Stories From: Community

Recently I attended a consultation day with Blue Mountains City Council to discuss a new Community Climate Risk and Adaptation Plan and the ways in which it could be implemented. What transpired renewed my belief in our community, our council and our shared future.

Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre will host the Disaster Risk Awareness Expo and Family Day on Saturday, 22 November, offering a fun and informative day focused on building safer, healthier and more resilient communities.

In Katoomba, a grassroots litter-picking group tackles rubbish before it reaches our water supply. Their story shows how local environmental action, fueled by community connection, can drive meaningful change for planetary health.

As global food insecurity increases, research suggests that the ‘planetary health diet’ is one solution. This calls for a shift towards a plant-based diet and more local food production. Local social enterprise Farm it Forward is showing how this can be done in school yards and one backyard after another.

There is a little bit of magic happening on Wednesdays at the Planetary Health Centre as young volunteers from Kindlehill School, and Council staff, work together to create a demonstration site for the wider community. This hands-on program is inspiring all involved, including teacher Sarah Daniel.

As challenges mount globally there is one group of community builders who, for 120 years now, have been strengthening the world’s social fabric and addressing ways civil society can help alleviate suffering and inequality; improve people’s quality of life; and create a more peaceful, healthier planet.

On the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima the Planetary Health Initiative and the Blue Mountains Peace Collective hosted a Peace Symposium and Community Picnic to provide pathways for everyone to take steps for a more peaceful future.

With 23 shops to explore, including lots of funky vintage clothing stores and op shops, Katoomba is a growing hub for sustainable fashion and the circular economy. Take a tour of what’s on offer where..

The Yurok, California’s largest Indigenous tribe, are restoring health to what was once the third-largest salmon run on the US West Coast. But to do so, they first had to buy back the watershed from a timber company for US$60 million. It took them two decades to raise the funds.

In recent years, there’s been renewed interest in the Worker Cooperative model. The Earthworker cooperative network focused on Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. The goal: find new types of employment and products in a coal area undergoing transition.