I spent Sunday morning at the planting day site alongside Norman Creek in Greenslopes. I see this area every time I catch a bus into the city. The day was planned by the Norman Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee, and the youth volunteer group Co-Exist provided many of hands required to get the 720 trees into the ground in very quick time! I only planted the one tree, but it was whilst I chatted with Kurt, CEO of Co-Exist. The rest of the time I learned so much about the area, and issues to consider like flooding and contaminated soil, by speaking with Tom from N4C, Luke from Emu and Michael from Brisbane City Council. I also helped Stef pick up rubbish and I saved a paperbark from glycine vine. A productive and wonderful community day 😊

I visited the Rochedale biobasin for the first time in ages. I picked up 3 bags of rubbish. There were also 5 balls that had been washed into the bed via the drain. I left them at the gate in case someone wanted them for their dogs. I also pulled out a few glycine vines trying to make a comeback. But the overwhelming feeling I had was happiness that I had made a difference. The casuarinas I had planted 2 years ago were now over 6m tall! The first photo is the basin with the collected rubbish. The second is how it looked 5 years ago. If I had left it, it would look as desolate as the others are in this area. Even a small investment by one person can make a huge difference!

Last Sunday Tracey showed me some koalas she had seen in Grevillea Park. One of them appeared to be injured on the face and his eyes gunky. Tracey is part of the volunteer organisation Koala Rescue Brisbane South. They are an amazing and dedicated group of people who rescue injured koalas and educate the public. I had joined as a member and so was able to help. I spent 6 hours there. We couldn’t encourage him down from the tree so we set up a trap. He was caught at 2am! Taken to hospital, they think it was a car strike. Hopefully he recovers fully 🙏

Glycine vine was starting to overpower these footpath Lillypillies that I pass each day on the way to the bus. 30min of snipping and all was removed or cut, managed to pull a lot out by the roots as well. You can see the pile in the second photo.

Sadly, there’s always rubbish being generated that escapes into the environment. Just spent 30 min picking up 158 pieces (I can’t help it, have to count lol) to make my world a little cleaner and visually more appealing.

I’ve planted 20 seedlings over the past two weeks on my property on Lamb island. Really looking forward to them growing and providing habitat, food and joy to me and the local wildlife. All natives from in and around the Redlands area. A mixture of banksias, she-oaks, wattles, bottlebrush and eucalyptus.

Construction sites generate so much rubbish that flows/blows into the environment. I was picking up rubbish when I saw this huge piece of wrapping blowing down the street (see video). Probably counts as a bag’s worth by itself.

Looking forward to 2026! As 2025 starts to wind down many of Greenbrand's 'pieces of the puzzle' are coming together. For 5 years it's just been Soyun Yoon and I working to together in this startup. But I am fortunate to have made many wise and helpful friends over my 35 odd years of working in different fields. And so, building a team to commercialise and scale the platform is not only imperative; it's joyful. I had a great lunch with Dhru Lodhia and Prash Lodhia yesterday. Thanks fellas!

Was visiting Lamb island again and picked up another bag full of KFC, McDonald’s and Guzman Gomez rubbish

The car park at Redlands Marina is always full of rubbish in amongst the plants. Each time I go there I’ll pick up a bags worth. Started Wednesday morning.

This rubbish had been lying at the green link bus stop in Eight Mile Plains for days. So I did what no one else did, including council, and cleaned it up 💪

On my way to Kings College this morning to present Greenbrand.org to the Deputy CEOs of UQ Colleges. I spoke with a groundskeeper who said they’d welcome more student involvement at UQ. The UQ lakes now have 7 Pelicans!

I had an hour to kill while my car was getting new tyres. I had one bag in the car and I collected two bags and a piece of polystyrene foam while waiting.

I had the pleasure of attending the Pawkala Animal Welfare Charity Gala today. Their mission is ‘to give stray dogs a second chance at life, fostering a compassionate community where every dog can thrive.’ Nilima, Nikki and the family are doing wonderful work here in Australia and in India. Please check them out!

I had a wonderful meeting on Saturday with the Climate and Energy Club at UQ about Greenbrand.org. Keerthi, Mateo, Dinalka and Jagdeesh were all curious, asked me heaps of questions and full of suggestions and feedback. And I learned about the activities the club organises, from problem solving Hackathons to Mentoring. I feel the future is in good hands.

I came back after a month to see the result of cutting the invasive vine next to the pedestrian bridge. I’m happy. Trees saved!!! The video below shows it best.

The theme for World Environment Day this year is reducing plastic waste. I spent 15 minutes in the winter sun picking up over 50 pieces of plastic from the footpaths around my home.

Today is Queensland Environment Day and also World Environment Day. I spent 15 minutes at the Kangaroo Point end of the bridge this morning. I cut all the vine stems and pulled what I could out by the roots. No chemicals, one person, problem sorted. I’ll pop back again time to time to prevent regrowth.