A huge heartfelt thankyou for the support and positive pro-action in our community. Council, businesses, schools, community groups and households - together we are setting a great example for others to follow.

Single Use Plastic Free Dungog launched on July 1 as did our Australia and world first take away Cup Rescue town initiative - since then 15 businesses have been awarded Blue Planet Status (using no more single use plastics) and seven have been awarded Green Planet Status (ticking at least four no more single use plastic boxes) with many more to come. We designed this accreditation system to promote and acknowledge sustainable and responsible environmental best practices.

The six awards Dungog recently won at the Keep Australia Beautiful NSW Sustainable Communities Tidy Town Awards applauded our community for the work being done across a range of environmental issues. Be proud - get involved - working together as a community engaged for environmental best practices. Sustainable, ethical, responsible solutions are there - we just need to choose to do them. Communities working together make change happen.

A reminder of the facts and science on plastic pollution: every piece of plastic made still exists - plastic doesn't break down, it breaks up, and every step of the way it is leaching toxins into the soil, air, water and us. Plastic production has doubled every decade since the 1950s. 10% of global oil is used to produce plastics: fossil fuels, petro-chemicals, toxic compounds = plastic. A single plastic bottle can break up into more than 10,000 pieces of toxic microplastic.

Over 100,000 animals are killed by plastic bags alone each year. Sea birds and mammals at record rates are dying from suffocation, entanglement and through the ingestion of our plastic waste. Scientists now say there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2040. Eighty per cent of the rubbish found in the oceans has come from the land - the overwhelming majority of that IS plastic - the largest percentage of which is single use plastics. Winds and rains move our rubbish around the environment all the time. Rethink your choices, Refuse single use, Reduce consumption, Reuse everything, Refurbish old stuff, Repair before you replace, Repurpose - create, Reinvent, Recycle last option. Think Globally Act Locally.

Watch this space for the instalment of Dungog's first water refill station (with more to come) and look out for Retrun and Earn coming to town soon.

The last Boomerang Bags Dungog Bee for the year is on Thursday, December 12 from 11am at the CWA hall. Our upcycled range of shopping, produce and cutlery tote bags as well as BeeRapt bees wax wraps are available at the Local Growers Market on Saturday mornings (in CWA courtyard).

Looking ahead for 2020 - it will be great to help Single Use Plastic Free Gloucester get underway as well as a number of other towns. We are also looking forward to holding our second annual Spotlight on Sustainability event on the May 22-24 weekend at The James Theatre.

To quote Sir David Attenborough and Mike Barrett,WWF Executive Director of Science and Conservation (excerpts taken from speeches they gave this year on the natural world's most urgent interconnected issues = climate change):

"Humans are destroying the web of life. Nature is not just nice to have' - it is fundamentally our and ALL life on earth's life-support system. Clean water, soil and air are essential for ALL life on earth. Our planet's rich biodiversity is directly effected by the choices we make as individuals, communities and global economies. Our "wasteful lifestyles" must be addressed and changed for our current and future generations. Findings prove that we are taking nature for granted and that needs to stop."

The cycles are all connected - the water cycle, the air cycle - 2/3rds of the air we breathe comes from the ocean. We're not separate from the system - WE'RE IN IT. Plants, trees, rivers, oceans and All we animals are part of delicate ecosystems that are intrinsically interconnected.

The natural environment is in crisis - why wouldn't we All want to do all we can to restore and protect it ?

Some final words from the fire stricken Wollombi and Yengo National Park community:

"Hold all the burning valleys in your heart. Support your local RFS heroes.

"Ask for what our country desperately needs and demand the truth.

"Draw attention to the injustice.

"Say it out loud.

"All the suits and coal, self interest and sheer stupidity in the world can't drown out a committed chorus."

A wish for rain and a safe and happy Christmas.

Michelle Dado-Millynn