Zone 1. Body and Soul – Health Tonic
What does it take to have a healthy life? We know as well as you that it’s not really just about pills and prescriptions. We think, along with millions of others that there are many factors that make up a healthy life.
At body and soul we will bring you deeper into the experiences you need to have to make your life as wholesome as it can be. Therapies are for well being as well as for making you better, managing your body means preventing is more important than curing.
Empower yourself with some basic tools and techniques to listen to your body and soul, and what will make it resonate and sing. From Swedish massage to yoga, from simple medical checks to nutrition advice we will explore with you what works, when it works, and why it works. We bring you face to face with some of the experts who can shed light on how you can stop being a passive consumer of health and take control.
Zone 2. Low Carbon Diet – Energy Zone
Will technology save us? Or will it save me money?
If you have no idea about either of these two questions you better come to the Low Carbon Diet zone where experts are doing everything in their power to get you off oil and onto something more wholesome. Oil is a addiction – they have just got over the denial stage in the US, so what about us?
At the energy zone you will learn about the real issues of the way we use energy today. Do you know how electricity is generated? Did you know that around sixty per cent of the energy going into Northern Ireland’s power stations never makes it to a house, its wasted! Have you ever heard of peak oil – the moment when we have used half of all the available oil in the world – some say we have already passed that moment – learn about how that fact alone will change our lives.
Is it climate change or Global Warming – either way what does it mean for Ireland? Lots actually and we can begin to explain what it will mean for you and your children and their children.
At the Low Carbon Diet our job is to show you the consequences of the way we do things currently, but rather than leave you disheartened – we are going to show you what you can do about it.
For land owners – how to convert your land to bio-mass – willow and miscanthus
For car owners – how to use bio-diesel in your car
For the diy fanatics – how to make a solar panel from stuff lying round your garage
For home owners – how to save hundreds of pounds a year with energy efficiency
For those making an energy decision – Ground source or solar? Wind or wood pellet?
For the confused and the apathetic – we will shake you to your roots – get here and get energised!
Zone 3. Food Village
Get your face stuck into the delights of local food, slow food, organic food, nothing but glorious food! Castlewellan Farmers Market plus guests are moving into the park lock stock and apple barrel for the Green Living Experience. From Drumgooland Smoked Salmon to Peader Quinn’s Wheaten bread, Moo Goo Ice Cream, Glebe Brethen Cheese and Burrenwood Organic produce – it will all be there for you, fresh as you like and tasting like food was meant to taste. We apologise now for the absence of polystyrene packaging and the random shapes of the fruit and vegetables and the soil on the carrots. In reality those things just don’t matter to us.
What does matter is that food is from here, its fresh, it’s a good price, its sold by the producer, it has a story and you can hear it first hand. We know you’ll love what we have on offer.
Zone 4. Living Planet
Does the planet really breathe?
Too right it does, along with lots of things that live on it, it takes colossal breaths and we now understand that we are stripping away its lungs. All of life – especially the bits we can’t see are crucial to a healthy planet. The living planet zone exposes you to the living world around us, from fish in the sea to fungi in the forest, and insects in Ireland. Come have a chat with the champions who are working to save what biodiversity we have left in Ireland and the UK, find out about their work. Meet some of the plants and animals at the centre of it all and be sure to walk away with very practical actions you can do to make a difference to our wildlife and to our world.
At the Living Planet Zone you can touch a fish, talk to an owl, plant a seed, get a tree, find a chirpy bird, hug a tree and loads more!
Zone 5. Sustainable Living
Are you bored not knowing how to grow food, how to weave, how to make a dry stone wall, how to make a solar panel from stuff lying in your garage?
At the sustainable living Zone you will be introduced to a new way of looking at the world from inside your life. You will find out how to interact with the world in a different way. Assumptions will be challenged and your skills will be honed. In a post fossil-fuel society, in a world of changing climates, what will it take to thrive instead of survive? Well there are plenty of people who have been working on this for a long time and they have lots they want to share with you, from dry stone walling, to permaculture. You can find out about green building materials, green fixtures and fittings. How do you grow a garden? We’ll let you in on the secrets!
Zone 6. Ethical Living
Did you ever consider yourself a politician? We think you are and we’d like to show you why – with the pound in your pocket!
Every pound you spend is a decision with implications for you and for the world. In a world where billions of people live on less than L2 a day, your pound means more than you think. Where do the clothes you are wearing come from? Who made them? In what working conditions? With what material? For instance did you know that the average 100% cotton T-shirt contains only 73% cotton. The rest is made up of chemicals and resins that were used to grow and make it. Yet, we all think cotton is one of the most natural things around. The truth is, it's not as nice as we'd all like to think.
Indeed, cotton is the world's most sprayed crop. It uses over a quarter of all insecticides used today (see list below). The way they grow it isn't good for the farmer's health, the water table's health, the factory worker's health, the river's health and eventually the sea's health.
What about Fair Trade? What does it mean?
Come along to the Ethical Money Zone and find out what your pounds get up to when you buy a t-shirt or a cup of coffee. Find out how your pound is invested by your high street bank – is it in arms manufacture, or in nuclear enterprises?
There a million things you can do, and you don’t even have to be a millionaire! Come and be amazed at just how powerful you really are!
Zone 7. Young Explorer
Calling all young explorers – there’s a world of adventure waiting in the Forest Park. How many times have you gone along to something where its all blah blah blah. Well we are so confident that we will have something to make you, yes you, really happy. You can try an adventure that would make most adults tremble – take control of a majestic wooden Canadian Canoe, learn how they are built and used in their native land and take it to the lake and learn how to use it to live a life on the waves.
Have you ever rock climbed – why not give it a bash – at young explorer Zone.
There will be drums galore for you to make a right rhythmical riot. Take in story with the story teller – go bird watching at the hide, make a rocket! We even have bikes for you to try your hand at the forest’s famous mountain biking trails. So much adventure – so little time.
Zone 8. Creative Space - Singing and Talking
Singing and Talking - Our favourite pastimes! – how can it not be when we are able to talk and listen and shout and rant about the stuff that matters and then sing it all in a song? The centre piece of the Green Living Experience is the chance to take part in the debates that can change your life. There are inspiring stories, amazing challenges, and all the passions on all the subjects we love at Green Living Experience. Check out who is going to talk about your favourite issue and see how you can resist.
At Creative Space we want you to dialogue with our politicians – to ask them how they are getting along with changing our world for the better. We will bring you face to face to talk about and engage the issues. We will make space to talk about all of the issues that matter in our life, we will make the connections about what we are doing and how we are changing the world – for better or for worse.
During the two days of the festival and for the Friday and Saturday nights there will be music of the best order – singer songwriters, SKA bands, Beat Poets, Local Rock Music, and the best traditional music. We reckon its so good we are taking it into the Town on the Friday and Saturday nights – be sure to get you’re your ticket for the hottest gig in the land.
