Over the last twenty-five years of environmental practice, I have had countless opportunities to experience and reflect on how to enhance my effectiveness. I have had my fair share of failures and successes over these years, and the lessons learned have been invaluable. I have tried manipulation, bending the truth, back stabbing, anger, hatred, arrogance, self-righteousness, knowing everything, defensiveness, paranoia, rejection, and they all left me dissatisfied for several reasons, and among them was the fact that they were not as effective nor as satisfying as a more powerful force of nature: compassion.

The reason so many of us got into this whole business of environmentalism and social justice was because we felt (and feel) violated when we witness needless suffering. This compassion can then sometimes get lost beneath a set of strategies we employ to put things right. But these strategies can commonly embody the very same emotional drivers as the problems we seek to overcome – greed, hatred, ignorance.

Einstein once said that we cannot solve problems using the [heart]-mindset that created them.   I tend to agree, not just because I think it is wholesome to act compassionately, but because I have tried selfish and compassionate modalities of environmental practice, and have seen how compassionate action has delivered bigger, better and more enduring outcomes than the selfish ones.

Think for a moment of the contest between advocates for biodiversity on one hand, and the jobs of local people on the other, in a classic environmental dispute over a forest. A selfish and ignorant environmental practice might ignore the legitimate needs of local people, and put its entire effort into winning at all costs.

This is sometimes justified on the basis that “nature always loses, so now its time for nature to win for a change”. Fine. But first show me the line that divides nature from people in this interconnected ecological world. Then show me why it is impossible to deliver both social justice and environmental protection in the same solution.

There is no necessity to alleviate environmental destruction by means of social injustice, any more than it is necessary to alleviate human suffering through environmental destruction.

I have tried out this approach and seen it work on numerous occasions. An example of compassionate environmental policy: In 1998 I prepared a regional economic development policy framework as my contribution to help resolve the impasse between environmentalists and local logging supporters over the protection of the West Coast indigenous forests, back in the late 1990s. People told me I was mad “It will never happen.” The outcome: 130,000ha of forest protected because $120 million in regional development funding was provided by the government for the West Coast community – a community that thrived after the forests were protected.

This is quite unlike the outcome for Minginui – a small town in the central North Island that still suffers intense social hardship after the indigenous logging was stopped in Whirinaki forest in the 1980s. Think of tropical rainforests and how much we want them protected. Then think of the local people in these developing countries…

When environmental protection causes unnecessary social hardship is hardly sustainable (i.e. enduring), because it creates powerful political enemies of conservation, and rightly so.   But eco-political leadership from the heart is built of sterner stuff and can out-perform selfish modes in 84,000 ways. There are more angles on the West Coast indigenous forest story to share but this will have to wait till another time…

See Ekodo Facebook Group for details and workshops.

‘Our Sarah’ draws some interesting parallels between the clean up efforts that are being made in the Himalayas and those that are being made right here in our very own backyards.  I encourage you to check out her first piece and leave your comments.

The key message I’m receiving as I complete the first series of Positive Writing Courses is all people need is a little encouragement and their magic unfurls and breaths sweet air.  The work that some of my students are presenting me is priceless.  Some of them wrote their first pieces during moments of excitement after watching a video. And those articles flowed out effortlessly.  I think that’s a great time to write, when one is feeling good and inspired, and even better is when we can cultivate our writing habits so that we can sit down and generally experience those feelings each day.  Yes, it’s possible fellow artists!

So Sarah wrote this piece quickly, in an hour or so, which I found surprising. It’s quite a long piece.

There’s much more to come!  I feel so excited and proud of these people who are daring to be bold and happy in their writing.

Today’s rating: 10/10

365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people).  The Low Down on this Blog.

Check out yesterday’s blog.

By Sarah Ferry

In 2010 mountaineers removed two tons of rubbish from Everest, rubbish that we see in our everyday lives. But what was it doing up there in the first place, and what can New Zealanders do to help? With our beautiful mountain ranges, we should have a good idea on how to keep things litter free… shouldn’t we?

Everest, Nepal, the highest mountain in the world. Ice loaded, a frozen world, its deathly stance reaching up and up, protecting the sky from the world below. Many have conquered, many have failed, and many are yet to try. When I think of Everest, I perceive greatness beyond imagination;
I envision a place where mother earth is still respected. If she decides to send a storm you will not reach the top, if she crumbles an avalanche you will be trapped. Now I have not been to Everest, I have not yet even been to Nepal, these places are all still a dream on the wings of imagination.   However I do watch the news, and have noticed this sky scraping mountain and its visitors mentioned often these past months.

