Convergence Free Party

Under Investigation

This is relevant to all people that have enjoyed or helped co-create the Convergence phenomenon.

Five months after the March Convergence event the Dept

of environment and Conservation NSW (DEC) have contacted

myself and they seem to have come with a certain amount of goodwill but are concerned at the environmental impact of free forest festivals.

They are insisting that I give them contacts

for everyone involved which I don’t have.I explained to a Mr. Rob Pupo who tracked me down at my studio on Tuesday August 22nd that the Convergence party’s are not organised events but rather a gathering of people who enjoy music so no one person can be singled out.

I also went to great length to explain our commitment to leaving the site cleaner than how we found it and are well aware of environmental considerations by setting up Sound Systems only in clearings or roadways.

I actually think that there is a potential for a positive outcome for this. The DEC website states it provides venues for cocktail parties and weddings and has a number of grants for projects addressing greenhouse and alternative energy issues.

Perhaps in the future we will see a sponsored Convergence, another event that runs in a similar way to the Peats Ridge festival being run on green energy. How many thousands of trees could be planted by festival people if the DEC showed us where they were needed with funds raised at the events helping to maintain the new plantations?

In the meantime I strongly encourage everyone who had a hand in creating the March convergence to contact DEC, check out their website and open up this dialogue to a wider participating audience. At the moment I am their only point of contact and am threatened with legal action in regards to giving them a list of contact numbers that I do not possess.

Email Rob Pupo Investigator Legal Services Branch (Department of Environment and Conservation) on Roberto.pupo@environment.nsw.gov.au

mob  0419 497 617 Tel  9995 6170  Fax 9995 5951

Also Check out their website www.environment.nsw.gov.au

To members of the DEC,general public and interested parties,

 
Festivals and Dance Parties have an ability to draw large numbers of people together to 
interact share stories ideas and get involved with group activities. It is a well understood 
concept that community events create a feeling of belonging such events being a tonic to
many social ills like mental illness drug dependency and suicide.
 
That fact that unlicensed dance parties exist and flourish around major cities is simply a 
pressure valve for a section of the city's community’s that are not satisfied with the 
conformity and restrictions of nightclub culture. High costs, dress regulations, violent 
bouncers, alcohol are all factors that send people looking for more autonomous events. 
Free parties have the ability to sidestep the ego and competitive nature that often plague 
mainstream events. The energy of cumulative goodwill creates an amazing vibe and the 
events that ensue have inspired many people of all ages.
The potential to tap into this energy and also give direction to it is enormous, tree planting 
and bush regeneration events have already occurred in NSW and Victoria on an impressive 
but not on a large scale. Alternative energy research and development is at a stage where 
some real results are starting to come through. Solar and wind powered devices and biodiesel 
are able to run large scale events and have the potential to be the answer to our climate change
woes.
The current con artistry behind presenting nuclear power as a clean alternative to fossil fuels is 
deplorable a last ditch stop gap that will place us out of the frying pan an into the fire of genetic 
mutations that will spell the end for the human race. 
Alternative energies have not been allowed to flourish and replace what is destroying the planet. 
A whole series of new industries are waiting to get up and running to cater for energy demand and 
greenhouse emission reduction targets.
Conceptual festival events have the catalyzing effect of capturing group imagination, a well organized 
series of green gatherings sponsored by the Department of Environment and Conservation, green 
energy companies and entertainment groups could start the ball rolling for a hugely successful and 
crucial project 
 
We are living in a very difficult time for the future of humankinds interaction with the earth, if the 
tide is not turned soon we will surely miss the chance and the planet will continue to slide towards 
ecological and social disaster.
 
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this subject
 
 
pete@ohmsnotbombs.org