‘People are the answer’ – Rainforest Rescue and Friends at Cairns Ecofiesta 2025
Aussie environmentalist Costa Georgiadis catches up with Rainforest Rescue at Cairns Ecofiesta.
As we put thoughts into words, the outlook for the environment and the world itself feels uncertain. It’s a hard truth to stomach.
Thankfully, there’s always a tonic for humanity within arm’s reach—oh hi, Cairns Ecofiesta!
Firmly scribbled into Rainforest Rescue’s calendar and now in its tenth year, Cairns Regional Council’s Ecofiesta is a breath of fresh community-focused air that comes with the winter trade winds to Far North Queensland.
Known as Queensland’s premier sustainability festival, the event is a buzzing and inspiring day that has a distinctly ‘village fair’ feel to it. With live music, immersive stalls, local eats and a swathe of community organisations, Ecofiesta is a firm favourite for FNQ folk to come and spend their Sunday at.
Part of the local sustainability community
For Rainforest Rescue, Cairns Ecofiesta is a chance to spend time with friends and meet new people.
Our big stall gives visitors of all ages something to make, do and learn from – with our ‘guess the weight of the cassowary egg’ competition, rainforest critters colouring in masks and the chance to be a ‘native nursery superstar’ as you match the plant names to their seeds and young trees. Here we can spend time sharing news from the land and protected places, introducing newcomers to the wonder of the Wet Tropics and seeing the surprise reactions from people as we discuss the finer points of native wildlife poop!
Much like a village, Cairns Ecofiesta also provides the opportunity to chat with our neighbours and friends from ‘down the road’. With that, we want to give ten shout outs to regional people and organisations that you may yet to be familiar with. In no particular order, and all worth checking out (via their links) are:
Firesticks, Treeforce, CAFNEC (Cairns and Far North Environment Centre), Cleanco, WTMA (Wet Tropics Management Authority), Cassowary Art Trail, Great Barrier Reef Legacy, Birdlife Northern Queensland, OzHarvest, Circular Economy Far North Queensland.
Each are part of an expanding movement of committed and passionate people who want Far North Queensland to be a major part of Australia’s push towards Net Zero and Nature Positive outcomes, with native habitat and species thriving alongside our local communities.
Rainforest Rescue takes to the main stage at Cairns Ecofiesta to rally the crowd—“People are the answer!”
People are the answer
But what of the existential concern that we mentioned earlier? Well, it’s always there, nagging at us to do more and keep pushing our precious natural world into the spotlight.
In between the live music acts Rainforest Rescue CEO, Branden, got to jump up on stage and chat with the crowd. While we’ve long said that ‘Trees are the answer’—and they remain so—this was a chance to remind everyone that without a growing group of people choosing to give the environment attention, we are in polite terms, ‘screwed’.
Branden praised everyone for prioritising the world around us by making sustainable choices. “You are the answer! People are the answer,” he chanted ecstatically.
Later in the day, while sharing stories with Costa Georgiadis, we agreed that we all need to maintain pressure on the local authorities and businesses that serve our communities to orient society around a drastically lighter ‘footprint’. We must solve our way out of this global situation.
Cairns Ecofiesta is an annual reminder that there is a collective decision to make and to keep on making. Our planet can’t wait much longer for a unanimous push to live greener forever.
Perhaps next year we’ll catch up with you at Ecofiesta. In the meantime, connect with those involved in sustainability and the environment in your local area.
Together, we’re all the answers we need.
#TreesAreTheAnswer #NextGenRainforestRescuers
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