Students at Zig Zag Public School participating in the B&B Highway pollinator program
Story and photos by Lis Bastian. Video by Kalani Gacon.
Pollinators are critical for life on earth. As we face a biodiversity crisis in which we’re losing plants and animals at an alarming rate, the Rotary Club of Blackheath and Planting Seeds with their B&B Highway pollinator program, have collaborated to inspire all ages to take action to protect and regenerate habitat and help reverse this decline by supporting pollinators, in particular, to flourish.
Key Points:
We can all take action to reverse the alarming loss of biodiversity by reducing chemical use and land clearing, and by providing food, water and shelter for pollinators.
Rotary International has made Protecting the Environment a new area of focus and the Rotary Club of Blackheath has used a global grant from Rotary to increase education about, and habitat for, pollinators.
Planting Seeds has been supported by Blackheath Rotary to run its B&B Highway program at Zig Zag Public School in Lithgow and Blackheath Public School in the Blue Mountains.
Four years ago, Rotary International made Protecting the Environment a new area of focus and over the past year the Rotary Club of Blackheath has used a Rotary District Grant to fund a Pollinator Education and Action Program.
Initially inspired by Rotarians for Bees, the Blackheath Club has held a Pollinator Forum with the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative (see https://blackheathnews.com/birds-bees-butterflies-bats-pollinators/) , it has built bird boxes with local Men’s Sheds, it has shared seed packs to help the community plant more pollinating plants, and in April this year it funded and volunteered to support B&B Highway programs at Blackheath Public School and Zig Zag Public School in Lithgow.
The B&B Highway Program at Zig Zag Public School in Lithgow(Video: Kalani Gacon)
L-R: Libby Bleakley, Mina Howard and Sherlie McMillan from the Rotary Club of Blackheath volunteering for the B&B program at Blackheath Public School. (Photo: Lis Bastian)
Dr Judy Friedlander is the founder of Planting Seeds. Her PhD focused on how to sell a difficult message, like biodiversity loss, in a way that empowers people to take action to arrest the situation.
B&B Highways, the flagship program for Planting Seeds, are ‘Bed and Breakfasts for Birds, Bees and Biodiversity’. The programs provide both theoretical and practical steps for protecting and regenerating habitat for pollinators to create wildlife corridors in urban and semi-urban environments.
Dr Judy Friedlander (left) explaining how to record insects found in the ‘bug hunt’. (Photo: Lis Bastian)
Halina Pochwyt from Wildplant Rescue, volunteering to show students how to plant natives to increase food and habitat for pollinators in the Blackheath Public School garden. (Photo: Lis Bastian)
Stage three students (years 5 & 6) at Lithgow and Blackheath learnt how they could support pollinators by providing food, water and shelter for them, then took part in a garden bug hunt, before planting habitat for pollinators in their school gardens.
Nicole Lewis, Chief B&B Highway educator, sharing information about pollinators with students at Blackheath Public School. (Photo: Lis Bastian)
One of the insects found by a student during the ‘bug hunt’. (Photo: Lis Bastian)
See the program in action at Lithgow’s Zig Zag Public School here > and find out more about Planting Seeds’ B&B Highway initiative here >
This story has been produced as part of a Bioregional Collaboration for Planetary Health and is supported by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF). The DRRF is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments.
Our Planetary Health Bushcare Group had a ball today at the annual Bushcare Picnic and we were thrilled that our youngest member, Arthur van der Meer, was presented with the Junior Bushcare Award. Our inspiring Bushcare Officer Karen Hising, also leads the Narrowneck Bushcare Group which was recognised for 5 years of service to the Bushcare Program. We`re looking forward to our next Bushcare afternoon on Saturday 6 September from 1.30-4.3pm. All welcome.
