The Owl Nature Festival takes place outdoors this weekend at Nontron with lots of entertainment. We are talking about customizations of clothing, repair shops (to avoid overconsumption). There is even a treasure hunt or grafting demos. Debates and films are also offered.
? Christian Magne is the director of the association that has been organizing this festival for 10 years, the CPIE Périgord Limousin (Permanent Center for Environmental Initiatives). Marie-Charlotte Gicquiaux coordinates the festival.
Have we made progress on issues of the environment, ecology, respect for the planet in society?
Christian Magne: Yes and no. Overall we have made progress. We didn’t talk much about these subjects twenty-five years ago. We don’t talk about it anymore. The general public now knows this subject, the terminology of these subjects. When we talk about climate change, sustainable development, it means something to everyone. But we have not progressed fast enough. Given the urgency of preserving biodiversity. We lose biodiversity all the time in Périgord as elsewhere. We look behind us and not in front, we have to take ourselves in hand.
The environment: is this a subject of concern to the Périgourdins?
Marie-Charlotte Gicquiaux: Yes, there is a whole network. The purpose of the festival is to bring together this network of associations which are present in the territory, to create links and topics for discussion, common actions. We are also lucky to have specialists who come from all over France, specialists, researchers, sociologists, ecologists, an explorer. They come from Paris, Poitiers, Angers and Marseille to meet the Périgourdins. So it’s a chance to be seized also this weekend, to have these specialists coming here.
Are we aware, here in Périgord, of the urgency of caring for the planet?
Christian Magne: We see the green Périgord, there are forests and we think less about the connections, precisely, which make it possible to make these sanitary corridors for the planet. There is also, in relation to the quality of the ground channels, a quality of the water. It’s true that these are things that are less tangible. Like the starry sky. We are lucky, indeed, to have magnificent skies here, but there is still light pollution that is present and these are things where actions are quite easy to put in place. It is precisely to further enhance this living environment which is still quite exceptional in Périgord that we continue our activities.