· By Maria Nilsson
Clean Up Australia Day
Clean Up Australia day is tomorrow the 6th of March and it falls coincidentally at a time when one of Australia’s largest clean-ups is desperately needed. Our community is in crisis after the catastrophic flooding in the Northern Rivers and surrounds. The flood itself felt like a nightmare and the devastation of the aftermath is being felt across the whole country. The amount of hurdles to jump to reach normality again seems endless, but we must keep going.
We are in awe of the community spirit and mateship we are witnessing in the aftermath. There is a Bundjalung expression that is resonating amongst us right now ~ Ngulliboo muggi – meaning, all of us strong. It’s simply amazing to see and many of us can now see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Clean Up Australia day is traditionally a day where many of us around Australia gather and clean us rubbish from our local areas such as beaches, parks and streets, which we fully encourage everyone able to continue! But this year, we will be focussing our efforts on the momentous clean up around our region and if you can, we encourage you to join. If you are able, donations can be made here (every little bit helps) and if you live in an affected area, there are plenty of ways that you can help. Check with your local community boards and organisations for more info. Reach out to your friends and family, lend a hand to your neighbours and continue to connect with community as we recover from all of this.
Atmosea will be organising a beach clean up along our coast, when the time is right. This will likely be one of the final steps in the clean up, after we overcome what can only be described as a disaster zone. Please stay tuned for that as the coastline is really copping a lot of debris right now. We will need many hands!
One last note to add as we look forward… We all need to consider that Climate Change is real and action is needed. We can all begin helping ourselves and the future of all livings things on this planet by educating one another, bringing awareness to those who are unaware and start making changes now. Planting more trees is good start! Stay tuned for more on this subject too.
We have also just updated our sustainability page, with more information about our impacts and the direction we’re heading. Read this stuff here.