The Goulburn Connects Festival is back for its second year - bigger, better and more focused than before, project leader Peter Fraser revealed during a launch on Friday.

The festival now spans two weeks (from October 26 to November 9) and will highlight the importance of collective action against climate change.

“There’s already enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for two degrees of warming… if we don’t act soon it’s going to be much worse than two,” Mr Fraser said at the meeting.

“There’s no planet B. Once we stuff this one up we can’t just board a spaceship and find somewhere else to live. This is it.”

Some 16 events have been organised by a voluntary committee keen on attracting community interest in the cause.

Just about every facet of sustainability has been targeted in the planning; from farming to household energy, electric vehicles, gardens, heritage and local produce.

“It’s fantastic to have such a great program running… It’s really the hard work of the committee that’s made it really worthwhile this year,” Mr Fraser said.

“It’s very encouraging that there’s been enough enthusiasm in the community and in The Goulburn Group to run it.”

A number of expert speakers have signed on to champion the festival through a series of forums, speeches and community workshops.

These include former Young Environmentalist of the Year and Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie; author, sociologist and commentator Hugh Mackay and Director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University, Professor Michael Raupach.

The three will speak at a massive penultimate event, a community forum entitled ‘There’s No Planet B’.

Ms McKenzie, Mr Mackay and Prof Raupach will speak on the need for community response to climate action during the event on Saturday, November 8.

”It’s not easy to get outside speakers to come to a regional town,” Mr Fraser said.

“We were helped by John Hewson, who was the speaker at the business breakfast last year. He provided some good names and it helps to have a name to get other names. But mainly it’s just perseverance, hassling people and convincing them that this is a really good festival…” 

Goulburn Connects is one of the only volunteer run festivals in Australia, Mr Fraser said. The committee hope to set it apart from the rest by not shying away from the tough questions.

“The other sustainability festivals are more like a fete and they’re not really serious. They’re not really going into the difficult areas that we are trying to tackle,” he said.

“People are interested in the hard stuff. They are interested in the difficult areas and want answers to the difficult questions. They don’t want just fluff.”

For more information on the festival see goulburngroup.com.au.

Keep an eye out in the Goulburn Post for further coverage of the events closer to the date.