Keeping the Conversations Going

When change happens one conversation at a time, we need to keep our conversations going. Well-managed conversations help us maintain hope and momentum.

When I started planting my verge garden, it was a relatively simple garden project to save mowing. The conversations with passersby were the inspiration for the Shady Lanes Project.

While greening our streets is the visible and measurable part of what we do, the real work is nurturing the conversations and connections we make in the process.

Conversations, the language we use and the questions we ask, take us towards the future we want. Just think of the way many talk of lawns as clean, neat, desirable, and the pride shown by lawn lovers in their Facebook groups and the cultural norms and advertising that reinforce it, and compare that to conversations about verge gardens.

You can also see how conversations pull in different directions with cars and active transport, low-density and higher density living, and many other issues that affect sustainability and climate. Advocacy tends to become shouting at each other until we get exhausted and give up. Or perhaps worse, grand proposals of what could be that never gain traction in this complex and messy world we live in.

Imagining where we want to go - green, shady, walkable streets with lots of biodiversity and habitat as the norm - is the easy bit. Working out how we get there is the hurdle.

For governments to do this would take massive, ongoing funding which will never happen. You are against too many competing interests and demands when budgets are determined.

For individual volunteers, to plant their verge is good and they may inspire a few to follow. But individuals working alone don’t have the collective discipline and momentum to keep us all going in the same direction.

The Gardening Australia story did a lot to create awareness and enthusiasm. But it’s just one conversation and by itself will quickly be forgotten. We need ongoing, strategic, well-managed conversations in our groups and communities to get where we want to go.

Loose networks and local groups with localised projects working collaboratively with other stakeholders are the key to creating innovative ways to get there. We build those with conversations and connections - face-to-face and online. That’s how we scale. That’s what the Shady Lane Project is all about.

Connecting

For everyone, you can use Substack for everything from a personal verge garden blog to a publication for your group. I’ve just added a page with some tips for sharing photos and stories of your garden to the Using Substack section.

Show us your verge garden on Substack

For anyone on the northside of Brisbane, we will have a stall at the Queensland Day Festival at Nudgee on Saturday 7th June. ACF Brisbane Northside also have a casual verge visit on 21st June. Details here

For paid subscribers, register here for zoom catchups where you can ask questions and we share ideas and experiences.

Read More

Conversations on the Verge - Hope and Despair

Verge Gardens for Advocacy

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Comments turn articles into conversations. Leaving comments, using the comments to share ideas, ask or answer questions, is good practice for communicating and building conversations online. It also encourages other readers to notice you and follow your profile link to build your own networks.