Algal Bloom Wellbeing Resources

Toxic Surf Art Exhibition: Group Production, Good bank Gallery, McLaren Vale.

Every Action and Role Matters: Even helping out, or by being involved occasionally, we can lift our our own sense of sadness, frustration or helplessness at what’s been happening.

Discovering New Roles

Not all of us have a lot of time, energy or other resources spare, but there are many ways to be involved.

Even if there are no easy fix solutions to this crisis, share are some ways community members have been finding to participate.

If you’re able to find yourself a role with pride, it can go a long way to easing the sense of stress during the bloom.

Examples of roles people are adopting:

• Educating others (staying informed and providing others with useful information)
• The Positive Vibe Generator (posting funny things, telling ‘black humour’ jokes about the situation)
• Sharing Poems or Songs (many artists have begun posting material online and providing the community with other offerings)
• Being a Truth Teller (speaking the facts – relating to the health, financial and cultural impacts)

Plover care, City Holdfast Bay Council, Community Group

• Assistant Sandwich Maker (providing practical support with the coastal clean ups or revegetation days)
• Being an Empath (listening to and supporting others who are experiencing challenges)
• Safe Space Policing (calling out online judgement and/ or harmful negativity)
• Events Attender (going to coastal care days or vigils or public forums)
• Voice of the People (submitting opinions, responding to Citizen’s Inquiries, attending rallies)

Beach Combing, Southern Beaches

• Change Maker (submitting opinions to Government, writing to politicians, participating in actions for climate change)
• Tourist Tamer (helping round up tourist to support local businesses)
• Being a Nature Ambassador (getting involved in nature conservation and other environmental projects)
• Climate Warrior (fighting against fossil fuels etc)
• Carer (providing practical support and nurturance to others, including children and other vulnerable members of the community)
• An Algal Artist (providing expression and understanding through the arts to what is happening)
• Citizen Scientist (collecting data, offering ideas, conducting research).
• Cultural Leader (Guiding others on important cultural facts and information)

BE INVOLVED

Here are some links to organizations making a difference within our coastal communities.

OzFish Oyster Reef Building

COASTAL CARE ACTIVITIES

•Adopt a Spot Scheme– help clean ups in your local coastal area  

• Coastal Revegetation Days: Willunga, Yankalilla and Fleurieu Environment  Centres

•Hooded Plover Monitoring with Bird Life Australia

• Seagrass Restoration with the OzFish Seeds for Snapper

•Care of waterways in Southern Flinders with a First Nations Project, Nukuna Wapma Thura Aboriginal Corporation

• Volunteer with Reef Watch, Australian Conservation Council.

Sea Photography Competitions and other marine restoration projects, The Nature Conservancy

• Volunteer with Reef Building, Restore Shellfish Habitat with Ozfish

• Citizen’s Inquiry into the South Australian Coastal Crisis

• Donate oysters, with OzFish

• Join Arts and Community Voices – such as The Good Bank Gallery/Toxic Surf Project & Community Waterways Portrait Exhibition

• Contribute to an Art Exhibition: Bloom, City of Onkaparinga, Calling submissions for visual art, written word and photography

Toxic Surf Community Art Project, Good Bank Gallery

• Volunteering with Disaster Relief Australia (although this organisation focuses on Vets supporting communities, any one at any age can join their team.).

• Southern SAGE – A community group for anyone who cares about the plant: providing support and collaboration on local, grass-roots environmental projects.

• Volunteering with Science and Community, helping with science and education relating to culture and climate at the CLLMM Centre, Goolwa

SUPPORT COASTAL NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

•    Reef Watch SA

•    Friends of Gulf St Vincent

• Captain Paul Watson Foundation Australia

Image: Holdfast Hooded Plover Care

GROUP PARTICIPATION BUILDS COMMUNITY RESILIENCE

Being part of groups, whether those directly involved in coastal care or any other community group, can really help our own wellbeing, but also go a long way to promoting community resilience.

That is, being involved in groups helps build a strong, thriving community that is capable of adapting to and coping with all that the algal bloom situation may bring.

Practical ways we can promote community resilience through our group participation:

•actively and regularly participate in group activities and projects

•promote a culture of care, it’s okay to not be okay

•role model self-care and other coping skills

•encourage help seeking, provide info to others etc

•discuss experiences relating to the algal bloom

•facilitate group discussions about feelings or how people are coping with the bloom, develop leadership skills

•consider algal-specific roles and projects your group can take on

•adopt your own specific algal role(s) within your groups

•build links between your group and other groups/ organisations

•accept everyone is different in the impacts and reactions to the bloom

For some Excellent Resources on Creating Resilience within Groups: Climate Justice and Resilience Toolkit.

Ozfish Oyster Reef Volunteering

GETTING STARTED WITH JOINING GROUPS

For some of us, who are on the shy side or tend to be very busy, we may not have recently had much group involvement.

