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In our rather cynical age, people frequently ask: “Is there really anything left to explore or discover … hasn’t it all been done before?” Spend some time with Blackheath ecologist Wyn Jones and you’ll soon have your answer … you’ll begin to feel the welling up of curiosity, excitement and anticipation that must have driven explorers, from the beginning of time, to head out into the unknown. …

Simone, Mac and Tav making a deposit at the Compost Hub The most important thing that years of growing veggies in my backyard has taught me is that if I don’t feed the soil, the soil can’t feed me. Things finally came to a head last summer when everything I planted stopped growing at micro-veg stage. Suddenly I had a bonsai crop, not the …

Photo of Peter Baldwin by Berndt Selheim “He who knows only his own side of a case, knows little of that” – John Stuart Mill The first time I meet Peter Baldwin we are at the Blackheath Philosophy Forum. It’s Saturday afternoon, on the lingering tail of a golden Blackheath autumn, and the community hall is packed. It’s thrilling, in a way, that hundreds of …

Photo by Margaret Ryan Imagine an initiative that helps to reduce the devastating environmental impact of plastic while also building community, teaching new skills and upcycling materials. Boomerang Bags is doing all that and more, and it’s arrived in the Mountains. Boomerang Bags first began on the Gold Coast in 2013. It addresses the problem of plastics at a grassroots level by engaging communities of volunteers to make cloth shopping bags out of upcycled materials. The …

Toolo .. If I had a hammer Remember when NASA launched the Hubble and the astronauts had everything they needed EXCEPT a crowbar? That’s the philosophy driving Justin Morrissey and the Katoomba Toolo: if you are out there doing a creative project, you should be able to get your hands on any tool you need. Toolo is a Library of Things, with everything owned …

  In an era that is being defined by adversarial politics and short term thinking, the Blackheath community is demonstrating another approach –and one that’s proving to be extraordinarily effective. By working collaboratively, with the long game in mind, they’re proving that their strategy is clearly worth emulating. Ten years ago, when a Federal election led to the announcement of a $250 million upgrade of the Great Western Highway between …

  The tiny village of Bell, on the junction of the Bells Line of Road, Chifley Road and the Darling Causeway, at the most north-western tip of the City of the Blue Mountains, has become a new destination for pilgrims. Carrying rocks all the way from Emu Plains to Bell, on the 7-day Epiphany Pilgrimage, or the Way of the Magi, the pilgrims are commemorating the Christian …

Mark Liebman, Sarah Laborde and Harry Twenty seven years ago, a young auditor at Ernst & Young in Sydney, one of the “Big 4” accounting firms, came across a newly published report, “Blueprint for a Green Economy.” Prepared for the UK Environment Department, the report claimed that environmental problems had their roots in “economic failures.” This struck such a chord …

  It’s not hard to see why Blue Mountains City Council’s Family Day Care service was named the NSW Family Day Care Service of the Year in 2016. When I walked into Kathryn Tang’s exquisite cottage in Blackheath, it was like entering childhood heaven. Berry muffins were baking and filling the air with a most delicious aroma, every bit of décor looked as though it had been created …

  Sports psychologists and coaches frequently tell players that, when you’re challenged, you have the choice to respond to your situation by believing that your glass is half full, or that it’s half empty. For the enthusiastic new management team at the Blackheath Golf & Community Club, the glass is most definitely half full. According to Board member Rodney Tubbs, “It’s no secret that golf, as …