Latest from around the region

It`s cold wet and misty at the Planetary Health Precinct today but our sunflowers are brightening up the day! ...

The Blue Mountains Perch may not be as adorable as a cuddly koala, but it is also an endangered animal in need of awareness and support. Populations of the freshwater fish have been hit hard by drought, fire and flooding over the past few years. A NSW fisheries study, while sobering reading, is helping experts develop a plan to save the fish. Read more in Lower Mountains Local News (link in profile): https://lowermtnslocalnews.com/blue-mountains-perch/
@nswdpi_fisheries @fisheriesnsw
#freshwaterperch #endangeredspecies #BlueMountains #rewilding #regeneration #biodiversity #fish #planetaryhealth
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Our fortnightly Planetary Health newsletter is out with inspiring stories of how our communities are working to create a better future. Watch a video on how we’re collaborating with @michaelmobbs to refine his ‘Cool Seat’, and read stories from the Lower Mountains to Lithgow (you can subscribe via the link on every site and read it now via link in our profile):

Lower Mountains Local News: The Plight of a Mysterious, Rare Blue Mountains Fish

Mid Mountains Local News: Blue Mountains Crayfish Need Our Help

Springwood Area Local News: Snakes Alive: The Man Helping to Change Our Thinking About One of the Blue Mountains’ Most Misunderstood Creatures

Katoomba Area Local News: Kicking Sustainable Goals at Planetary Health Day

Blackheath Area Local News: Incredible Edible Blackheath

Lithgow Local News: The Forged By Fire Festival

https://mailchi.mp/eb95b82bc46d/a-rare-mountains-fish-crayfish-recovery-snakes-incredible-edible-blackheath-and-more?e=a1370f4cfe

#bluemountainsperch #snakes #snakehandler #spinycrayfish #crayfishkill #crayfishrecovery #planetaryhealthday #incredibleedibleblackheath #ediblegardens #communitygardens #communityfarms #forgedbyfire #bushfire #planetaryhealth #solutionsjournalism
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This week we gave a presentation to a group of emerging leaders in Integral Ecology from around Australia at the Planetary Health Precinct & Parkland.

"Integral ecology is a key concept in chapter four of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment. It flows from his understanding that “everything is closely related” and that “today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis.”

Relationships take place at the atomic and molecular level, between plants and animals, and among species in ecological networks and systems. For example, he points out, “We need only recall how ecosystems interact in dispersing carbon dioxide, purifying water, controlling illnesses and epidemics, forming soil, breaking down waste, and in many other ways which we overlook or simply do not know about.”

Nor can the “environment” be considered in isolation. “Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live,” writes the pope. “We are part of nature.”

As a result, if we want to know “why a given area is polluted,” we must study “the workings of society, its economy, its behavior patterns, and the ways it grasps reality.” And in considering solutions to the environmental crisis, we must “seek comprehensive solutions which consider the interactions within natural systems themselves and with social systems.”

These interrelationships enable Francis to see that “we are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” As a result, “Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.” In such an “economic ecology,” the protection of the environment is then seen as “an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.” “ (from: “The National Catholic Reporter”)

#laudatosi #popefrancis #integralecology #wearenature #everythingisconnected #ecologicalnetworks #visionforthefuture #planetaryhealth
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It`s a beautiful sunny day in the Planetary Health garden with our artichokes, sunflowers and garlic chives being enjoyed by the bees!🐝 ...

Today we welcomed Louis Wauters to our team for the next few weeks! He`s just finished his medical degree at Ghent University in Belgium and has travelled to Australia to learn more about implementing Planetary Health with the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative and the Lithgow Clinical School of The University of Notre Dame Australia. We look forward to sharing more soon! @ph_alliance @planetaryhealth_alliance

#planetaryhealth #ghentuniversity #medicalgraduate #implementingplanetaryhealth #systemicchange #healthysystems
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In winter 2023, supported by a Commonwealth-funded bushfire recovery grant, Greater Sydney Local Land Services, in partnership with Dharug Traditional Owners and Blue Mountains City Council, held two cultural fire workshops with @firesticks.alliance at Glenbrook Lagoon. This occurred in response to aspirations by Dharug Elders to Care for Country by increasing the holistic health of the lagoon, an important natural waterbody that holds intangible cultural significance to the Dharug and other First Nations peoples. Link in profile #culturalfire #culturalburning #firstnations #indigenous #traditionalowners #bluemountains #glenbrook #glenbrooklagoon #planetaryhealth #disasterriskreduction ...

Wiradjuri women Mikayla Chadwick and Maddy McLean describe their experience of nature journaling after a workshop organised by Barrinang: a Lithgow and District Wiradjuri corporation working to promote and support wellbeing and culture. Read more in Lithgow Area Local News (link in profile) https://lithgowlocalnews.com/slow-down-discover-and-connect/

#naturejournaling #wiradjuri #lithgow #natureconnection #planetaryhealth #culture #wellbeing
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For International Women`s Day we`re also celebrating Jessie Burke, the current president of Springwood Bushwalking Club! She`s a strong and positive advocate for nature and the natural world, using her position in one of the Mountain’s oldest clubs to open up the joys of bush walking and bush care to a whole new generation of locals. Read more in Springwood Area Local News (link in profile): https://springwoodlocalnews.com/jessie-burke/

#springwood #bushwalking #springwoodbushwalkingclub #bluemountains #natureconnection #wearenature #inspirationalwomen #planetaryhealth #succession
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Kris Newton, Manager of Mountains Community Resource Network (MCRN), the peak body for community services in the Blue Mountains, has seen first-hand the short- and long-term impacts of disaster on community. Ahead of International Women’s Day Belle Butler interviewed her to learn more about how she prepares for the future and about MCRN’s pilot project @resilientvillagesbm which aims to equip communities with the skills and tools they need to take control of their own destiny. Read more in Mid Mountains Local News (link in profile):
https://www.midmtnslocalnews.com/resilient-villages/
@internationalwomensdayofficial @internationalwomensday_global
#resilience #disasterrecovery #disasterriskreduction #bluemountains #lithgow #communityfirst #communityempowerment #planetaryhealth
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Marianne Bate is passionate about the bush, fascinated by people and ‘relentlessly positive’ about how we can better care for the land we live on. She co-ordinates the Mt Victoria Bushcare and Landcare group and helps people with their private properties. The reason we have such beautiful and diverse bushland around our villages, that is able to support a wide range of wildlife, is that volunteers like Marianne have worked tirelessly to keep these areas free of invasive weeds. This week we celebrate her contribution in Blackheath Area Local News ahead of International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March (link in profile):
https://blackheathnews.com/marianne-bate/

#MtVictoria #bluemountains #bushcare #landcare #bushregeneration #volunteering #protectinghabitat #supportingwildlife #inspiring #rewarding #planetaryhealth
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