Good Stuff: Celebrating the outdoors

Wild places aren’t just great for the planet - they’re good for us too.

The health benefits of time outdoors have long been documented. Walks in nature can improve memory and concentration, and allow us to feel psychologically restored.

The past month has reminded me just how good nature is. Leaving the house only for exercise and groceries has made my world seem smaller, and forced me to pay closer attention to what is happening directly around me. Blue Tiger Butterflies are migrating through the town of Agnes Water, where I’m currently living, and I love seeing them flutter-by every day. Although most Australian’s see kangaroos pretty often, watching these animals hop through the bush every morning makes my day so much brighter.

This month, the Good Stuff Guide focuses on Mother Nature. As restrictions begin to ease around the country, I hope you can get outside and marvel at the remarkable world around you. And if that’s not possible for you just yet, it turns out that, even seeing nature on a screen can improve your mood.

The most good you can do this month

Right now, the NSW government is looking at implementing bans on various single-use plastic items. We have a real opportunity to have stronger legislation put in place to protect our marine life, and the government is asking for your say via a quick online survey.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society has recommended the below responses for the NSW Survey:

For Question 1, tick Yes - Near term for all the plastics they suggest banning.

For Question 2, ask NSW to ban the other consumer plastics that kill marine wildlife:

Plastic fruit & vegetable barrier bags
Plastic lined coffee cups and plastic coffee cup lids
Balloons and balloon sticks
Plastic bottles and bottle caps
Disposable plastic takeaway containers

For Question 5, ask for a 50% reduction in NSW plastic litter by 2025. 25% just isn’t good enough to save animals from death by plastic.

We’ve only got until Friday the 8th of May to respond to this, so get onto it quick sticks!

Take the NSW plastic survey

DO

Explore Your Backyard

Restrictions around Australia are starting to ease, but it will still be a while until we can adventure overseas. It’s the perfect time to explore places close to you by taking part in the We Are Explorers #exploreyourbackyard movement. They’ve put together loads of cool info on trips you can take all over Australia. Find it here.

Apply for Seaside Scavenge’s ‘Spring Into Scavenge ’

Spring into Scavenge is a change-maker program, open to 20 passionate people to access the Seaside Scavenge resources and support for free. The goal is to ignite the candidates community to reconnect with each other and the planet. It’s a 14-week hands-on course starting in mid-June, culminating in hosting a Scavenge event in Spring 2020 (pending COVID). Apply here.

'You don’t need a fancy bin': hard-won lessons from farming worms

Worms are magical little animals. They recycle our food scraps, help curb global warming and are great for our plants. This article has some sound tips for setting up a worm farm.

Forget fast fashion! Six ways to bring clothes back to life – from darning to stain removal

According to One Million Women, extending the life of your clothes from one year to two years reduces its emissions by over 20%. That’s a pretty good reason to get the sewing kit out!

Here are 5 ways to flatten the climate change curve while stuck at home

If you’re looking for some inspiration for point number 3, Australian Marine Conservation Society are running some great lessons on climate action via Zoom.

Wild Search 7 Week Transformational Journey

Caitlin Stone is a Wildlife Ecologist and Environmental Educator who has developed an online course to help women transform their lives with the power of the natural world. Get back to nature in just a few weeks by signing up here.

LISTEN

Off Track

Inspiring stories of wildlife and environmental science (all recorded in the great outdoors!)

How To Fail: Alain De Botton on embracing vulnerability in the age of Coronavirus

In my eyes, Alain De Botton can do no wrong. This podcast episode resonated immensely with me when I listened to it.

READ

The way we once lived is now redundant. We need to reinvent ourselves

“If we work less, we consume less, and we have long known that this is what we need to do to avert the climate crisis. Do we need all this stuff? Clothes and shoes? Do we need people to tell us next season’s colour? Do we need tantrum-y chefs on our TV screens? Do we need endless lifestyle tips from celebrities? Well, no.”

The truth about self-care: how isolation has changed the way I look after myself

It turns out self-care isn’t about expensive face masks and binge-watching Netflix (most of the time anyway).

No, Aussie bats won't give you COVID-19. We rely on them more than you think

It’s time we cut bats some slack.

Using lots of plastic packaging during the coronavirus crisis? You're not alone

For many of us used to choosing to reuse, no longer being able to BYO cup to our local cafe leaves us in a tricky situation. We want to support local businesses but also maintain our sustainable habits.

Conservation plans help boost threatened mammals, scientists find

Where conservation measures are in place, some species have increased by almost 50%. Protecting wildlife is a no brainer.

If we can put a man on the Moon, we can save the Great Barrier Reef

And let’s be real - protecting the phenomenal ecosystems we have in our own backyard should be higher on the agenda than exploring far off galaxies.