Amazing community spirit helping biodiversity thrive

Our environment and climate change are huge daunting topics. A common theme in discussions is the perception that we are tiny cogs in the wheel, and therefore we cannot achieve anything, so lets wait for the government or big industry to lead us.?

It is an understandable perception, and yet if we consider that there are roughly 8 billion people on our planet, and just like a grain of rice looks insignificant, 8 billion of them adds up to about 160 tonnes! So everything that we do contributes.

Even more, there are people who work even harder, tirelessly, for what they believe in. Emma Cutting and her amazing support crew of about 40 people are showing us how the impact of a few can have huge impacts, through action, collaboration with First Nations, community engagement and influencing government. All towards addressing one of the myriad of factors affecting our planet; biodiversity. And the positive effects from that will be wonderfully more powerful that we probably imagine!

A few years ago I noticed one of street gardens near me in South Melbourne become transformed. Each time I went past there were significant changes. And eventually I bumped into Emma and learned about the core intent; providing habitat for native bees, which are critical pollinators and struggling with our current environment and behaviours. I have since learned more about this (here is one such article) and am so grateful for the work being done by Emma and Team.

Despite the good intentions of local government, in their rules and regulations they can sometimes become focused on specific wishes and lack the diversity of thought required for the 'bigger picture'. Emma has fought legal battles against what she has begun and still continued. Most recently she and the team, who have co-created and enlivened so many beautiful street gardens, were seeing a new council proposal to restrict future street gardens, and even a threat of destroying so much of the amazing progress made so far. The great news is that the team's determination has meant that the opportunity for further progress has been maintained, through fighting negative constraints with community, First Nations and scientific consultation - more details here.

Benefits are more than the obvious?

And we must also recognise that the benefits from all this are actually much deeper and broader than survival of the bees. The wins include (and are not limited to):

• Native plants and other insects thrive
• Community spirit and mental health; seeing the beautiful transformation that has been achieved brings (often unrecognised) pleasure to our daily existence. Imagine walking past a piece of concrete, and then think of the same space with native plants. How would you feel in each case?
• Community engagement in co-creating and maintaining the gardens

We can all do something?

We don't all have green fingers (I certainly don't), and we don't all want to take on the big behemoth to continue progressing, yet we can all do something. However small … our grain of rice, or perhaps we have a bucket full!

Emma and the team have done absolutely fabulous work and don't want to stop. If you want to know more, look at the website here : https://www.theheartgardeningproject.org.au/melbourne-pollinator-corridor

They all donate their time and energy in everything related to the gardens, yet also need funding to buy plants and more. So if your grain of rice is best embodied as $$, please support them here: https://readyfundgo.com/s/22lp

Note: Images are all from the Heart Gardening Project website or the Fund Raising site