World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil for the sustainable management of soil resources. Our planet’s survival depends on the link with soil. Over 95 percent of our food comes from soils and 15 of the 18 naturally occurring chemical elements essential to plants.
The theme for the WSD celebration in 2024 is “Caring for Soils: Measure, Monitor, Manage.” This theme highlights the importance of accurate soil data and information in understanding soils characteristics and supporting informed decision-making on sustainable soil management for food security.
Soil is the thin layer of material covering the earth’s surface and is formed from the weathering of rocks. It is made up mainly of mineral particles, organic materials, air, water and living organisms—all of which interact slowly yet constantly. Most plants get their nutrients from the soil and they are the main source of food for humans, animals and birds. Therefore, most living things on land depend on soil for their existence.
Graphic: SoilLife Get Dirty! Get Connected!
Soil is a valuable resource that needs to be carefully managed as it is easily damaged, washed or blown away. If we understand soil and manage it properly, we will avoid destroying one of the essential building blocks of our environment and our food security.
World Bee Day is celebrated on 20 May every year. It is a day dedicated to the awareness of the vital role bees play in our ecosystem. Bees are responsible for pollinating a third of the food we eat and without them our food supply is at threat. They also play a critical role in the reproduction of plants and the production of honey, making them a crucial part of our natural world.
Unfortunately, bees are facing a number of threats, including habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, and disease. As a result, bee populations around the world are declining at an alarming rate. This decline is not only a threat to bees themselves but also to our food supply and the overall health of our ecosystem.
Australia has more than 1600 native bee species. There could be as many as 2000 to 3000 still to be identified. Australian native bees are wonderful pollinators, especially for our native plants. There are a number of actions we can take to support bee populations and protect their habitats.
Plant bee-friendly flowers and plants in your backyard. Bees rely on nectar and pollen from flowers for their food, so planting flowers that are rich in nectar and pollen can help support bee populations. Great examples include native flowers, lavender and sunflowers.
Avoid using pesticides as they can be harmful to bees and other pollinators. If you must use pesticides, choose ones that are bee-friendly and apply them in the early morning or late evening when bees are not active.
Bees need shelter to protect themselves from the elements and predators. You can help by providing bee houses or leaving dead wood and leaf litter in your garden. Make an Insect Hotel for your Fuzzy Pollinators this World Bee day.
Spread awareness and educate others about the importance of bees and the threats they face. Encourage your friends, family, and community to take action to protect bees and their habitats.
World Bee Day is an opportunity to appreciate the incredible work that bees do for our ecosystem and to take action to protect them. By taking small steps to support bee populations, we can help ensure that they continue to thrive and play their important role in our world.
Coastcare Week 2022 is about discovering what you can do to help protect our coasts and marine environments. Australian Environmental Education has a range of free resources to show what you can do to help protect our coasts, no matter where you live across Australia.
Where the rivers meet the sea
Explore of the interactions between the land and sea. Eighty-five percent of Australians live within 50km of the coast. This session looks at the waste that washes downstream in our catchments, the impacts it has on our estuaries, wetlands and coastal areas where the rivers meets the sea.
Take a journey beneath the waves with Karen from Australian Environmental Education to explore Australia’s amazing marine life. Discover different marine habitats and the animals that live there.
Recognise Coastcare Week by learning how you can conduct a beach survey. Our coasts are impacted by our actions on land. Rubbish and microplastics can be found washed up on almost every Australian beach. Join Karen from Australian Environmental Education to learn more about micro plastics and how to conduct a beach survey.
Detail of hands holding colander with microplastics on the beach
Coastcare Week is about working together to care for our coastal and marine environments. Our coasts are impacted by our actions on land. Rubbish and microplastics can be found washed up on almost every Australian beach. These are great activities to do with your high school students.
The Beach Survey provides a starting point to understand the types of rubbish in the marine environment.
FrogID Week 2022 is on between 11 – 20 November. This is the fifth FrogID Week and you can get involved. Australia is home to about 240 species of native Amphibians, all of which are frogs. In urban areas, human development has reduced the natural habitat available to frogs. FrogID Week is a great way to learn about frogs living in your backyard.
Peron’s Tree FrogGreen Tree FrogCommon Eastern FrogletStriped Marsh Frog
Help to record frog calls during FrogID Week using the free app and uncover which frogs live in your backyards, local parks and bushlands. Your recording can help identify changes to local frog populations and inform frog conservation across Australia. Download the free FrogID app today and help us count Australia’s frogs.
Watch the Focus on Frogs video to find out more about Frogs.
You can create a frog friendly garden
Frogs are very sensitive to water loss because their skin is permeable. This also means Frogs are really sensitive to chemicals. Frogs can end up absorbing chemicals that could harm or potentially even kill them. Pesticides can also deplete the frogs’ food source.
