A NEW week-long celebration of everything green is launching in Bristol this summer – and organisers say it could be the city's answer to the Edinburgh Festival.

The UK's first festival of environmental ideas, art and culture – Big Green Week – is being held in the city centre in June.

There will be big name speakers, the biggest farmers' market the country has ever seen, film screenings, poetry, art and even a fringe festival.

The week will come to an end with the already established Festival of Nature and the grand finale will be Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride, the annual traffic-free family ride.

Organisers say it is the first festival of its kind, and hope it will become an event people travel from far and wide to enjoy.

Peter Madden, the chief executive of green charity Forum for the Future, is one of the people behind it.

"Bristol is developing a reputation as the greenest city in the UK – it is a place where individuals and organisations set up amazing environmental projects and events," he said. "We thought it would be great to have a week of fun green events, which would encourage people to come to Bristol but also would be for the people of Bristol.

"There are lots of green events in Bristol already, but there are not many that people would travel for from places like London, Manchester or Birmingham. We want to gather up that energy, all those things happening in Bristol, and make it all happen in a single week. We want to put Bristol on the map.

"Nowhere in the country holds an event like this. People in the UK are more and more interested in environmental issues and how to live a green lifestyle. We want to make Bristol the place for this, and then build on that year on year.

"The aim is that we will be mentioned in the same breath as the festivals in Edinburgh, Hay and Cheltenham."

The event has been organised by Mr Madden and his team at Forum for the Future, an environmental charity encouraging sustainable lifestyles which has a strong base in Bristol, along with Bristol Green Capital, a consortium of businesses and green groups in the city. They also have the support of the city council.

Last year they held a pilot called Good Living Week on a shoestring budget, which involved talks and events but on a much smaller scale.

"The success of that has given us the confidence that if we could do that with just a couple of thousand pounds then we could go on and do something bigger and better," said Mr Madden.

Although there will be lots of new events as part of the festival, its organisers say part of its strength lies in the fact that it incorporates existing popular Bristol events.

One of the aims of the festival, Mr Madden explained, was to provide an umbrella to bring all Bristol's green events together.

This is why the huge farmers' market planned for the first Saturday has been organised with the help of the Soil Association, which has run the successful Organic Food Festival for several years; and on the final weekend visitors can enjoy the Festival of Nature and Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride, which are already annual events.

Many other city centre and Harbourside venues are also involved.

"We couldn't have done this without all these venues and institutions getting involved," said Mr Madden. "What we have been saying to them is that if you are thinking of doing something environmental or green in 2012, do it in Big Green Week. So the Watershed is showing films on a green theme during the week, and the Colston Hall is programming comedy and talks around the subject."

Speakers during the festival, which will run from June 9-17, include Grand Designs TV presenter Kevin McCloud; food writer Prue Leith; Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; chief executive of the Eden Project Tim Smit; the National Trust's Fiona Reynolds; Green Party leader Caroline Lucas; and author and activist Tony Juniper.

As well as addressing the serious issues around 'being green' and the problems facing the world, Mr Madden said he wanted the festival to be enjoyable and fun.

"I have spent 25 years working in the environmental movement, and so many green events are about doom and gloom," he said. "I often come out demoralised and depressed.

"We want this to be the opposite – we want lots of positive energy and fun. As well as talks and plenty of intellectual food for thought, there will be music, art, comedy and culture."

Wildlife lovers will have the chance to see some of the BBC's Natural History Unit's greatest films, with daily showings at the Watershed; there will be art on display at the Royal West of England Academy; Big Green Week exhibits and activities at the Arnolfini, Colston Hall and the M shed; and outside art and audio installations.

Mr Madden said other successful festivals had been used as a model.

"We have been to talk to the people who do the Cheltenham Festivals and people behind other festivals," he said. "Part of the model is to have something for everyone, a variety of events. That's why we have got children's events, stuff on the street, a food market, comedy, films and documentaries. Another thing I have taken from the Edinburgh model is that half the reason people go to Edinburgh is for the comedy and the culture, but the other half is for the experience of Edinburgh as a city.

"We have set up the event around the city centre and Harbourside – if people come in June and have a wander around there they will see that Bristol is as good as any city in Europe, as exciting and beautiful as any city in Europe. I really want to get people experiencing Bristol."

He said they were expecting about 50,000 people to attend events at the festival over the week.

"We want this year to be a statement of intent, and build from there. We'd rather that it was smaller this year but everyone has a great time than overstretch ourselves. I have seen lots of festivals fail like that."

There are several events being planned by Bristol groups and individuals as part of the fringe.

"To have a good fringe festival you need a good main festival," said Mr Madden. "Our main efforts for the first year have been to build the core of the festival – but inevitably, because this is what people in Bristol are like, other stuff springs up."