Over winter we have had our fingers in many pies. From housing to nature stewards, expos to regeneration, running competitions to discussion forums - our activities have been far reaching! We are excited to share our growing network of people doing amazing work and our burgeoning suite of actions that are focused on creating a climate safe and pollution free Moonee Valley for all.
Please enjoy reading our news, noting our events and getting updates on our projects. We'd love to see you at an event over the coming months.
Warm Regards,
Angela & Logan
Online voting in our Moonee Valley’s Favourite Tree competition is now open! Please VOTE NOW
Our finalists are:
Polling closes on Friday 9th August so be sure to VOTE NOW
As well as launching our favourite tree competition, it was heartening to see so many people creating a greener and healthier Moonee Valley for all down at the Maribyrnong River. A great turnout of community members meant that 6000 plants got in the ground in record time. Shout out to Milly Burke and the conservation team at Moonee Valley Council for an outstanding event.
The Herald Sun team visited the Moonee Valley Repair Cafe in early July, producing a POPUP VIDEO – and gathering material for further articles. It has also triggered a Channel 7 request to film and feature Repair Cafes across Melbourne. Stay tuned!!
We had an amazing day at the Living Future Expo hosted by Sustainable Living Maribyrnong. Wonderful conversations were had with friends new and old, as well as current and future collaborators.
The Community Advisory Panel (CAP) was made up of 41 residents, including our very own members Supriya, Tom, Jodie & Ganga. The CAP met with the Moonee Valley City Council (MVCC) team once online and four times in person including an afternoon bus tour. The CAP brought together what inspired us, ideas, what we might want to see as the Council looks to house 900 households every year into the future, and finally what we would recommend the MVCC to consider in designing a Housing Strategy that provided “housing for all”.
The group considered the MV2040 vision: ‘A city with housing for all’, then explored the question, What does ‘a city with housing for all’ look like? This work was used to drive the development of the housing component of the refreshed Moonee Valley Strategy.
We’d love to see you at one of our events over the coming months. Find details the links below or visit our EVENTS page.
Sunday 7th August
Bio-weeding & Clean Up on Steele Creek
Saturday 17th August
Moonee Valley Repair Cafe & Waste Sort – Waste Sort Updated list
Saturday 17th August
People Propagating Plants
Monday 16th September
Dominant Birds Online Talk
Tuesday 10th September
MVS AGM. 6.45pm for 7pm start – 8pm. Dwell @ 78 St Leonards Rd Ascot Vale
Another step forward in our cool collaboration as part of the ‘Renewing Dwell’ project today.
Huge huge thanks to local legend Luke who very kindly donated his Saturday morning and his super precise bobcat skills.
A big shout out also to Ascot Bin Hire who were extremely generous in donating a skip. This means we can get more plants in the ground, so thank you – we really appreciate it.
This ‘Coolscaping’ stage aims to plant locally indigenous plants to create a cool and climate resilient landscape to keep the building cooler in summer, so when extreme heat strikes, the surrounds will help reduce the heat
We also hope to be able to install a big showcase rain garden later this year, to treat stormwater and retain moisture on site where we can to help demonstrate the benefits to all. Stay tuned!
Email Logan at logan@mvsustainability.org.
This is a long term project that we have signed up to alongside multiple other environment groups in Moonee Valley. In collaboration with the conservation team at Moonee Valley City Council we are working together to build a nature corridor from Napier Park through to Moonee Ponds Creek.
A working group has been established and meets monthly to plan and think through the logistics of this ambitious idea. There are representatives from:
Moonee Valley Sustainability
Friends of Napier Park
Friends of Steele Creek
Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek
Friends of Maribyrnong Valley
Maribyrnong River and Waterways Association
Avondale Heights Community Garden
East Keilor Rotary
Australian Plants Society Keilor Plains
Australian Conservation Foundation, Melbourne
We kick started the project in Napier Park with Dr Luis Mata from Melbourne Uni who helped us find and identify insects which will help determine what we need to plant in the green corridor.
One aspect of the project is to develop a team of local indigenous plant propagators to support the plantings. If you are keen to learn this skill be sure to register for our People Propagating Plants Workshop
Date: 17th August
Time: 11am – 1pm
Place: 78 St Leonards Rd Ascot Vale
Limited places so please book HERE
Email Angela at angela@mvsustainability.org.
The ACTIVE Transport Collective have been getting active on the website. Check out their new page HERE
Our Five Mile Creek Project has been in train since last year. We have returned regularly to do a clean up at the same spot along the creek. In collaboration with Chain of Ponds Collaboration and Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek we have audited the litter and discovered that much of it comes from Keilor Road and the Nth Essendon Shops.
Over the coming months we are devising a community and trader education and behaviour change campaign. We’ll keep you posted.
Over the past few months, the Rethinking Waste Collective has researched hard-to-recycle items, focusing on reusing materials locally. We now collect 12 materials. Some, like oral care items, are sent for recycling, while others, like compost and feed bags, have local solutions. For a full list and specifications, visit our Repair Cafe and Waste Sort listing here. We collect: batteries, bottle tops, bread clips, bottles and cans, deodorant tins, fruit stickers, glass jars, mobile phones and wires, old keys, oral care items, plastic cards, pens and pencils, and rubber bands.
MVS @ Mason Green
Mason Green is a community of residents that volunteer to improve sustainability and circular economy outcomes across the Mason Square complex and surrounding locale in Moonee Ponds. The Mason Square complex comprises 5 buildings with 5 separate body corporates and 5 separate building management teams.
The residents are curious about tackling concerns impacting their lives in and around the building:
– Waste infrastructure and facilities missing or not set up properly
– Lack of Electric Vehicle Charging points that might enable Sustainable Transport
– Possibility of energy capture through solar panels
– Rain water tanks and Grey Water Recycling possibilities
– Urban heat island effects around their building
Back in June, we heard from our friends Chris and Peter Cook from Climate For Change about the confronting realities of how and why burning fossil fuels is leading to significant health and environmental impacts right across the globe.
We discussed various actions we can take, from the individual, through to collective, community and citizen actions and which of those are the most effective.
We were inspired to learn just how much impact a conversation can have, from chatting to someone in the supermarket, to hosting your very own conversation.
There was even some climate cake to round out a great evening.
We support the vision of an Australia in which climate action is a top priority and sure hope to collaborate more with Climate For Change as importance of switching to clean renewable energy, ending native forest logging and the drawdown of carbon become all the more urgent each and every day.
If you are interested in hosting a climate conversation in your home with friends, family or your wider network, contact Climate for Change HERE.
We highly recommend the process and applaud the work Chris and Peter are doing with C4C – we love it when our vision/mission aligns with other organisations.
We have just launched our Clean Air for Moonee Valley Campaign. Read about what causes pollution and what actions you can take to reduce your impact on our new webpage HERE.
We would love to hear from you! There are many ways to get involved with your local community through MVS.
Until next time…
Yours Sustainably