Aldinga Community Garden, Volunteering

If you are interested in being involved, but might find starting new groups and trying new activities challenging, try:

• starting by talking to group members online through group media or chats
• go along for the first time with a friend
• start by first going to the physical place where the group meets
• set yourself low/ small expectations to start. For example, plan to just turn up and have one brief conversation with one person.
• plan a few conversation starters before attending
• find out as much about the group or project as possible before attending for the first time
• take an attitude of courage (feel the fear, do it anyway)
• have an open mind and be willing to give new things a go
• be aware of open, receptive and warm body language

INSPIRATION About BEING INVOLVED

Dr Jane Goodall on Hope

PROJECTS OF HOPE

WATCH:

NATIVE MUSSEL RESTORATION, VICTOR HARBOUR COMMUNITY

• An article about a community lead mussel restoration project

BIG SKY COUNTRY, AUSTRALIAN BUSH HERITAGE

• A podcast about positive stories and directions engaging Indigenous Knowledge. Watch a specific episode about OCEANS OF CHANGE

COMMUNITY BUILDS HOPE THROUGH ART AMID THE TOXIC ALGAL BLOOM

• Watch the artists and organisers talk about the Good Bank Toxic Surf Project

MORE ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE: SOCIETY & THE BIGGER PICTURE

Find many more ideas about and links to actions you can take at the level of society, including practical actions to reduce personal carbon emissions and tackle climate change at a broader level.

GAs well as practical actions you can take within your local community, here are some ideas about ways we can get involved at a society level – helping fight for environmental change and broader issues, such as climate change.

Taking action in this way, not only actively works towards larger-scale environmental protection and a better planet, but can also be an important way of personally coping during the algal bloom.

Port Noarlunga Algal Bloom Vigil, Sep 2025

• Signing petitions: A quick, easy way to show decision-makers that Australians demand action.
  • Add your name calling for World Heritage protection of the Nullarbor and the Great Australian Bight.
  • Sign the [Petition to the Australian Environment Minister] asking to bring the Global Ocean Treaty into law to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
  • Check out the Australian Marine Conservation Council for other opportunities.

• Speaking up: Talking about environmental concern with friends, family, and colleagues keeps the issue on the agenda, with ‘family and friends’ among the most trusted sources of news for most Australians.

• Supporting parties/candidates with a strong climate policies is a powerful step in influencing our country.

• Funding expert advocacy and climate campaigns: This helps turns research into real-world impact.

• Joining an environmental organisation: Being part of a group strengthens our collective voice.
  • Check out the Australian Conservation Council for a comprehensive list of environmental groups.

• Reaching out to MPs: Writing to or meeting with politicians puts pressure on leaders to act in favor of the environment.

• Using social media for change: Posting about nature concerns spreads awareness and builds momentum.

• Attending rallies and public vigils: Showing up in person sends a powerful message that can’t be ignored.

• Holding corporations accountable: Writing to companies about their environmental impact demonstrates that acting on reducing carbon/ climate change is good for business and pushes them to do better.

Adapted From: Climateconcil.org.au, CLIMATE ANXIETY TOOLKIT

TAKING PERSONAL ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Evidence suggests that when we take practical steps to lower our own carbon emissions or those of others, it’s not only good for the plant, but also for our environmental and/or climate distress.

Although it can be challenging, often if we consider all the various ways we could actually be making a difference, we can find a few things we can do differently.

Here’s some ideas for making change:

MORE IDEAS FOR PRACTICAL ACTION

There are many more practical actions we can take to help ourselves or to connect with our community and positive projects that are happening during the algal bloom.

Go to: Eco-grief & Climate Distress and Community Actions you Can Take

REFERENCES

Carlise, J. A., Mauseth, K. Clark, N. E. et al. (2014). Local Volunteerism and Resilience Following Large-Scale Disaster: Outcomes for Health Support Team Volunteers in Haiti, Int J Disaster Risk Sci (2014) 5:206–213,

Carlton, S. & Wong, J. (2024). Well-being and ill-being: Prominences and differences in the perspectives of volunteers in the immediate and longer-term aftermaths of disaster, International Journal of Risk Reduction, Volume 113, 15 October 2024, 104837

Moreton M (2016), A study of four natural disasters in Australia: how the human response to fire, flood and cyclone contributes to community resilience and recovery. ANU Open Thesis Online.

Moreton, M (2018). ‘We needed help, but we weren’t helpless’: the community experience of community recovery after natural disasters in Australia, Australian Journal of Emergency Management,

Whittaker, J., McLennan B. & Handmen, J. (2015). A review of informal volunteerism in emergencies and disasters: Definition, opportunities and challenges, Volume 13, September 2015, Pages 358-368,