Native ARC Releases Swans

In 2008 lots of students in the City of South Perth were keen to find out how drought and Climate Change were affecting birdlife in our wetlands. MK partnered with Native ARC to run workshops and education programs to find out more.

On Sunday 19th April Kate Laurendi our MK Reporter visited Native ARC as part of a release mission. A number of black swans had become ill in November due to photosynthesis, a blistering illness that affects their beak and skin. The swans were housed at Native ARC and treated by the Native ARC volunteers for a three month period until they were relocated back to Lake Monger on Sunday 19th April. All the swans were banded so their progress can be tracked on the lake. Millennium Kids reporter Kate Laurendi was on site to interview the volunteers on the day. Her report will be presented on HYPE 101.7fm on Thursdays from 4.30 – 6.00pm.

‘When the wetlands start to dry up we see the black swans and other bird life getting sick’ said Annie, a swan volunteer. “ We did not know about this disease until 2005 and we are seeing it more frequently: she said.” If you see a bird with a blue band on its leg that is sick or dead please call the Wildlife Carer Hotline 08 93340333 in Western Australia to report it so we can follow up and do more research on the illnesses.

By Emily, Year 4 Millennium Kids Member

On Sunday 5th of April, the Millennium Kids went to Native ARC and looked at some of the different animals that were being kept there, but first we walked down a path and looked for animal tracks and holes. We also talked about what would need improving in that environment and how animals have been killed and their eggs destroyed. Then we looked at the animals inside. We looked at a bobtail, a bandicoot, and a carpet snake. Then we went outside and looked at the bat boxes hanging on the trees and counted how many there were. We also looked at the birds, and gave the pelicans and swans clean water and baths. It was very intresting and the Millenium Kids learnt a lot about the animals.

Have you been to Native ARC? Tell us what you learnt about the animals by commenting below!

Millennium Kids at Native ARC

Millennium Kids (MK) ran a workshop at Native ARC, a native animal rehabilitation centre, in Bibra Lake, Western Australia on 6th April 2009. The kids visited the local wetland and looked for tracks and scats. They found evidence of lots of rabbits – not a local native species. They found lots of bats boxes, but no traces of scats near the boxes. Nanna Suzanne, a visiting grandmother, noticed a dead bobtail which the kids studied.

After the bush walk the kids met some of the animals in the centre. The found out about a baby bandicoot that is being reared by the centre as it had been attacked by another bandicoot. The kids heard that if an animal gets attacked by cats bacteria gets into the wound and can kill the native animal unless it gets special medicine. They also found out that bobtails are getting the flu now and need special care before they can be returned to the wild.

The kids met Teori(16), a local volunteer who taught them how to care for and handle a non venomous snake.

After all the fun the kids did some work to help the ARC. They visited the swan enclosure and cleaned out the small ponds and heard about how the drought was affecting the wetlands and some of the swans where getting sick. The kids are going to draw pictures of a new swan enclosure to help the ARC provide better facilities for the swans. “It needs to have clean water,” said Jack, a Sustainability Ambassador for the City of South Perth.

Millennium Kids has adopted the ARC to help people learn about the pressures on Native Animals because of changes in habitat.

“I want to be a Millennium Kid,” said Emily(8) a newcomer to the MK program. “This is such fun!”

If you would like to be involved in any Millennium Kids activites give the Office a call on 9364 1200 or email info@millenniumkids.com.au

Don't for get to leave your comments below!

Paul Llewellyn Contributes to the Blog!

I think it is important to remember that the world is fundamentally a safe place and that there have always been dangers and dragons that make us feel unsafe. That is why we need courage – to see the dangers and to take action anyway. ( I often need a cape). I would love to see us all telling our stories about the world we want to live in. What will it look like? How will we be living? Where will our food come from? What will our homes and neighbourhoods look like? And then , what do we have to do tomorrow and the next day to get there?

Dreams and visions are the foundation of change.

-Paul Llewellyn MLC

Greens Member for the South West Region

Let Paul know how you feel about Climate Change by leaving a comment below!

Questions on Climate Change!

Last year Millennium Kids interviewed over 150 students to find out the questions they want answered about Climate Change. Have a read and let us know what you think by commenting below!

· Will it ever stop?
· Why isn’t anything we do to stop it helping?
· Why don’t people help?
· Why doesn’t the people of Australia just stop carbon emissions?
· Will it ever destroy our life?
· Why do people not care about it?
· If everyone would help, what would climate change look like?
· Can I have tips on how to change the world?
· Can I have more ways to stop climate change?
· Why do people cause too much climate change?
· What’s the biggest cause?
· How can we help climate change stop?
· What is the worse form of greenhouse gas?
· What can schools do to be more green?
· Is there a way to stop greenhouse gases?

