Drawn from Sydney’s suburbs to the beautiful beaches, waterways and national parks of the Central Coast’s Woy Woy Peninsula, GUST co-founders Debbie Sunartha, Jennifer Wilder and Melissa Chandler soon discovered their new neighbourhood had a problem.
They noticed that walking the dog, pushing a pram or simply popping out to do some shopping was hard work. Navigating the streets of the Peninsula’s six suburbs, all on a coastal sand plain, was uncomfortable and almost impossible on many summer days due to the urban heat island effect. Despite being surrounded by national park, the Woy Woy Peninsula itself has significantly less tree cover than other Central Coast towns and suburbs, and studies have shown that parts of the peninsula can be up to 6°C hotter in summer than surrounding areas.
This discomfort was the catalyst for three women, previously unknown to each other, to meet and form GUST in 2016. Brought together through the Umina Community Group and now joining forces with the Peninsula Environment Group, their advocacy for canopy cover has resulted in a $150,000 council tree-planting pilot program for the peninsula.
Over a ten-year period, several more volunteers have joined the key group and a small army of ‘watering angels’ and tree-planting helpers has worked together to revegetate several pocket parks and plant over 1,050 street trees so far, helping shade the sweltering roads and verges of the local towns.
At less than 10%, the peninsula suburbs have some of the state’s lowest canopy cover. The recommended cover for healthy, liveable neighbourhoods is 40%, with 19 suburbs on the Central Coast Council’s ‘Greener Places Strategy’ identified as ‘priority suburbs’ for increasing tree cover.
With heat now the most fatal of all natural hazards – killing more people than floods and fires combined – creating cool, green suburbs is now an urgent matter of public safety.
The NSW Government Architect recognises that trees are powerful heat-mitigating infrastructure. They also provide habitat for birds and wildlife, are visually appealing, increase real estate value, absorb run-off and capture carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, GUST continues to lobby the local council to retain and increase urban canopy in the large Central Coast local government area.
GUST urges people to inform their local council of the need for shade and to educate friends and neighbours about the many benefits of trees. GUST is just a handful of hot, sweaty residents who feel they, and their families, deserve better – probably just like you!
So … are you hot? Are your streets bare? Can you find like-minded neighbours and put a passion for cooling shade into action? Contact your local council for advice.
For more information, visit the GUST website growurbanshadetrees.org