Serious fun

"This event changes people’s lives." So says Davie Philip, former professional skateboarder and organiser of Convergence 2003, the fourth annual sustainable living fair that takes place in ‘Cultivate’, Sustainable Ireland’s new centre in Temple Bar’s West End, from Wednesday 14th May till Sunday 24th May.

"It’s inspired people to make the change towards more fulfilling careers, or to learn skills allowing them to move to the country and create their own natural homes and more chilled-out lifestyles," says Davie. "Lots of us know we need to think about more ethical, healthy and ecological ways of living if we want a future. This festival really puts people with these concerns in touch with each other and with a whole new world of amazing ideas and initiatives."

As a seasoned Convergence-goer, I’ve experienced firsthand the excitement that this festival generates. You tap into a thrilling counterculture of people and ideas, which offer heartening alternatives to our currently unsustainable culture of short-term thinking, violence and greed. A spin-off of the week-and-a-half long festival is the excellent social buzz, with music, art and performance events providing a focal point for entertainment, networking, flirting and craic.

Convergence kicks off with its own fundraiser on Wednesday 14th May. The Slow Food Banquet takes place in the magnificent setting of the old church SS Michael and Johns. It promotes a revival of the kitchen and table as sources of pleasure, culture and community, with entertainment and a seven-course meal prepared from locally produced, organic and wild ingredients by top international chefs.

The Earth Fair on Saturday 17th May is another major event, bringing a vibrant urban country market to Cultivate’s courtyard and Cow’s Lane. There’ll be performances, workshops, a book fair and or course an abundance of sustainable arts and crafts and locally produced food.

Major conferences featuring Irish and international experts and organisations include ‘Entering the Eco-Economy’ and ‘The Revitalisation of Irish Farming’. George Monbiot – controversial Guardian journalist and author and recipient of a UN Global 500 Award for outstanding environmental achievement – lectures on ‘The Age of Consent: Proposals for Democratic Governance’, while author/activists Helena Norbert Hodge and Richard Douthwaite co-present ‘Localisation: Solving Global Crises from Terrorism to Climate Change’.

A Q & A session with John Bowman and a panel of distinguished guests debate sustainable development. Another forum asks ‘How Can We Work Together Towards A Sustainable Future?’ and provides an opportunity to share approaches and perspectives amongst environmental, development and community organisations.

Other workshops explore eco-footprints and the end of fossil fuel; plant medicine and traditional wisdom; sustainability in a consumer world; the dynamics of cultural change; permaculture; urban greening; sustainability and Brehon Law; solar water heating in Ireland; deep ecology; globalisation and genocide; Tai Chi; Feng Shui; wormeries; the democratisation of technology and the media; and green burials (hosted by the Natural Death Society, of course).

Meanwhile, ‘Vital Viewing’ screenings offer the best in current films and documentaries, including The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, a real-life thriller about the US and media-orchestrated attemted coup against democratic Venezualan President, Hugo Chavez; Counting on Democracy, the story of the 2000 US Presidential election in Florida; and our own contemporary Life and Crimes of Citizen Ming, whose dabblings with cannabis, marathon running, jail, sustainable rural development and Roscommon have become legendary. Other films include Mark Thomas Live in Brighton, The Ad and the Ego, Global Gardener, and the Irish premier of Revolution OS, which tells the inside story of the revolutionary computer nerds who rebelled against Microsoft and the proprietary software model to create GNU/Linux and the Open Source movement.

Also intriguing for those with a spiritual, ecological and philosophical yen are the lectures ‘New Cosmology: The Universe Story’ and ‘The Lost Language of Plants’. The first, hosted by internationally renowned authors Brian Swimme and Charlene Spretnak, describes "cosmology as a way of orienting oneself and one’s community in the midst of the overwhelming powers of the universe." The second lecture is given by Stephen Harrod Buhner – poet, author and expert on indigenous cultures, herbal medicine, the sacredness of plants, the intelligence of Nature and "the states of mind necessary for successful habitation of Earth". Mad stuff!

Another far-out event is ‘The Cosmic Playpen’, in which Martin Boroson uses his award-winning creation story, Becoming Me, to teach the philosophy of ‘cosmic play’, weaving together modern psychology with core ideas from many different spiritual traditions.

Theatre, performance and gallery highlights would have to include Spacecraft Theatre's adaptation of Dario Fo’s famous comedy, Accidental Death of an Anarchist; the Corruption Cabaret, offering performance, music, food, dance and surprises; and Butterfly Dream, a digital film exploring micro and macrocosmic designs of nature, hypnotic evolving patterns and the relationship between sound and picture.

For more information, bookings and the festival programme visit www.sustainable.ie or phone Sustainable Ireland on 01 674 6396