Over the next two weeks, homes, theatres and community spaces around Nelson will open their doors for conversations about solar, affordable and efficient home building, gardening and native forests.
It’s all part of Nelson’s fifth annual Climate Action Festival, which returns this year from 18-27 September, with the theme Our Place, Our Power.
Dozens of events are planned across the region. People can plant a tree and listen to live music at the Wakapuaka Mouri restoration project, learn about composting or take in one of five films in the festival.
Young people will gather to talk about climate justice, while other events will look at nature, careers, politics and the choices facing voters.
Further afield in Golden Bay, participants will be taken on a tour of comfortable high performance homes with a low environmental footprint.
Closer to home, locals can attend Nelson’s first ever ‘Watt’s Inside’ event, where homeowners welcome small groups into their homes for a conversation about life with solar power.
The connection between people and place runs through the festival this year.
“Climate change can often leave people feeling a bit like spectators. When people know their local environment, know the people around them and can see the practical things they can do, climate action becomes much more tangible,” says Joanna Santa Barbara, co-chair of the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum, which coordinates the festival.
“We want people to come away laving learned something useful, met someone new and feeling more connected to their place, their neighbours and their community.”
The festival is very much community-run, she says.
“People come forward with the things they care about and the skills and ideas they want to share.”
The festival starts this Friday, with a screening of Line in the Sandstone at The Suter followed by a panel with people involved in efforts to protect the Denniston Plateau.
The programme can be found at www.ntcf.nz
