The Sydney Pollinator Lab collaborates with TEDxSydney to plant a mini-pollinator forest
By Jennifer McMillan 1 September 2023
TEDxSydney attendees will plant the first section of a proposed pollinator corridor linking Centennial and Sydney Park to create space for urban wilderness.
Under the theme Tipping Point, this year’s TEDxSydney asks the big questions of how to reimagine our cities, evolve how we work, protect our health and reconstruct our economic systems.
The decline of pollinator habitat across Sydney has raised alarms among researchers. Urbanisation has led to the loss of important rest areas for birds, bees and other insects. The loss of these insects can have a cascading effect on food security and biodiversity, it’s a tipping point we must strive not to cross.
The Pollinator Lab is a design research project investigating ways to reintroduce pollinator habitat in Sydney. They are a community-led initiative run by a collective of landscape architects, academics, ecologists and biologists developing and testing alternative methodologies for creating habitat for pollinators in the built environment.
The team has been researching ways to implement a pollinator habitat corridor between Sydney Park and Centennial Park. This has involved collaboration on the kinds of plants and habitat requirements of pollinators and how these need to be installed and maintained.
TEDxSydney, the leading platform for the propagation of Australian ideas, creativity and innovation, will invite participants to participate in the planting of the mini-pollinator forest.
The project is founded on the strength of small community-led events to address the biodiversity and climate crisis in a way that is regenerative for people and the landscape. Supported with funding from Planet Ark’s Seedling Bank, The Sydney Pollinator Lab is supported by the Alastair Swayn Foundation and The Awesome Foundation Sydney.
Free environmental films
Documentary Australia is collaborating with TEDxSydney’s Tipping Point Film Festival from 1-11 September, free and online. The festival features six environmental documentaries, including Emmy-nominated Delikado, Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography, Undermined: Tales of the Kimberley, Regenerating Australia, Black Cockatoo Crisis and Youth on Strike.
Learn more and get your free tickets for the films here.
Jen worked as a vet nurse while studying environmental science and completing her master's degree in Journalism. She loves bushwalking, storytelling, caring for baby animals, Australian birds and river red gums. Jen works on the National Tree Day campaign and Planet Ark's Seedling Bank.
