Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The campaign for this small public open space in Bundall began in 2014 and has attracted the support of thousands of people, appalled that Council is giving this lake to the Gold Coast Turf Club to fill and use as a car park. Black Swan Lake is a haven to over 50 species of birds as well as other wildlife, and is an important green space for the neighbourhood. Public open space in Gold Coast City is constantly under threat from some in the business sector, who see such land as open to commercial exploitation. There have been many examples of businesses wanting to develop public open space for their own personal profit. As many Councillors support business in these endeavours, it is left to the environment and community sectors to remain vigilant and campaign to retain essential green spaces in the city.

Our furry friends are in trouble. Despite Borobi koala being chosen as the icon for the Commonwealth Games this year, the real koalas on the Gold Coast are in dire straits. The population continues to decline regardless of measures taken to date to “save” them and experts such as Dr Steven Phillips predict they will be extinct in the wild within 5-10 years unless further immediate action is taken. You can be part of the solutions.

EcoExplorer’s Kid’s Club will start again in February on Friday afternoons after school from 3.30pm till 5.30m, Each week there will be different focus. We will go out into the field to learn about our native plants and animals. Games, story, and competitions will all reinforce the topic of the week.

Adult educational walks of the Currumbin and Tallebudgera Estuaries or Flat Rock Creek with the Gecko Ed Team.

Hold your Child’s Party with Us Gecko now offers Kids Birthday Parties with an environmental impact. A choice of styles and lessons to be learned. Being out and about in the Gold Coast’s beautiful and versatile environment is a healthy

Professor Catherine Pickering and team at Griffith University School of Environment and Science have used social media data from Flickr photo sharing website to start to assess how people value and use a natural site. Social media provides a new way of a looking at sociocultural values of sites, and Professor Pickering and teams study is one of the first in Australia to use this method.

Cyclone Debbie damaged fauna and flora, Gecko, Gecko Talks, Guest Speaker

If you want to be inspired, or reduce your carbon footprint, or hear how a community is growing innovative entrepreneurs while doing good, don’t miss this talk. Electronic waste—the fastest-growing scourge to our soil and water—can be the catalyst to changing lives and communities. Tony Sharp, founder of Logan-based Substation 33, will share how this is happening when he speaks at Gecko Talkssoon at Currumbin.

The elections for a new Queensland Government will take place next Saturday 25th November. Whether you will be pre-poling or will vote on the day, now is the time for you to have a close look at the positions of the various political parties, particularly in relation to their environmental policies. Gecko has compared the publicly available policies of the major parties on environmental and locally important issues (Local Government reform/ ban developer donations, action on excessive bush clearing-death to wildlife, a Spit Master Plan -3 storey height limit, a second M1 motorway through koala habitat, action on airport contamination, Climate Change action/ renewables) reflected in the scorecard below. Please consider the environment when casting your vote.