86 | AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HEALTH naturalhealthmag.com.au
Visit ACFCGN at communitygarden.org.au
to connect with local like-minded people.
Download a free copy of Stress-Free
Sustainability at eco-fluence.comconnecting communities; not just
through petitioning and volunteering
with charities, but also joining green
thumbs to create community gardens.
With Australia’s first community
garden established in Melbourne in
1977, these peaceful places unite
communities nationwide to grow and
share food, learn about composting
and connect with nature. Located in
various places like schools, community
centres and public parks, these gardens
often contain fruit trees, vegies,
flowers, insect hotels, bee hives,
chickens and frog ponds – perhaps a
tranquil meditation space too.
Sounds inviting, right? If you are
keen to start a community garden, the
Australian City Farms and Community
Gardens Network (ACFCGN)
encourages you to consider key
points, including: type of community
garden (shared or allotment), purpose
(recreation, community-building,
nutrition or education), organic or
non-organic gardening, types of plants
and animals, featured structures like
lockable shed, required training,
cooperation with local government,
water conservation, waste reduction,
funding and site requirements.
Firstly, however, it may prove most
productive to form a passionate team
to collaborate with to develop the idea
and management plan, and support
you in approaching landholders,
creating a site design, constructing and
assisting with ongoing management of
the garden.
SPREADING THE MESSAGE
Of course, inspiring others to take
environmental action means being
mindful of not coming across as
overbearing or judgemental. Despite
our best intentions, standing on
our soapbox is an easy trap when
we feel passionate about something.
Hammes encourages us to lead by
example rather than making an
example of someone. This includes
being mindful of littering social
media with posts that may quickly
flick from potentially influential to
critically pestering!
“Believing or communicating in
a way that insinuates others have
a social or moral responsibility to
make the same choices is where
environmentalists put up a barrier for
would-be converts,” she says. “People
feel turned off. The conversation
tone is that they are inferior for not
having made the same choices. They
feel judged.“Instead of saying we should all be
powering our homes with solar panels
(particularly if you are not a homeowner)
or that there’s no excuse for being so
wasteful with our natural resources
(especially if you don’t compost), can you
practise what you preach first? Expose
people to desired behaviours through
practice – without being preachy.”
Creating and sustaining a brighter
future for younger generations starts
within our own hearts and homes; gently
influencing others with our actions to
change their own lifestyles in respect for
the environment may then organically
occur. As Indian leader Mahatma
Gandhi famously encouraged: “Be the
change you wish to see in the world.”“Believing or
communicating in a way
that insinuates others
have a social or moral
responsibility to make
the same choices is
where environmentalists
put up a barrier for
would-be converts”