“I love that Renew Fest is challenging us to look at the bigger picture, and at the same time asking us, what we can do right here, right now. And I love that it recognises that we all have a role to play in this – that each perspective is valuable. It’s going to be challenging, eye-opening and a lot of fun!”
~ Helena Norberg-Hodge ~
May 18th – 20th, 2018
(this event has passed)
Mullumbimby Showgrounds
51 Main Arm Road
Mullumbimby NSW, Australia
Renew Fest is a pioneering waste free sustainability festival. It’s purpose is to celebrate collaborative action and the power of community to crowd-fund the implementation of innovative sustainability projects, giving rise to positive transitional actions for our sustainable future. Being a fundraiser, Renew Fest is the first Australian sustainability festival of its kind, with all proceeds invested in community owned sustainable development projects run by its seed organisation, COREM.
Located under the fig trees in Mullumbimby, Renew Fest presents an idyllic format for learning and celebrating the positive actions happening locally and globally. Bringing together a diverse spectrum of intellectuals, creatives, innovators and advocates, Renew Fest is renewing the future. What are you ready to renew?’
For more information: http://renewfest.org.au/
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Ethical Economics Panel Discussion
Local Futures organized a panel discussion on ‘Ethical Economics’ on Sunday, May 20th. In addition, Helena spoke on two other panels: ‘Insanity as a sane response to the current state of society’, and ‘How to enact Full System Transition in the Byron Shire.’
How can we restore our ecosystems, our communities, as well as justice and democracy? Changing our economic system is key. This program provided a holistic analysis, as well as exciting, visionary examples of ethical, ecological and equitable economics in action. There were be short presentations, a panel discussion and Q&A.
Confirmed speakers on the
Ethical Economics Panel
 . | Amanda Cahill is the Director and Founder of the Centre for Social Change. Amanda has spent nearly two decades working on community development projects in countries as diverse as Brazil, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Timor-Leste and Indigenous Australia. Her work has touched on a range of areas including community enterprise development, health promotion, climate change adaptation, appropriate technology and women’s empowerment. Amanda is particularly interested in working with environmental groups looking for new ways to engage communities, and with people wanting to explore alternative approaches to local economic development both within Australia and internationally. |
 . | Warwick Smith is Senior Economist at progressive think tank Per Capita and an honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne’s School of Social and Political Sciences. His work focuses on issues of economic justice and inequality with recent projects including the gender pay gap, the adequacy of the Age Pension and the accumulation of disadvantage over one’s lifetime. Warwick’s professional interests include gender economics, taxation economics and the history and philosophy of economics. He also has a background in evolutionary and conservation biology. |
 . | Dan Fitzgerald’s vision is to create a harmonious existence for all beings and the Planet, now and for future generations. After a career as an investor, analyst and trader in the conventional financial economy, Dan began to question the contribution he was making to the world. Dan embarked on a journey, along with his wife Leanne and daughter Frankie to align their values with their contribution in service of a higher purpose. That journey led Dan to Small Giants, where he leads the investing activities of the group. Small Giants exists to lead our communities towards empathy and a new regenerative economy. |
 | Helena Norberg-Hodge is a pioneer of the new economy movement and recipient of the Right Livelihood Award and the Goi Peace Prize. Her inspirational book Ancient Futures has been translated into more than 35 languages. She is co-author of Bringing the Food Economy Home and From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture and the producer of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness. She also is the director of Local Futures and the International Alliance for Localization (IAL), and a founding member of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) and Global Ecovillage Network. |
 . | Jeremy Tager (moderator) holds degrees in literature and law, and for the last 25 years has been an environmental activist. This has included work in North Queensland on coastal development, the Great Barrier Reef, sugar cane expansion, industrial development, threatened species, climate change and mining. Jeremy has also worked for both the Democrats and the Greens as an environment advisor and more recently for Greenpeace on GMO issues and as head of their political unit. Jeremy now works for Friends of the Earth Emerging Tech project, which focusses on nanotechnology, synthetic biology and geo-engineering. |