Co-Convener Report

We were thrilled to launch our new website on Saturday 16th March. We ran over the new look and new features.

After some coffee and cake, our 5 Collectives got together to plan actions & advocacy for the rest of 2024. A new ‘Textile Action Group’ was floated, nature strip education, community batteries & better streets for bikes & pedestrians were all discussed.

Thanks to everyone who came along – you inspire us to keep doing what we’re doing!

The website reVamp project was made possible by a combination of grants from Essendon Fields, Federal Government (via Bill Shorten’s Office) and Moonee Valley City Council. We are grateful for their support.

A big thanks to every single one of the 66 volunteers who came to Woodlands Park, Essendon on Sunday 3rd March.

We hosted a wonderfully enthusiastic group including Girl Guides, Scouts and other young locals, Friends Of Woodlands Park, Moonee Ponds Creek & Steele Creek, Glenbervie Stationeers as well as Councillors Rose Iser & Ava Adams.

Thanks to Neil & Rachel from Chain of Ponds Collaboration and Angela from Maribyrnong River and Waterways Association for helping to plan and run the event, and of course to our MVS volunteers who just make things happen!

We collected 7149 items in total, of which 5460 were soft plastics, followed by 822 cigarette butts, 318 hard plastic and a series of others items that should have been in a bin.

Achieving our vision of a pollution free Moonee Valley for all isn’t going happen by picking up rubbish alone. We need to pull all the levers of prevention, education, design and behaviour change to get there within the next decade. This event was a small but important step on that journey.

In late February we participated in the return of the Moonee Valley Festival to Queens Park. It was fantastic to see our volunteers out in full force. We loved chatting to community about the work we are doing and helping people find ways they can personally contribute to a climate safe and pollution free Moonee Valley for all.

In early February we had a fascinating morning sorting microplastics. It was a bit sobering to see how artificial grass really does get into our waterways but it was great to contribute to a citizen science project that will inform future pollution free solutions.

Thanks so much to Anthony Despotellis from the Yarra River Keeper Association for facilitating the event for us.

Come along to help care for one of our much loved local waterways, Steele Creek. We’ll be doing our usual clean up, but also a hand weed up as well! Friends of Steele Creek will guide the hand weeding session to make sure we pull out the right plants!

PROVIDED: Gloves, pickers, bags
WEAR / BRING: Boots / closed shoes, long pants, hat & water
ACCESSIBILITY: The site has accessible pathways as well as hilly off track areas. Please contact us for further info
SAFETY: All participants must sign in and attend (or read) safety briefing
KIDS: This a family friendly event, however all children must be supervised by an adult
TOILETS: 2km away at Keilor East Leisure Centre or on Keilor Rd (near Matthews Ave)
ORGANISERS: Brought to you by Moonee Valley Sustainability, Friends of Steele Creek & Maribyrnong River & Waterways Association.

Let’s keep Moonee Valley healthy & clean together!

Repair Cafe operates on either the 3rd or 4th Saturday of the month. Keep an eye on their Facebook Page for upcoming dates.

Are you a fix-it type person?
We are always on the lookout for extra repairers so if you would like to join the volunteer team email charlie@mvsustainability.org.au and let him know!

Efficient LED lighting and cosy R6.0 batts were installed thanks to a Moonee Valley City Council grant. We also sealed up gaps and painted the ceiling and walls.

A huge thanks goes out to an amazing bunch of locals who volunteered multiple days of their time to get it done. These works were  another small step on our long journey to turn this much loved community hub into a cool safe space running on clean renewables.

Walk, Ride Moonee Valley

Our Active Transport Collective is running their first event this month.

Join them on 20th April to find out how we can create safe, healthy, people & climate friendly streets for everyone.

Featuring:
+ Towards Better Streets – panel and Q&A
+ Info on infrastructure for cycling and walking
+ Bike repairs advice
+ Explore e-bikes and cargo bikes
+ Join Moonee BUG for a group ride

Meet your neighbours and people from Better Streets campaign, Streets Alive, your local Bicycle Users Group (MooneeBUG), local businesses and MVS’s Active Transport Collective.
Learn how we can work together for Better Streets!

Eyes & Ears For Country Pledge

Our Healthy Environment Collective created a unique Supersize Nest installation for the Moonee Valley Festival. It was a real hit with families. Community members were invited into the nest to make seed pod mandalas. As people made beautiful shapes and patterns our volunteers chatted with them about what they can do to care for Country.

People were encouraged to take a pledge to be “Eyes & Ears for Country” in Moonee Valley and gave them a printed statement to take home, fill in and put on their fridge.

Stay tuned for more Supersize Nest outings later in the year!

As a registered charity, Moonee Valley Sustainability has been able to register with the TOMRA CDS Vic program as an official recipient of 10 cents!!. If you’re collecting containers and would like to donate the proceeds to MVS then here’s what you need to do –

Down load the CDS Vic West App.
Fill in your details
In the charity section, search for Moonee Valley Sustainability.
Go onto our page and select MVS as your preferred charity
When you visit the reverse vending machine (closest Airport West, Baybrook, Brunswick) scan the barcode on your home page of the app,
We will then receive 10 cents for every container you return.

We’ve raised $182 since November. We’d really love it if you could help us reach our target of $500!!!
All info and app download here https://mytomra.com.au/digital-payout/cds-vic-west-app

This month Council was considering an extended season for Keilor East Leisure Centre – we raised the costly and carbon intensive issue of heating outdoor public pools.

We encouraged Councillors to request a transition to clean electric powered pools and provided some constructive ideas around grant funding opportunities to help them achieve our shared goals.

And it worked!

The decision was made to to extend the hours for now but to also seriously consider applying for the Federal ‘Community Energy Upgrades’ Fund grant of 2.5 million.

We have recently become signatories to a number of campaigns that align with our vision of a climate safe and pollution free Moonee Valley for all.

1) It’s time to wind up VicForests – Letter to Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas.

2) Solar our Learning – Letter to state and federal governments (Parents for Climate)

3) Nuclear reactors are a dangerous distraction from phasing out coal, gas & oil – Letter to Liberal-Nationals

We would love to hear from you! There are many ways to get involved with your local community through MVS.

• Come along to an MVS event and chat with us
• Email us at info@mvsustainability.org.au
• Head on over to our  Membership page to become a member
• Fill out our Volunteer  form to let us know how you can help / get involved
• Join our Moonee Valley Sustainability Forum Facebook group
• Follow our Moonee Valley Sustainability Facebook page
• Follow Moonee Valley Sustainability on Instagram

Until next time…

Yours Sustainably