Time to paint the town green
May 18, 2011
Green June is rapidly approaching and organisations across the Coast are gearing up to host a series of events to help Sunshine Coast residents and businesses be more eco-friendly.
The Green June calendar, which is co-ordinated by the Sunshine Coast Council includes festivals and events such as World Environment Day which attracts over 5,000 people every year, the Living Smart Glossies Awards evening with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, a series of Compost and Worm Farm Workshops, the Living Smart Solutions Expo, the Ecoflicks Film Festival, Noosa Festival of Water and Floating Land which starts at the end of May.
Cr Keryn Jones believes the month-long eco-focussed calendar provides those looking for ways to reduce their environmental footprint with a number of options to learn more and implement changes in their everyday work and personal lives.
“We can pride ourselves in having one of Australia’s most naturally beautiful and diverse regions and we have a responsibility to protect it for future generations. If we are to become Australia’s most sustainable region we need to change how we do things on a daily basis and the events throughout Green June help give us the skills and tools to do so,” said Cr Jones.
“Having a month of fun events focussed on being more environmentally friendly helps drive home important messages about how we get around, build our homes, conserve energy, handle waste and treat our environment generally.”
“There is no better opportunity for those thinking of ways to reduce their environmental footprint to access the latest information and technologies to effect change. Being environmentally aware takes a change in mindset and if we all made small changes which don’t necessarily cost us anything and often even save us money, the impact would be significant.”
Floating Land starts on May 27 and is one of Australia’s leading Green Art events having sparked the imagination of artists, writers, performers, musicians, photographers, academics and scientists. In its sixth year, Floating Land is a ten-day program of workshops and events, bringing people from across the Asia-Pacific together with communities on the Sunshine Coast.
The next event on the Green June calendar is World Environment Day on June 5 at the University of the Sunshine Coast where over 5,000 visitors are expected to enjoy the five thematic areas namely Energy, Food, Home & Lifestyle, Transport and Water as well as speaker forums, a community forecourt, kid’s areas, food stalls and entertainment.
The festival will also include a screening of the winners of the 2011 Ecoflicks film festival in which budding Sunshine Coast film makers have had the opportunity to submit a short film to raise awareness of our local environment. These films will then be screened at various locations across the Coast throughout the month of June.
The Living Smart Glossies Awards evening on June 17 is another flagship environmental event where local residents and businesses are recognised for their sustainability achievements in building design and land use, creating edible landscapes, transport initiatives, environment friendly business practices, resource management, the new category ‘Greening the Arts’ and the newly introduced Hall of Fame Award. The awards night promises to be a Green June highlight with radio and TV personality, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki as keynote speaker.
The final event for 2011 Green June is the Noosa Festival of Water held annually at Lake Macdonald on June 26 to highlight the importance of conserving water and protecting aquatic biodiversity. The festival includes boat tours, wildlife displays, music performances and an exciting children’s program of activities.
For more information on Green June and other events on the calendar, please visit www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/greenjune.
Ends.
Please click here for the Green June calendar.
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