May was the most prominent month for adventure, beginning with New Zealander Wendy Smith.  Smith and her team skydived from almost nine thousand metres amongst the Himalayan Mountains, an intense record breaker. Next there were Apa Sherma and Jordan Romero, both breaking world
records of their own. Sherma summated for a whopping twentieth time, and Romero became the youngest person ever to reach the top at just thirteen years old. With so many achievements, what else could possibly be in store for the mighty mountain?

Have you ever pondered how many people have climbed to the summit of Everest? The figure is somewhere in the 3400s, and some of these lucky people have even scaled it more than once, bringing the summit ascents to more than 5070.  Comparing these figures to those of New Zealand’sTongariro Crossing, Everest would not even begin to compare, but do take into account that it is the highest mountain in the world. But what effect have these numbers had on Everest?

Those of you who have hiked the Tongariro Crossing will have discovered, and maybe even had intimate relations with the ‘just in time yet hold your nose’ toilet at the bottom of the Devil’s Staircase. Even more so, did you take into account the lack of litter? DOC hut wardens do an incredible job of managing the track, but imagine their situation another eight thousand feet in the air. The freezing temperatures would bite through their statutory shorts, as they crippled under the weight of oxygen tanks, praying they would not need to go to the bathroom. Everest’s polar bear cold climate makes it impossible for it to have hut wardens, or huts and even toilets for that matter, so where does a mountaineer put his toilet paper and granola bar wrappers? On the floor. Yes, with Everest’s ever changing climate and mighty height, littering does not cross a mountaineers mind.

Mountaineer’s can only afford to carry what they need, and with 3400 of them having passed up and back down Everest’s slopes, littering is becoming a major problem.  Shockingly, in between rock, ice and eyeball white snow, there lays nearly a century’s worth of  rubbish. It snakes to the summit like an unruly snail trail, guiding mountaineers to their destinies.

This river of half full gas canisters, empty oxygen bottles, skeleton tents, coiled ropes, and everyday utensils, flows more than 8,848 meters. Sometimes it is sparse, sometimes swimmable, always littering. Should there not be laws against this? Yes there should and there are, but just as we are supposed to put litter in the bin, there are many people who do not follow suit.

Luckily for Everest help is at hand in the form of seven time summiteer Namgval Sherpa, and his expedition ‘Extreme Everest 2010’. Out of thousands of possible mountaineers, it was down to Sherpa and his team of nineteen Nepali climbers to bring the years of rubbish home. But, what was their environmentally friendly plan? Did they climb the highest mountain in the world without oxygen, food, shelter and rope? Well, yes actually they did. Maybe not to such extremes but they could afford to lose the oxygen and breathe thin air for the sake of cleaning up their act. As May was
the popular month for Everest conquering, climbers wasted no time in setting off, to embark on the litter pick of a lifetime.

But why had no one attempted this before? Actually they have, and still are. Back in 2008, Asian Trekking organised the ‘Eco Everest Expedition’, which has taken place every year since. So far the expedition has brought down to base camp: more than 12,000 kilos of rubbish, 300 kilos of human
waste and even the wreckage of an Italian Army helicopter which had been stuck in the ice since 1973. Climbers involved in the eco expeditions brought down all their own human waste for proper disposal. They even handed out toilet bags to other parties at Everest base camp, so everyone could carry on the good will.

So what is so different about Extreme Everest Expedition 2010? For starters they were working in the ‘death zone’, a place that sends shivers up the spine. Up there the mountaineers face freezing temperatures, the thinnest of air and the unruliest of territory, if anything the surrounding rubbish
just goes to show how much it takes to survive in such climates. The expedition’s mission was to clear more than two tons of rubbish, which meant multiple trips in and out of the death zone. This is the first time mountaineers have cleaned this high, and did I mention that this brave team set out
with empty rucksacks? Their mission lasted a whopping forty days, and they descended with rubbish that weighed around 2,000kg. This time the mountaineers were not out to conquer Everest, but to save her.

This expedition got me pondering; do we not see rubbish every day here, in our non-8,848 metre lives? Do we not see it climbing street corners, floating in rivers and marching down our drains? I know we do, each time I go for a run I come hurtling back with plastic bottles and tin cans in tow.  But we are not surviving in freezing temperatures; we do not have to carry the bare minimum through life. So why is it still a problem? The Nepali mountaineers had previously completed their dreams of climbing Everest, yet returning to wipe waste from her sides was not beneath them.  Many of us are living our dreams every day, but what if these achievements do not involve picking up litter? But we can, let us be urban mountaineers! Our good thing is we do not have to risk our lives to clean up our act, or travel thousands of miles to get to waste. If mountaineers are going to the toilet in a bag and carrying it around for weeks, then surely we can embark on an expedition to our streets with a bag and some rubber gloves. Like Sherpa and his team, we may not have personally dropped the incriminating stuff, but we should be passionate about cleaning it up.

