“Greening” the
Mission Beach Film Festival
Since “Sustainability” is this year’s theme for the Mission Beach Film Festival the organizers felt it was essential to ensure that the Festival itself had as low an environmental impact as possible. To this end they have instigated a number of initiatives.
Green Audit and Carbon Offsets
The Festival, in coordination with Terrain NRM, is conducting a full green audit of the event. This will include all power usage, freight transportation, waste disposal and travel etc. The Festival will be purchasing carbon offset credits to fully offset our carbon footprint and aim to be certified as a “Climate Friendly Event”.
www.climatefriendly.com
Native Revegetation
One of the greatest threats to the local flora and fauna in the Mission Beach area is habitat loss. The Mission Beach Film Festival, in association with local conservation group C4, will be conducting a revegetation project of 1000 native trees. Planning and consultation are presently underway to identify an ideal site for the planting.
Traffic Calming
The organizers are in the process of arranging bus transport within the Mission Beach area for the duration of the Festival so as to minimize car use. Venues are within walking distance of each other to encourage people to leave the car at home. In addition, negotiations are underway with Main Roads, again with the help of Terrain NRM and C4, to instigate an advisory speed reduction plan throughout the area for the duration of the Festival.
With all these initiatives in place the organizers believe that the Festival can have a net positive impact on the environment and thus fully embrace the theme of “Sustainability”.