Tag / United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

by Action4Agriculture

The Power of Art to Heal

This post shines a spotlight on SDG 3 and how The Archibull Prize and Kreative Koalas can improve the health of our students and our selves

The United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) underpin our Action4Agriculture (A4A) school programs and our values. In schools students are tasked with identifying a goal they want to achieve

 

The problem they have to solve or the barrier they need to overcome to achieve their goal

We then invite them to design and deliver a community behavior change program to make it happen

 

In past years popular SDGs chosen by schools have been:

  • SDG 2 – Zero Hunger
  • SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production
  • SDG 13 – Climate Action
  • SDG 14 – Life Below Water
  • SDG 15 – Life on Land

In 2021 The Henry Lawson High School in Grenfell, NSW, became the first school to incorporate SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-being, as their theme to guide their Archibull Prize entry. Teacher Jillian Reidy explains their progress to date:

“Our vision for our 2021 Archie was to focus on well-being and use the cow to be a public artwork to express well-being words provided by the community and well-being initiatives within the school. Well-being initiatives include the design of a well-being haven for students, and a colour run that was designed but which we have not been able to run due to COVID restrictions. We have also initiated another public art project working with the council which will explore well-being. Funding has been applied for and we are hoping to have it completed mid 2022.”

Watch Jillian talk about how the school was inspired to go on their journey here

Living with a pandemic has forced us all to re-evaluate our own health and well-being and to develop strategies to increase resilience. In the Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) Annual Statistical Report 2018 resilience in adolescents was found to be higher when they had a strong sense of belonging at school and had friends they could trust and communicate with about problems. The Henry Lawson High School is proactive on this strengthening of resilience.

Similarly, in primary schools it has been important to build resilience, especially in school communities where the pandemic came hot on the heels of devastating bushfires in 2019-2020. To support these schools St Vincent de Paul’s (Vinnies)  Bushfire Recovery and Community Development Program provided funding to deliver Kreative Koalas into five schools.

The Vinnies Program has three major areas of focus – future preparedness and building resilience, community cohesion, and environmental regeneration and sustainability. “Vinnies views Kreative Koalas as aligning with all three, but particularly the resilience building and environmental sustainability,” John Fenech, the manager of Community Development Bushfire Recovery at St Vincent de Paul Society of NSW says.

The Australian Government recently created a Student Wellbeing Hub, which incorporates Beyond Blue’s report on resilience in children aged 0-12. This resource is available to teachers who can use further resources within Kreative Koalas to create targeted resilience interventions for their students in need.

When we take time to reflect we realise SDG 3 affects not only our students and teachers but all of us. Our good health and well-being underpins all we do in our lives, just as the SDG underpins the work of Action4Agriculture.

Read how more of our Archibull Prize schools are building resilience here

Apply to participate in The Archibull Prize 2022 here 

Apply to participate in Kreative Koalas 2022 here 

#sustainability #environmental #resilience #pandemic #bushfirerecovery

 

by Action4Agriculture

Penrith City Council taking a lead in building sustainable cities

Today we held the Western Sydney launch of Kreative Koalas at Penrith City Council  Library

Community Champions and students and teachers from Penrith schools participating on Kreative Koalas-Design a Bright Future Challenge 

One of the highlights of the program is supporting the students on their journey with Community Champions and helping the schools build collaborative partnerships between government, business and the community.

At each of our launch events local Community Champions share with the schools exciting environmental stewardship projects happening in their backyards that aim to make local communities places where people can work, live and play

Today I was memorized by the presentation by Andrew Hewson and Justine Vella from the Sustainability Team at Penrith Council. Andrew and Justine shared with the teachers and students how Penrith City Council is helping Australia meet its commitment to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11

Check our some of this fabulous stuff the sustainability team and Penrith City Council are doing

  1. Penrith City Council are one of first councils to add an EV Vehicle to their fleet.  

The latest addition to Council’s vehicle fleet is a 100% electric Renault Kangoo, which will not create any greenhouse gas emissions while being driven, and will be recharged using renewable energy.

