ENVIRONMENTAL blogger Erin Rhoads has been announced as a key speaker at the inaugural Replenish Our Planet Living Festival.
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To be staged on November 16-17, the festival will be held in the Koroit Botanical Gardens.
Festival committee member Genevieve Grant said the event should have a captive audience.
"Urgent action is needed to help save our environment, but people don't have to panic, they just need to do some simple things to make a difference," Ms Grant said.
"One of those things is to think before we buy. Think about the packaging and how many miles the food has had to travel to get to you.
"The festival is about being positive and helping each other make a difference.
"We have a hard-working committee in place to make this happen."
Festival president is Tina Stubbs, who owns the Nature's Way Eco Sanctuary property in Rosebrook.
She said people are keen to go down the sustainable and regenerative path.
"So we decided to organise an event where experts, educators and various crafts people could come together in a sort of outdoor expo.
"Koroit seemed the ideal village-like place to hold the festival, especially as it is situated in such close proximity to Tower Hill, where the Aboriginal knowledge of land and country is on display."
On the Saturday of the festival, seven villages will be set up in the gardens.
These villages will represent the categories of community living, sustainable energy, sustainable farming, natural building, health and wellbeing, home making and hand crafts.
The Saturday of the festival will give festival patrons the chance to take self-guided tours of sustainable houses and gardens throughout the district.
Key speaker Ms Rhoads runs the eco-lifestyle website therogueginger.com
She said her mission was to share knowledge and experiences around the definition of waste and ways to create less of it.
"It can be a bit lonely at times if you think you are the only one trying to make a difference," Ms Rhoads said.
"An event like this will help to bring like-minded people together. That builds confidence because when you are learning new skills together, you don't feel so isolated."
Joining Ms Rhoads as speakers at the festival will be Peter Andrews and David Holmgren.
A recipient of an Order of Australia Medal, Mr Andrews hails from New South Wales and is regarded as a world leader in regenerating drought-stricken land through natural sequence farming.
Mr Holmgren co-pioneered the permaculture concept.