Environment & Education

I'm continually blown away by the generosity of the Blue Illusion community!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who joined us on Friday last week to support The Australian Red Cross in their efforts to provide assistance to people affected by bushifres in Tasmania, NSW, Victoria and the Northern Territory, and as they standby ready to provide further support where needed.

I'm proud and honoured to announce, with your help, we raised $17,900 for The Australian Red Cross!

Here is a snapshot of where The Red Cross have been providing assistance and how these funds will contribute to the appeal:

In Tasmania
•    Overall, more than 150 Red Cross people, including volunteers, have been helping with the Tasmanian bushfires response, supporting approximately 3,000 people affected by the bushfires.
•    The Dunalley Centre has reported that approx 200 people are attending for meals, a drop from between 600–1000 at the peak.  Community meetings are now to be held at the meal times at the centre.  Red Cross has provided personal support at the centre to people affected by the bushfires. Red Cross is in attendance at daily meetings at Dunalley to plan personal support for the day.  

In NSW
•    Red Cross volunteers have been working in evacuation centres in Coonabarabran and Baradine providing personal support.
•    With conditions changing constantly, Red Cross is coordinating closely with NSW emergency service authorities and stands ready to provide further assistance if called on by the State Government.

In Victoria

•    Red Cross has been providing assistance to people affected by the Chepstowe fire, west of Ballarat, which destroyed a number of homes, and a separate fire further west near Horsham. Our volunteers have been working in relief centres in Ballarat and Horsham, providing food, emotional support and emergency registration evacuees. The centres are now closed.

In the Northern Territory
•    Red Cross has been providing emergency registration and personal support to evacuees from the Kings Canyon resort, about 320km south-west of Alice Springs, as a result of local bushfire activity. More than 70 people, predominantly tourists, were transported to an evacuation centre in Alice Springs, where Red Cross volunteers were waiting. 

For further information on how you can get involved or donate directly the The Australian Red Cross, please visit their website here.

From the bottom of my heart - THANK YOU everyone who supported our event last Thursday, where we raised $32,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation!

It's fantastic to be able to support such an important cause, and now you can also take an active role in fast-tracking breast cancer research!

What if there was something about you that could help answer the big questions about breast cancer?

This October we’re helping spread the word about the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s online community called Register4, where you can take an active role in breast cancer research.

It aims to bring people together with breast cancer researchers for the joint purpose of finding answers sooner. It can sometimes take years for breast cancer researchers to find the right people to participate in their work.

Register4 is a way to fast-track this research. When a researcher needs people for a project, they’ll get in touch with Register4, who will email members about potential projects they might like to consider taking part in. It could be as simple as filling in a questionnaire or something more involved. The choice is always yours. Nearly 30,000 people across Australia have joined this online community which is recruiting for some projects in less than a day.

Joining only takes a few minutes, simply go to www.register4.org.au and click the “Join here” button. Who knows, you could hold the key to a breast cancer breakthrough!

Danny and I are proud to be involved with Cool Australia, an organisation committed to educating young Australians for a sustainable future.  

They also run Enviroweek - a week of action, behaviour change and fundraising for schools around the country.

We're excited to get behind this great initiative to raise funds for such an important cause - please join us on Thursday, 2 August!

Creating A Green Future – What will your Enviroweek Challenge be?
 
1. SAY NO TO WASTE
    •    Nude food days
    •    Avoid single use packaging
    •    Create a compost bin
    •    Start a worm farm

2. REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE
    •    Buy only what you need
    •    Do more with less
    •    Give things another go
    •    Turn things into something else

3. GROW YOUR OWN
    •    Start your own food garden
    •    If you already have a food garden have a Enviroweek celebration lunch

4. PEOPLE POWER
    •    Ride, walk to school/work
    •    Start a waking bus

5. GO BUSH
    •    Build nesting boxes for the native animals that live at your local school
    •    Have an excursion to learn more about the benefits of planting native Australian species

6. CHOOSE YOUR OWN
    •    It’s time to get create and design your own green challenge for Enviroweek 2012

Click here for all the details for these challenges
 

What's your best enviro tip?

It is such a pleasure to work with an organisation like Blue Illusion. In fact there is no other organisation like Blue Illusion, they stand alone in their generous contributions to our community for more than 15 years. There is a real sense of wanting to do something good to help important causes in Australia and overseas. This is a significant and strong part of the company ethos. Cool Australia works to make life easier for teachers and assist them bring sustainability education into the classroom. We are very proud to be working with Blue Illusion to support our expanding program.

Please join us at your local Blue Illusion boutique this Thursday, 2 August 2012 for a great event supporting education for young Australians for a sustainable future!

The Cool Australia Story

In everything Cool Australia does, we believe in thinking creatively. We believe in making information accessible to everyone. We do this by delivering resources for free and making them simple and easy to use. Oh and we just happen to provide great environmental education. Watch this video to learn more about us: