Winter News

Edition No. 205 Reg No. A00376 49E ABN: 547673664315

This Sunday’s Working Bee @ Sunshine

Sunday 27 April / Sunday 25 May / Sunday 29 June.

Sunday 29 June 9 am – 11 am

We have one last visit to move some mulch and weed before our NTD next month. Help us prepare the site to make this a successful planting.

Please meet Cnr Hall / McLeod, Mt. Martha and wear your winter woollies. Contact Pia: 0437 299 847

National Tree Day 2025 @ Sunshine

Sunday 27 July 9 am

Please join us for a wonderful environmental day of community.

The morning will commence with an Acknowledgement of Country and Cleansing Ceremony with Lionel Lauch from Living Culture. Connect with nature, join our planting and let’s gather together for a yummy morning tea provided. Save the date and register below.

August Working Bee @ Upper Sunshine

Sunday 31 August 9 am – 11 am Join us for our last working bee of the season and help give Upper Sunshine a strong start to spring!

We’ll be meeting at the Waterview Road entrance (near Hull Road) for a morning of supplementary planting.

All the hard work has been done, woody weeds and dense competition have been cleared…now it’s time to get our hands dirty and liberate Upper Sunshine.

Friday plant o'clock in Upper Sunshine. Pia and Angie have been working tirelessly getting 1000 indigenous plants into the ground to liberate Upper Sunshine. Thanks again to Melbourne Water. Join them Cnr Hull Road and Waterford Drive for the next couple of Fridays at 3.30pm. Contact Angie: 0408 188 384

Friends on the Ground

This is an excerpt in a recent newsletter from our friend Jenni Waddsworth at Mount Martha Park. She reflects about the environment in winter and at large. This group meets every second Saturday each month up top at Mount Martha Park. For further information contact: Jenni 0401 043 713

“What beautiful rain! Great for our little plants. This change in the weather also brought the cold at last so we are now in Bullarto Dumbalk – Plenty cold/Winter/June & July.

We are only a small group but every positive step we take to support our local bushland and environment has a beautiful ripple effect out into the wider world. A recent article I read: “I went to space and discovered an enormous lie.” Big Think (excerpt below) confirmed how fragile our earth is and how important it is to take positive steps to support and preserve it however small our efforts are.”

“Ron Garan, a former NASA astronaut, has spent 178 days in space and accumulated more than 114 million kilometers traveling in 2,842 orbits around Earth.

By observing the Earth from space he realised, viscerally, that the planet is a unique, fragile and interconnected system. For Garan, the experience was so remarkable that he describes it as a “great awakening”. In an interview with the site Big Think, he revealed: “Certain things become undeniably clear when you’re up there.”

From his window on the International Space Station, Garan witnessed breathtaking natural phenomena: lightning storms that resembled paparazzi flashes, the northern lights dancing like glowing curtains, and the Earth’s atmosphere so thin you could “almost touch with your hands.”

But it was the fineness of that layer that had him on his toes. “I realized that everything that sustains life on Earth depends on a fragile layer, almost like paper,” he explained.

The atmosphere, with its few kilometers thick, is what protects all life forms from hostile conditions of space. For Garan, this view has highlighted a paradox: while the biosphere is vibrant and full of life, human systems treat the planet as a “subsidy to the global economy.”

In other words, we prioritize economic growth at the expense of the natural systems that sustain us. “We’re living a lie,” he stated.

The astronaut also pointed out how problems like global warming, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity are treated as isolated issues when, in fact, they are symptoms of a larger problem: human disconnection with the planet. “From space, it becomes clear that we do not see each other as part of a whole. “As long as we do not change this mentality, we will continue to be in crisis,” he said.

The solution, according to Garan, is a radical change of priorities. Instead of thinking about “economy, society, planet”, we should reverse the order: “planet, society, economy”.

This simple exchange reflects the need to place environmental health as the basis for all other decisions. “This is the only way we will really evolve,” he argued.

Another crucial point is independence.

Garan compared the Overview Effect to “a lightening lamp” – an epiphany about how every human action, however small it may seem, affects the global balance. “We will not have peace on Earth until we recognise that everything is interconnected,” he affirmed.

Since returning to Earth, Garan has dedicated himself to projects that promote sustainability and global cooperation. His message is clear: We urgently need to rethink our place in the world. Have you ever stopped to imagine what it would be like to see the Earth from this perspective? “

For a more in-depth understanding, you can watch Ron Garan’s interview on Big Think’s YouTube channel:https://youtu.be/pJGCAWTgbn0

There is currently an opportunity for public review and constructive feedback re Mornington Peninsula Shire's Draft Council Plan / Public Health and Well-being Plan (2025 - 2029) in regards to environment.

Submissions close Wednesday 2 July 2025.

HAVE YOUR SAY HERE:

Our Peninsula, Our Future | Shape Our Future

Give what you can

Our treasurer Cameron has secured our Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status, complementing Sunshine Reserve's recent charity status.

This is perfect timing as we approach the end of this financial year, meaning any donations and memberships will be tax-deductible.

All this support is crucial to preserving our reserve.

We would like to acknowledge the lands of the Bunurong /Boonwurrung people, traditional custodians of this place known as Ballern Ballern (place of 2 creeks). We pay our respects to the Land, the people, and their elders past, present and emerging and recognise that sovereignty to the land has never been ceded. We promise to walk softly and gently on this land.