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A candidate astronaut for the Mars One space-colony will be ‘making a difference’ closer to home.
Dianne McGrath will appear via ZOOM as ambassador for City of Greater Dandenong’s Forever Fest on May 22-30.
She’ll feature at the launch and each day of the nine-day climate-change and sustainability festival, which will be a mix of on-site and online content.
Ms McGrath was ranked in the top-10 candidates – out of 200,000 applicants – for the proposed one-way trip to settle Mars.
At the launch at Springvale Community Hub, there will be onsite activities such as pre-loved clothes swaps, zero-waste cooking classes and a workshop on building a bee hotel.
A plastic-free party, with 200 keep cups and giveaways will be available.
The festival will also feature key speakers including ABC’s War on Waste executive producer Jodi Boylan, celebrity chef Alice Zaslavsky, Sustainability Collective founder Charlotte Connell and ClimateForce founder Barney Swan.
Each day of the festival, Mr Swan will plant 100 trees in the Daintree rainforest in north Queensland.
The 900 trees help protect biodiversity and reduce run-off to the Great Barrier Reef.
Mayor Angela Long said the festival would provide thought-provoking content and easy tips on how the community can make a difference.
“Each day will focus on the eight themes of our Climate Emergency Strategy, which was prepared in response to Council’s declaration of a Climate Emergency in January 2020,” Cr Long said.
“We’re encouraging people to bring along their pre-loved clothes for a swap market, we’ll have a smoothie bike on-site, waste-free cooking classes, tree planting and many other wonderful initiatives for the community to get involved in.”
Cr Long said the festival was an important part of the strategy’s aim. It would help engage the community towards Greater Dandenong becoming a net-zero carbon emission city.
“Climate change is here, and its impacts are already affecting our environment, our society and our economy.
“Global efforts to tackle climate change are increasing, but there are many ways we can all make a difference.
“With climate change already impacting our day to day lives, we need stronger action, urgently.
“If we can help our community take small steps to live more sustainably, then we can collectively make a big difference for future generations.”
The Forever Fest launch and onsite activities are at Springvale Community Hub on Saturday 22 May, 9am-1.30pm. Details: www.greaterdandenong.vic.gov.au/forever-fest
