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There is a little bit of magic happening on Wednesdays at the Planetary Health Centre as young volunteers from Kindlehill School, and Council staff, work together to create a demonstration site for the wider community. This hands-on program is inspiring all involved, including teacher Sarah Daniel.

Dave Spees, Katoomba-based carpenter and founder of Against the Grain, has turned the by-product of his craft into a sustainable, sought-after winter fuel. His compressed sawdust briquettes are now helping to heat homes across the Blue Mountains, all while dramatically reducing landfill waste.

As challenges mount globally there is one group of community builders who, for 120 years now, have been strengthening the world’s social fabric and addressing ways civil society can help alleviate suffering and inequality; improve people’s quality of life; and create a more peaceful, healthier planet.

On the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima the Planetary Health Initiative and the Blue Mountains Peace Collective hosted a Peace Symposium and Community Picnic to provide pathways for everyone to take steps for a more peaceful future.

With 23 shops to explore, including lots of funky vintage clothing stores and op shops, Katoomba is a growing hub for sustainable fashion and the circular economy. Take a tour of what’s on offer where..

As a 19 year-old Blackheathen Virginia Field grappled with ongoing ill health after a 6-week feverish illness that changed the direction of her life. With frequent relapses over the next six years her health finally turned around after a 6-week acupuncture treatment that introduced her to Chinese medicine.

There’s a small group of passionate Blue Mountains Bushcarers who meet monthly to collect and clean local native seed. We met up with them to find out how and why they cooked Banksias to release seeds, how they cleaned the seeds of a variety of different Gahnia species, and why they love being part of the Bushcare Seed Collectors Group.

Recognising how violence and war impact the health of the planet, the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative has become a member of the Blue Mountains Peace Collective. On Sunday 25th May, members of the Collective attended a presentation by Dr Keith Suter on Making Peace in the World Today at the Leura Uniting Church.

Blocking out a couple of hours a week to step off the treadmill and give ourselves time to nurture our relationship with the earth and ourselves, is one way to keep our creative spirit and ‘lust for life’ alive. If you haven’t done so yet, one opportunity over the next two weeks is to spend some ‘slow’ time in the 2024 Wynne Prize exhibition at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.

In a moving call for peace on Anzac Day, over 80 people gathered in the golden afternoon light at Peace Park in Katoomba to reflect on war and ask the hard questions about its grim reality. The day was interspersed with reflections, poetry, a minute of silence, and songs by The Bearded Ladies Choir.