Last year, Belinda Coates asked her friends and family to buy her trees for her birthday. Thirty people chipped in and as a result 175 trees were purchased for the Napoleon Enfield Landcare Group, VIC. From Belinda ... 'Birthdays are important milestones but I’m not really one for big celebrations. However, I love the idea of giving back on my birthday. Trees are the perfect gift because they just keep [...]
Kell Funerals in St Arnaud has been helping the district say goodbye to its people since 1860. A business just doesn’t last that long without a strong connection to the needs and values of the community. It will come as no surprise to learn that Kell Funerals also gives back to the local environment. Most recently Kell Funerals has partnered with Fifteen Trees to contribute sixty trees to [...]
Food security is something that should concern us all. Needless to say, it goes hand in hand with responsible environmental stewardship. One company that takes both issues very seriously is Skretting, a sustainability-award-winning world leader in the manufacture and supply of aquaculture feed. In lay terms, Skretting makes fish food. In a big way. It does this with an eye firmly on the world’s rising population and increasing dependence on [...]
Eco-tourism has to be the future of travel. With environmental pressures bearing down from all directions, sustainable adventuring is really the only ethical choice. Luckily, if you’re in Sydney or surrounds looking for some quality time in our beautiful backyard, Damien from Ecotreasures has you covered. Damien has been running Ecotreasures since 2010, and is one of only five Advanced Eco Tourism Certified experience providers in Sydney. He [...]
Marsupials tend get the spotlight, but one of Australia’s crowning glories has to be our parrots. Especially our cockatoos. They are colourful, characterful, noisy, beloved, and ours. But some of them, to our national shame, are now endangered. In Western Australia, centuries of land clearing for wheat and other European-style farming enterprises have stripped the landscape of essential habitat. Carnaby's, Baudin's & Forest Red Tail Black Cockatoos are [...]
Educational World Travel (EWT) is a fully accredited (ATAS) travel agent specialising in student group travel. They have been helping students with their travel plans for the past 25 years and offer a range of tours and destinations. EWT ensures every program runs safely, is rich in learning experiences and supports students to discover, appreciate and understand the world they live in. And now, though Fifteen Trees EWT are [...]
Although travel has changed dramatically since Covid19, we can see a time when people will gravitate back towards flying. Let's hope, we all think twice about unnecessary trips and in the new age of zoom and video conferencing, we are a little more reflective about whether we really need to jump onto a plane. Leio McLaren via Unsplash We love exploring our big country, we love [...]
Commerce Ballarat is Ballarat’s largest independent voice for local businesses. It works hard to represent its members, including advocating for local business interests at all levels of government, providing professional development and networking opportunities, acting as a central point for resource sharing, and giving back to the community in numerous ways. Last year, in a move both clever and kind, Commerce Ballarat partnered with Fifteen Trees to make [...]
Mairin Briody Mairin Briody is an artist living and working on Wadawurrung country in Ballarat, Victoria. After a career in arts administration and creative management, she now splits her time caring for her young daughter and developing her art practice. Mairin started painting wind turbines because she found them so beautiful and inspiring. In the absence of policy, of leadership, of guarantees; these [...]
Trees are such a deep part of our psyche. From a young age, we discover trees through inquisitive minds wanting to climb their branches to test our weight and bodies agility, as well as the quest for discovery to get to the top for a 360 degree view of our world. Mother tree in the Brisbane Ranges (VIC). Trees hold a deep-seated history as part of [...]
We all know about the importance of considering the environmental impact of our personal travel habits. One thing we love to see is commercial travel industry entities doing their part too. Hobart Airport is one such company who’s getting on board. This year they have purchased 365 native plants (plus an extra 29, because it’s a leap year - how lovely is that!) for planting at the Polonia Bridge Park [...]
Black Finch Jewellery is an established Northcote studio specialising in custom designed, artisan made, ethically defensible jewellery. Raymond and Davina, along with their small team of skilled craftspeople, create contemporary pieces out of million-year-old materials for people to say, in multiple ways, I care. In short, Black Finch is in the business of love. The ancient and mysterious world of precious stones and metal has a long history [...]
The average Australian lifestyle uses 15,000kg of carbon per year. If that sounds like a lot, it is. A tree collects and stores 268kg over its lifetime. This means, every year we need to plant 58 trees to bring our individual carbon consumption down to zero. A little tricky for most of us to do in our own backyards, which is where Fifteen Trees comes in. Last year, we set [...]
If the touches of gold in the trees hadn’t alerted you already, Autumn is upon us. Here, in the Central Goldfields VIC, the Aboriginal season of Kooyang (season of eels) seems to be giving way early to Gwangal Moronn (season of honey bees). It’s a time of slowing down, breathing out, reflection, gratitude. This year, let’s take some time out to reflect on our own special trees. We [...]
Want your company to walk the talk when it comes to working sustainably? Here at Fifteen Trees we have you covered with plenty of options of how you can help give some love to the planet plus engage more with your employees and customers. 1. Reduce the carbon footprint of your office. Roughly an employee (EFT) generates 15,000 kg of carbon dioxide per year. If that sounds like [...]
As one of our most challenging Australian summers ever, drags towards autumn, many of us are feeling a sadness that’s a little hard to articulate. Maybe we catch a passing news byte and learn that Tasmania’s kelp forests are dying. Maybe it’s an image of dead fish in the Darling that brings tears to our eyes. Sometimes it’s a shattering new economic reality, for others it’s a heart-wrenching loss [...]
I am in love with trees and I am definitely not immune when it comes to hugging one. It might not seem rational, yet when I get close to these beautiful and quiet swaying giants; I truly believe they are my family. I feel like they are our ancient grandparents, or compassionate witnesses when it comes to time and history. Not every person I know feels so passionate about the [...]
Ah, the bonbonniere question. To go old-school with the almonds or bulk buy red jelly beans. To custom print that shot glass or wrap a tiny cactus in a ribbon. It’s a tough one. Bonbonniere were originally intended to realistically represent the couple’s life together: sweetness (sugar coating) balancing out life’s inevitable bitterness (almond). It’s cute. We get it. But today’s couples are forging new traditions for a [...]
Essence Food for the Soul is where 'beautiful meals and feel good food is made'. Located on the Morning Peninsula, Essence combine passion for all things delicious to create meals that are truly nourishment for the soul. And now they are providing nourishment for the planet in partnership with Fifteen Trees. Mel, Jim and the team are planting one tree for each of their stockists (60) [...]
In her poem When I am among the trees, beloved nature poet Mary Oliver spoke of trees giving off ‘hints of gladness’. Could anything be more perfect? The list of things trees do for us and for the earth is long indeed, and perhaps the simple fact that we find joy in being around them gets overlooked sometimes. But when we gift a tree to someone we love, part of [...]
