Friday 13 June 2008

Sustainability Streeters keep the vibe going!

Three months after the Sustainability Street graduation of the two latest streets – The Straight Rd Mulgoa and Penrith City Garden Club- the streets are about to embark on two community projects in the Local Government Area, with the Mulgoa Sustainability Street group working with Mulgoa Public School to build a community garden, and the Garden Club working with Mamre House to improve their plant propogation and irrigation systems.


The Mulgoa Sustainability Street group project will help to establish a community garden that can be used to grow fruit and vegetables for consumption by local residents and the school students. This will provide valuable learning experiences for all about how to establish a successful garden and provide additional opportunities for the school to undertake lessons on related sustainability issues such as ‘food miles’, recycling and composting, organic gardening and the importance of being waterwise. Susan Ward from Sustainability Street said: ‘This is an excellent opportunity for the information and knowledge gained from the Sustainability Street program to be shared more broadly with the local community’.


The Penrith City Garden Club community project with Mamre House to improve their plant propogation and irrigation systems will allow Mamre House to continue to propagate seedlings and provide the community with a beautiful range of local native plants. The project will also provide a great opportunity for a closer link to be developed between Mamre House and the Gardening Club and for the Garden Club members to add their own gardening knowledge and expertise to the project.

Both projects are expected to be completed by the end of June, with the bricks already laid down for the Mulgoa community vegetable garden. The funding for these community projects was made possible through grant funding provided by the NSW Government’s Environmental Trust, with Penrith City Gardening Club providing additional funding to go towards their project.

Tuesday 3 June 2008

Council attends the Science in the Suburbs Expo

On 27 and 28 May staff from Council’s Sustainability Unit and Building Services Department participated in the Science in the Suburbs Expo at Sydney Olympic Park with an interactive display on the Solar Boat Challenge.

Science in the Suburbs is one part of the outreach programs undertaken as part of the Science in the City project run by the Australian Museum and the University of Sydney. Modelled on the successful Science in the City event, the expo provides students with the opportunity to attend talks, shows, workshops and activities on science and technology. The first day is for high schools and the second day for primary schools.

Council’s display on the Solar Boat Challenge gave kids the opportunity to find out more about the challenge, have a closer look at the model solar power boats and how they work, and learn more about solar energy. Some of the other organisations there on the day included University of Sydney, Questacon, Jenolan Caves, NSW Department of Primary Industries, University of Newcastle and Fizzics Education.

Science in the Suburbs events have been held since 2004 and cater for schools in outer Sydney and regional areas. The project is supported by the Australian Government through the Science Connections Programme administered by the Department of Education, Science and Training.