Last month, environmentalists convened in Seaton Park for Envirolution, Aberdeen’s first environmental festival. The event, designed to help educate, motivate and bring together communities to learn about climate change, offered a selection of family-friendly activities and music.
Organised by the Students’ Union and local group North East Scotland Climate Action Network (NESCAN), and several other local groups, talks and interactive workshops ran throughout the day, with free food provided by AUSA.
Amongst the wide range of stall holders were park rangers, community activist groups like Friends of St Fitticks Park, bicycle workshops such as BeCycle, and the Student Union’s pedal-powered smoothie maker.
Bob, Envirolution Cooperative co-founder, told The Gaudie how he started the platform in 2010 to highlight Manchester’s environmental initiatives, saying:
“They work [the festivals] because we place them in public green space that people are going to enjoy on nice days anyway. Then they come and have a look at what we are getting up to.”
He said Aberdeen is “a tough nut to crack [because] people are invested in the oil industry [and] a lot of things happening that have pushed communities to the verges.”
Ainhoa, Vice President for Communities, heard about the festival at a climate assembly and decided to bring the initiative to Aberdeen, planning the details for over a year and a half. Describing the event as “by the community, for the community,” Ainhoa was happy with how it turned out after “emailing everyone like crazy” and having “barely slept.”
When asked about the philosophy behind the festival, Bob said he hopes to foster conversations about possible responses to climate change. The biggest obstacle to climate action is feeling unable to make an impact, he explained, “but if everybody is joining these groups, having these conversations and exploring ideas, that’s where change is going to happen.”
