It’s the New Year and for some of us this means making resolutions to improve our lives. You are probably exposed to many ‘resolution this, get fit that, lose five pounds doing the other’.

Rather than focusing just on self-improvement, as nobel as this is, here are some ideas to take action for the environment and our beautiful koalas during a time when many of us are reflecting about what is important to us and how we wish to prioritise our time.

Start small with exploring

This is something to put on the agenda for locals and visitors to our beautiful region. Just go outside and explore, see if you can spot koalas or signs of koalas, bring the smallies with you and get excited about koalas living in our neighbourhood. Take photos of koalas and send them through to us and we will post (with your permission) to our socials.

Please also don’t forget to report the koala sighting on our website. Reported sightings help us map our local koala population. Seeing wildlife – especially an endangered species – is precious. Being out in nature increases our sense of wellbeing, brings calm, heightens the senses and so much more. Doing this with children and young people will teach them how to look after koalas and other wildlife in the future.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

We can all do our part to reduce consumption, the type of consumption of things we don’t really need. This doesn’t mean we have to go without, it just means thinking twice before making a decision and buying consciously. Buying better quality, recycling what we can – but most importantly – buying less, for some, a lot less. What has this got to do with saving koalas? Over consumption leads to excessive manufacturing, transportation, deforestation and more. All of this contributes to global warming and habitat destruction. a small initiative in line with this theme: Friends of the Koala have teamed up with Tomra’s Return and Earn scheme and you can too.

Learn about koalas and why they are so precious

Learn about the importance of habitat conservation, what role we can all play and what is predicted to happen to our ecosystem if koalas no longer exist. Use this as a means to engage with the younger generation. You could also sign up to our newsletter and/or become a member of Joey Buddies. As part of your own education journey you can help others learn more about koalas by advocating for their protection on your socials and sharing our updates with friends and family. Watching our documentary – Every Koala Counts is also very informative and illustrates the importance of our work.

Grow your own food

How does growing your own food help koalas? Well, if we all lived a more sustainable lifestyle, we would see a lot less of the things mentioned above – production, transportation etc. plus we would probably all be healthier for it! If we can’t grow our own food due to our living circumstance we can control where our dollars go and could buy organic, at local farmers markets and try to go meat and dairy free. We have discussed the meaning and importance of sustainability here previously. Check it out please.

Create a koala safe backyard

Increasingly in Australia, members of our communities are finding koalas in places where they wouldn’t normally turn up: in backyards, gas stations, on beaches and highways. This is due to habitat loss and fragmentation of habitat which leads to some koalas roaming between sections of habitat. What we can do is, to make sure that dogs are kept indoors or leashed; fences are koala friendly, leave water out for wildlife, slow down while driving and watch out for koalas on the sides of our roads. Read more here.

Volunteer

Discover the joy of volunteering with one of the worlds’ endangered species! You don’t have to be local to support us. Check out our volunteer page and please contact us if you have any questions.

Plant a tree

One simple answer to saving koalas is planting trees to restore koala habitat and food. You can adopt a tree from our Community Nursery for one single payment of $5. If eighty people adopted one tree each this could lead to enough trees for one koala to live off. Yes, koalas need a LOT of trees.

We also sell trees to landholders for $1 who contribute to establishing koala corridors. These corridors are large connected areas where koalas can move safely from one habitat to another without the threat of being runover by a car.

How many trees does one koala need?? Let us know on our socials!!!

Donate

Donating to Friends of the Koala is a very effective way to make impact – because money allows us to do things like rescue koalas with special equipment, treat them with medications required and medical instruments for any necessary procedures, vaccinate them against Chlamydia, rehabilitate them in our Care Centre and plant trees to restore their habitat. We make every single cent work for koalas.

Become a Member

Become a Friends of the Koala member for $20 per year, $10 for concession card holders and $500 for corporate membership.

Leave a bequest

As already touched upon earlier, the new year is a time when people are motivated to organise their affairs and accomplish things – including creating a will. Have you got one? If not, it is possible time to create one for free with the help of a will writing service or if you need to because your personal affairs a a bit more complex, with a solicitor. We have partnered with Gathered Here to help our supporters here in Australia to make a will in as little as ten minutes. It’s important to remember that creating a will is not just for the affluent or for our elders – everyone should have – even a simple will, otherwise things can get complicated for friends and family after you are gone. Leaving a will is also an incredibly impactful way that you can support our work and create a lasting legacy long after you are gone. Liz’s legacy is an inspiring read for those wondering about leaving a bequest for our koalas and read more about leaving a legacy here.