Stay frosty ❄️
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Keep your cool this December-January-February
☀️ Be like this Spotted Pardalote ⬆️ (photographed by Lindsay Hansch) this summer ☀️
Seek shade. These tiny birds look for cool microclimates like eucalypt foliage to keep their cool in summer. You might consider a local library or community centre, shady park, swimming pool or even shopping centre if you can't keep comfortable at home.
Reduce activity during peak heat. These smart peep-wrens forage during the coolest parts of the day - morning and late afternoon. Get any heavy activity over early or wait until it cools off.
Make your nest a cool retreat. Pardalotes nest in earth banks, offering insulation from extreme temperatures. Take steps to turn your home into a cool retreat with the insulation tips in our Sustainability and Climate section.
Keep reading for more on heatwave warnings, prepare for Clean Up Australia Day, find out the latest on FOGO, rethink party and gifting plans and discover the indigenous cherry!
Finally, check out what's been happening in the biodiversity spere over the last year. You might see someone you know ...
Jigsaw & Board Game Swap Drop off your old board games or puzzles at your library 20-25 January and then come along to our swap night Thursday 29 January. Thursday 29 January 2026 at 5:00PM Cranbourne Library |
Spider Trail This January, take part in a fun spider scavenger hunt at Wilson Botanic Park! Search for eye-catching spider displays placed throughout the park, including around Lilypad, Anniversary, and Basalt Lakes. All January 2026, daily 10:AM - 4:00PM Wilson Botanic Park |
Device Disposal: What to do when your devices are done Got a new device but not sure how to dispose of the old one securely and sustainably? Thursday 8 January 2026 at 1:00PM Cranbourne Library |
Spider Appreciation Day Sunday 11 January, 12PM - 6PM, Bunjil Place
Spiders of the Old Cheese Factory Kids Workshop Thursday 15 January, 10:30AM - 11:30AM, Old Cheese Factory
Join the Green Living in Casey Facebook group for even more tips, activities and ideas.
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Join the Casey Cleanup Together, we can eliminate litter, reduce waste, and create a cleaner, healthier Australia for generations to come. ✅ Pick your favorite site in Casey for a cleanup ✅ Register at cleanup.org.au/get-involved ✅ Local business, school, or community group? There's a day for you as well. Get involved and show your local loyalty. ✅ Need help with rubbish pick-up? Email us at eduwaste@casey.vic.gov.au Let’s keep Casey beautiful ♻️
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🎁 Unleash your creativity 🎁
It’s the perfect time to get creative with gift giving. Check out our Thoughtful Gifting & Gathering Guide for inspiration, but let’s talk wrapping:
- Reusable options: Tea towels, pillowcases, or tablecloths
- Natural touches: Paperbark tied with garden twine
- Something special: Try the Japanese art of furoshiki for an elegant twist
If you’ve received a beautifully wrapped gift, remember: not all wrapping paper is recyclable. Before tossing it in the bin, check what can and can’t go in your recycling.
🍒 Use every scrap of food this festive season 🍒
The holidays are full of food, fun, and gatherings—but they can also mean more waste. Let’s change that!
Plan smart. Rethink your shopping and menus so you only buy what you’ll use.
Love your leftovers. Get creative with meals and share extras with friends or family.
Use Your Green-Lidded FOGO Bin Right. FOGO = Food Organics and Garden Organics.
When you put food and garden scraps in your FOGO bin, they’re turned into nutrient-rich compost—helping gardens grow instead of filling landfill.
Heatwave warnings
Heatwaves are officially becoming hotter, longer, and more frequent in Melbourne, largely due to climate change.
- Melbourne’s summers have shifted: heatwaves now start around 17 days earlier, last longer, and are more intense than in previous decades. (SOURCE)
- Victoria has experienced record-breaking heatwaves in 2009, 2014, 2018, and 2019, with January 2019 being Australia’s hottest month on record. (SOURCE)
- The Bureau of Meteorology confirms that severe and extreme heatwaves are increasing across Australia, including Victoria.(SOURCE)
We're sure our Green Living community is committed to dealing with climate change, but what can we do RIGHT NOW for ourselves, our friends, families, pets and wildlife?
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Cool spaces to escape the heat in Casey Many public buildings such as shopping centres and City of Casey facilities have air conditioning which you may want to make use of if you don’t have a fan or air-conditioner at home or a friend or family member’s home. Some of City of Casey’s community centres are available to visit during their general opening hours Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm (not including public holidays). The Connected Libraries are also open and welcoming of visitors during their normal hours. |
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Hot tips for staying cool Check out our posters in the most common City of Casey languages.
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Keep your home cooler
Watch this video! ⬅️
Use external shading (awnings or outside blinds) to block heat before it hits windows.
Curtains or indoor blinds help, too.
If using an air conditioner, keep doors and windows closed to save energy.
