Berry Sustainable Living Forum

Saturday was spent in Berry with Tannar, as we attending the morning session at the Four Seasons Sustainability Forum.

Deny and Kim, put together an excellent mini expo that offerred a variety of products to follow up on and interesting lectures from local people.

The first lecture was a tag team effort by Kelly Upton and Gerrard Proust, who took the audience on a walk through their sustainable garden at Tomerong and through the garden project that Kelly works on in Bomaderry. With many photos and an enthusiastic presentation style, they inspired the audience to go away and get busy in the garden, they gave away seeds and fruit tastings from their harvest. Tannar was most impressed about this as she clutched some bags with bean and parsley seeds.

Colin Irwin gave an interesting talk on the design elements of housing and how something as simple as the placement of the home on the land can make all the difference to the comfort of the home throughout the seasons. From the delight full family home that has been completed as the Sustainable House Shoalhaven Project to the large and private residences Colin presented many options to the assembled.

Ben van der Wijngaart discussed transition and took us on a positive journey through the huge issues that challenge us as a nation when it comes to climate change-to looking at the possibilities for a post climate change world. The future can look bright, it really needs community to get together and put pressure on government to deliver the outcomes that most of the population would like to see enacted.

Tannar wanted to take the electric motor bike that was on display. She was most impressed by its futuristic look and of course the fast red colour it was painted.

I wanted to pack up the aquaponics display and take it home for instant installation in the front garden. What a practical way to achieve a water feature while growing your own vegetables and fish.

We had an enjoyable morning together and either Tannar is a remarkably patient child or she just found the day interesting ( I hope it is both) and we made it through to lunch time before heading South again.

Well done to Deny and Kim, who went to a lot of effort in trying to demystify the issue of sustainability and show that we all have a role to play from changing light globes to taking responsibility for our own power consumption.