150th anniversary of the wonderful Melbourne Zoo has lured the ABC radio announcers out of their broadcasting caves and today they are out at the Zoo, monkeying about with the orangutans, pottering about with the penguins, and chatting with the zoo keepers who sound like geniuses when it comes to their various animal genuses.  John Faine and others were heard reminiscing about all the animal inspired TV shows we used to watch which would instil in viewers a sense of wonder and love for our natural environment. Some of the characters mentioned on air this morning were Flipper, Mr Ed - The Talking Horse, My Friend Flicker, Skippy,  and these certainly brought back memories, for those of  us who grew up in the 70s. 

In shows, such as Big Brother where humans are seen literally parading about and behaving in a manner really befitting a human zoo enclosure (a lot of the time),  we could have a Big Brother for animals entitled The Big Critter, where the animals compete to outdo each other - eg the giraffes compete to see who gets the most attention from the zoo-keepers (who's prepared to stick their necks out furthest)  and the male tigers compete as to who has the cleanest teeth.  The male birds would also get to flaunt their amazing plumages for the benefit of the females, of course. The animals and birds could compare notes about their skills ... who is fastest/flies the furthest, and the trees could even compete as to who gives out the most oxygen, and takes in the most CO2S, the plants that perform the best in terms of bio-filtration.  This would be a fun animated quiz show.  

Perhaps, tone it down, Nicolle, you are getting too carried away, again with your ideas for environmental media. There is bound to have been a satire done of Big Brother in this way! And a far more intelligible discussion of green humour occurs here. 

Here is a link to an interesting site - Thisness of That, which I only came across recently. 

Under the heading  'transformations' a great number of campaigns that have been successful, and environmental achievements are set out. This is really worth a read. I commend Gillian, a fellow Aussie for putting this together. 

http://thisnessofathat.blogspot.com.au/p/transformation.html

Thought it was high time I mentioned the very interesting, and inspiring educational videos that were produced by Sustainable Gardening Australia, a wonderful organisation (entitled Footprint Flicks). 

Well worth a viewing if you are a gardening officionado or aspirant or just wanting to know that your garden is ticking most of the boxes. 

I also think these videos tick most of my Converse Conserve boxes, in that they are definitely eco-creative, and have an inspirational influence on behaviour change, in terms of social marketing. 

What many people don't realise is that gardening with its 'holier than thou' healthy image is not always a benign activity, and that we can do much to improve our garden's health. 

Footprint Flicks  incorporate aspects of education, empathy, and action which I mention in my book, Green Spin - PGM. 

Also, they are full of green fun, story-telling, well-ness and greening and loads of humour. Well done to every one at SGA. 

So the question this month is to ask how do these make us feel? I think watching videos about gardening topics and sustainability make us feel that what we need to achieve is do-able, and also enjoyable.  Great characteristics for any campaign.