Luckily, there are many urban mountaineers already passionate about our streets. With National Clean Up Week just around the corner, they are busy preparing for their our own extreme expeditions. With many events happening in your area! Keep New Zealand Beautiful (KNZB) have organised cleanup projects, stream restoration, graffiti removal and tree planting, all they need are mountaineers of the streets! Check out their website for the details: www.knzb.org.nz, and if there are no events happening in your area, contact them, they would love to hear your suggestions.

Another great website I found on my mission against litter was www.beatidykiwi.org.nz, they have a page where you pledge your allegiance to fighting litter. My favourite one is “I will toot/flash lights at someone littering from their car”. I could just imagine mountaineers on the top of Everest,
fighting over a dropped packet. But we do not have to go to the top of the world to make a change, we can achieve greatness in our own towns and cities. There are people risking their lives to pick up litter, and we are lucky because we do not have to. Go on, be an urban mountaineer today, and
bring beauty back to our streets!

Take that night’s debate, for example. Ever the optimist (and perhaps, a little French romanticist as well) he suggested, being as we had candles going, that we might as well make an occasion of it and nibble on some nice cheese and open some bubbles we were saving. We had stuff to celebrate after all- Of course, I pointed out, we should celebrate that we know the electricity would come back on, soon even. But what would we do if it was always like this?Not save the cheese for special occasions?
Invite our neighbours over to share the moment, and conserve the energy spent in lighting our bedroom?

Thus the importance of Community.

Where we live we have a very strong community of people who do care about one another. We pop our heads over the fence, drop round meals: share the load. But do we know our neighbours well enough to make the next step? I’m not necessarily suggesting that they share every moment (particularly not that one!), but how about this: What about discussing sharing the next big purchase you make with someone nearby?
Just now we’re talking about goat-share.
We don’t have enough land to have goats, but I love goats milk and they’d be handy wee additions to the family. I have a couple of friends who think similarly. We each have the goat for one day a week; milk it in the morning, set it out to lunch midday and in the afternoon walk it round to your friend’s place to carry on its wee adventure, free-grazing along the way. Think “modern day urban goat-herder”.
Not convinced? (neither is my partner).

OK. What about sharing a chest freezer? Now that’s a slightly more conventional idea. We all chip in for purchase, again for the monthly electricity bill, but we don’t have to freeze an empty space, so the bill will be less! Less energy is used in creating just one freezer, and a little is used on the bike going to get your carrots.

I’m quite keen on getting rid of our car, or getting involved in a car-share scheme. One third of the energy used by a car over its lifetime will be simply in its creation. I’m not sure whether or not that makes our aging vehicle more or less economic, but the former nomad in me thinks hitchhiking would be a great alternative. (The mother counters this argument with the reality of 2 child car-seats and an arm load of back up nappies…)
In our local steps towards transition we have suggested car-pooling to out-of-village events, initiated swap-meets of food and clothing, and nurtured the idea of community- of knowing your neighbour and getting involved. Because we do take Peak Oil and its consequences seriously and Climate Change, if it’s not abated, would have a considerable impact on our seaside lives.
Just now, we’re still taking tiny steps towards change. We’re aware of what we have to do, but we’re a long way off achieving it.

Now for the daily report of my life – this evening I was lucky enough to get to enjoy a meal with my brother, sister, Mother and our families.  Plus our animals.  Including a chinchilla.  This also involved literally lying on top of an over excited six month old boxer dog puppy so that it would calm down.  Meanwhile our toddlers and babies shared a bath and careered around the house, screaming, laughing, fighting, crying, zooming into their parents for reassuring hugs and food, then veering off again, for another circuit.  I discovered that animals maketh my family.  They calm us.  They bring out the best in us.  They fascinate us.  Hmm, it’ll be great when one of us has a horse.

The end of today’s blog.  See you tomorrow!

Today’s rating: 9/10

365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people).  The Low Down on this Blog.

Check out yesterday’s blog.

The idea came about because since last summer, when I dissolved deeply into a social scene I have been craving for years, I have been continuing on in a fashion which is not entirely beneficial for the body or the mind. To put it simply- I’ve been having too much fun and not paying enough attention to what my body has been telling me.

