Bristol's Big Green Week

Bristol's leading reputation as a green city will take centre stage this June when it hosts the UK's first world class festival of sustainable development.

The programme for BIG Green Week (PDF, 7.5MB), which runs from 9th to 17th June 2012, reveals a packed schedule of world class speakers, art, entertainment and family fun. All tickets are now on sale for these inspiring comedy, music, film, poetry, art and ideas events. Around half the events are free of charge.

What to expect

The week kicks off with a celebration of local food and the UK's biggest ever Farmer's Market on Saturday 9 June, followed by a Sunday showcase for electric vehicles. From Monday to Friday (11-15 June), BIG Green Week will host a daily stream of speaker events to explore the latest green thinking, including the Morning Muse, Thought for the Day, the Festival of Green Ideas, a daily Big Green Lecture and evening entertainment at the Big Green Event.

Wildlife lovers will have the chance to see some of the BBC's Natural History Unit's greatest films, with daily showings at the Watershed; there will be art on display at the Royal West of England Academy; BIG Green Week exhibits and activities at the Arnolfini, Colston Hall and the M-Shed; a packed programme of Fringe events; and outside art and audio installations will transform the public space.

Confirmed speakers include: Vivienne Westwood, Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud, US activist and author Bill McKibben, IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri, chief executive of the Eden Project Tim Smit, the National Trust's Fiona Reynolds, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, and author and activist Tony Juniper.

Events

Saturday 9 June: Love Life, Love Local Food – the UK’s biggest ever Farmer’s Market (in association with the Soil Association) radiating out from the famous St Nicks covered market hall in Bristol’s old medieval centre.

Sunday 10 June:  Atmosphere Electric Bikes World Championship. Park Street will be the setting for the first ever Electric Bike World Championship – as the world’s electric bike manufacturers are pitted against each other in uphill races for the Good Energy Trophy. The races will be compared by special guest Robert Llewellyn.

Monday 11th to Friday 15th June:  A daily stream of events, including: 
7.45am: The Morning Muse (Green Talk) Colston Hall – an eight-minute breakfast time provocation and open discussion
9am: Thought for the Day, Bristol Cathedral – a chance to reflect on the spiritual side of our connections with the natural world.
10.30am: Wonders of the Planet, at the Watershed - a week-long film programme screening some of the BBC’s greatest hits produced by Bristol's world famous Natural History Unit over the last 40 years.
12.30pm Festival of Green Ideas Colston Hall – a lunchtime think-a-thon, with short talks followed by Q&A.
2pm: Film Documentaries & panel discussion Watershed
6pm: The BIG Green Lecture (Schumacher) Council House - our BIG daily daddy of an event, with keynote guest speakers, with virtual link ups with speakers overseas. Plus live poetry or music. Webcast live by Bristol City Council.
8pm The BIG Green Event (various venues) – music at St Georges, comedy at Colston Hall, poetry at the Bristol Old Vic, Green Talks at the Arnolfini.
10pm: Midnight Late Lounge (various venues) - hosted by the bar of the venue for that evening’s BIG Green Event (above). Have a drink, mingle and discuss.

The week will culminate in the Festival of Nature on 16-17 June - Europe’s biggest free nature festival held in a tented village across the Bristol harbourside, and Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride on Sunday 17 June when thousands are expected to join the family ride.