A featured guest at the upcoming Logan Eco Action Festival (LEAF) is changing the game of sustainability.
LEAF is Queensland’s largest environmental sustainability festival.
Chef, gardener and founder of Grow it Local, Paul West, is dedicated to helping people learn how to grow their own food.
He said his ambition was to teach people how they could make a positive impact on the planet, all while keeping it fun and positive.
“There are so many simple things that can be done, and they don’t have to be arduous – they can be fun and celebratory,” Mr West said.
“We can all be positive agents for change.”
Mr West started Grow it Local to show people the size of their property wasn’t a roadblock to growing food in their own garden.
“I like to debunk the myth that you need to have the big quarter acre block or a 20 acre hobby farm to connect with how your food is grown,” he said.
“Gardening is really low barrier entry and really accessible.
“We also realised there’s a lot of people who are interested in growing food but not a lot of people have the ability or the knowledge or the culture or support they need.”
Mr West spoke about raising awareness for environmental sustainability through “soapbox preaching”.
“I hate the soapbox approach,” Mr West said.
“For me it’s about celebrating through the lense of your own garden.”
He said making everyone an agent of change was a “small but crucial step” to changing the world.
“[Grow it Local] was created to be a celebratory platform for food growing.”
According to Mr West, engaging with how one’s food is produced exposed them to a “cascade” of physical, psychological and spiritual health and behaviour changes.
“Once you get that dirt under your fingernails it becomes really addictive because of how beneficial it is to human life,” he said.
Grow it Local is now collaborating with around 30 local governments throughout the country.
The organisation recently partnered with the Queensland government as part of the state’s waste management strategy.
Mr West said he was “hugely hopeful” for the future of sustainability in Australia.
“It makes me hopeful that we’re having these conversations, and they’re not just conversations but actions happening off the back of them.”
Mr West is bringing his ideas to LEAF on 4 June and he said he was “really looking forward to it”.
