Eve Jeffery
The United Nations’ World Environment Day was held last Thursday across the globe. The event is intended to encourage worldwide awareness of, and action for, the environment.
The theme for the 2014 World Environment Day was ‘Raise Your Voice Not The Sea Level’, with the focus on small islands and the effect climate change will have on them.
Byron Shire Council took the opportunity to celebrate the efforts of local people who help to sustain our environment.
Eleven organisations and individuals were presented with awards over five categories, out of a total of 21 nominations.
Award winners included Santos Organics, Jeanette Martin (Mullumbimby Community Garden), Brunswick Valley Landcare, Friends of the Koala, Jeanette and Volker Krohn (environmental caretakers), Ocean Shores Country Club, Bytes of Byron Dentist, Dieter Horstmann (Byron Eco Park), North Byron Parklands, Dr Arne Rubinstein (Rite of Passage) and Byron Regional Community College.
At the ceremony mayor Simon Richardson said that World Environment Day is an opportunity to stop and think about how we live, our actions and the changes we can make.
‘Change is a collective effort and all of us can have a role to play. It’s the everyday little things that amount to behavioural and environmental change.’
Award winner Jeanette Martin says she volunteers about 40–60 hours a week as the principal coordinator of the Mullumbimby Community Garden. ‘My job is to keep everybody talking to each other’, says Jeannette.
‘It’s my life. I love seeing people come together and working together to create.’
Jeanette says that people who are involved in the garden not only develop their own skills, they also learn and teach each other. Fresh food is a bonus.
‘Making salads straight from the garden for people who have only eaten supermarket lettuce, that’s the mind-blowing experience.’
Find out more about the winners on Council’s website at http://bit.ly/WEDwinners.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
