Did you know that this year is UNESCO’S ‘Year of the Creative Economy and Sustainable Development’? 

A creative economy is based on people's use of their creative imagination to increase an idea's value and broadly includes audiovisual products, design, new media, performing arts, publishing and visual arts.

During the past two years of pandemic, the impact on some areas of the creative economy has been enormous while at the same time climate change is causing an increasing underlay of anxiety in many communities.

The recently shown series ‘Fires’ on the ABC is an example of the involvement of creativity and the creative economy in raising the issue of climate change.  A project which provided the employment and cultural engagement of writers, actors, filmmakers and many more, it will hopefully be recognised and nominated for many awards.

If I were asked to submit nominations for an imagined ‘Inaugural Benalla Sustainable Futures Group Benalla and District Creative Economy for Sustainable Development Award’ which recognises the use of creativity to raise the issue of and the value of sustainability, six nominations come to mind:

Artist Tim Bowtell – for his ‘Cornography’ mural on the side of the Seniors’ Centre facing towards the library (Wall to Wall 2018); and for his portraits of Greta Thunberg (2019) and David Attenborough on the Council Office’s window in (2020) as part of the Window to Window.  Tim’s tenacity and courage in using his practice to provoke a deeper consideration of sustainability is inspirational.

Sculptor – Tony Levy, for a creative outlet during retirement using recycled objects to create accessible, sustainably created sculptures

SCRAP Art Festival – for developing a concept which not only validates and disseminates the work of artists working with recycled materials, but advocates for recycled art and a circular economy.

Swanpool Environmental Film Festival – for so effectively linking finely crafted films on environmental issues in a program which deepens understanding in a package which includes film, inspirational and well-informed speakers, and good food and company.

Benalla Art Gallery – Bush Fire Posters exhibition

Luke Davies and the Recycled String Band – for their song ‘Recycle and Reuse’. 
​
Who would you nominate and why?    
 
Bev Lee

Further reading: 
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/international-years/creativeeconomy2021
https://research.qut.edu.au/creativehotspots/defining-the-creative-economy/
https://unctad.org/news/creative-economy-have-its-year-sun-2021

​"BREAKING NEWS: The Swanpool Environmental Film Festival has been CANCELLED.  The uncertainty with COVID 19 restrictions has forced the organisers to this disappointing decision. Hopefully next year sometime"  Swanpool Cinema Website, accessed 24 September, 2021.

The Swanpool Environmental Film Festival 2021, already rescheduled from June to October 23, is, for the second year, a casualty of the Pandemic.  Postponed to next year 2022, possibly at the usual time in June, the Festival Program was to feature Professor Michael-Shaun Fletcher 'Indigenous Knowledge and the Shackles of Wilderness' and film 'Beyond Burning', Dr Kerryn Higgs 'Collision Course:  The Growth Delusion' (2021 update) and films 'Fairytales of Growth' and 'Once You Know; and will culminate in  a  panel discussion 'State of the Nation' and film 'Wild Things'. 

Hopefully this program will be able to go ahead next year, with the Swanpool Catering Team volunteers once again sustaining Festival audiences during breaks providing opportunities for audience members to network and catch up with friends.

Coming out of COVID, will we return to ‘business as usual’
or will Australia embark upon a linear path towards zero emissions? 

SWANPOOL ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL 2021

Feature films, documentaries, guest speakers!
Three sessions with breaks for afternoon tea and an evening meal:

Session One: Ass Prof Michael-Shawn Fletcher and film ‘Beyond the Burning’

Session Two: Film 'Fairytales of Growth', Dr Kerryn Higgs, and film ‘Once You Know’
 
Session Three: Panel Discussion and Short Films, and film “Wild Things’

Booking essential on TryBooking.
Phone 0498 007 988 for enquiries.

Afternoon tea and dinner included.
Catering by Swanpool Catering Team.

This year's Swanpool Environmental Film Festival could not go ahead because of the Corona Virus Pandemic, leaving quite a gap for many of us.   We've retrieved a section of our website which provides a summary of what has happened over the past four years, including links to trailers of past films, some of which are now available on line.  Perhaps you'd like to search for and 'cast' them on to your television and have your own 'Film Festival' while socially distancing!

We missed this year's Festival, thoroughly appreciating the thinking by Ian Herbert and his team which goes in to creating a festival to expose us to the vanguard of current thinking in relation to sustainable futures.  We also missed the catering by Swanpool Catering Team volunteers which sustained us during breaks between Sessions which provided opportunities for audience members to network and catch up with friends. 

Hopefully we'll be able to meet up again in June 2021!

Bev Lee
Media Team

The Swanpool Environmental Film Festival which took place on Saturday 15th June was a great success. We were fortunate to have three guest speakers of international repute who excelled at delivering their knowledge to the audience. Over 200 attended and we had to put up the ‘full house’ sign.

​The three subjects covered were the three major problems confronting the world today - nuclear weapons, climate change and how to feed a growing populace. Thanks to Dr Tilman Ruff, Prof Samantha Hepburn and Prof Tim Reeves respectively for coming to Swanpool.

Congratulations were extended to Tilman for being recognised in the Queen’s Birthday honours the week before the SEFF. Tilman already had an AM (Member of Australia) and now has the higher honour of an AO (Member of the Order of Australia) for service to the promotion of peace and to public health. Since 2012, he has been Co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) – an organisation that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. He was founding Australian and International Chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) – awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. He brought the medal with him for those who wanted to view it. Tilman and his wife Charlotte are landholders in the Lima East valley near Swanpool.

Prof Tim Reeves' talk was titled ‘Food and Nutritional Security - a Grand Challenge for Humankind’. Tim is Professor in Residence at Dookie agricultural campus and was a pioneer of no-till and sustainable agriculture at the Rutherglen Research Institute. He too has worked with many international institutions.

