Articles
Education
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Planting for Country – A Yarn with Peter Cooley
“The sky is connected to Country – the moon, the tides. The first problem was separation. If you separate the plants from the animals, both disappear.”—Peter Cooley Image supplied by Peter Cooley and (C) Indigigrow Peter Cooley, a proud Bidjigal man from Sydney’s La Perouse, is the co-founder and CEO of First Hand Solutions Aboriginal Corporation (FHS). Growing up, Peter was fortunate to learn from Elders about looking after Country, but today he sees how much of that cultural knowledge is no longer being passed down. His vision through FHS is to strengthen and empower Aboriginal people and communities by…
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Schools – Citizen science and BioBlitzes need You!
PlantingSeeds is proud of its early foray into the world of citizen science and BioBlitzes. This year marks the 4th year we have been running the National School Citizen Science BioBlitz (in September’s Biodiversity Month). It is supported by the CSIRO’s Atlas of Living Australia, the Australian Citizen Science Association and various State Departments of Education and Offices of the Chief Scientist. And we know that government reports and academics are crying out for more citizen science and that many are heeding the call. However, as Dr Judy Friedlander will discuss at the upcoming Australian Citizen Science Association CitSciOz25 Conference…
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iNaturalist is celebrating 250 Million verifiable observations!
The discovery of a Praying Mantis species in southern Thailand, a new wasp species discovered by high-school students in Beerwah, Queensland, and a study of the evolution of Luna moths in relation to predation and other environmental constraints. These are a few of the discoveries and new research generated by community members and data on iNaturalist (Natarajan 2025), and in June of 2025, iNaturalist celebrated 250 million verifiable observations on its platform. But what's the big deal about that? Citizen science refers to the practice of – usually voluntary – public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific…
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Courting Conservation: The Legal Battle for a Liveable Planet
New legal moves offer hope for positive environmental actions. Taking the government to court over climate inaction is no small feat. However, every act for the environment is capable of sparking meaningful change. While setbacks occur, especially within a complex legal framework, these bold acts are encouraging others to become advocates for the environment. July 2025 saw such a significant action - challenging the Australian government in order to offer a level of protection against climate change. Defending the Torres Strait from climate change An Australian lawsuit was brought by two Guda Maluyligal elders, Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul…
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The Bee Team
Think about this for a moment: one out of every three mouthfuls of the food you eat depends on pollinators. Without bees, birds, flies – yes certain flies – and other amazing creatures, many of the vegetables and fruits you love would cease to exist. And let’s not forget coffee, chocolate, medicines, fabrics and other items we take for granted! And bees, of course, do a lot of the heavy lifting. World-wide there are over 20,000 species of bee, with Australia home to about 2,000 species of native bees. Pollination here depends largely on European honeybees, first introduced in this…
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All About Australian Brush Turkeys
With their black feathers, bright head colours and large size, the brush turkey can make an impressive sight. And it can also be a bit of a nuisance, especially for people planting gardens. That’s because the males rake up enormous leafy mounds for the females to lay their eggs and your garden could be providing just the mulch they need, especially if there’s a shady tree to build it under. The turkeys – also called Bush or Scrub Turkeys - are found only in Australia, along the eastern edge from the Illawarra region south of Sydney right up to Cape…