This is our fifth festival and we have another great line up of speakers and films for you.  It follows the same format – three sessions with guest speakers and films to match, separated by afternoon tea and an evening meal served up by the fabulous Swanpool Catering Team.  The cost this year is $25 per head (cash please), and a reminder that bookings are essential for seating and catering, phone 0498 007 988.

Julian Cribb spoke in our district back in 2012 about food security and sustainability, courtesy of GBCMA. The title of Julian’s talk this time around, ‘Surviving the 21st Century’, is the title of his most recent book.  According to his book summary, ‘This book brings together in one clear, easy-to-read work the principal issues facing humanity – and what we can do about them’.  The film to go with the talk, ‘The Age of Stupid‘, starring Peter Postlethwaite, was Julian’s own selection.

When Dr Richard David Hames heard the title of Julian’s talk he had to opt for ‘Burying the 20th Century’.  That’s the title of his own second book.  The film ‘The Age of Consequences‘ was a popular choice of our Landcare members and fits well with Richard’s talk theme.

So, somewhat by chance, we’ve ended up with ‘Burying the 20th Century’ followed by ‘Surviving the 21st Century’ … and ‘The Age of Consequences’ followed by ‘The Age of Stupid’.

Our final speaker, Prof Sharon Beder, comes from an engineering background but her interests have moved more to the humanities and environmental matters.  We’re at a critical time in our social history and we look forward to her talk ‘Business- Managed Democracy’.  It’s followed by the film ‘The Bentley Effect‘ which provides a positive ending to the evening.

Last year’s SEFF was a resounding success with people going home saying, “Can’t wait for next year’s”.  Well here’s your chance and do please bring your friends along.  It would be nice to have a full house for these eminent speakers and top-rated films.

Don’t be disappointed, bookings essential phone 0498 007 988.  $25 ticket includes afternoon tea and dinner by the Swanpool Catering Team.
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The flyer and program downloads below have more details about the 2017 Swanpool Environmental Film Festival.
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Thanks everyone,
Ian Herbert
Event Organiser

Flyer download
Program Download
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On Saturday Feb 11 BSFG members Peter Holmes and Peter Maddock accompanied a delightful group of young Benalla people to Melbourne to attend the event "Xiuhtezcatl Martinez: Why I Sued the US Government" at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image at Federation Square in Melbourne.
We travelled to Melbourne by train and had time before the afternoon event to look around the CBD; several of us took the opportunity to look at the 2017 Sustainable Living Festival being held on the banks of the Yarra River. Peter Holmes' family and friends also met us at ACMI to see  Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.
At the well-attended ACMI event Xiuhtezcatl (“Shu-tez-caht”) was introduced and interviewed by a young local poet and during the interview both gave us some poetry/rap pieces.  Xiuhtezcatl has been involved with the Earth Guardians for many years and spoke of several issues he was involved in during his short activist career.  The Earth Guardians link has a short video on Xiuhtezcatl titled Kid Warrior.
Xiuhtezcatl spoke of how many people already feeling the impact of climate change are both indigenous and coloured.  He gave encouragement to both young and old who might be feeling overwhelmed at the thought of tackling climate change by saying do what you can, even the small things count.  This can lead to other actions.  As he says in the Kid Warrior video young people are seen to be the future and will one day do something about climate change; however, they aren’t going to wait, they are going to do something now!  See Xiuhtezcatl delivering a TedTalk here.
Suing the US Government over climate change is based on a constitutional challenge that through “the governments affirmative actions in causing climate change, it has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources”.
For such a young person Xiuhtezcatl has thought through many of the environmental issues facing us on the planet and is determined to encourage a youth led activist movement to change the direction from the path we are presently on.  Although quietly spoken he is assured of his position on the issues and determined to do something about them.
After his presentation Xiuhtezcatl welcomed people to meet him outside the theatre where many asked for an autograph or to have a photo taken with him.
BSFG wish to thank our members and contacts who were able to offer sponsorship to enable the young people from Benalla to attend the event.  And thank you to Peter Holmes who saw an article in The Age about Xiuhtezcatl and was inspired to suggest BSFG organise our visit.  

BSFG President John Lloyd has surveyed candidates for the Benalla Rural City 2016 Council Election to find out about each candidate’s attitude to taking action on climate change.
The survey questions were;
Q1. Do you support an urgent transition away from polluting fossil fuels towards clean energy?
Q2. In order to address dangerous climate change, how will you use your position on council to ensure council moves quickly towards zero pollution?
Q3. Do you personally care about cutting pollution, supporting clean energy and addressing dangerous climate change?
The survey was emailed to all candidates who provided email addresses and posted to the others.
Responses to the survey will be made available to our members and people on our mailing list.  A letter to the editor of the October 5 Benalla Ensign will also inform readers that full responses can be found on the BSFG website.
Some candidates have responded by commenting below in this News item .  Edited comments have been included in the following response file.
Click here to view and download the responses so far. This file will be updated when further responses are received.