Stories From: Sustainability

Sara Reilly rehabilitated her rundown garden in the heart of Katoomba into an enticing environment for the local wildlife, including dancing satin bowerbirds. She reveals the slow but richly rewarding process.

Agroforestry around the world is demonstrating a promising solution for reducing the climate crisis. In a recent hands-on workshop in Hazelbrook, participants created a food forest and learnt how they could ‘bend time’ by accelerating its growth to help create a fertile earth for all organisms to survive.

The Australian Repair Shop sits at the side of the busy Great Western Highway in Faulconbridge. It is run by Mark Phelan, his wife Rebecca and a team of dedicated 'repairers'.

Belle Butler visited Lawson Public School during Nude Food Week - an annual event that encourages families to pack school lunches without single-use packaging. The event promotes minimising plastic waste and opting for healthy food choices.

Chantelle Cambridge recently presented the final in a series of gardening talks hosted by Lithgow Library Learning Centre. Standing in the shade of fifty-year-old elms in a flowery white dress, she was Instagram perfect, but the journey that led her here would have flattened many.

What goes on under all those poly-tunnels at Lithgow & District Community Nursery? Get the low down here.

This month, father and son team Bob and Tom Colman launched Frankie & Mo’s, a new Blackheath bar and bottle shop. It showcases natural wines, beers and spirits complemented by organically-grown sharing platters, sourced where possible from local growers

Planetary Health Initiative writer Hamish Dunlop talks to Amy St Lawrence from Blue Mountains City Council’s Healthy Waterways Team. Amy explains what she’s doing at her home to collect and use water. She also talks about how her rain garden reduces run-off during and after rainfall.

Keith Brister is on a mission. He and his fellow Bushcare volunteers spent years “achieving the impossible”, protecting Blackheath’s stunning natural bushland, only to see the weeds return when COVID restrictions limited Bushcare. But Keith did not despair. Instead, he asked what else could be done, and set about doing it.

In the heart of Katoomba, tucked away behind the Uniting Church, is a well-stocked tool library where you can borrow a whole range of quality power and hand tools. Explore Toolo with Liz Durnan here.