Who are we?
The Climate Factory is a social enterprise set up by Landscape Architect, Edwina Robinson in 2019. The Climate Factory is partnering with the Downer Community Parkcare group to take action against increasing urban temperatures to build a pilot micro-forest in the Cole St park in Downer.
We have 182 supporters and raised over $20,000 to make this happen in Downer!
The Climate Factory wants to make more of these community-based projects happen in hot spots in Canberra.
We have a stretch goal of $25,000 to help us realise that dream.
Land Surface Temperatures February 2017. Source - CSIRO.
Downer residents have banded together to form a ParkCare group to help plant and maintain the park.
Our project?
At the Cole St Park, we want to trial a community-funded revegetation model that could be applied across Canberra in areas where it's needed most.
We are keen to revegetate a section of the park to include more shade while maintaining plenty of open spaces for play and dog walking.
Local children hardly use the park because of the extensive weed problem - the three-cornered-jack. The prickly seed head punctures bike tyres and gets stuck in people's shoes and in dog paws. This weed will be controlled as part of the project.
One way to create more shade is by planting a micro-forest - a dense pocket of vegetation, that includes trees, shrubs, groundcovers, climbers and perennais. The micro-forest mimics natural forests - if you look closely at a natural forest - plants grow closely to one another with little bare soil on the ground.
We will choose plants that are a low fire risk - plants with low oil content, fleshy leaves and smooth bark. We will also trial tree species from hotter, drier climates - like the native evergreen, Kurrajong (Brachyciton populneus) sourced from near Gilgandra in north western NSW.
The micro-forest will cool the landscape, provide habitat, absorb carbon and increase property values. It will also provide the community with hope for a brighter future.
We believe that by working together we can reactivate this space, increase community stewardship of the park and build stronger neighbourhood networks.
How you can help?
We believe it's important for community and business to support local innovative projects.
To help The Climate Factory grow in our work with community groups and schools we need to reach our stretch goal of $25,000.
When you give $25 or more to the campaign, you will receive an invitation to the first planting day in 2020. And once you've given, please share this with your networks so they can give to.
Together we can make a difference. The more trees we plant, the healthier and more resilient our communities will be.