On my way to school I noticed there was so much rubbish left on the side of the road from students and locals. I tried to pick up as much as I could while also making it on time for school.

Collected 2 bags, 231 items of rubbish close to home. And for this story I’m using the blue marker, which allows for privacy, as it randomly assigns the pin in the local area of the activity.

On Sunday I collected a bag of rubbish. Mostly KFC. People park in the street after going through the drive thru, and then just leave their rubbish. Really bad behaviour. The fast food chains or on my list of potential platform users.

I was picking up my puppy pooh 💩 at soccer field playing fetching, I decided to fill the bag with litters. Puppies followed along while picking rubbish.

Tipping point means,,, when earth gets hotter by 1.5 degree, no matters what we do, even we reduce 100 percent of the carbon releases..., earth itself will make earth hotter and hotter by melting permafrost in Alaska and Siberia, releasing more carbon n butane as they melts, and same loop with forests 🔥 fire Carbon dioxide and methane are released into the atmosphere as permafrost melts. 

Visiting Wilson’s Promontory National Park and Squeaky Beach. Our good friend Pete picked up a plastic chip packet, not only improved the view but helped the environment that extra bit.

Had a fantastic morning with students from King's College and guest Cameron Tolmie attending to week mitigation on the parcel of land immediately adjacent and west to our property.

My sister and I caught up with Mum and Dad's dear friends Brian and Sandy. We had a lovely lunch at Fitzy's in Toowoomba.

Having a wonderful chat with Paola about account based marketing 😊

I collected a bag of rubbish on my way to the Kings College bush regen working bee 😊

I visited Kings College for the first time since the early 1990s. Andrew and Thérèse were wonderful hosts for my tour. Andrew and the residents are doing wonderful work regenerating the vegetation along the river. Super impressed! So much so I’ve offered to come help next Wednesday. Watch this space 😊

All the rubbish on my walking route to the bus getting to me again ☹️ 226 seperate pieces, including 2 vapes which if separated into the 2nd bag with the bottles.

Was walking the dogs with Soyun at Sid Bigg park in Mudgeeraba when I noticed a Passionfruit vine in a tree near the scoreboard. It was easily removed, but I also removed 30 vine seedlings.

I was in central Brisbane eating my sushi when I was visited by this feral pigeon looking for some food. The feather on the pigeon’s head looked like a hat, and its feet were very deformed. (Interesting research on pigeon feet!). It reminded me that whilst removing invasive species from our natural areas is vitally important for biodiversity, they are living beings. Which means removal should be done as humanely as possible. Also, in our majorly altered environments like city scapes, pigeons and other introduced species can help nature reestablish an ecosystem, create a food chain. Provide a connection to Nature that many city dwellers lack. So I gave him/her some sushi, and left the mall with a smile on my face.

Planted 300 trees on Aroona along the riparian zone

Someone held a party near my daughters’s bus stop with cask wine and vapes. No one else was cleaning it up, so I did, along with about 300m of roadside in 15min.

And here I was thinking Paris has a street rubbish problem… 177 pieces in just over 15 minutes in about 250m of one side of my local street 😢

Friday was the 2nd and last day of Hello Tomorrow. Whist we are not ‘Deep Tech’ it was certainly worthwhile coming to experience and learn from this innovative ecosystem. The way ahead for us as a company is forming. And another bags worth of rubbish, some 60 pieces was picked up along my walk to and from the venue. There are two causes for the rubbish other than its manufacture: in areas with large numbers of shops that unwrap plastic, the storage areas are inadequate, this despite daily visits by council to clean. Secondly attitudes. The second photo is a bottle tossed there casually by someone in front of me. I put it in the bin 10m away. Sad.

