The Big InTent - Waiheke - An awesome event - despite the weather!

The conversations which took place during and after the The Big InTent Festival were often focused around the impact and importance of this event, and the impulse to want to take it on the road and evolve it in each new place.

There was much said about the urgency of doing so now, at this time when many people are looking at the environmental, energy and financial crises, and are confused and wondering what the heck is happening. People are looking but many of them don't know what they are looking for, or where to find it.

At The Big InTent Festival we watched many brilliant films, survived gales, thunder and lightning, torrential rain, hunkered down in the wonderful black velvet tent, and danced in celebration to the pulsating live rhythms of West Africa.

As well as the films, Skype video connections made it possible to enjoy a number of live feeds. Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, Rob Hopkins of Transition Towns, Juana Camancho co-ordinator of Friends of the Earth, Colombia, Captain Mike Fincken, skipper of the Rainbow Warrior.

These feeds were highlights that engaged inspired and moved people. It was not another film with sometimes out of date material, slickly presented and carefully edited. At one point in the middle of presenting some ideas, Rob got up from his seat to let his dog out of the room. From Columbia Juana spoke from the heart about the reality of being an activist in Latin America, when your life is in constant danger. These were real people we could relate to and their stories were all the more powerful for being share them in real time.

A fast internet connection, a skype account, and a laptop computer plugged into the data projector and sound system is all that's needed. This is not as high tech as it may seem, and I would be surprised if there were not people in every town in New Zealand who can make this happen!

Energy from the solar panels was put back into the grid, and if it had not been for the two day storm, complete with thunder and lightning, the event would have broken even on the amount of power consumed versus the amount put back into the grid.

The Big Intent was a zero waste event. Over 500 people people came to participate and the total waste we produced, stuff that could not be recycled or composted, fitted into one small supermarket bag!

Community generosity, in the form of koha, adequately covered the costs.

There is a long list of everyone who supported this event at www.thebigintent.org.nz

So Where to from here?

Phil and Bernadette from Raglan Transition Town came to the event, and we had some discussion on Monday morning, sitting on the front lawn at our house. They are keen to take the model and replicate it in Raglan.

Others are talking about a Road Show that takes the essential equipment and facilities needed to create such an event and moving it around the country.

I can imagine this Big InTent Festival springing up allover the country, giving people both the reasons to act, and the tools and the inspiration to do so.

We can show people what is possible, with regards to regenerating our environment, growing our own food locally, setting up local currencies, building homes with local materials, and creating local liquid fuel plants converting biomass into alcohol. We could be teaching skills we have almost lost, and developing the base for a new and resilient society that can carry us into a low energy future with dignity.

Events like this are an opportunity to share ideas and knowledge and make connections with others in our local communities who have also noticed that things are changing and we need to act and now, if we are to create a bright and positive future for ourselves and those who follow us.