You can now read the latest Planetary Health newsletter here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/41u8ftQ
Lots of great stories, events and videos! You can subscribe via the Planetary Health website (link in profile): https://www.bluemountainsplanetaryhealth.com.au/
This year, the Australian Bushfire Building and Asbestos & Hazardous Materials Management conferences are joining forces with the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative for Full Cycle 2025, to increase collaboration across sectors, from design to disposal. This vital conference and community expo will explore approaches to reducing risks in a changing climate: from multi-hazards like fire, flood, heatwave and extreme humidity, to hazardous materials like mould, microplastics, PFAS, asbestos and engineered stone. Registration will be live in the coming weeks. In the meantime, visit the Full Cycle 2025 website for more information and to sign up to the mailing list (link in profile) https://www.fullcycleconference.com.au/
Yesterday the community gathered to celebrate Sister Jacinta Shailer`s 98th Birthday! Earlier this year at the Planetary Health Centre she urged us all to join a revolution centred in the transformative power of love, by joining heroic communities that foster compassion, justice, care of the needy, creative imagining, ways of life-giving thinking, ways of contemplating the wonders of our world in the small and the large, the weird and the wonderful. Watch an excerpt of her speech here or read our full story published earlier this year in Katoomba Area Local News (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/create-heroic-communities/
Council is calling on the community to contribute to the development of a Community Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan (CCRAA). There will be a Community Climate Risk and Adaptation Workshop on Saturday 30 August, from 10am to 1pm at Springwood Sports Club, followed by lunch.
You can also contribute by completing the online survey before 29 August.
Your knowledge and experience are critical in helping identify local risks, priorities and practical solutions. Many in our community are already taking action, and these stories, along with diverse perspectives, will help shape a more resilient future for the Blue Mountains.
We encourage you to attend and share the event with your networks to help ensure every voice is heard.
Places are limited for the workshop, so register early here (link in profile): https://climateriskworkshop.eventbrite.com.au Complete the survey here (link in profile): https://yoursay.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/community-climate-risk-and-adaptation-plan-community-survey
The development of this plan is being funded by the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grant Program.
This video captures the most moving speech at the Peace Symposium: that by journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, who described the true horror and tragedy of nuclear weapons. She went on to describe how, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people of both cities dedicated themselves to peace building from the grassroots. Small yet courageous actions by these individuals have reached and changed countless lives in the world. After her presentation, Harumi taught families at the Community Peace Picnic how to fold paper cranes.
At the Peace Symposium, Rotarian Jennifer Scott AM outlined how Rotarians around the world are taking action for peace: from providing mental health first aid in our local community to working for social and environmental justice on a global scale. You can watch an excerpt from her presentation in this video.
In his opening speech for the Peace Symposium Dharug man Chris Tobin shared a Dreamtime story about the Waratah, which emerged from a bloody conflict as a symbol of reconciliation.
@mark_greenhill_oam, Mayor of the City of Blue Mountains, welcomed participants to the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium. As a signatory of Mayors for Peace he spoke of the urgency to act to prevent nuclear war and to end the genocide in Gaza.
The Peace Symposium was organised to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
You can watch our full playlist of videos for Making Peace on our YouTube channel (link in profile): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&list=PLBu_QF9Pp5hPoaLWW0ZLHhwS6hPd-x-Rl
View Ecopella`s rousing anthem `You`re Needed Now!` They performed it at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on the eve of the March for Humanity and the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Contact them if you`re interested in joining the choir which has branches around Eastern NSW.
If you`d like to hear the other presentations at the Symposium visit the Planetary Health YouTube channel (link in profile)
Renowned Permaculture teacher and Katoomba resident Rowe Morrow has been a Quaker for 40 years. She spoke at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium about the extraordinary work Quakers have done, and are doing, for Peace, and the strategies they`ve developed: from working to abolish slavery, to being instrumental in starting Oxfam and Amnesty International, to training communities in non-violent communication and conflict resolution, conscientious objection, direct action, divestment strategies and more. You can listen to her discuss these in her presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&t=5s
Lis Bastian is the Senior Lead for Blue Mountains City Council’s Planetary Health Initiative. She is the editor of the Local News Platforms and has been a writer, editor, news presenter and teacher/lecturer covering both cultural and environmental issues for over 30 years. She has been pioneering Solutions/Constructive Journalism in Australia since 2012.
