Sidmouth is Festival Town:
Festival champions – Sustainable Sidmouth Champion Awards
And today, the extraordinary Science Festival starts up:
Science Festival 2022 starts this week, 10 years on – Vision Group for Sidmouth
It is fundamentally about ‘education for sustainability, education for hope‘:
The Sidmouth Science Festival was started by a small team from the Vision Group for Sidmouth, part of the Transition Town initiative.
With so many technical issues being faced by society we believe that our communities will make better decisions if they have a deeper understanding of the underlying science and technology. We aim to make people aware of how the STEM subjects (science, technology engineering and maths) play a part in what we take for granted in everyday life.
Sidmouth Science Festival started in 2012 with a weekend of science events in Sidmouth and at the nearby Norman Lockyer Observatory as well as a single day in local schools and art in the local gallery.
Since then it has grown to a 10 day event with over 120 activities…
History | Sidmouth Science Festival
As last year’s publicity blurb said, it’s very much about education:
Science festival programme will excite and inspire curious minds | Sidmouth Herald
And it’s very much about sustainability:
Climate day will give chance to showcase sustainability work | Sidmouth Herald
Outside its week in October, the Science Festival is very much engaged in informing about the issues:
The Clean Growth project from the Science Festival – Vision Group for Sidmouth
And looking to this year’s Festival…
We look to real examples of hope in difficult times:
We are constantly bombarded by bad news. As we emerge from a pandemic and confront an ever-changing world it is easy to lose hope. The how and why, let’s say for now, climate change and emerging infectious disease were key players, and I will explain more when we meet. More importantly I want to tell you the story of the survivors, how there is hope, and how we can engage in this healing process our planet so desperately needs. I will focus mostly on the tropics but hopefully you will see some of these lessons translating into your own backyard and your local environment.
Frogs: Tropical hope in a time of darkness – Rob Puschendorf | Sidmouth Science Festival
And we can look at a whole raft of stimulating and engaging issues around the climate and the environment:
A range of stalls covering climate related activities. Come along and find out what you can do.
Sidmouth Science Festival – Environment Day – Sidmouth Town Council