After three years of offering 300 + events focused on people and planet, EcoFest has well and truly become the time and place to sample sustainability.
The fourth month-long festival starts on 22 March and will send a clearer message than ever to Aucklanders and her visitors: this gathering of events across the region is your best chance ever to try your hand at things you’ve only wondered about.
Ever thought you’d like to dress up your bike with lights and take a nighttime ride with like-minded riders. How about a sunset track walk in Piha to learn about coastal birds or an after-dark adventure looking for Ruru? Roll your sleeves up to save food that supermarkets throw away, help with a stream clean-up, learn to trap pests and protect native taonga, or take a mini-tour round a suburban food forest. For those who want to learn from home, join a webinar and understand climate change anxiety, or watch a fun, koha-accessed video on harvesting your own rainwater.
Organisers say these workshops are just a small sample of events that are often free or low cost and usually only require a couple of hours to experience. Growing, cooking, and preserving food workshops are always a firm favourite and a great way to meet new people or spend time learning with friends and family. Classes such as printmaking, drawing or woodworking are popular with all ages and a great way to reconnect with your own creativity.
The origins of the festival were formed thirteen years ago in West Auckland, as a way to help people foster environmental behaviour together. EcoMatters Environment Trust founded it, and were joined two years later by Kaipātiki Project; the festival went regional when [CG1] Beautification Trust and Waiheke Resources Trust joined the team.
“What delivering this festival has taught us, is that even just attending one event can create a positive, impactful connection between each other and the environment,” says EcoMatters CEO, Carla Gee. “Given the challenges happening in Aotearoa and in the rest of the world right now, we know that it’s more important than ever to provide fun, light-hearted ways to sample sustainability together. We can’t wait to kick off the festival once more.”
[CG1]Joined two years later by Kaipatiki Project, and three years ago the festival went regional when Beautification Trust and Waiheke Resources Trust joined the team.
