Want to live in a cooler, greener, wilder and more climate-resilient Adelaide? Here’s how you can play your part.
Planting trees and plants is about more than aesthetics. Yes, greenery is gorgeous, but it is also essential for a climate-proof and sustainable environment. A green environment – or city – has many advantages: air pollution is reduced, noise is dampened, biodiversity is rich, and hot weather is more bearable. There are advantages when it comes to peoples’ mood, too; greenery has a positive effect on our mental health and contributes to quality of life. Win, win!
So, what’s being done to make Adelaide greener?
A lot.
Green Adelaide was established in 2020 as part of the South Australian natural resources management reform. It’s Adelaide’s first dedicated urban government environmental organisation, spanning Adelaide’s 17 metropolitan councils. .
What is Green Adelaide? Watch this video to find out more.
Green streets and flourishing parklands
One of Green Adelaide’s priorities is to increase tree canopy cover and green spaces to create cooler urban areas, encourage biodiversity and improve community health and wellbeing. Not only do trees and parks provide homes for our native wildlife – with our population increasing and more people living in apartments or houses with little to no backyard, the need for green spaces has never been more important.
Here are some examples of urban greening:
- Private greening – residential front and backyards, commercial car parks, market gardens, green roofs, urban renewal projects.
- Streetscapes and transport corridors – street trees, green walls, verges, rain gardens, swales, and major road, rail and tram.
- Green and blue corridors – coastlines, lakes, rivers, creeks, natural and managed wetlands.
- Urban parks – local parks, playgrounds, sportsgrounds, community gardens, conservation areas and forests.
Read more about Green Adelaide’s Urban Greening Strategy in the works here.
More than $1 million awarded to cool and green Adelaide
Seven local councils across metropolitan Adelaide will share in $1.19 million to undertake innovative environmental projects, thanks to Green Adelaide’s Cooler, Greener, Wilder Grants Program (more on this below). The successful projects are:
- City of Port Adelaide Enfield – A greener, cooler and more resilient streetscape, Victoria St, Queenstown.
- City of Holdfast Bay – The final piece of the Holdfast Bay Warriparri biodiversity corridor, Shannon Avenue.
- City of Marion – Alawoona Reserves rain garden, Mitchell Park.
- City of Charles Sturt – Living streets, Renown Park.
- City of Mitcham – Smart stormwater and biodiversity corridor, Pasadena.
- City of Adelaide – The Creek of Cultural Connection, eastern Adelaide Park Lands.
- City of Salisbury – Railway corridor rehabilitation, Pooraka.
How to do your bit at home
Did you know that around 70 per cent of land in Adelaide is private land? One way you can help make Adelaide greener is by planting and maintaining a garden where you live.
The first step is choosing what plants to buy, and local native plants are a good place to start. Not only do they look good, they’re low maintenance, too. If you live in the suburbs, shrubs, herbs, groundcover and grass are great options for sprucing your garden. For those by the coast, native succulents and hardy plants – like short-stem flax lilies – are the way to go. Plus, there’s no such thing as too many house plants!
Other ways to get involved
A number of courses and events are available to help you learn new nature skills and meet like-minded people. These include Creating a butterfly friendly Adelaide; Saving our threatened plant species; and Microbats of Adelaide. Find out more.
If you have a local project in mind, grants are available to help bring your idea to life. These include Grassroots Grants for individuals, volunteers and community groups, and the Cooler, Greener, Wilder Grants to support Adelaide’s metropolitan councils in undertaking projects that deliver greening and cooling outcomes. Learn more about Green Adelaide.