Flora and Fauna Spotlight - Wild Cherry (Exocarpus cupresiformis)
Christmas usually means cherries! This month we are bringing you the native variety. These little pops of sweetness are, believe it or not, swollen edible flower stalks! The seed is found outside the fruit as described in its botanical name, Exocarpus. Resembling a conifer tree, the Wild Cherry is semi-parasitic, requiring a host plant to begin its growing journey.
Our Year in Nature: Learning, Caring, and Growing Together
Hands up if you made it to one of our enjoyable, excellent and educational environmental events this year. Keep an eye out for more fun activities in 2026!
If there is an event you would like to see either repeated or added to our calendar in 2026, please send your suggestions to enviroeducation@casey.vic.gov.au.
National Tree Day – over 300 participants joined us in planting 7000 plants for small bird and bandicoot habitat in Cranbourne West. Update on the plants is that they are looking great and growing well.
Pollinator Event (Hosted by Myuna Farm) – Butterflies, bees, beetles and bats were all present for this fun evening where participants visited gardens and wetlands to find and learn about the different pollinators around the farm. At the end of the event, they took home their very own insect hotel and a pollinator plant to put in their garden.
Fabulous Frogs School holiday programs were held at Old Cheese Factory and Lynbrook where the kids had a hopping good time learning the different frog calls and creating their own rock frogs to take home.
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Catch a Carp for World Wetlands Day Although no fish were harmed in the making of this event those who attended braved the heat and had a fun morning of throwing in a line. Dads Matter events including Marvelous Mangroves and Wonderful Waterbugs - had the kids and father figures out and about enjoying the outdoors and learning about our waterways and the plants and animals that inhabit them. |
Nature Journaling Workshops – Paula led us in a couple of relaxing, creative and fun workshops at the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne. Spoiled for journal content with all the available nature, those who took part went away at the end of the day with new skills and confidence in their drawing and journaling abilities. |
Bird events Thanks to Nic (Zoos Victoria) and Jacinta (RMIT) for coming out and sharing their knowledge on our feathered friends. Those who attended learnt about the recovery effort of the Helmeted Honeyeater and how we can encourage those small bush birds back into the neighbourhood.
Threatened Species Day (Hosted by Myuna Farm)
This event booked out with 37 participants showing up on the night.
After a trip to the Flying Fox colony, the creative component of the evening commenced with cupcake decorating.
The younger participants said their favourite threatened species were Gang-Gang Cockatoos, Bandicoots and Corrobboree Frogs.
When asked how they might protect threatened species they said they could put their rubbish in the bin, make sure not to waste and to not wear dirty footwear when entering boggy areas.
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Mysterious Mushrooms – Participants settled in for a fun-gi workshop where they learnt all about mysterious mushrooms. They made some marvellous and mysterious creations out of air-dry clay. Check them out! ➡️ |
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Community/Citizen Science activities included the City Nature Challenge, Biodiversity Blitz ➡️ Great Southern Bioblitz, October bird surveys and Pollinator counts. Overall iNaturalist results showed that across these activities 207 people participated, 727 different species were recorded, and 1547 observations were uploaded*. Well done! (*Totals for each project were added – some species and observers may be counted more than once if they were recorded or participated in more than one of the activities) |
Southern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon obesulus observed by ancomandy during the annual Biodiversity Blitz. |
Bandicoots Show Shazza and Bazza made the journey out to meet the kids at Cranbourne West Community Hub. The weather wasn’t ideal for our planned outdoor show – so we moved it inside. Covering all things from gestation length to crepuscular and poison baits it was a very educational and fun session.
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Schools Clean Up Day
Schools Clean Up Day is coming up on Friday 27 February 2026 and we’d love for you to be part of it! School students and educators around Australia will be rolling up their sleeves to take part in Schools Clean Up Day. It’s a fun, hands-on way for students to learn about caring for the environment while making a real impact in their school grounds and local community.
Schools can register to receive a free Clean Up kit, packed with materials and resources to help teachers run a safe and impactful event.
Tiny Towns Fund (Victorian Government) closes 4 February 2026
This funding opportunity supports local communities in targeted locations including Blind Bight, Cannons Creek, Harkaway, Pearcedale, Tooradin and Warneet in the City of Casey. The Fund responds to the needs of local people and aims to increase liveability, opportunity and prosperity in small towns in Victoria. Both community capacity building and infrastructure projects can be applied for.
Energy Resilience Community Fund – Major Grants (AusNet Services) closes 30 January 2026
This grant supports community organisations to increase their energy resilience through installing community batteries, larger solar and storage solutions or funding mobile assets including trailer mounted generators or mobile shower or kitchens.
Recreational Fishing Grants (Victorian Fisheries Authority) closes 28 February 2026
This grant is available for projects that improve recreational fishing facilities, habitat and sustainability as well as community education and training.
What are your tips, hacks or even questions for using, reusing, upcycling and recycling? Please share them with us via email or through the Green Living in Casey Facebook group.
Finally, if you're not sure what to do with your waste, check out our searchable directory or our updated Recycling and Waste Guide.
