Beautiful Local Environment
A beautiful local environment – together it’s in our reach.
What does an environmentally friendly, connected community look like to you?
Can you picture it?
We can.
We think that the future could be really amazing. And we think it is within reach! Strong communities, a beautiful place to live, people coming together and a flourishing environment, all contributing to a healthy planet.
The artwork on our Beautiful Local Environment sign brings together different elements of a sustainable, local community, with community, nature and the environment at the centre of it all. It is our vision for the future, developed collectively by local people.
If you support the vision of a beautiful local environment, or are already taking steps towards it, please display a sign somewhere visible: on your front fence, gate, front window or in your garden.
In our neighbourhoods, there are already so many people contributing to this vision of a beautiful local environment. If we all play a role (big or small) we can get there together. Let’s make these small actions visible and spark conversations between neighbours and passers-by.
Help to spread positive actions (and these signs) through our community!
We hope that these signs will show how many people in our local area care and highlight the great things happening in our suburbs. We’ve also pulled together our top tips and favourite links to make it easy for you to explore other ways to contribute to a beautiful local environment.
Get a sign for your place.
If you live within the Cities of Holdfast Bay or Marion and support the vision of a Beautiful Local Environment, display a sign at your place. Tick the boxes to highlight the things you are already doing.
To receive a FREE sign, simply reach out to us at livingsmartiesm@gmail.com and we will connect you with a local pick-up point.
Once you’ve got your sign, make sure to display it somewhere visible (like your front garden, fence or in a front window). We’d love you to share a picture online (tag @SustainableCommunitiesSA and #BeautifulLocalEnvironment).
Top tips to learn more.
Being involved in your community and taking action for the environment feels good. Positive actions remind us that together we can achieve our hope of a beautiful local environment. There are many different ways to contribute, and starting with one thing often leads to another.
We’re busy pulling together our top tips and favourite links to discover ways to contribute to a Beautiful Local Environment. Please check back here soon for great info on:
- TREES & NATURE, NATIVE PLANTS & POLLINATORS
- SHARING, COMMUNITY & SPEAKING UP
- FOOD & COMPOSTING
- ENERGY AND TRANSPORT
- REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, REPAIR and RECYCLE
Spotted a sign near you?
These signs can be a great reason to stop, chat and find out something new about your neighbours. Maybe they are part of a community garden or a local conservation group? They might be enthusiastic veggie gardeners or a skilled repairer. Or maybe they just love local native plants and can help you plan your nature strip garden. Let’s share these passions and skills.
A bit about us.
This is a community project by the Marion Living Smarties; local residents within the Cities of Marion and Holdfast Bay who care about a beautiful local environment for our community.
Where did the name come from? We originally met through Living Smart courses in our local area; community-based workshops focused on practical environmental sustainability.
Since 2018, we’ve worked together to encourage environmentally sustainable behaviours within our community, advocated for strong council polices (such as keeping artificial plastic grass banned on verges in the City of Marion), community projects (like Love Our Local Trees), engaged with State and Federal MPs and spoken up for the environment.
Over the years we’ve practiced using our voices, built confidence and seen how powerful community action can be. We’ve all experienced how one small action often leads to another. We know that together we can make a difference.
There are already so many great things happening in the suburbs we call home, and so many people that care deeply about our environment.
But we also face big challenges – climate change, biodiversity loss, declining tree canopy, the algal bloom and more. That’s why it’s vital that together we advocate for stronger environmental protect and do our bit for our environment.
The Marion Living Smarties acknowledge the Kaurna people as the Traditional Owners and custodians of the land on which we live.
Thank-you.
This project is kindly supported by Sustainable Communities SA. Funds to print the signs were provided by the City of Holdfast Bay through their Community Chest Donations.
We also thank Tracey Davis (Phantasmagoria) for bringing our ideas to life through her beautiful designs.