Cooling Brisbane. Naturally.

Do you get to enjoy nature often? Do your kids? Adrian Holbeck from the Cooling Brisbane Initiative is longing for more! He has a vision of wandering through suburban streets lined with native plants, spotting native bees and many other insects and watching little birds and lizards dart around. Adrian would be so happy to breathe in the lovely scent of flowers every season, on every walk, on every street in every suburb of Brisbane. If you also want more nature around you, come and find out how we can all get it. And discover some amazing benefits and beautiful facts on the journey. What we'll cover in these 90 minutes • The vision: Adrian will walk you through "Cooling Brisbane. Naturally": a proposal to intensively plant native shrubs, groundcovers and vines across Brisbane's 195 suburbs, replacing under-used grassed areas (excluding verges, sport fields and dog parks) with dense, layered native habitat. • Why it matters: We'll go through the compelling case for the project: cooling the city and cutting aircon costs, absorbing airborne pollutants, restoring habitat corridors for threatened species, reducing biosecurity risks like fire ants and shothole borer, and giving kids more real bushland to explore, right in their own suburb. • How it could actually happen: The practical model behind the project: Council-supplied planting plans, tubestock from community nurseries, and hands-on planting by local residents, schools and community groups, backed by experts from Habitat Brisbane, Urban Forestry and the Qld Herbarium. • Your turn: becoming a "noisy cicada": The session will teach you how to draft your own letter or email to the Lord Mayor and your local councillor, backing the project. We'll cover what makes an effective letter, who to send it to, and how to ask for a meeting, so you leave with your advocacy already underway, not just an intention to do it later. This very short workshop is for late teens, oldies and anyone in between. Proceeds from this workshop will go to Northey Street's First Nations Collaboration fund. Youth Offer This workshop is available to teenagers (12 to 18 years) accompanied by mum, dad or an adult guardian who have also paid to attend the workshop. About the Facilitator Adrian Holbeck is a retired psychologist, permaculturist, citizen scientist, parent and grandparent. During the last 20 years he has studied and taught permaculture, horticulture, soil and plant science and climate action. A continuous and relentless learner (especially about the natural world), he is active in community groups and has learned to manage his own anxieties about the future: often through simple community actions.