Doctor Amelie Vanderstock, known as Amelie Ecology to her fans, has a bee in her bonnet about native pollinators, and is singing her way to educate young people on their important role in our environment.

The children’s performer and ecologist will bee-dazzle audiences at City of Canterbury Bankstown’s World Environment Day event with her Bee Cabaret Show.

“Pollinators are so important to our beautiful biodiversity, for pollinating our food and

are little creatures that help our environment thrive,” Dr Vanderstock said.

“I create music and educational resources for children and families because we are facing intergenerational challenges and we all have a role to play in pollinator conservation.

“I’m really excited to be performing at Canterbury-Bankstown World Environment Day because it’s a celebration of how we as an urban community can contribute to conserving biodiversity.”

Bankstown Arts Centre will be a hive of activity when the free family event takes place on Saturday 1 June from 11am-3pm.

Attendees will be buzzing as they get up close and personal with possums, frogs, lizards and snakes in an Australian Wildlife Presentation and experience short environmental awareness films from around the world.

A number of information stalls will also be offering up advice, while residents can pick up their free native plants and talk to experts about creating gardens for local wildlife. The first 100 attendees on the day will receive a free lunch supplied by OzHarvest.

Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek encouraged the community to come along and celebrate our natural environment.

“We’re lucky to have a huge range of natural assets in Canterbury-Bankstown, from rivers and wetlands to some fantastic parks and bushland.

“Nurturing these areas is a team effort and on World Environment Day, we unite in our commitment to cherishing and protecting them.

“This family-friendly event is a fantastic way to get the kids involved in learning about our environment and preserving it for generations to come.”

Dr Vanderstock said we all have a part to play in supporting pollinators and shared her top tips:

• Bees need food – grow a diversity of flowering plants in your garden or balcony to contribute to a feast for bees;
• Provide habitat – 70 per cent of native bees live in the ground and others live in hollows and cavities in trees as well as reeds;
• A clean and safe environment – it’s not the pest that decides. Products designed to kill insects can be harmful to bees; and
• Grow knowledge – there’s so much we still need to learn! Growing your knowledge about native bee biodiversity is an important step to falling in love with these bee-utiful insects.

For more information and to see the full program, visit cb.city/WorldEnvironmentDay