First day at the Hello Tomorrow conference in the impressive Le Centquartre in Paris. A ‘deep tech’ conference with many worthy ideas and plans to benefit our world. However, I also know we need to start now with action. I walked the 6km return trip to and from the venue. And I picked up rubbish along the way with my pick up stick. Into bins in the morning as I didn’t want to turn up with a bag of rubbish! And 80 pieces on my return. I suspect looking at the day in isolation I did more demonstrable action than the vast majority of the 3,000 delegates. And I got two compliments in French from passers by! 😊

Went to a shop called Leroymerlin. Sorta like a chic French Bunnings in the middle of Paris to get myself a pickup stick. On my way there I noticed this chip packet outside Cartier and wondered whether it would be there on my return. It sure was lol. So I picked up one piece of rubbish for every bin I saw on my way home. 13 in all. Imagine if a sizeable minority did the same regularly whilst walking. The rubbish would be sorted!

In preparation for Earth hour 23rd Mar 2024 I was fortunate enough to be given 2 sets of native Australian seedlings. Time to germinate them and then plant them in the garden!

There is a lot of rubbish in Paris, much more than I remember from 10 years ago. Some places are worse than others. But it’s sad to see we’ll dressed young Parisiennes casually toss their cigarette butts in the beautiful cobbled streets 😢 I picked up a single bottle today in Maurecourt, but I’m feeling like making a statement by picking up rubbish wearing my greenbrand shirt!

I headed to Maurecourt on Wednesday on the outskirts of Paris. Vines appear to be a problem here too, over growing fences. I don’t know whether Ivy and the other two vines in the photos are invasive. But invasive species are a global problem as outlined in this article. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2023/01/17/france-struggles-to-eradicate-invasive-species_6011864_114.html

My first full day in Paris. I’m exploring the neighbourhood of South Pigalle. There is an acknowledgment that the few green spaces are important, with information signs and nest boxes. And greenery can appear in the most unlikely spaces!

On first impressions, the UK and Europe are much more advanced in taking action to help the environment. The Tate Gallery has declared a “climate and ecological emergency”. There is rewinding occurring on the southern entrance, and I did my bit in collecting a handful of plastic for the bin. Every piece, every action, no how small, helps.

Arrived in London en route to Paris for the Hello Tomorrow and Change Now conferences. Very exciting! Had a look at the Tate Modern gallery. Some amazing and massive artworks made out of bottle tops linked together. Also a bees/wasps/insect hotel installed in fenced off trees out the front.

On Wednesday 13th, the last day before leaving to France and the conferences, I spent an hour removing about 50 regrowth glycine vines and a bag of rubbish from the biobasin. I’m researching the number of native trees I’ll need to plant to offset the 3.4ton of CO2 my flights will generate. Saving the planted trees from vines is just as important as planting.

We have recently bought a small place at an EcoVillage called 'The Cape' at Cape Paterson. We look after the native plants around the village by regularly tending to weeds and picking up rubbish. We grow many of our own vegetables and we have a self sufficient power supply from solar panels and a battery. Last weekend I spent a half day walking around the village clearing paths of weeds as my small contribution the community. We have a mob of kangaroos who live close by so we do our best to make the place as kangaroo and wildlife friendly as possible.

I have planted more than 500 heliconias on my block where I live last 6 years. I hope they help with reducing carbon. I wish China and India plant them in the city.

Planted indigenous flora to bring back fauna.

More vines popping up every day

Waiting for a ferry to go to Karragarra Island. Thought I’d pick up the bits of rubbish. Every bit of positive action helps.

Always new rubbish from 7/11, KFC and Starbucks. Cleaned up as much as I could on my walk.

I love the bush grounds at the Sleeman Sporting centre at Chandler. Dropping off my girls for a school swimming carnival. A really caring team of gardeners. Native plantings, weed control and nest boxes everywhere, including car parks, for bats, birds and gliders. Imagine if this gold standard was replicated Brisbane wide, private and public, in time for the Olympics and Paralympics. Visitors and tourists will be impressed with nature in our city.

