and the decision that council makes about this issue.
The report is the third item on the agenda and should be discussed shortly after 6 pm.  If you intend to go to hear the discussion and the decision you should probably arrive by 6 pm or very shortly after. The meeting will take place in the Council Chambers in Mair Street.

John Lloyd,
BSFG President
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Swanpool Environmental Film Festival 2016 Program June 25 from 1.00PM

14/6/2016

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Swanpool Environmental Film Festival 2016 from Peter Maddock
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BSFG presentation 'Renewable Energy for Benalla'

2/6/2016

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BSFG presentation - Renewable Energy for Benalla from Lee_Bev
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