Radical Joy Revealed is a weekly message of inspiration about finding and making beauty in wounded places. We hope you'll enjoy these doorways into places that are both familiar and surprising, and we welcome your suggestions, stories, and photos. Click here to subscribe.

What Good Does Making Beauty Do?

Local residents plant trees and flowers at revitalized Jack Madigan Reserve, Newport, Victoria, Australia. Photo by Jenny Mitchell

Even though it was located in a populous community, Jack Madigan Reserve in Newport, Victoria, Australia had become become an eyesore. Used for decades for oil storage and as a dump for hard rubbish, it was now contaminated. The land was subsiding and the whole place was exiled behind a fence.

Jenny Mitchell and other activists of Transition Hobsons Bay realized that the Global Earth Exchange, a day when people all over the world would be making beauty for wounded places, was a perfect opportunity to launch a campaign to revitalize Jack Madigan Reserve. On June 22, 2013 seventy people showed up to beautify the fence with flowers and messages and toss flower seeds onto the land. A choir sang a song composed especially for the event, and the mayor gave a speech in which she promised that the Council would consider remediating the reserve.

Just over two years later, the former dump was officially opened as a park. Based on input from the entire community, the Council had cleaned and redesigned the land. For the opening children planted trees, the choir sang an updated song to celebrate the new park, and neighbors gathered to chat and share their excitement.

Jenny Mitchell wrote to RadJoy, "Thank you for encouraging us to participate in the Global Earth Exchange in 2013. It is likely that none of the above would have happened had we not organized the event."

This inspiring story proves that making a gift of beauty for a wounded place not only lifts spirits and transforms places at the time; it can also have long-lasting consequences.

To discover other stories of inspiring people, stories, photos, and ideas, subscribe to

Radical Joy Revealed.

It's time once again for the Global Earth (Gift) Exchange, the day when people all over the world make simple gifts of beauty for the places they love that have fallen on hard times.

Saturday, June 18--worldwide!

Stay tuned for more details!

Radical Joy for Hard Times is a global community of people dedicated to finding and making beauty in wounded places. Reconnecting with these places, sharing our stories of loss, and making acts of beauty there, we transform the land, reconnect people and the places that nourish them, and empower ourselves to make a difference in the way we live on Earth.

Donate to help Radical Joy

We love sending you Radical Joy Revealed each week and sharing inspiring stories and ideas that make a difference to people struggling to find meaning, beauty, and community in challenged places We're committed to offering this newsletter at no charge to you, our readers. Currently, our organization is experiencing a severe financial crisis. We welcome any contribution you can offer. Thank you for supporting RadJoy!

Know someone else that would be interested in our organization?

Not yet signed up to receive our emails?

See what's happening on our social sites.