You can encourage frogs to come to live and breed in your backyard by creating a frog friendly garden. Create a small shallow pond in an area that is partly shaded or install a Frog Hotel.
Reducing chemicals use in your garden
Creating a Frog Habitat
Be patient and wait, if you build it they will come
Use FrogID to research the frogs that are found in you local area. This will help you work out what kind of habitat will suit your backyard best.
You can use PVC pipe to create a habitat for tree frogs. Frog Tubes are an easy way to provide somewhere safe for tree frogs to live too. Use a 1 metre length of PVC pipe and stick the base in the ground to tie them to a tree. It provides a really moist environment for tree frogs to hide in.
A Frog Hotel is a great option for tree frogs and provide them a safe place to hide during the day. Check out the video below for step by step instructions on how ro make a Frog Hotel.
Discover more about Frogs and some of their amazing adaptions. There are also lots of information to create a frog friendly backyard in your area.
World Environment Day is celebrated every 5th of June and this years theme is “Only One Earth” with the focus on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature”.
“Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature” has also been a key focus of mine since starting Australian Environmental Education. I believe you can make a difference today with every choice you make.
There are many ways that you can help to conserve Australia’s environment and be more sustainable. Think about the choices you make every day; how do you get to school, what do you put in the bin, how long was your shower today, did you remember the reusable bag for the shopping?
Help restore your local ecosystem this World Environment day with these great activities. Creating a Wildlife Habitat is a 5 part program that can help you plan and plant a wildlife habitat at your school, home or local area.
In urban areas, human development has reduced the natural habitat available to frogs. The Focus on Frogs workshop provides information and skills that will enable you to discover what frogs live in your backyard or local area.
Minibeasts in your Garden explores the diverse world of minibeasts. Discover why minibeasts are important and learn how find them in your garden or local park. The program will help you to identify common groups of backyard minibeasts and provides information and skills to conduct your own minibeasts investigation.
You don’t see many of the animals that live in your local area because they are nocturnal. Often it is the Noises in the Night that give us a clue to the nocturnal species that are living in our local area.
SeaWeek is a campaign to focus community awareness, provide information and encourage an appreciation of the sea. The dates are on 5 – 13 March 2022 and this years theme is Our SEArch – what will you discover?. The theme is based on the Ocean Literacy Principle that the Ocean is largely unexplored.
Key marine environments; ocean, coral reef and mangroves
I relate to this years theme as I love exploring the coastline and below the oceans waves. There is always so much to discover if you look. I have a range of resources to learn more about our marine world and for your to discover something new this SeaWeek.
FREE On Demand session
My Journey Beneath the Waves takes you and your students on an exploration of the marine environment. The temperate waters around Sydney are home to a variety of habitats including kelp beds and sponge gardens. These are wonderful place to dive and discover the diversity of animals that live there.
I talk about my experiences SCUBA diving and take you on a journey beneath the waves to explore this wonderful world.
Education Resources
Oceans contain the greatest diversity of life on Earth. Habitats range from the freezing polar regions to the warm waters of the coral reefs, deep sea hydrothermal vents to shallow seagrass beds and beautiful sponge gardens to giant kelp forests, marine organisms are found everywhere.
Australia is home to the over 10,000 beaches and no part of Australia is more than 1,000km from the ocean. Our coasts are impacted by our actions on land. Rubbish and microplastics can be found washed up on almost every Australian beach.
Pollution and rubbish get washed into our rivers and waterways with stormwater runoff and end up on our coasts and oceans. Over 75% of this rubbish is plastic. Plastics in the environment can take hundreds of years to break down, thereby impacting marine species for generations.
The Beach Survey provides a starting point to understand the types of rubbish in the marine environment.
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and has a chance to spend time with family and friends. I’m hoping to get underwater and try out my new dive camera. Keep and eye out for some short dive videos in 2022.
I finished this week with 8 vacation care Christmas programs. We used over 10kgs of bicarb soda, 12L of vinegar, 12L of lemonade and and 6 packs of mentos, having lots of messy science fun.
Try these experiments at home this school holidays
For me Christmas is about using all your senses, the sights and sounds that let me know that it is Summer in Australia. I have had a lot of Christmas Beetles this year and it is always a sign that it is summer and that Christmas is just around the corner. Listen out for the sounds of cicadas and keep an eye out for their exoskeletons on trees, walls, fences and shrubs.
It has been a crazy year filled with change and uncertainty. I want to thank you all for following Australian Environmental Education. Without your help and support during 2021, I would not have been able to achieve so much. Check out the highlights below.
