Add More Green: Projects

CURRENT HAPPENINGS

Everett Street Garden

Four friends from high school asked me to build them a garden in their backyard. Adjacent to a large cemetery, I quickly found that the condition of the soil was going to be very easy to work with. Additionally, the spot we chose for the garden get's a serious 9-10 hours of sunlight a day (which can be too much for some plants) but is certainly a good amount of sun for a new vegetable garden.

BEFORE

CURRENTLY

PAST PROJECTS

Changemakers Festival

#4Good Brekky

Add More Green hosted the first rural #4Good Brekky in Australia at The Empire Cafe in Mullumbimby on Thursday 7 November.
We had twelve of us get together over the course of two hours to discuss some important social challenges facing our communities and the Byron Shire.

Here was the announcement for the event...

The event was held as part of the SIXAUS Changemakers Festival: "a unique opportunity for businesses, governments, NGOs and social enterprises nationwide to come together to showcase the bold and creative ways they are driving social change."

The #4Good Brekky concept started in Adelaide in 2011; this was the first event in Mullumbimby. To find out more what #4Good Brekky is all about, check out this post by Sarah Stokely: #4Good Brekky returns to Melbourne. You can also follow the #4Good Group to find out about future events.

Here's a recap from the event:

Hi Changemakers,

Thanks for joining our first #4Good Brekky in the Byron Shire. It was really motivating to hear all the positive work people are doing in our community and globally. As a recap, I wanted to provide some understanding of what we all seem to agree upon.

Topics…

Community: common unity, a conscious collective, shared experience, desire of an individual to connect around a shared idea, togetherness

Entrepreneurship: one or more who ‘manifests’ ideas, the courage to share your ideas with the world, mindset/skillset to break down barriers, addressing needs

Social Innovation: necessary or optional positive interest, using entrepreneurship to facilitate change in community, addressing needs

Sustainability: to ensure longevity of resources, ecological balance, paramount to the triple bottom line, full use of resources, creating massive surplus that enriches the whole system to continue operating

Some innovative ideas we discussed:

- We discussed the plans Simon has to establish a Byron Precinct for Global Solutions, find out more here: http://mayorsimonrichardson.com/speeches/sustainability-networking-breakfast-2013/

- We discussed the Byron Bay events app that Horst is working on, find out more here: http://www.lovebyronbay.com/

- Upon leaving, Jacquelina and Judy each mentioned transportation (including cycling) and the need for a more community-oriented method of transportation in the Byron Shire (even the idea of a light rail)…

Some conclusions we came to after defining our topics:

- there are heaps of innovators and entrepreneurs in our area, and there are plenty of community oriented individuals locally

- we lack risk takers, we lack the spirit that actually brings these community members together, we need to motivate these individuals to stand up and actually fight for the community they believe in

Moving forward, I’ll be working to tackle this issue, finding ways to motivate our community to actually BE A COMMUNITY!

I’m also keen to explore the space Paul was discussing, crowdfunding for the Byron Shire. As a crowdfunding expert (from an online perspective) I’m not sure the internet is the way to go for our community. However, I’m interested in the idea of an Elevator (Rocket) Pitch competition for our community. The chance for innovators to pitch their ideas to the individuals (and wallets) they are affecting the most…let me know if you want to continue discussing this idea.

For now, we can continue this discussion in the comments section on this page…

Z House

Located east of the Story Bridge and Brisbane's CBD is an architectural masterpiece; part contemporary, part organic, and entirely inspiring. Since the first time I experienced this urban hideaway I knew I would be back for more...it helps being friends with the owner/gardener.