The 2004 Sustainable Living Festival at Federation Square, Melbourne,
was the first of its kind I have ever attended. And at the risk of sounding
clichéd, it blew me away. It was not only the magnitude of the event,
being situated so close to the city center, or the wonderful variety of displays,
performances, stalls and information that were found there. There was also
something about the atmosphere, and being in the presence of so many others
who were similarly interested in sustainable living.
Held over the Friday to Sunday weekend of February 13th-15th, it took at least two full days to fully appreciate everything the Festival had to offer. To begin with, the main subject of sustainability was divided up into the six themes of Think, Feel, Create, Design, Feast, and Play. Every day for each one of these themes, at least one presentation of some sort was scheduled every hour. Add them all up and what you have in effect were over two hundred separate talks, exhibits, and activities running both concurrently and consecutively throughout the festival.
On the main stage, at the heart of Federation Square, performances were staged regularly throughout the day. Information stalls and tents were dotted along the periphery, with the Feel section residing in the nearby, air-conditioned BMW Edge Building (and believe me, the luxury of being in there was never more appreciated than on the 40ºC Saturday). Down the steps from the main Square, however, was where the rest of the Festival lay. Some two hundred metres of the Yarra River bank promenade were lined on both sides with features such the Design Home, a sustainable garden display, the Bike Station, and countless stalls.
“design – the function of sustainable living”
This was probably the most substantial theme of the Festival,
covering a range of ways to redesign our lives from the Design Home, renewable
energy, eco-tourism, natural paints, sustainable architecture, green gardening,
and energy and water saving appliances and practices, to products made from
recycled and reused materials. The Design Home exhibited eco-alternatives
to common household materials, appliances and items. These included both sustainable
timber and non-timber flooring such as bamboo, commercially-available furniture
made of recycled metals and fabrics, water-saving taps and showerheads, recycled
toilet paper, and a rainwater tanks, among many others on display. Along an
adjacent wall were displayed the architect/designer and student winning submissions
to BuildSmart’s Sustainable Housing Design Competition.
Various stalls also ran guessing competitions, such as the Kimberley seat competition run by Repeat Products where you had to guess how many empty toner cartridges had been recycled to make it. Others required you to guess how many worms were in the displayed plastic takeaway container, or the number of plastic bags an average family goes through in a year. On the bench in front of that stall sat a cute life-sized mannequin named “Pete Repeat” after the reused plastic bags he was made of. He was quite popular among visitors to the Festival, if the number of people who wanted to have their photo taken with him was any indication.
One of the most interesting stalls was Biome Living, which sold “earth-friendly choices for home, body & soul”. Many of their wares were items I had never seen before: CompuNet’s range of CD-wallets, mouse pads, key rings and address books made of reused computer motherboards; “Fruition Bags” made of discarded plastic juice cartons by a Philippine women’s co-operative; sushi-platters, clocks and coasters made from flattened glass bottles; cleaning cloths produced from recycled fabric scraps; and a skillfully designed rocking-horse-shaped child’s tyre swing made of reused tyres. I loved that stall!
The sustainable garden display was a joint effort by various nurseries, exhibiting native, flowering, edible and ornamental plants and grasses, each heavily mulched with straw. Beside it talks were held on seed saving, permaculture, landscaping and greywater. The other design exhibit on a similar scale was the Design Cities sculptural timeline located in the Square. From a distance it resembled a small group of curiously shaped plastic bubbles, but on closer inspection it was revealed that it was plastered with large sheets of paper, on each of which was varied commentary on the state of the past and present world in terms of sustainability: what that might lead to in the future, and what is hoped for the future.
Continue>> to “create – the art of sustainable living”
Changes is the
Newsletter of Change Design, the
student branch of the
EcoDesign Foundation, Sydney | Questions
& Comments Welcome
Last Updated April 2004