[FESTIVAL] How community shapes sustainability

[Rebecca]

Every month, my family and I join the beach cleanup on the stretch of coast where I live. This month has been so busy with summer holidays in full swing and at first glance the pebbles and sand looked fairly clean. Yet once we started looking closely, there were bottle tops, food wrappers, scraps of plastic and bits of fishing line scattered everywhere. Each of us carried a bag and within an hour we had collected enough to fill two of the commercial waste bins. The beach looked brighter and cleaner, but more than that, we knew we had helped protect this wonderful space and the sea beyond it.

That morning reminded me how powerful a group of people can be. Picking up a single bottle top will not save the ocean; but when a community comes together, those efforts add up to something much bigger. Healthier spaces for wildlife, safer places for children to play and a community that feels proud of its coastline.

I think this idea connects beautifully with hosting. Sustainability does not always need grand gestures or expensive changes. Often it comes down to simple, thoughtful choices that, when multiplied across a community, create real and lasting impact. Something as small as leaving a reusable shopping bag in the kitchen or reminding guests to recycle can spark a ripple effect. One small action in your home may inspire your guest, and that guest might carry the idea back to their own community.

What role do you believe community plays in driving sustainability and protecting our environment, and how have you put this into practice yourself?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon, 

Rebecca

[Quincy]

Hi @Rebecca, I really enjoy hearing about your beach cleanups! It super inspiring 🙂 I also completely agree that small everyday actions can really add up, especially when a whole community gets involved. 

Personally, I try to cut down on waste in my own way. I use an app that links people with local shops and cafes. This way I can pick up food (at low cost) that would otherwise be thrown out. I'll hop hop on my bicycle and ride to a few spots to grab veggies or fruit. For me it's a simple habit, but over time it's made so much aware of food waste and how easy it is to make a difference (however small it is!)

I think little efforts like beach cleanups or rescuing food are really motivating. Do you have any other sustainability habits that I can potentially implement to my daily life? 👀

Food that otherwise would have been thrown awayEn route to a shop by cycling over Tower Bridge, London

[Helen427]

@Quincy 

Have you considered using Bush Telegraph way of human Communications instead of your phone app to reduce environmental impacts of using technology?

We have learnt which places offer reduced prices to however also try and factor into account methods used to produce packaged meals 

It's a cost effective way to try new flavours and stick to one's budget.

Incidentally it's 100 years this year since the Automatic Telephone.

Where have all the Telephones that lasted and worked and Devices gone to over the years?

They used to be shipped off to less developed countries to help improve those people's lives.

[Quincy]

Hi @Helen427, thanks for sharing your perspective! I get what you mean packaging and even the tech we use all come with an impact. I mean, I’m literally typing this on a laptop right now, so I’m hardly off the grid myself.

For me, the app’s just been a simple way to cut down on food waste, and since I’m already cycling around, it feels like a good balance. I like your point about looking at how meals are produced too! 

[Helen427]

@Quincy 

You are doing better than me riding a bike and keeping balance.

Unfortunately my days of that have been numbered.

As for our waistlines, or as we oft refer to them as Wastelines, here's a fun fact, Did you know Bus seats are still 18 inches across as they were in Omnibuses and Horse Carriages in the 1800's?

It's a great way to know how we are doing with our diets , exercises and where we are at in life.

I remind myself of that when driven to catch a bus to go places, more so if lugging home groceries.

I had the dreaded experience of my onions falling out the bag and over the bus floor recently, alas it couldn't have happened in front of like humoured people.

Have you ever had such an experience with your groceries and treats when our cycling?

Or seen it happen to others?

What was the reaction?

Any Birds about at the ready?

[Rebecca]

Thanks so much for sharing @Quincy. I still do the odd food waste collection here to distribute within the community,  but I also have a local 'pantry' who collect all the food waste too. 

I got some wonderful farm fresh (still covered in mud) onions and carrots the other day, as well as some sourdough loaves which I chop up and freeze! I've got a butternut squash and potatoes to make some soup with too. 

You're very brave cycling in London - it's so busy! Is it a lot quicker than public transport? 

[Helen427]

Have you seen any Wildlife pop up in the ocean as you are collecting up others pollution 

@Rebecca ?

Or parts of sailing vessels broken from earlier generations?

Or any messages in a bottle?

I wonder if many people still send mail that way?

We often see broken pieces of glass and crockery at our local spot and reflect on where it may have come from in years gone by.

Sometimes one finds interesting pieces of the past that makes one truly appreciate sustainability and simple things in life.

As an aside, we were blessed to see our first ever seal and unbeknownst to us we  had been watched and followed by 3 baby Orcas as we went to shore to see the seal....

Nature is so beautiful when people respect Wildlife spaces.

Do you read The Wombles stories to your children?

They are fabulous to learn from.

[Frances3408]

@Helen427 . Ah Helen, the Wombles British TV series brings back early childhood memories for me. AND I have some living locally....

Here we call them East Coast Bandicoots. They have long noses, sharp claws and come out at night to dig up the earth in search of lawn grubs so they really are natures natural pest removers and rubbish recyclers, just like the Wombles 😉 

[Rebecca]

I just did a quick search for 'East Coast Bandicoots' and they're so adorable! @Frances3408 

We have sea gulls... although they create more mess when they knock over the wheelie bins! 

[Frances3408]

@Rebecca . Rebecca, our Australian white ibis are otherwise called bin chickens; with their long sharp beaks they are best avoided!.

Here we have a lovely variety of birdlife, helped by the Comerong Island Nature Reserve which is a bird sanctuary at the Heads where the river meets the ocean, currently a long sandbar so you can walk across. 

Drive around our local streets after any rain and you need to avoid the little egrets and ducks playing in the puddles. But yes we also have terns, cousins to the seagulls I think.

[Rebecca]

What a wonderful part of the world you live in @Frances3408 😍 

Do you get to visit the Nature Reserve often? If so, please share some piccies! 

We have a Nature Reserve at the end of the public beach. We get a lot of migratory and ground nesting birds there (I don't know what they are though - homework for me perhaps?!) 

[Frances3408]

@Rebecca . Thanks. Unfortunately its still on my to do list. 

[Helen427]

We love the Gulls @Rebecca 

Funny story, a friend and I were eating pizza along the waterfront and it started to rain.

I had a piece in my hand, turned my head for a brief moment only to feel something on my hand and whoof, Gone was the pizza!

3 guesses who did that?

An adorable Seagull that was earlier sitting alongside us watching just like a sneaky Jack Russell dog we know.

Animals are cunning and know how to clean up the ecological systems just like humans.

Familiar Fiends

[Rebecca]

🤣 They are quite brave these days aren't they @Helen427? Do you have bans on feeding the gulls where you are? You can get fines here for encouraging them 😅

[Helen427]

I believe it comes within the provisions of The Wildlife Act @Rebecca , as so many aspects of Nature do.