By Lisa Macdonald
The Students and Sustainability conference will be held in one of the environment movement's earliest home bases this year. From July 1 to 5, Lismore in northern NSW, will be hosting the national gathering of environmentalists, held annually in different cities since 1990.
Students and Sustainability conferences bring together students, artists, scientists, politicians, public servants and movement activists to learn about and discuss environmental issues, and to plan activities to address the problems.
According to conference organising collective member Marty Branagan, this year's conference will break from past tradition "which we felt had too much academic chalk-and-talk and doom-and-gloom" to be very positive and practical with an emphasis on audience participation and small group discussion.
The five day agenda, to be opened by Bundjalung elders in their own language, will cover science, technology, philosophy, arts, activism, the community and indigenous issues. More than 120 forums and workshops ranging from women's tree-climbing through land rights to permaculture in Cuba, will be complemented by active sessions including a Critical Mass bike ride; tree planting; field trips to forests, organic farms and the Rainbow Power solar factory; kayaking; whale watching; a video-fest; a sunset ritual-dance and an overnight "council of all beings".
The conference entertainment program features art installations, the Rampart exhibition, SistaWeb Circus, a trivia night, a vegan feast and lots of music.
At midday on the final day of the conference the Aquarius Revisited forum will begin in Nimbin, chaired by one of the organisers of the original, and infamous, festival in 1973.
Branagan says that the Students and Sustainability '96 organisers "want to send people away inspired, empowered and with definite action plans."
To register, get involved in the organising collective or find out more, phone (066) 222 755 or (019) 458 484, or write to S&S '96, c/- Southern Cross University Union, East Lismore NSW 2480. Email: s&s@firestorm.scu.edu.au.