Want to build a bee house? Cook with leftovers? Dance like Bollywood? You can do all that and more at a mostly-free conference on this weekend in Edmonton.
The second-annual Edmonton Resilience Festival opened Friday. The conference, held at Edmonton’s Boyle Street Plaza, offers a mix of free and inexpensive panels that seek to teach people the skills they need to thrive in a changing world.
Resilience is the ability to adapt to the effects of forces such as climate change, environmental degradation, and economic instability, said organizer Tonia LaRiviere. This festival features talks and workshops meant to let people share skills and build community.
Permaculture specialist Kenton Zerbin, who has hosted numerous talks at the Enjoy Centre, will speak on tiny homes and rocket stoves.
A rocket stove is a low-tech, J-shaped heating system that you can build out of bricks or scraps, Zerbin said. When you light a fire in the “U” part of the stove, it pulls in air from the short end of the J, heats it, and sends it up the long end, which sucks in more air and fuels the fire.
“Once it gets hot, it starts pulling air in so fast that it starts to make a rocket sound,” he explained, hence the name.
These stoves are “ridiculously efficient” due to the constant airflow, Zerbin said – one stove he made in Australia produced enough hot water for 17 showers using just four handfuls of sticks.
Rocket stoves provide people with a more resilient, sustainable way to heat their homes, as they require neither natural gas nor old-growth trees, Zerbin said – you can fuel these with sticks from a hedge.
Rebecca Ellis will host a sold-out session on bee hotels for the Edmonton and Area Land Trust. (The trust oversees a number of protected natural areas including the Boisvert’s GreenWoods in Sturgeon County.)
“A bee hotel is kind of like a bird nest-box, except it’s for bees,” she explained.
Bees are in decline worldwide due to habitat loss, climate change, disease, and pesticides, Ellis said. Many are solitary species that nest in tunnels instead of big communal hives.
Bee hotels are blocks of wood or straws with lots of holes in them that simulate those tunnels. By placing one near flowers and a source of water, people can give wild bees a place to lay their eggs.
Other sessions cover Bollywood dancing, cooking with leftovers, cider making, and vermicomposting.
The festival runs all day Saturday and Sunday, with most events happening at the Boyle Street Plaza (9538-103A Ave.). Many sessions are free, but some cost $10 to $60. Visit edmontonresiliencefestival.com for details.
Amateur arborists will get to dig into St. Albert next weekend as hundreds gather to plant trees and pick up trash along the banks of the Sturgeon River.
About 350 people are expected to come down to the Sturgeon in downtown St. Albert next Saturday for the TD Clean and Green Riverfest event. The annual event rallies residents to pick up trash and plant trees as part of the River Edge Enhancement Project (REEP), which is now in its 11th year.
This year’s REEP planting aims to fill in the gaps between several REEP spots planted in previous years behind Canadian Tire, said Cameron Nattress, community recreation co-ordinator with the City of St. Albert. The city will have several hundred native trees and shrubs for families to plant.
Also at the Riverfest will be the winning teams from the city’s garbage can design contest. As it has done in past years, the city has asked local schools to submit colourful designs for the many steel trash cans it has around town.
The twist this year is that students weren’t asked to actually paint the cans, Nattress said – instead, they sent in drawings that the city will print on vinyl to stick on the cans. (Vinyl lasts longer than paint, he explained.)
Residents can vote on the designs before May 3 on the city’s website under the parks, programs and events section. The artists behind the top two designs will get to see their cans unveiled at Riverfest and plant a large tree as part of REEP, Nattress said.
In addition to a enjoying a free barbecue, guests at Riverfest will get to have their face painted, make a fruit smoothie with pedal power, and listen to an a cappella band. There will also get to talk to representatives from environmental groups such as the Big Lake Environment Support Society.
Trash pickers should report into the registration desk on arrival to get their gloves, shirts, bags, and cleanup area, Nattress said. Guests collected about 850 kg of trash last year.
Riverfest runs from 2 to 5 p.m. on May 7.