Pollinators drive biodiversity, and over 75% of the world’s flowering plants rely on insect pollinators to reproduce. Australian Pollinator Week highlights the importance of pollinators in your backyard and beyond.
Bees and other insect including flies, beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, ants are important pollinators. Birds and bats are some of the vertebrate animals that are also pollinators. Pollinators provide important ecosystem services in the natural landscapes as well as within agricultural/horticultural and urban environments.
Australian Pollinator Week acknowledges the important and unique insect pollinators found across Australia. It is a designated week in November during spring when community, business and organisations can come together to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators and support their needs. The world is suffering from major pollinator declines, but you can also help make a difference by encouraging theses animals into your backyard and local area.
Use this great resource ‘Pollinator Insects Identification Tips’ by Wild Pollinator Count to help you identify pollinators around your home.
Attract more wildlife into your backyard, especially pollinating insects by creating a haven for local wildlife. Make an insect hotel to attract more pollinators to your garden. Plant flowering plants and natives to attract more insects into your garden. Reducing chemicals use in your garden will make a more welcoming environment for local wildlife and pollinators.
Find out more with these free resources from Australian Environmental Education
Take part in Australia’s biggest frog count during FrogID Week. Frog ID Week is on between 12 – 21 November. Australia is home to about 240 species of native Amphibians, all of which are frogs. In urban areas, human development has reduced the natural habitat available to frogs. FrogID Week is a great way to learn about frogs living in your backyard.
Peron’s Tree Frog Scientific name:Litoria peronii
Help to record frog calls during FrogID Week using the free app and uncover which frogs live in your backyards, local parks and bushlands. Your recording can help identify changes to local frog populations and inform frog conservation across Australia. Download the free FrogID app today and help us count Australia’s frogs.
This park in the middle of urban Sydney might not look like much, but after a few days of rain the low lying grass area became a Frog Swamp. I could hear the frogs call from 50 metres away, the closer I got the louder there were. I was able to get a great recording for FrogID Week. Listen below to the Common Eastern Froglets Crinia signifera and Striped Marsh Frogs Limnodynastes peronii calling.
Common Eastern Froglet Crinia signifera
Photo: Stephen Mahony
This tiny frog is only 3cm in size and if very commonly heard but rarely seen. They are common and widespread across south-eastern Australia. Their call is a repetitive “crick, crick, crick, crick, crick”.
Striped Marsh FrogLimnodynastes peronii
Photo: Jodi Rowley
This large species of frog is found down the east coast of Australia. Their call is a single, short “tuk” or “whuck” which is repeated every few seconds.
Join me on Tuesday 16 November at 2pm for a FREE live virtual excursion to learn more about Frogs and how you can get involved in FrogID.
If you can’t join me for the Live session you can watch the Fascinating Frogs video to find out more.
You can create a frog friendly garden
Frogs are very sensitive to water loss because their skin is permeable. This also means Frogs are really sensitive to chemicals. Frogs can end up absorbing chemicals that could harm or potentially even kill them. Pesticides can also deplete the frogs’ food source.
You can encourage frogs to come to live and breed in your backyard by creating a frog friendly garden. Create a small shallow pond in an area that is partly shaded or install a Frog Hotel.
Reducing chemicals use in your garden
Creating a Frog Habitat
Be patient and wait, if you build it they will come
Use FrogID to research the frogs that are found in you local area. This will help you work out what kind of habitat will suit your backyard best.
You can use PVC pipe to create a habitat for tree frogs. Frog Tubes are an easy way to provide somewhere safe for tree frogs to live too. Use a 1 metre length of PVC pipe and stick the base in the ground to tie them to a tree. It provides a really moist environment for tree frogs to hide in.
A Frog Hotel is a great option for tree frogs and provide them a safe place to hide during the day. Check out the video below for step by step instructions on how ro make a Frog Hotel.
Discover more about Frogs and some of their amazing adaptions. There are also lots of information to create a frog friendly backyard in your area.
National Water Week aims to build awareness around the value of water. Access to clean water is hugely important to our daily lives, and it’s down to all of us to protect our water environments and resources, and use water wisely.
What is Water?
Water is essential for all life and is the most abundant substance on Earth. Water covers 75% of the earth’s surface, however only a very small amount is freshwater that can be used directly by people, animals and plants. This issue with the available freshwater creates competing pressures for our water resources.
Follow the journey of water down the river through the catchment to the sea. Think about the different land uses in your local catchment and the variety of impacts they have on our precious water resources.
Education resources
Australian Environmental Education has a range education resources to help you teach about the importance of water.
Water moves through the environment by the Water Cycle. This activity investigates the journey of a river through the catchment. Follow water through the environment and explore the changes to water quality over time. This learning activity is the first part of a sequence of 5 individual learning activities focused on Catchment Management.
