SLF INSECT HABITAT TABLE DECORATIONS
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National Sustainable Living Festival
Great Local Lunch Birrarung Marr, Melbourne Sunday 12th February 2017 
DIY INSTRUCTIONS BELOW
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Carolyn Cardinet (Artist) and Deborah Punton (Ecopsychologist and Eco-Art Facilitator) both offer workshop opportunities with the community to connect with Nature through creative expression. They have been friends for about 15 years and during an Environmental Humanities course in 2016 formulated ideas to make a collective sustainable impact by combining their professional talents, skills and abilities.
Their first eco-art creative collaboration was to make Insect Habitat table decorations as part of the National Sustainable Living Festival 2017. www.slf.org.au The Great Local Lunch is a community collaboration held on Sunday 12th February 2017 at 12.30pm. www.slf.org.au/event/great-local-lunch/
WHY WE CHOSE TO CREATE INSECT HABITATS (DIY info below)ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
We were inspired to create habitats and increase public knowledge due to the worldwide news that bee and pollinator numbers are declining so it's relevant to the lunch provided by local growers. Melbourne saw huge populations of Hover Flies October 2016 and many people didn’t know what they were. Many immediate responses were to eradicate them with chemical sprays not knowing they are a beneficial insect to our gardens whose larvae eat aphids and other small insects. Our Insect Habitats will be decorative using upcycled and recycled plastics, found objects and organic materials. They will attract beneficial insects and are an environmentally friendly alternative to harmful chemical use. Insects pollinate plants and help control garden pest and disease problems and attract other wildlife including birds and bats to balance ecosystems and keep pest populations down. Carolyn is an artist who reflects on plastic awareness, particularly single-use plastics, and the ramifications of our daily actions impacting current and future earth systems. HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE We are adapting to the environmental challenges in our world by envisaging a better synario and being proactive. Tags on 'Artworks' reflect workshop participants inner nature with senses of concern, gratitude, blessings, fun, play and connectedness from the collaborative community experience. As the Insect Habitats become inhabited and biodegrade we would love to hear about the insects attracted to them and any thoughts and feelings by those who take them home after the SLF Great Local Lunch. WORKSHOP & PARTICIPANT MESSAGESCarolyn and Deb conducted a free workshop on February 6th to engage the public in creating functional and interesting table decorations for The Great Local Lunch guests. It was enjoyed by all... Participants wrote cards to sign their eco-artwork creations.
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And at The Great Local Lunch...
200 guests enjoyed a really amazing fresh local lunch while looking at, reading labels and discussing the creative artworks. Carolyn and Deb spoke with Costa about concerns regarding insect biodiversity loss, habitats, and the educational and adaptable aspects of reusing plastics within the insect habitats. On leaving, lunch guests took the insect habitats home and any remaining pieces were donated to a Nature Play activity at the festival.
THANKYOU
The Sustainable Living Festival organizers
St Kilda EcoCentre for the workshop venue
The wonderful volunteer workshop participant Eco-Artists
We respectfully acknowledge the the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung elders past, present and emerging of the land on which we live, work and played for this project.
St Kilda EcoCentre for the workshop venue
The wonderful volunteer workshop participant Eco-Artists
We respectfully acknowledge the the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung elders past, present and emerging of the land on which we live, work and played for this project.
