Could COVID-19 fundamentally change the way we live?
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Spending time at home during the coronavirus pandemic will provide an opportunity to set up households and communities for a more resilient future.
Ballarat Permaculture Guild founder and Chestnut Farm owner Steve Burns will present an online talk Sustainability In The Time of COVID-19 this month.
The talk on April 15 will provide tips on how to live a more environmentally sustainable, locally-focussed and frugal life.
Maybe as we go forward past the pandemic we can look how to build more resilient households, but also look how to build more connected and sustainable communities.
- Steve Burns, Ballarat Permaculture Guild
"This is an amazing opportunity," Mr Burns said.
"I don't want to downplay the seriousness of the medical emergency we are facing and the impact, cost, loss and sorrow that will have.
"But it could be a time for people to reassess and think how they could improve their sustainability and self-sufficiency.
"It is also an opportunity for people to reconnect with more genuine values and realise that the people and the community they live in are actually incredibly important.
"We can look at building resilient households and resilient communities, not just responding to the current pandemic we find ourselves in, but also looking forward."
Mr Burns said there were things people could do at home in the short term during social distancing and self-isolation, like learning from online permaculture broadcasts and growing vegetables in the backyard.
He will talk about a holistic look at how we run our households, including reviewing aspects like transport, dependency on electricity and water supplies.
"This is thinking not just about the current pandemic, but what if there was some issue and the power grid or water supply went down?," Mr Burns said.
Mr Burns said the idea of permaculture was not just a gardening technique, it was a holistic approach to creating sustainable communities.
"People will realise they don't live in an economy, they live in a society, so maybe when they come through this pandemic, that realisation will be carried forward and we will think about how we want to do things differently," he said.
"Not only valuing and building a resilient household, but also connecting with neighbours and community so we have greater joy, sharing of skills and resources and realising that a lot of what we treasure is free.
"I'm hoping this is a time where the whole society can stop and ask 'What are the things that are really important to us?'.
"A lot of life is about our connection to each other, not what stuff we have got."
Mr Burns' online presentation is part of Ballarat Renewable Energy and Zero Emissions' monthly education series Smart Living Ballarat, that takes place on the third Wednesday of the month, usually at Eastwood Leisure Centre.
Anyone can watch the free talk online at fb.com/smartlivingballarat where it will be live streamed from 12.30pm to 1.30pm on April 15.
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