I attended the wonderful networking event held by the Rotoract Club of Brisbane International on Thursday evening. Among the inspirational speakers was Brisbane City Councillor Emily Kim. We had a really great chat about Greenbrand and the opportunities where it can be used by residents to record important environmental activities.

On my way to King’s College for a catch up, walking through the redeveloped and revegetated UQ lakes. I notice a young Glycine vine, which, if left alone it will totally smother the native plants. So I pulled it out by the roots. Problem, for now, solved.

I was inspired by the Queensland Trust for Nature’s story on how the Containers for Change refunds can be donated to charities. QTFN uses these funds to buy and install nest boxes for Australian wildlife. Have my $8.20!!!!

After the heavy rains of Cyclone Alfred I came to the Biobasin expecting a lot of rubbish. But there wasn’t. There are HEAPS OF WEEDS though, and I spent an hour clearing around the saplings I’d planted, and with the soft soil I pulled out at least a 100 glycine vines, some of which were quite large.

Attending King’s College’s first Bushcare session for 2025! Ably led by legend Jack!

Caught up with Brian and Sandy, Mum and Dad's great friends on mum's anniversary.

We are so lucky in Brisbane to have urban bush, parks and wildlife. Tōkyō is an amazing city, the largest in the world, with an energy to match. But I saw only two species of bird in 3 days, a few crows being one of them. Very few trees as well which doesn’t help, tree canopy at only around 7% and declining. Bird numbers are also declining https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/science-nature/environment/20241015-216633/ We should do all we can to keep and improve what we have in Brisbane. They are an asset the world will love come 2032.

The Kyoto/Osaka region has over 19 million residents, but the streets are much clearer of rubbish compared with Tokyo, despite there still not many rubbish bins. Less tourists or different attitude of the locals??

In Tokyo with my girls. Amazing city, people and culture. As usual I’m observing through a partial environmental lens, and I notice no rubbish bins. Heaps of rubbish in many of the streets. Apparently they were removed after the 1995 sarin terrorist attacks. A Time Out article in 2018 says the locals carry their rubbish with them until they get home. Maybe the increase in tourists post covid has contributed 😔

I met with Sarah from Impact Dragonfly and had a great discussion about the future of greenbrand.org. Thanks Sarah for your feedback.

My flight home is not until tonight so had some time to myself during the day. I thought I’d clean up some of the rubbish in the local square where I was staying. I reacquainted myself with the same pick up stick I’d used in France on my last trip! I also had a helper, though I think he was only helping because he thought I had food lol Even collected a Fosters can. People drink it????

I had travelled to Dublin to watch the Wallabies play Ireland in rugby, a close game that Ireland won at the end. Wandering through the streets and parks beforehand I can see Europe is way ahead of Australia in promoting biodiversity and managing its park estate.

Visiting Cannes and Antibes with friends. I note that the marina has a floating automatic waste machine that collects rubbish. You can read more at ekkopol.com

I attended an information evening about Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s (AWC) wonderful work in protecting Australia’s ecosystems at scale. CEO Tim Allard’s session was not only inspiring, but optimistic. Optimism and joy is often missing in climate and biodiversity discussions. I also had the pleasure of meeting Kurt and Charlie from Co-Exist Australia. Another dynamic duo doing important repair at scale!

Removed some balloon vine growing amongst paperbarks along the footpath in Whipbird park. I had a lovely chat with a local resident. Anne had inquired about joining the local Bushcare group, but it is no longer active. I showed her Greenbrand.org and how it records stories and impact. You can see the removed vines on the grass on picture 2.

I planted the remaining 6 free trees I was gifted, 5 bottlebrush and a grevillea. I did some weeding so council can easily see the plantings, and also watered the previous plantings as we missed the recent storms. It’s looking quite nice and lush now. Amazing what one person can do. I also removed a glycine vine that was loaded with seed pods. Removed via the roots, so can’t regrow, and I removed the vine and seeds so they can’t germinate. An hour well spent!

I walk or jog past this tree a few times a week. It’s in the process of being smothered by glycine vine. On Saturday afternoon it took 30 seconds to save by cutting the vine stems. The leaves in the canopy will die, the tree will continue to grow. And as I pass it often, any regrowth will be simple to remove.

I attended 2024’s last King’s College UQ Bushcare session on Sunday morning. During the two hours there I worked with residents Ned and Sam to remove glycine and balloon vine from trees planted some years previous. The White Cedar would have died without our intervention. Countering the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change are not just about planting trees, it’s their nurturing and survival as well.