Stories From: Community

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.

In a world increasingly illuminated by artificial light, the beautiful night skies of a small coastal town in South Australia have attracted international recognition. Discover the global Dark Sky movement here.

Recognising how violence and war impact the health of the planet, the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative has become a member of the Blue Mountains Peace Collective. On Sunday 25th May, members of the Collective attended a presentation by Dr Keith Suter on Making Peace in the World Today at the Leura Uniting Church.

In a moving call for peace on Anzac Day, over 80 people gathered in the golden afternoon light at Peace Park in Katoomba to reflect on war and ask the hard questions about its grim reality. The day was interspersed with reflections, poetry, a minute of silence, and songs by The Bearded Ladies Choir.

Visiting the Blue Mountains Zine Fair was exhilarating! On Saturday 29th March it was a grey wet day in Katoomba, but from the moment we stepped out of the lift at the Cultural Centre, we felt as though we’d been hit by an explosion of creativity, warmth, joy and proof that ‘the resistance’ to the destructive forces at play in our world is alive, well and spreading infectiously.