The delivery-style ‘eco car’ has been purchased to trial its suitability and real world running costs, and if it proves successful we can look at purchasing more in future when our cars need replacement. The Kangoo will be used by staff to transport items around the city and will be on display at various community events so local residents can learn more about this technology and see the car for themselves.

2. Commitment to clean energy technology

Council has installed 37 solar panel systems on their buildings, with a total energy generating capacity of 346kW (a typical home system is about 3-5kW). In the 2017-18 financial year they achieved a 62% increase in the amount of solar power generated and used across their facilities compared to the previous year, and they are always looking for more opportunities to go solar. They also purchase 10% greenpower for all Council sites.

3. Installation of a Possum and Fauna Crossing Bridge

Check out the structure here

4. Collaboration with Lendlease to co-design  the Jordan Springs Community Hub

“Every part of the Hub has been designed with the community in mind, and it has the highest standard of accessibility. It is the first public building in NSW to be constructed from cross-laminated timber, a lightweight and strong engineered wood product, and also includes a sustainable geothermal heating and cooling system.

6. Cooling the City

As part of council’s Cooling the City strategy . Living Places is an exciting new project that will see around 400 beautiful street trees planted on nature strips across the southern section of St Marys. The tree planting project will improve the look of these streets, making them nicer places to live, walk and ride. Importantly trees also provide much needed shade and cooling in summer, creating a cooler place to live.

And this fabulous upgrade ( with before and after photos) that involved mass plantings of native vegetation and installation of a bike track

7. Love this concept -The Resilience Project – 

Council has established a Resilience Committee to play a key role in shaping and future-proofing Penrith City. The Committee will look at how to respond to risks, and contribute to long-term environmental, social and economic outcomes. It will also advise Council on opportunities to improve the resilience of Penrith and how to integrate resilience with our decision making.

Resilience is a relatively new concept that is receiving attention from cities and communities across the world as they face growing challenges and pressures from increasing urbanisation and globalisation. At the same time cities are also facing significant impacts from climate change. Addressing the risks, opportunities and challenges as these issues interact requires a shift in our thinking and planning.

Urban resilience is defined as the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience. Taking early action to manage challenges and reduce impacts to individuals, the environment and the economy can offer access to multiple benefits including cost savings, cost avoidance and other benefits across systems and communities.

A comprehensive project is currently underway for Metropolitan Sydney to identify the key shocks and stresses the City is likely to face into the future and to start to develop a strategy for how we deal with these in coming years. Most, if not all, of the shocks and stresses that have been identified as part of the Resilient Sydney project are relevant to Penrith and should be considered in our long-term planning for the City, and our decision-making processes. Source 

You can watch Andrew and Justine’s presentation below

Speaking of imaging a great future. Students from Penrith schools participating in Kreative Koalas have envisioned their 2040

 

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by Action4Agriculture

Our 2017 Archie finalists farewell the Sydney Royal Easter Show  

Each year the finalists in The Archibull Prize travel to the Sydney Showground  in November for our Awards and Exhibition Day.

We leave them in the loving hands of the education team at the showground to be stored and then showcased in all their glory at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in March/April of the following year.

Following the show our Archies then travel back across the country to their homes with the exception of

The Archie who will reside in Minister Blair’s Martin Place office for the next twelve months

Minister Martin Place

The Archie who will reside in the Director Generals Office

Director General Martin Place

The Archie who will reside in the Minister’s country HQ at Orange

Minister Oragne Office

and the Archie’s who have been chosen by the RAS of NSW to take pride of place at their events for the next 12 months

A big shout out to Jenny Hughes RAS Senior Agricultural Education Coordinator and her team for their support in showcasing the Archies to close to 1 Million people at the Sydney Royal Easter Show

IMG_4223 Jenny Hughes RAS Senior Agricultural Education Coordinator double checks the Archie’s are secure as they are loaded by Hunter and Co Transport for their journey from the showground to their place of display for the next 12 months 

 

A big shoutout to our supporting partners without whom none of this would happen

_2017 Supporting partners Capture