Mother Teresa had it right when she wrote about the power of the collective coming together to creating something wonderful! And here at Fifteen Trees we regularly see the power of the collective when we gather together trees from numerous businesses and organisations.

We can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.

Mother Teresa

Over the course of the year, 12 organisations together contributed 300 trees towards a particularly lovely revegetation planting project at Barfold in Central Victoria (Taungurung & Dja Dja Wurrung Country). This generosity has been made more epic by the fact that they are small to medium enterprises (SME) or organisations. Being a small business ourselves, we know the challenges they face. Out of this act, an epic amount of Australian fauna, right down to the tiniest insect, will have new habitat.

Shout-out to the following:

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• Pony Parties Melbourne. Thank you Janet for your continued support.

• Grill’d South Melbourne. We love being a part of Grill’d ‘Community Matters’ initiative.

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• One Earth Marketing. Mia is ‘serving both the planet and people’ through her unique marketing company. We were so impressed with Mia, we are now working with her company to encourage others to step up and support community revegetation projects.

• International Block and Intensive Learning and Teaching Association (IBILTA) kindly purchased 15 trees towards this revegetation project, as gifts for their 7 panelists at their conference in July.

• AACHP purchased trees ‘with appreciation to Russell Voss for his valuable presentation’.

• In February 2024, Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) at the University of Melbourne hosted an event to showcase the breadth of our Faculty-supported collaborations. Four researchers presented short overviews of their research and the collaboration process from their unique perspective. These  15 trees have been planted as a thank you for their valued time.

David Challis (Arts) Computational methods for artwork authentication using hyperspectral imaging

Andrew Anderson (MDHS) Analysing decisions with the LATER model: an open-source tool

Jo Birch(Science) Unlocking diverse herbarium specimen associated data to accelerate biodiversity and evolutionary research

Rachel Colla(MGSE) Stories of Hope

In May 2024, Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) at the University of Melbourne hosted a panel discussion, which explored the complexities in the ‘data to evidence-based improvements’ journey in health, from identifying a problem, and research and data informatics, through to implementation in a range of areas, including apps, software, healthcare settings and organisational processes, and ethical and equity concerns.

Thanks to Priyanka Pillai, Jo Hickman, Olivia Metcalf and Roma Klapaukh for contributing to this thought-provoking discussion. Hosted by the Melbourne Data Analytics Platform, the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health and HaBIC R².

• On 26^th August, 2024 WOMDAP (Widening Opportunity: MDAP) hosted a panel discussion on the tensions and patterns of Academic Specialist and Third Space Professional roles in Higher Education. WOMDAP provides space for connecting with others navigating the academy, with an ambitious goal to open more opportunities for Academic Specialists to have rewarding and fruitful careers. This panel sought to make visible what’s invisible by acknowledging and sharing perspectives and tensions around diversity and inclusion in the academy. To say thank you to the amazing panel, we planted 15 trees in their name.

Kate Coleman, Associate Professor, Education, UoM (Chair)

Kayley Lyons, Digital Health Workforce Development Lead, Centre for Digital Transformation of Health, MDHS, UoM

Charlotte Hurry, Business and Operations Manager, OPTIMA, UoM

Marilys Guillemin, Academic Lead, Academic Career Pathways Program, Office of the Provost, UoM.

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• Ballarat Regional Beekeepers (BRB) know the importance of planting native trees and shrubs that will provide flowers (nectar and pollen) for the local population of bees. BRB also chipped in for tree guards for which we are most grateful.

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• Janine from Green Design Solutions has been supporting us for a number of years, and this year has continued the tradition with another 30 trees.

• The Missing Link, has once again supported our revegetation projects through the purchase of native trees.

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• The Australian Association of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Psychotherapy Inc. (AACHP) was founded in 1998 and membership is open to all clinical hypnotherapists in Australia who meet the requirements of membership of the AACHP. The organisation periodically purchase trees as gifts and this year, they have given the gift of 15 trees to:

Bette Phillips-Campbell ‘it is with real appreciation that we thank you for your unique and valued presentation to our members‘.

Bernadette Cameron. ‘Thank you, Bernadette, for your insightful presentation which will advance our members’ expertise’. 

‘In appreciation for the valuable contribution Cathi Tarbox has made to the AACHP’.

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• Melbourne University via Linh Do.

The aim of this 300 tree revegetation project is to create habitat for indigenous fauna. It includes a wildlife corridor between neighbouring remnant vegetation and the existing roadside and creek vegetation. The area has been fenced off to livestock and the little trees are ‘holding their own’ against local kangaroos and wallabies who like to nibble the new vegetation.

Trees planted included Red River gums, Swamp Gums, Silver Wattles and Hop Bushes. It took the small landcare group 3 days to plant out all 300 trees. We thank them for their efforts in looking after our native environment.

Here’s an interesting fact – you don’t have to be a big business to make a big impact. You can be a small business, even a tiny one, and still make a significant positive contribution to the environment. We already know that small businesses are vital for local economies, that they keep money in the community and support local interests in myriad different ways. They also provide opportunities for entrepreneurs, create meaningful jobs, and on the whole give greater job satisfaction than large corporations. Small business is powerful! The key to making an environmental difference has nothing to do with size, and everything with taking the right action, at the right time, with the right partners.

Small business owners are masters of ingenuity when it comes to incorporating tree planting into their business practices. Never underestimate small business. When it comes to reducing carbon footprints, they are a climate force to be reckoned with!

If you would like to know more about sponsoring community tree planting projects and how we can assist you in becoming a more sustainable business, please contact Colleen at <[email protected]>.

Writer: Colleen B. Filippa

With a background in Environmental Science, Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start the company. Fifteen Trees is a social enterprise assisting individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting community groups such as Landcare, schools and environmental networks.