Understandably, I am run down and feeling the old familiar fatigue catching up with me. Now- I do not intend to stop having fun, stop going to parties and pot-lucks, seeing movies and spending late nights painting with my beloved as well as working and studying. But I DO intend to do it all alongside living more healthily, listening to my body, and taking steps to give back to myself what I’m continually expending.

So, here’s the plan:
1.      No alcohol. This might sound easy to all you lovely healthy people out there, but unfortunately I love a tipple, especially when I’m
feeling tired but still want to go out with my friends…it gives this false energy when energy might not really be there to begin with.
2.      Predictably, more exercise. I used to be wonderfully motivated and dedicated since seriously injuring my back in a Hannah Vs. Car
accident, but since summer I have let it all slide. Walking plus physio exercises plus yoga plus pilates used to be the go. I want to gradually get back into a routine, also adding in the odd Zumba and Yoga class.
3.      Diet. Now I am usually pretty careful with what I put in my mouth, living as I do with Crohn’s Disease and IBS, so just a little tweaking in this department. Notably, cutting out the cheese I am so very fond of, reducing the amount of starches and sugars I consume, and generally adding more vegetables. I love vegetables, so this isn’t hard nor much of a change from usual.
4.      Bodytalk. I have a session in the pipeline with a beautiful local woman named Tania Marsden who I intend to listen to very carefully. I
don’t know much about Bodytalk yet, so that will be interesting for me. Anything that allows me a better understanding of this body and what it needs is something I am very open to.
5.      Learning. Our library is a wealth of information, as is the internet. I am borrowing books too, so hopefully I will have some useful things to write about as I learn them. Because of my health challenges over the last few years I have already ingested a fair amount of knowledge, but am always hungry for more.

I will be writing about how things are going, what on earth is happening to me, what I am discovering and what I am thinking about. I will read comments with delight, hopefully encouraging me along. I have a vague idea about a proper detox once this month is through, so I see this as a bit of a build-up to a proper spring clean!
See you all soon,
over and out.
Hannah

She’s one rock’n wahine that Serena.

Today’s rating: 10/10

365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people).  The Low Down on this Blog.

Check out yesterday’s blog.

Yealands Estate Wines looking for ‘Art on a Bottle’

Sponsors of the Yealands Estate Marlborough Art Gallery – Yealands Estate Wines and The Marlborough Art Society would like to announce the first year of the Yealands Estate ‘Art on a Bottle’ Competition.

Yealands Estate Wines is looking for an original piece of artwork to feature and be reproduced on a new release wine label.

The theme for this year’s competition is “winescapes” and artists are being encouraged to enter the Yealands Estate ‘Art on a Bottle’ competition drawing inspiration from vineyards, viticulture and wine-making activities.

Yealands Estate spans a breathtakingly beautiful area that stretches from the foothills of the Seaward Kaikoura ranges to the bluffs overlooking Cook Strait on the east coast of Marlborough – an area many said was too challenging for viticulture. With Peter Yealands’ love of the land and “can do” attitude, the innovative and environmentally friendly vineyard and winery that is Yealands has been brought to life.

Entries are open to works in oil, watercolour, acrylic, pastel, pen and wash or any combination of these media (no text required).

Along with seeing their work reproduced on the Yealands Estate new release wine label with artist acknowledgment, the grand winner will also enjoy a case of the wine bearing the designed label and a $2,500 cash prize.

To download the entry form visit:  www.yealands.co.nz (see news section) or www.marlboroughartsociety.com

The competition is open to entrants 18 years and over. Entries close 1 October 2010.

Yealands Estate ‘Art on a Bottle’ is proudly sponsored by Yealands Estate Wines and The Marlborough Art Society.

-ends-

For further information, or for images, please contact

Alexandra Speedy, alexandra@porternovelli.co.nz

09 632 0569 | 021 0700651

About Yealands Estate

Yealands Estate is New Zealand’s leading environmentally sustainable winery based in the Awatere Valley, Marlborough. Developed by entrepreneur Peter Yealands, the privately owned winery features advanced green technology in every aspect of design and function.

It received carboNZeroCertTM certification from Landcare Research in April 2009 and in doing so was the largest winery in New Zealand to achieve this status for its organisation and wine products.

