Dear Welcome to the first Conservation Council Yellow Box newsletter for 2020, our monthly update on the latest news, campaigns and events relating to the environment in the ACT. This ‘red summer’ has been a trying time for so many Australians. With fires still burning in Namadgi National Park, the south coast and eastern Victoria, and many weeks yet left of the bushfire season, firefighting efforts are ongoing. Sadly, tens of thousands of hectares of precious forest, grasslands, and habitats have burned, and the impacts on wildlife and plantlife will likely be significant. The sheer scale of the areas where fire has passed through is staggering, and over the weeks and months ahead we will find out more about the long-term impacts. For many of us there is a sense that the bushfires are a hint of the “new normal”. The hotter, drier summer combined with tinder dry landscapes as a result of the drought left our country vulnerable to fire. Temperature records for January in Canberra fell. The need for climate action has only increased, and so it was wonderful to see hundreds of concerned Canberrans rallying on the lawns of Parliament House this week to send a sustained message to Federal politicians about their responsibility to take action. 2020 is an election year for the ACT, so Conservation Council staff are diving into policy and campaign work to seize the opportunity to call for stronger action on reducing the ACT’s emissions, protecting our nature, and building an eco-friendly city. We continue to call on the ACT Government to stop the rollout of gas infrastructure to new suburbs as a way to take decisive climate action, and to ensure that Canberra-wide cat containment is put in place by 2025, to protect our beautiful wildlife from the impacts of roaming cats. More than ever after losing so much local biodiversity in the ACT and South-East region, our local native animals and birds need all the help they can get, and keeping domestic cats contained is one way to do this. Need to declutter after Christmas? We have just the event for you - March is Garage Sale Month at the Conservation Council! You can sign up on our website to run your garage sale in the month of March to raise funds for the Conservation Council while taking the opportunity to be a part of our local circular economy. Selling or donating second-hand goods is a wonderful way to give them more life, and reduces waste to landfill. Get together with family, friends or neighbours to plan your garage sale, then tell us about it so that we can promote it on our website. Our landscape and our wildlife are in dire need of protection and care. The Conservation Council exists to advocate for our environment so please consider becoming a regular financial supporter. We would love you to share this newsletter widely with your networks, join our Facebook community or contact us if you would like to volunteer. We look forward to a constructive year of collaborative environmental campaigning with you all! Helen Oakey Executive Director Conservation Council ACT Region |