The desertSMART EcoFair will be utilising a number of venues around Alice Springs as part of this year’s National Science Week program in August, with events at the Olive Pink Botanic Garden, Alice Springs Community Garden, the Earth Sanctuary World Nature Centre and the Alice Springs Desert Park.
Since 2009 the Ecofair has connected thousands of people to science and sustainability in Alice Springs, with the majority of events being held at the Olive Pink Botanic Garden. 2016 sees a fresh approach, expanding out from the Botanic Garden into other venues in Alice Springs that showcase science, sustainability and our natural environment.
“The EcoFair has now been running for 8 years, and each year we strive to find new ways to engage the community on science and sustainability. This year we wanted to mix things up a bit, as well as showcase the great natural venues in Alice Springs that also have the function of community education,” said Nicole Pietsch, desertSMART EcoFair organiser.
“We are blessed to have venues in Alice Springs the calibre of Olive Pink Botanic Garden, Alice Springs Community Garden, the Earth Sanctuary World Nature Centre and the Alice Springs Desert Park. These venues are the perfect settings for our community to gather, learn about science and sustainability, connect in with our natural environment and become active citizens in shaping our collective future,” said Nicole Pietsch.
“As we experience increasing temperatures, unique weather events and face losing our iconic natural places like the Great Barrier Reef due to global warming, the role of science has a huge role to play in helping us devise pathways to sustainability in the future. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by the issue of climate change and how to make a difference, yet change is happening at fast rate with renewable energy technology now becoming cost competitive and whole countries like Germany, Portugal and Norway running on 100% renewable for certain periods of time.”
“Alice Springs holds a range of scientific and ecological experts and its important for the community to be aware of the great work being undertaken here in Central Australia. EcoFair aims to help us all better understand this work, as well as facilitating national experts to come and share their knowledge about science and sustainability work happening at a national and international and scale.”
The desertSMART EcoFair (www.ecofair.org.au) is organised by the Arid Lands Environment Centre (www.alec.org.au) as part of National Science Week. The program includes:
Friday 12th August:
Eco-Science Schools Day and the Alice Springs Bicycle Film Festival – Olive Pink Botanic Garden
Saturday 13th August:
Nourishing Gardens with Costa – Alice Springs Community Garden
Science Under the Stars – The Earth Sanctuary World Nature Centre
Sunday 14th August:
EcoFair Sustainable Living Festival – Alice Springs Desert Park Courtyard