Sustainable Living Festival

This weekend, everybody wins – both Melbourne punters and Planet Earth. Proving that it’s possible to stage a super two-day concert featuring a stellar local lineup and make it all happen using 100 percent renewable energy, the 12th annual Sustainable Living Festival celebrates the best examples of ecological and social sustainability. But how exactly, you ask? Well, program manager Caroline Hughes breaks it down…

"We have a series of bikes put together on a trailer which generate energy. Basically, the punters ride the bikes and at the same time that feed the energy into the Federation Square! It’s great because it creates renewable energy, but at the same time people are getting some exercise too!"

And you’ll want to keep paddling too if you want to see the likes of Kid Sam’s Kieran Ryan, The Orbweavers, Acequia and Dick Diver among others over a two-day music showcase. With attendance numbers currently sitting at a massive 125,000, Hughes says special appearances from television names like Charlie Pickering, Julia Zemiro, David Suzuki and Michael Reynolds could see the amount of punters skyrocket this year.

"The festival started off with just a thousand people attending in the small town of Daylesford, and it’s something that’s really grown from strength to strength over the years. This year will be its eighth year at Federation Square, but our local events program actually encourages people and organisations around Melbourne and Australia to host their own events as part of the festival.

"There’s been so much interest in people wanting to educate themselves on sustainable living – we’ve had Beyond Zero Emission and the 100 Percent Renewable Energy Campaign support us. The whole purpose of a festival like this is to accelerate the uptake of sustainable living. In our current climate, we don’t really think about preserving the planet."

As Hughes suggests, perhaps we could learn a lesson or two from indigenous cultures who have always respected the planet and implemented sustainable practices for thousands of years.

"Indigenous cultures have never been about short-term contracts with the planet," says Hughes. "They’ve always though long-term about how to sustain the planet for many generations to come, rather than just the next 20 years. This festival showcases some of the solutions rather than just harping on about the problems.

"It’s actually quite easy to live sustainably, which a lot of people are not aware of. It’s using sustainable transport like riding bikes or switching to electric vehicles. There are sustainable cooking and eating practices, but energy is a very big one. The biggest obstacle to this has been a lack of awareness, which is why the festival is so important."

Dick Diver’s drummer Stephanie Hughes agrees, claiming that she and her band are not exactly the rev-head types… "We all have compost bins and we ride our bikes as much as possible," she lists with a chuckle. "No, we’re definitely not rev-heads or anything… We just really agree with the cause that the festival supports and we have a lot of friends who are involved in it as well. I absolutely love the idea of having pedal-powered energy for the amps!"

Hughes adds that she is also looking forward to getting a chance to showcase some brand new Dick Diver material after something of an absence from the Melbourne live scene over the last six months. With a brand new record on the way, Hughes says the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

"We just recorded our album with Mikey Young – we got down 18 songs in two days!" enthuses the drummer. "Two days of junk food and good times, it’s very Dick Diver-y. We’ve worked with Mikey before but this time was really special because since the EP last year, the whole band has had more time to feel each other out more and get more comfortable with the whole process. The songs are better for it and it’s more relaxing.

"We’ve all got other projects happening at the same time – I’ve been doing Boomgates and touring with Darren Hanlon as well. When we do get together, though, we’re not the type of band that busts our guts just to play millions of random shows… Every time we play, we always make it count and do it for the right reasons."

For Hughes in particular, 2011 is looking like a huge year in music – not only will Dick Diver release a brand new record later in the year, but the drummer reveals she will takes off on yet another Darren Hanlon tour.

"He’s taught me a lot which I think is evident in my drumming," says Hughes. "I was a lot more reserved on the drums before but now I get on them and just shred! Nah, I’m just joking… Darren is very off-the-cuff and you never know what will happen next, so I’ve learned a lot from that. It’s all helped to make Dick Diver a better band too."

Maybe a stint on the bikes at the Sustainable Living Festival will help too?

THE SUSTAINABLE LIVING FESTIVAL ‘Zero Carbon Concert – Giving It 100%’ is at Federation Square this Saturday February 19 from 4pm – it’s free, and it features Kieran Ryan (Kid Sam), The Orbweavers, Dick Diver and Acequia. With loads of events in a number of iconic Melbourne venues, the SLF this year is massive. For all info on the Sustainable Living Festival head to slf.org.au/festival.