A Green Party councillor has organised a sustainability festival with award-winning authors to give people hope about climate change.

Tom Beckett, town councillor for Bicester East, has been making strides towards delivering the Bicester Festival of Sustainable Living – independent of the council – to the public of Bicester.

The festival will take place on Saturday, October 28 at St Edburg's Church and will include six panel sessions, including discussion on topics such as sustainable transport, sustainable money and finishing with sustainable Bicester.

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Mr Beckett said: “I want people to leave this event with a feeling that they can do something impactful, meaningful in their own lives to tackle the nature and climate crisis.

“The aim is to empower people, to help remove the despair around this issue and allow people to take a positive attitude to what they can do in their own lives.”

Chris Goodall, an internationally renowned author whose debut book How to Live a Low Carbon Life won the Clarion Award for non-fiction, will be a panellist at the event.

Other panellists include Steph Van de Pette, a chartered environmentalist with over 15 years’ experience, John Broad, an independent councillor on Cherwell District Council and a member of Bicester Carbon Club and Linda Newbery, an award-winning British writer know best for young adult fiction.

Ms Newbery’s latest book is non-fiction, drawing on her many years of campaigning for animal welfare.

Mr Beckett added: “Panellists will be discussing optimistic attitudes towards climate change, with some panellists speaking about what they are doing, along with some local people talking about changes they’ve made to be more sustainable.

“There will also be stalls at the festival aiming to provide products and services to help people live a sustainable life.”

Speaking on the importance of the individual when it comes to tackling climate change, Mr Beckett said: “About 75 per cent of national carbon comes from individuals, it really matters. Companies and governments make up about a quarter, so individual choices make a massive impact.

“It’s really important that individuals take an optimistic attitude towards their lives, take an actively sustainable role in the workplace and take some leadership.”

Mr Beckett said he think the onus for responsible environmental practice should be put on all of us, as it’s not one actor’s responsibility.

He said: “Unless we all take a proactive attitude and share in creating solutions to the problems, then the problems won’t be solved.

“There’s some really low hanging fruit out there, people can begin to help the environment by making choices around their food.

“We are in control of the supply chain, if we make conscious choices about the food we eat then we control the supply chain.”

You can get your tickets here: Bicester Festival of Sustainable Living Tickets, Sat 28 Oct 2023 at 10:00 | Eventbrite

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1