Hi ,

In 40 days, we've mentored youth in a climate leadership summit; virtually snorkelled with families dry at home; convened community, scientists, tourism and government to talk Port Phillip Bay's future; posted seeds to volunteers to grow for future revegetation events; live-streamed wildlife surveys; and led worldwide plastic pollution troubleshooting. Despite the innovative connections of this time, our team dearly misses seeing you! Not because we want to go back to how the world was, but because it's rewarding being together when building how the world can be. 

Decentralised changemaking remains powerful. It can be 5 minutes solo, switching to GreenPower with bonus charitable benefits. Or be an hour together, with Stop Adani rallying to generate a wave of messages. Such actions uphold your values, even while your nervous system is exhausted from daily worries, disruption, or loss and grief. 

As we navigate our worries and losses, hopes and health, Australian healthcare workers have not waivered. Many balance parenting roles and volunteer efforts, including in leadership committees at the EcoCentre, our affiliate Elsternwick Park Association, and many other groups that recognise the interdependence of human and environmental wellbeing. Read our thank you message, and local healthcare workers, we are honouring your efforts with a free penguin tour for you and your family next summer.  

EcoCentre Online Seminars and Sessions

• Designing Sensory and Wildlife Gardens, with EcoCentre Garden Coordinator Deb Punton. Thurs 14 May, 6 - 7:30pm.
• Teachers' Professional Development: Understanding Climate Change, with EcoCentre Schools Facilitator Sharron Hunter. Thurs 21 May, 4 - 5:30pm.
• Watch Party: 'Baykeepers' Short Films, held on Facebook. Thurs 21 May, 6pm.
• Volunteer Celebration: Virtual Drinks, open to EcoCentre volunteers to celebrate National Volunteer Week 2020. Thurs 21 May, 6 - 7:30pm.
• Meet Your Neighbours: Wildlife Stories & Trivia, with EcoCentre Marine Biologist Fam Charko, Executive Officer April Seymore, NatureSpot Coordinator Reiko Yamada, and Port Phillip Baykeeper Neil Blake. Thurs 28 May, 6 - 7:30pm.

Nature activities for the family

• EcoCentre botanist Peter shows you how to harvest seeds from indigenous plants found in local parks so you can grow some in your backyard! 
• It's the perfect time to provide extra frog habitat by making frog hotels for your garden.
• Merlin's Education Toolbox has resources for teachers, parents who are home schooling their children, and simple 10 minute activities for the whole family.

Volunteering around your house and surrounds

• National Volunteering Week runs from the 18th May. Find out how you can give the gift of time, including through online volunteering opportunities.
• We need to know what plants and animals live in your backyard so Council can form their biodiversity plan. Let us know through our Port Phillip NatureSpot program.
• Our affiliates Climate for Change have launched their 2020 Fundraising & Communications Fellowship.

Managing your wellbeing

• If you can't go outside, seeing nature on a screen can also improve your mood.
• Children's grief in quarantine can look like anger; here's how parents can respond.
• InsightTimer have published a free library of mindfulness playlists.

Good news stories

• From later this month, homes in Kingston can place their food scraps for kerbside collection in their green bins.
• A six-year-old is now a published scientific researcher, after having the curiosity to explore behaviours of owls in Queensland.
• Areas with conservation plans boost Australian threatened mammal populations by 46%, according to new research.

Help change politics from your home

• Fill in Environment Victoria's survey to get household energy efficiency on the stimulus agenda.
• Ending logging in Victoria now will save almost $200b. Email your local state MP to show them there is also an economic imperative to end logging, plus send an email encouraging Victorian Ministers to trigger a Major Event Review of logging in bushfire-affected forests.
• Get in touch with your MP to tell them to prioritise renewables for stimulus plans.

Big thinking about the planet

• Ecopsychologist and EcoCentre Garden Coordinator Deb Punton features on Judith Lucy's podcast, Overwhelmed and Dying, discussing how connecting with plants can help overcome climate grief.
• Aussie bats have been copping some flak in the media, but our ecosystem relies on them more than you would think.
• Watch: Future Planet explores whether falling emissions due to lockdowns will be beneficial for the planet in the long-run. 

Our planet still needs our care. We're still doing what needs to be done!

April Seymore

Executive Officer

Port Phillip EcoCentre Inc

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