I will happily admit I do. It’s a great way to start the day with a mini-mental workout. If you haven’t played Wordle, it’s all about five-letter words. When you type in your guess, you pause hit enter and wait with bated breath as the squares around your letter change colour, hoping that you’ve found the right word and all the squares turn green. This may or may not be followed by a brief episode of happy dancing.
And the five-letter word GREEN is becoming more important by the day. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, our nights in January were the warmest on record and our days were the third warmest on record. In the same report, Launceston had the warmest days on average at 27 degrees. We need to cool our city and region down; this is why the Chamber has such a passion for Urban Greening. There is a huge amount of evidence that Urban Greening has a triple-bottom-line benefit:
Environmental: Urban Greening will help cool our city and suburbs, and increase our biodiversity.
Economic: Increased property values, increased foot traffic and the time people spend in the city will lead to increased sales.
Social: Improved physical and mental health and improved community connectedness.
At yesterday’s Tamar Valley Leaders Lunch (LUNCH is another great five letter word), it was fantastic to hear that the University of Tasmania is contributing to a greener Launceston with sustainable, environmentally friendly developments as part of the Northern Transformation project.
Another five-letter word is LOCAL. Last year we encouraged everyone to Buy, Support and Eat locally. Supporting our local businesses is still extremely important as we navigate our way through the current health and social situation. Buying local is the best form of stimulus. Revisit this blog post for more details and suggestions.
Our next five-letter word is YOUTH. To quote Austrian novelist Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach “in youth we learn; in age we understand.” If there is a young person within your organisation that’s learning their profession and could use some more business connections, why not bring them along to a Chamber event? Attending a Chamber event will allow them to make valuable new connections and gain insights from the keynote speaker.
Our final five-letter word is ISSUE. If there are any issues your business is facing that you need assistance with or need advocacy for, please don’t hesitate to contact us.