Ecoshow gives glimpse of future

As decades of environmental despoliation begins to elicit a response from nature - in the form of global warming and all it entails - people will have to learn to adapt to a new set of rules governing the environment, says Ecoshow director Bryan Innes.

Storms will get stronger, droughts will be longer and some food crops will fail; what it now comes down to is how we respond to the coming challenges, he says.

The Ecoshow, from today through to Sunday at the Great Lake Centre and the Domain, will provide people with not only knowledge to understand what changes may lie ahead but also practical ways to live within these changes and minimise their individual environmental impact, Mr Innes says.

"It's a way to learn how to make healthy decisions that reduce costs while also reducing ecological and carbon footprints."

The three day exposition will include talks by leading academics involved in various fields of study; including, sustainable slow' design; A2 milk (the healthy alternative to what we're drinking now - A1 milk); autonomous energy systems for the home; urban food production; and earthships' - houses built from earth and recycled car tyres.

Top of the list of imminent speakers is internationally renowned author and whistleblower on the state of world oil supplies, Richard Heinberg.

Mr Heinberg will be talking about the Transition Towns initiative. Transition Towns are towns that are taking steps towards sustainability in the face of global climate destabilisation and peak oil. Peak oil is the theory that, in the not too distant future, maximum (peak) world oil production will be reached after which the rate of production will enter "terminal decline".

"Within two years we will be paying much, much more for oil. We are facing the need for a radical transition and it's happening fast," Mr Innes says.

He says not having a railroad pass through Taupo makes the town particularly vulnerable to big changes in the price of oil.

However, he sees the changes that society will need to make in the face of climate change and peak oil as a challenge for society to overcome and not all doom and gloom. As long as we respond to these challenges in time.

"We will suffer if we're not ready but we can have a much nicer lifestyle than we have now if we organise properly."

The Eco-show is the brainchild of Taupo couple Bryan and his wife Joanna. The couple held the first two Ecoshows in Auckland in 2004 and 2005.

However, they realised as a location for the Ecoshow, Taupo could offer most of what Auckland had and, what's more, an environment people enjoy coming to.

Mr Innes says he expects people from all over the North Island with vastly different points of interest to attend the show.

About 100 exhibitors offering sustainable solutions to most aspects of day-to-day life, from building products and techniques to cleaning products and renewable energy, will exhibit during the show today and this weekend.