In the turf war between rabbits and bilbies that plays out in burrows dug into Australia’s arid grasslands, rabbits, those aggressive and fertile European immigrants, have largely won out. However, the chocolate bilby has staked its claim on the springtime candy shelf — an honor that could help the threatened species make a real comeback.

Never heard of a bilby? Well, it’s a cute, rabbit-sized marsupial with large ears and a long, pointed nose; once upon a time, it hopped around much of Australia. But the arrival of European settlers some 200 years ago brought hard times for the bilbies. Cities and farms destroyed habitat. Foxes and feral cats preyed on them. And rabbits eventually pushed the bilbies out of their burrows. “[The rabbits] were eating everything in their way,” says David Paton, an ecologist at the University of Adelaide. Today the bilby numbers only in the thousands, but Easter traditions – and chocolate in particular — have helped keep the bilby’s image going strong.

Pink Lady Chocolates and Haigh’s Chocolates have teamed up with the Save The Bilby Fund to provide the Australians with their own Easter Bilby. Proceeds from the sale of these bilbies goes towards research, breeding programs and the conservation of the endangered creatures. “At Easter time it seems ludicrous to me that less than one percent of the chocolate market is bilbies and all the rest are rabbits. Millions and millions of dollars have been spent in the last hundred or so years by all forms of governments, state, local and federal in trying to rid Australia of rabbits, and yet here we are celebrating Easter with rabbits! It’s ludicrous!” – Frank Manthey.Easter Sunday 2016 is the 27th March this year. Look for Pink Lady Bilby Chocolates with the GREEN TAG that show the donation amount to Save the Bilby Fund. You can hunt for chocolate bilbies at Ritchies/IGA, Target, Australia Post, Big W, Myers, David Jones, plus many specialty shops.

Mount Waverley Primary school is proud to sponsor several bilbies with Save The Bilby Fund and Arid recovery. For more information on bilbies go to http://www.savethebilbyfund.org.au   or http://www.aridrecovery.org.au/arid-recovery-news/bilbies-not-bunnies-this-easter

MWPS CONTINUES TO SUPPORT EARTH HOUR

Our Environmental Sustainability policy encourages all members of the school community to be active and responsible in their actions towards the global environment. The overarching theme of our whole school curriculum is: It’s Our Choice! In an effort to minimise our ecological footprint, MWPS has chosen to implement regular Earth Hours at school and asks the school community to support this event at home and even, if possible, at work.

This event has been created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming. All you need to do is turn off all of your lights for one hour. Easy!

We will be supporting this program at school again on Friday, March 18^th (TOMORROW) by switching off all of the lights in the school and any unnecessary electrical equipment in each classroom for one hour between 2.30 and 3.30pm. Throughout the year, there will be many more Earth Hours celebrated in our school in an effort to make a difference and to making Earth Hour part of our everyday lives at school, home and at work.

How will you celebrate Earth Hour in 2016?

There are many ways to get involved, from spreading the word or holding your own Earth Hour event, to making Earth Hour part of your everyday life at home and at work. You also get your own Earth Hour page which allows you to see the direct effect that you are having when you invite friends and family to get involved too. Go to http://earthhour.org.au/about/ to find out more and register.

The planet can supply for our need,

             but not for our greed!

               It’s Our Choice!

On Friday 28th February the school helped out with Clean Up Australia Day. The whole school gathered a total amount of 11.35 kg of rubbish. That is almost a 50% increase of last year’s 7.5kg total. Next year let’s try to reduce our rubbish in the school yard; simply by picking up rubbish when found on the ground and making sure that EVERY DAY is a rubbish free lunch day.

Thank you to everyone who contributed on the day.

Congratulations and welcome to Isabelle and Holly, our 2016 Environment Captains. They will have many roles to fill this year including weighing rubbish on Clean Up Australia Day, helping to run the Senior Environment Club, running School Sustainability Tours, running Tree Planting Day, raising funds for our sponsored animals and leading our presentations at the 2016 Kids Teaching Kids Conference at Etihad Stadium and MWPS KTK Workshop Day at school. Look out for them and their posts on our Sustainability Blog’s Captains page.

HollyIsabelle