Walking with my daughter to the local bakery. Picked up a couple of plastic bags that would end up in the drains with approaching rain. Took no time to do, but feel good in making a positive difference, no matter how small.

today i realised i didn’t have a vase for my flowers so i reused a plastic bottle, reusing plastic bottles is a great idea as each one you reuse, is saving it from staying in a land fill for thousands of years… it’s a great and innovative idea that will save you money and the environment

I think this is exciting and thought provoking! Watch the video (Sound Up!) I was walking through Post Office Square near where I often work and was actually noticing that bin chickens (white ibis) and feral pigeons were the only birds here. Then I heard a familiar trill sound I wasn't expecting. Whilst this little fella (Superb Fairywren) seemed to be away from his tribe, seeing him in the middle of the CBD brings hope, along with thoughts about how we need to make our cities more friendly towards biodiversity. Say by having more shrubbery and groundcover to provide protection, food and housing. Brisbane has the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming in 9 years. Tourists and visitors will be expecting to see wildlife. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could see some more iconic and unique species in the city! I checked iNaturalist. Hardly any sightings recorded in the CBD. Just a couple near QUT in 2023.

helped my dad pick up rubbish on a walk and picked up rubbish found in park in my own time

I planted another 3 gums and a casuarina at Prince Henry Dr. Not easy digging holes due to all the volcanic basalt. The Toowoomba range first formed some 300 million years ago. Are these rocks that old? And is this the first time they’ve seen the sun??? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Created a chemical free garden.

I saw all these plastic bags just waiting to be washed and blown into the drain and into our rivers and oceans. At least this bag of plastic and rubbish didn’t make it!

My girls are growing up and so I cherish any time they are willing to spend with me. Today we had a lovely walk and a chat. They even tolerated to be seen with me picking up rubbish. Lots of people tell me that they pick up rubbish on their walks. Our Greenbrand platform is the perfect way to document those good deeds. And by pooling them together we can create that movement of repair that so many people hope for.

The last day of 2023! Multiple reasons for posting; rubbish in the gutters with more storms predicted, so don't want this rubbish flowing into our streams and the ocean. I'm retraining myself with the movie making ability of the mobile phone and You Tube, as amateurish as I am. And I need to get into the habit of posting, 2024 is the year Greenbrand.org will take off. So if I'm going to be a social media mover and shaker (insert a couple of laughing emojis here) I need to be able to post regularly and seamlessly.

I visited Mum on Boxing Day at Dovetree Aged Care. She was a bit better (more with it) than Christmas Day. I noticed some rubbish in the car park so thought I’d pick it up. I collected 12 masks in total in amongst the bag of rubbish that won’t flow into our rivers 😊

On Sunday 10th December I planted another 5 seedlings, including a couple of native mulberries (first photo). I put tree guards around the others in the long grass as I knew council would come and either cut or poison the grass. Sadly they whipper snipped the wattle (background photo 2) that was growing so well despite being identified by ribbons and posts. I’ll assume it was an accident as none of the other seedlings were harmed. So whilst I’m a bit sad, these things happen in nature, and hopefully the others will grow to their potential 🙏🤞

Up at my parent’s place in Toowoomba. A number of large, old Eucalyptus trees died during the terrible drought of 2019-2020, both on the property and in the adjoining park. I’ve started to plant replacement trees for those lost, and add in some variety with acacias and bottlebrushes to help create an understory.

We have designed a very efficient Tidal Energy Turbine to harness kinetic energy from tides and rivers. This can be used in remote locations to remove dependence on diesel generators.

Spent a day visiting Lamb Island in Moreton Bay with my great friend Mark and his son Alex. Saved 3 young casuarinas from mile a minute vine as we explored the island.

Walking in the countryside of Aude in France. Luckily not much to do as the weather keeps people inside. Still, we met few people strolling around and enjoying a bit of sun. It feels like people keep their rubbish and take care of the wild paths. Only pick up few litter here and there.

Beautiful walk through the Christchurch botanic gardens picking up the odd piece of rubbish here and there. It was sunny, hot, cold, windy and raining in the hour and a half we were there lol. Beautiful!