How can we inspire and equip our young people to play a role in creating an awesome future?

Hydro Tasmania have coordinated this discussion about the importance of young people in shaping our future and the importance of strong mentors to equip them with the skills and knowledge to do it well. Panel featuring:

LESLEY MACKAY 
Lesley represents The Smith Family, a national, independent children’s education charity. The Smith Family provides Australian children who experience disadvantage with a broad range of supports to help them thrive at school.

JENNIFER HEMER 
Jennifer creates and supports partnerships between volunteer STEM professionals and teachers for CSIRO’s Scientists and Mathematicians in Schools program, providing access to real-world and contemporary experiences in STEM.

ANDREW HUGHES

Andrew is the Education Manager for the Bookend Trust. He is part of a team that uses an innovative adventure learning model to connect students from kindergarten to college with science and the outdoors.

COREY PETERSON 
Corey is the Sustainability Manager at the University of Tasmania, a member of the University Council and on the board of Sustainable Living Tasmania. Corey is a graduate of the Tasmanian Leaders Program with Masters Degrees in Environmental Science and Public Administration.

How can our economic system be reformed or transformed to allow humans to flourish whilst renewing and protecting natural systems upon which we (humans and lots of other species) depend?

Discussion facilitated by Phil Harrington

Panel Members

• Saul Eslake (Private Economics Consultant) - Saul Eslake worked as an economist in the Australian financial markets for more than 25 years, including as Chief Economist at McIntosh Securities (a stockbroking firm) in the late 1980s, Chief Economist (International) at National Mutual Funds Management in the early 1990s, as Chief Economist at the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) from 1995 to 2009, and as Chief Economist (Australia & New Zealand) for Bank of America Merrill Lynch from 2011 until June 2015.
• Millie Rooney - Millie is passionate about community and connection and the value of things beyond the financial economy. Millie has both theoretical (through her PhD) and practical (through her strong engagement in her community) expertise in the informal, nonfinancial and often invisible economies that exist.

• James Kirkpatrick (University of Tasmania)- Geographer and conservation ecologist, Distinguished Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick, measures his success by the new things he discovers that allow us to better protect the natural world, and by how much they are used to do so. He has been awarded the Eureka Prize for Environmental Research and an Order of Australia for service to forest and world heritage conservation.

• Stuart Barry (Australian Ethical) is a Certified Financial Planner with Australian Ethical. He has had 27 years’ experience working with organisations such as ING, Westpac and Queensland Treasury Corporation

• Dr. Mark Dibben (University of Tasmania)- Mark Dibben is Associate Professor of Management at the University of Tasmania and Visiting Professor in Applied Process Thought at the Centre for Process Studies, California. He focuses on ‘Ecological Management’, which he distinguishes from late-Modernity’s ‘Economism Management’.

What is Tasmania’s role in securing a safe global climate? Can Tasmania become carbon neutral by 2035 and a net sink for the remainder of the century?

What changes might be required, and what challenges and opportunities do they present?

• TODD HOUSTEIN: Todd is Sustainable Living Tasmania’s Executive Officer. He is passionate about helping Tasmania to become a leader in achieving global sustainability. Todd is a former engineer with experience in renewable energy systems, energy efficiency, and humanitarian engineering.

• ANDREW FRASER: Andrew is the Network Innovations Team Leader at TasNetworks. He is currently working on battery storage and aggregation, electric vehicles, advanced metering and remote area power supplies.

• JOHN PITT: John spent the bulk of his engineering career building pitt&sherry from a small, single-office operation employing less than 10 people to one of Australia's top 20 engineering consultancies. He recognised that in a market environment increasingly being influenced and judged by its contribution to global sustainability objectives, pitt&sherry had a responsibility, and the opportunity, to contribute to the improvement of community, social and environmental outcomes.

• ALICJA MOSBAUER: Alicja is an active cyclist with an interest in sustainable transport. As an active commuter for most of her 20 years living in Tasmania, Alicja has experienced the benefit of this form of transport for most of her working career. Alicja was involved in a project with Hydro Tasmania last year, looking at how to address electric and plug in hybrid vehicles in Tasmanian government fleets.

• ROGER BURRELL: Roger is the National Sales Manager, Apricus Australia. He has been active in the renewable energy industry for nearly 20 years, with a focus on solar hot water. Roger regularly presents and facilitates solar workshops and industry seminars across Australia, and is committed to empowering individuals to think about the energy choices they make through education, and the sharing of ideas.

As always, the Festival Discussions bring you a panel of experts to discuss the pressing and fascinating issues of our time.

Reclaiming waste food, nourishing people and creating community through free food feasts.  

Join the Food Not Bombs crew to discuss the values behind FNB - access, resourcefulness and collaboration.   2.30pm Saturday, in the Metro Bus on the Forecourt of Prince's Wharf #1.

What can be done at the household and industry level to move towards zero waste?

Modern consumer society produces huge amounts of non-recyclable, non-renewable waste. However, with a few simple adjustments your lifestyle, it is possible to significantly reduce your ecological footprint. This exciting talk will encourage you take a journey towards a waste free existence.

Panel Facilitated by Margaret Steadman.

Panel Members:

• Oberon Carter - Oberon works in threatened species conservation by day. He and his family have been living close to waste-free for over a year. He is also president of Permaculture Tasmania and a budding actor. 

• Thomas Crawford - Thomas recently completed his honours on food waste at UTAS and is now starting a food waste composting pilot project with Source Community Wholefoods Cooperative and Hobart City Farm. Thomas is a super passionate, young zero waster.

• Lissa Villeneuve - Lissa is passionate about waste reduction.  She runs numerous events (including our own Sustainable Living Festival), all with minimal footprint.  Lissa will share her strategies for only putting your bins out 1-2 times a year. 

• Alban Johnson - Alban, owner of Eumarrah, is passionate about reducing the amount of single use packaging in food production and retail and will share his tips for how to reduce your own reliance on food packaging. 

• Alderman Bill Harvey - Bill is an Alderman on the Hobart City Council and current board member of Resource Work Cooperative. Bill is especially interested in strategies to eliminate plastic pollution and achieving the council target of zero waste to landfill by 2030.

Strong leadership is essential for implementing change. We will explore what makes a good leaders and the importance of supporters in creating those leaders.

• Rodney Croome is a long time advocate for LGBTI equality and was named Tasmanian Australian of the Year in 2015.

• Kym Goodes' (TASCOSS) focus is on working towards a fairer and more equitable Tasmania through collaboration and partnerships between the social services sector, business, communities and government. Her major focus is on ensuring all Tasmanians have the opportunity to participate in all aspects of life, economic, social and political.

• Greg Irons (Director, Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary) lives to protect Tasmania’s unique wildlife. He firmly believes small changes make a big difference, and inspires others to make change happen.

• Damian Richmond (Bank Australia) works with a variety of social, community and environmental customers within Bank Australia. With a current focus on assisting environmental groups and the banks growth within the environmental sector.

• Simon Fishwick (University of Tasmania) had more than 20 years professional experience as a HR professional, manager and consultant prior to commencing a full-time academic role at the University of Tasmania in 2001. His expertise is in strategic Human Resourcing and leadership with a particular interest in effective implementation.