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How you can make a difference at home and engage your family

Do you want to be part of a movement to create sustainable change all across Australia? Then you’re not alone.

Thousands of people across Australia have chosen to be Nature Stewards by joining Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) to protect and restore our nation’s biodiversity and ecosystems.

There are many practical ways for you and your family to make a difference in enhancing human health and the health of the planet, right from the convenience of your own home.

Below we look at some reasons to create a more sustainable home, at how to do that by establishing Nature Blocks™, and at 5 fun and practical ways to engage your family in sustainable living.

Reasons to create a sustainable home

There are many reasons to integrate sustainable living practices into our daily lives. Whether you live in an apartment, a freestanding house, or somewhere else, sustainable living provides opportunities to make a positive impact on both human health and the health of our planet.

Sustainable living is about making conscious choices about how we affect the environment around us.

Whether you choose to buy sustainable products like organic vegetables, recycle, minimise plastic waste, or grow native plants in your garden – your actions count!

And together, millions of tiny actions can change the world. Just imagine if every Australian planted one Nature Block. At CVA, we aim to empower Australians everywhere to take action for nature and build back our unique and invaluable Australian biodiversity one Nature Block at a time.

The Bupa Pulse Check 2024 report shows that a lot of young people are feeling quite stressed about the impact we’re having on the natural environment. So, in addition to sustainable living being fun and meaningful – activities like planting indigenous gardens with Nature Blocks may also help alleviate eco-anxiety.

How to create a more sustainable home?

There are many ways to be more sustainable and create a sustainable lifestyle at home. The daily choices we make about what food we eat, how we travel, and what products we buy, all have an impact on the health of the planet and our own wellbeing.

One of the most practical ways to get involved in sustainable living is to start growing native plants at home.

By doing so, you can get involved in building back nature in cities and providing a space for wildlife to live, grow, and thrive.

At CVA, our Nature Blocks™ initiative, which we launched in partnership with the Bupa Foundation, is helping to empower and mobilise people across Australia to start building back nature.

Our research with Arup on ‘Biodiversity in Your Backyard’, found that by restoring 30 percent of Australian backyards, we can create effective habitat corridors that support native wildlife. Nature Blocks is one tool we have to help create these corridors.

A Nature Block is a small space where you grow native plants. You can establish your Nature Block at home or in your community.

You can grow a Nature Block (or several if you choose to) in your garden, on your balcony, or inside your home. The possibilities are endless.

And, as you spend time outdoors and in nature growing your Nature Block, you’re more likely to have excellent or good quality of life, according to a recent Bupa research report.

How to engage your family in sustainable living?

If you’re looking for ideas and inspiration of how to engage your family in sustainable living, we have some suggestions.

Here are 5 ways you can engage your family to make a difference:

1. Encourage your family to take part in conservation volunteering. At CVA we offer a wide range of opportunities to get hands-on experience restoring and protecting nature in cities across Australia.
2. Get your family to download the CVA App. Our newly launched app is a great place to find out and book volunteering events, to take part in the SeaToSource Plastic Waste Challenge, and to find resources on creating a Nature Block.
3. Inspire your family with photos of your Nature Block, so that they choose to create one too.
4. Get your kids involved in Conservation Volunteers Australia’s events. In the past, we’ve held a workshop for kids on how to create a Nature Block, as well as many other fun and practical conservation-oriented activities.

5. Get your family to take part in CVA’s SeaToSource Plastic Waste Challenge (available via the CVA App), which helps you conduct a household plastic waste audit.

In addition to Nature Blocks being good for nature, they can also provide benefits for health and wellbeing. CVA’s Our Nature Report recently highlighted some of these, including the fact that 97 percent of people surveyed say they feel their health and wellbeing improved by taking part in the Nature Blocks initiative.

And, as a mere 20% of Australians feel positive about the current state of the environment (according to Bupa’s Pulse Check 2024 report), by creating Nature Blocks you’’ll be taking active steps to build back nature.

We can all make a difference and build back nature, together

We can all be Nature Stewards and make a difference at home by opting to live more sustainably and create a nature positive world.

We hope you choose to join our community of nature stewards by downloading the CVA App and building your own Nature Block.

Download the CVA app today to get started!

We are grateful to our partners at the Bupa Foundation for their generous support and partnership towards a healthier planet and healthier people, that enables us to carry out our Nature Blocks initiative.

Disclaimer: This website does not provide medical advice. The content on this site is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.