​Prof Samantha Hepburn’s talk addressed many of the Australian legal issues around climate change and the Adani mine going ahead.

This year we changed the format a little and had a short film session mid-afternoon. As well as selected
short films it included news reels and a series of slides telling the story of preserving Strathbogie Forest this past year. That’s a good news story because the designated logging coupes in the most precious part of the forest, around Mt Strathbogie and Golden Mount, have now been withdrawn from the Timber Release Plan. The TRP lists the designated coupes which VicForests can log. The next step is to have permanent protection for the forest, preferably by declaring it a Conservation Park giving it the  samestatus as Mt Samaria Park.

The film ‘2040’ which concluded the evening was very well received. It looks into the future asking the question how could the planet be if we do the right thing. When taking about sustainable agriculture it gave good coverage of the works of Colin Seiss who was referred to by Tim Reeves in his talk and who has worked closely with the Gecko CLaN and landholders in this region for many years.

​Many thanks to all who volunteered to make this day a success, particularly Peter Maddock for all his work getting all the video together. The SEFF is run by the Swanpool Landcare group in partnership with Benalla Sustainable Future group and with support from the Gecko CLaN, GBCMA, Granite Creeks and Benalla Permaculture. We are particularly thankful for the catering provided by the Swanpool Catering Team who excelled themselves once again.

Ian Herbert

SWANPOOL ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL 2019 (PG)
​
Feature films, documentaries, guest speakers!
Three sessions with breaks for afternoon tea and an evening meal:

Session One: Dr Tilman Ruff and film ‘System Error’
Session Two: Prof Samantha Hepburn and Short Enviro Film Fest
Session Three: Prof Tim Reeves and film ‘2040’

Booking essential on TryBooking.
Phone 0498 007 988 for enquiries.
​
Afternoon tea and dinner included.
Catering by Swanpool Catering Team.

The 2018 SEFF was held on Saturday 16th June and was run by Swanpool Landcare and Benalla Sustainable Future Group.  Sponsors for the event were the GBCMA, Gecko CLaN, Benalla Permaculture, Granite Creeks Landcare Network and Benalla Rural City (via BSFG).
 
This annual event is run in three sessions and the fabulous Swanpool Catering Team provides afternoon tea and dinner during the breaks.  It’s always excellent but this year they excelled with tasty Asian style rice dishes, vegetable tart and the fruit platters.
 
The guest speakers and films for the afternoon sessions really dovetailed together well.  Dr Sam Alexander from Melbourne University gave the opening talk on ‘Life in a degrowth economy and why you might actually enjoy it’ followed by the film ‘Living in the Future’s Past’.  Discussion around ‘degrowth’ centred on the definition of real human wealth versus our focus on GDP.  The more we spend on disasters for instance the more GDP rises.  A Tiny House on a trailer, parked adjacent to the hall, was supportive of the ‘simpler living’ theme.  Thanks to Neil and Sandy Garrett of Violet Town for bringing it along.
 
Dr Charles Massy from ANU took the stage following afternoon tea with his talk on ‘Can regenerative agriculture help save the world?’  This was highly appreciated by the switched on audience.  The slides displayed on the screen told much of the story; just compare one side of the fence to the other.  The promotion of non-organic fertilizers and chemicals was also addressed with their negative effects on soil and human health.  Charles’ book ‘Call of the Reed Warbler’ was on sale at the event, thanks to ‘Country Tales’ Mansfield bookshop, and is highly recommended reading.
 
The second film ‘Living the Change’ was introduced by the co-director Jordan Osmond and his enthusiasm for the material shone through.  The film starts off setting the scene then presents the stories of New Zealand individuals, families and communities who embrace change for a more sustainable and less wasteful lifestyle.  Questions from the audience were all about what we could do locally in our own environment.
 
The evening session was a bit different from past years.  A panel consisting of Prof Kate Auty, Dr Ian Herbert, Shirley Saywell and Bertram Lobert gave brief presentations on community voices and democracy, climate change, Strathbogie Forest under climate change and local actions to protect the forest.  Anthony Chisholm supplied stunning video footage for the latter and Mick Frewin gave an impassioned testimonial as to why he is engaged in forest actions.  The panel discussion concluded with a unanimous vote asking the government of the day to enact a climate policy.
 
‘Paper Trail’ was the last film and was produced in 1992.  It is still very relevant.  Starting with NSW and Gippsland logging it follows those logs through wood-chipping at Eden and transport to Japan to be made into paper then final recycling for just a fraction.  What’s changed in a quarter century?  Just the site of the woodchip mills, the destination of the ships (China now) and the extent of state forests felled for this voracious trade.  The film concluded with feasible alternatives for paper making – plantation timber or fast growing industrial hemp.
 
How do we measure the success of this annual event?  Numbers through the door is one measure (we had a full house) but the real measure is how the audience responds to the speakers and films.  They didn’t go away with a warm fuzzy feeling (there are too many pressing environmental concerns for that) but they did go home better informed and motivated.  With Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continuing to rise (set now to miss the 2020 Kyoto target) and our land and forests under stress and threat, it’s up to each of us to act locally and nationally and press for change.
 
We thank our speakers and our sponsors and all our volunteer support once again for making SEFF 2018 such a stand out environmental film festival.
 
Ian Herbert
Event Coordinator

​BSFG partners with Swanpool Landcare and the Gecko CLaN ​in running the annual Swanpool Environmental Film Festival at the Swanpool Cinema.

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.
​
The flyer and program downloads below have more details about the 2017 Swanpool Environmental Film Festival.
​
Thanks everyone,
Ian Herbert
Event Organiser

Flyer download
Program Download
​

​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