Sustainable Living Festival

The Festival's four week program engages individuals and communities across Victoria to host and promote sustainability events. Celebrating the very best examples of ecological and social sustainability the event embraces interactive workshops, talks, demonstrations, artworks, exhibits, films and live performances.

We invite you to join in the celebrations and help accelerate the uptake of sustainable living.

The Festival only invites organisations that 'walk the talk' in their sustainability practises. All organisers have to comply with the Festival's 'eco-id' framework, a screening process designed by The Sustainable Living Foundation to ensure the utmost integrity of event organisers, exhibitors and partners.

In 1998 a small group of people converged in the regional township of Musk, just outside Daylesford, for the first Sustainable Living Festival.

For many it was the first opportunity they had to share information and knowledge about sustainable living.

Not only did this groundbreaking event initiate a unique gathering, it also triggered the formation of a hosting organisation, the Sustainable Living Foundation, in later years.

In 1999 the event was staged at Hanging Rock and featured exhibitors from Austria, New Zealand and the United States.

Due to increased audience and volunteer numbers, the event relocated in 2001 to the Alexandra Gardens in the City of Melbourne.

With a new audience and an urban flavour, the event showcased more than two hundred exhibitors and presented over one hundred seminars.

In 2003 the Festival was on the move once more and turned to Melbourne's newest landmark, Federation Square. With a new emphasis on developing a cultural, creative festival, the event reached out to an awakening mainstream audience. It is here that the Festival has settled for the past seven years, experiencing rapid audience growth with crowds of over 100,000 people.

Not surprisingly, the Festival has evolved much since its inception, yet it continues to reflect the growing momentum and cultural dynamics within the community. If there is one thing we can say for sure about the future of the Sustainable Living Festival, it is that it will continue to change shape as we continue to learn about more sustainable ways to live on the planet.

The Sustainable Living Festival aims to accelerate the uptake of sustainable living and seeks solutions to global warming that will return the planet to a safe climate as fast as humanly possible. The Festival raises awareness and provides tools for change by showcasing leading solutions to the ecological and social challenges we face.

Attracting over 150,000 visits annually the Festival engages with hundreds of organisations and individuals to stage Australia's largest sustainability festival.