· How long will it be before climate change has a major effect on the world?
· How many % do cars pollute the world?
· How much CO2 on average does Perth give off every year?
· How many megatons of methane and CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere each year?
· Why is everything happening so slowly?
· How long do we have (estimated) until climate change takes full effect?
· How hot will it get?
· How does energy cause carbon dioxide in the air? · Why doesn’t the government take charge and help more?
· Have you tried to slow it down?
· Why do we do it?
· What could happen in 100 years if we kept on using too much power (would we be extinct)?
· Will we be able to survive climate change?
· Why do people doing pollution even when they know what climate change is?
· If we slow down the greenhouse effect, will we ever be able to recover the damage done?
· Why must the rich be so greedy and not give to others?
· How can we reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use?
· If we stop making so many greenhouse gases, will the world cool down again?

· If everyone does the right thing, will the earth be able to fully recover?

Big Switch Think Tank Team Como Senior College

19 Year 10 students from Como Senior College met to discuss the things they liked about their community and the things they didn’t like.

The students will be working with an animator and a broadcaster to develop a strategy to get key messages out intot the community about taking care of the environment.

The things they did not like included:
Too Many Plastic Bags

• They need to be recycle
• people need to dispose of them thoughtfully
• they get dumped in the river and animals die because they eat them
• they are not bio degradable
• no one wants to give them up
• they are too easy to obtain
• people throw them everywhere
  

Too much traffic

• Public transport is always late
• They go too fast in residential areas
• People drive when they should walk, ride, cycle or catch public transport
• Deaths on the road are increasing
• Need more car laws – people are too slow or too fast
  

Trees and Logging

• Wildlife is disappearing
• Too many fires in forests
• Entire forests are being cut down
• Less trees = more pollution
• Pollution kills trees
• Endangering animals due to destruction of natural habitats
• No trees = no oxygen – will we die?

River

• Drought affects the river
• Fish are dying
• Pollution in the river
• Decline in water levels
• Rubbish chucked into the river
• Not safe to swim in
• Not enough care taken to look after the river
• An abundance of boats
• Stray animals get stuck in it

St Hilda's Join The Big Switch Experiment!

St Hilda’s Junior School in Mosman Park has joined the Big Switch Experiment to develop a range of sustainability activities for the year. Already in 2009 the school has set up a student Sustainability Ambassadors Committee which has started meeting to make decisions about the school and sustainability programs.

In March the school launched their program which was celebrated as part of National Harmony Day with the Wesley ‘Moodijt’ Dancers performing for the whole school. The ceremony celebrated our Indigenous heritage with the boys performing many dances about local native animals. After the celebration the girls took part in a symbolic activity at a local park, where they officially adopted on the day. They agreed to take care of the plants and the native animals in the area and will work with the Town of Mosman Park and Millennium Kids to create a planting program at the park.

The school has also made their weekly newsletter electronic and have started a guest speaker program, where the local IGA owner Phil Buzzard talked about his NO PLASTIC BAG campaign for his local shops in Cottesloe and Mosman Park.

Tell us what your school is doing to help prevent Climate Change by leaving a comment below!

MK Think Tank Research the River

Millennium Kids Youth Board visited New Norcia 150km from Perth on a mission to better help them understand out history and how we use and manage water in the Avon – Swan River Catchment
New Norcia Water Tanks
By Samuel and Jack - City of South Perth Youth Sustainability Ambassadors

When we went with Millennium Kids to New Norcia every single building had at least one water tank. The Monks used water tanks because they needed fresh water and all the water in their well had gone salty because they had cut all of the trees down.

All the water tanks prove that New Norcia is very water conscious because it is in the middle of dry land.

New Norcia has way more water tanks than Perth.


Our Trees at Calingiri
By Savannah, Darcy and Zoe - City of South Perth Youth Sustainability Ambassadors

During the Millennium Kids Leadership program we visited Calingiri . Penrhos College has been planting trees at Calingiri since 1996 with Year 5 students attending every year.

The river at Calingiri is very muddy and not clear. Before Penrhos started planting there were only trees on the horizon. Now there is an expanse of bush land.

One of the interesting ways of planting trees is making a mud ball with seeds inside them and when it rains the mud disintegrates and the seeds grow into trees.

The Avon River Toodyay.
By Dana and Kimberly - City of South Perth Youth Sustainability Ambassadors

At the Avon River we noticed that the water was extremely low. It was also polluted with rubbish, oil from cars that pass over on the bridge and salt.

Because people have been cutting down trees salt has risen from underground and rain has washed it into the river.

We observed that there were lots of signs that said that they were restoring the river.