The importance of community

It’s undeniable that this past year-and-a-half has been tough on many of us. The long, successive periods of isolation, distancing, moves and life changes have left very few of us unaffected. With an increased sense of isolation, disconnection, grief, frustration and stress, feeling a part of a community has become more important than ever. Feeling connected to people around us is the antidote to isolation and disconnection, and has many positive effects on our mental health. Many of you have shared with us how the community vegie garden and our educational activities have brought you a sense of connection and community, and it warms our hearts greatly when we hear that. We acknowledge how that sense of community and meeting friendly neighbouring faces from all walks of life is a big part of what our group does. After all, it was a handful of isolated Southbankers who started this group to feel a sense of community while taking environmental action. It’s also the reason why we’ve been able to create so much positive change when it comes to our environmental footprint; the fact that we feel part of a community that supports, helps and motivates each other. While we had to focus more on gardening during this year-and-a-half due to restrictions, we want to bring the focus back to building up the community. We’ll be reintroducing coffee time as part of our fortnightly meetups, so that we encourage friendly conversations and getting to know each other before we start talking group updates and tending the garden. We invite everyone who would like to join, whether you are a seasoned gardener or a novice, a sustainability champion or completely new to climate action, or just want to share a coffee (or tea) with neighbours. We really are all in this together and in these times that breed unprecedented isolation and disconnection, we need to remind each other that we are not alone and that the strangers around us are a conversation away from becoming a friendly neighbour. We hope you will join us for one of our meetups at Boyd by the House of Cards cafe. Of course, if you prefer to interact with the garden in your own time, you are always welcome to spend time exploring what’s planted, or sign up on our watering roster and water on your own or with a friend. Before we end this column, we wanted to share some positive news on the City of Melbourne 2021-22 Draft Budget. The budget was unanimously passed by all councillors during the Special Council Meeting on June 29, which is unusual. This is worth mentioning, especially since this year’s budget was built around a community focus, environmental sustainability/climate action and with Southbank getting a much-needed budget allocation for green spaces and upgrades, including an updated Southbank Structure Plan. We spoke in favour of the budget on the day and it was encouraging to see that all councillors, no matter their political or personal convictions, recognised the importance of investing in our suburb and in prioritising climate and biodiversity action as a key strategic goal. This shows how seriously this council is taking climate action, investing a good amount of funds and council resources. While there weren’t detailed actions and targets included in the draft budget (which is to be expected), the path has been carved in the right direction and we will be keeping a close eye on the details and actions as they roll out, so that Southbankers and our members have a say where it counts. Next meetups Our next group meetups (coffee, sustainability initiatives chat, then gardening) are on Saturdays July 10 and 24, from 10am to 12pm at Boyd. Email us or look for the eventbrite registration link on our Facebook page. You are all welcome! About the group A solutions-focused group of Southbankers working to bring positive change in sustainability practices and education to our neighbourhood, while building a wonderful community. Free to join. 2019 Environment Melbourne Award & KVB 2020 Sustainable Cities Environment Award winner •