A month later, it was  awarded the category trophy for small to medium businesses at the ’EECA’ awards – the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Awards, held by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).  Yealands wines launched to great acclaim in August 2008, and have collected more than 140 awards to date, which goes to show that being green also means making a great drop. www.yealands.co.nz

Just briefly, they’re already using solar, rainwater harvesting, recycling, composting, wetland ponds (nice), sheep rather than lawn-mowing, on-site waste-water reuse, and temperature monitoring.

I felt quite excited when the press release came into the Happyzine inbox about their ‘Art on a Bottle‘ competition (are you an artist? Check it out, you could win $2500), as when I heard about them on the National Programme, I immediately wanted to tell you about them.  I love a good mission.

Today’s rating: 8/10

365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people).  The Low Down on this Blog.

Check out yesterday’s blog.

I’ll be quick to point out that all that wood was already here when I took up residence, so its sustainability – or otherwise – is not on my conscience.

But I certainly had a hard time settling on an outdoor table last year when it seemed all that could be bought was made from tropical hardwood devoid of any eco-source labelling. Sustainable wood products can be hard to find.

Wood, while it is technically a renewable resource, needs careful consideration by architects and designers in its application to all those things we like to surround ourselves with – especially buildings. The multi-award-winning Meridian Building on Wellington’s waterfront uses at least three different sustainable timbers in its structure and characteristic external wooden “fins”. Mind you, the architects were setting out to create the greenest building ever (don’t quote me, but it was something like that) so it’s only right to see them leading by example.

Waste and energy consumption as well as the source material (sustainable birch plywood) have been considered in an innovative range of wooden chair and table designs from British designer Dan Civico. They are essentially flat pack pop-out kits – the kind of thing you might usually see as a miniature plastic kinder egg toy – and can make a groovy piece of wall art before you pop out the bits to form your furniture.

Using felled wood in situ can be incredibly eco-efficient – not only do you know exactly where and how it was grown, but transport emissions are zero.

There are numerous examples of this in New Zealand, perhaps partly down to Kiwi ingenuity and using what’s around. Friends in Taranaki are completing their own macrocarpa house with timber felled and milled by a neighbour, while The Lodge at the French Village, an eco-retreat in a secluded Wairarapa valley, is built entirely from the three large macs that once stood on the site. Their hulking stumps still punctuate the grassy front yard.

Meanwhile, a bespoke furniture-making service in Seattle remodels beloved deceased trees into one-of-a-kind pieces. While that’s a noble and no doubt skilled craft, it occurs to me clients may be shared with the taxidermist who will reanimate deceased pets.

A more cost effective scavenger mindset is displayed by the remarkable temporary Jellyfish Theatre just opened in London – made mostly from salvaged shipping pallets and other wood scraps. The two shows that will play there during the theatre’s short life have been written to address themes of environmental catastrophe.

It is fantastic example of a holistic community design project that sends a strong message of walking the talk.

I just hope they find a sympathetic building inspector to sign it off!

I am less convinced by a project to replace the hardwood decking on the Brooklyn Bridge’s pedestrian boardwalk. While that sounds like a positive thing, I just can’t quite compute how they intend to “sustainably harvest” tropical rainforest hardwood. Might keep an eye on that one.

Lastly, it might not seem in the spirit of forest preservation to replace a mass produced plastic product with a wooden substitute, but…. This bamboo toothbrush is just too cute. And anyway bamboo is technically an overgrown grass, not a tree, and the biodegradability wins points.

I’ll leave you with a top wood shopping tip; if you want to demand the highest standard in wood and paper products, always look for the FSC logo (Forest Stewardship Council).

These guys are like the superhero’s Hall of Justice for wood products. In fact, their logo has such super-powers I can’t even show it to you unless I’m certified.

But commit it to memory and always ask your retailer if a wood product has this mark – if they could, the trees would thank you.

How does this make you feel?

Relaxed, senses sated?

This is the powerful effect of Mother Nature and as I see it, we have forgotten how to let ourselves enjoy her healing, calming and sedative effects.

When was the last time you went bush?

Or walked a river path?

Or strolled along the huge beautiful empty beaches we are blessed with here in New Zealand?

If you struggle to remember, you have left it far too long. Do yourself a favor and get your walking boots on and venture outside, let Mother Nature fill your soul and the coming week will look so different…

Last week I treated myself to a walk through the bush by a stream. The coolness of the air, the songs of the birds, the sound of twigs cracking under foot filled my senses washing away my troubles, renewing my soul and revitalizing the lost energy I had from recently being sick with pneumonia.

The excitement of discovery, waking the senses as I followed the path filled me with new hope for the future and this alone is what money cannot buy, and it’s what Mother Nature is trying to tell us to do more of, go back to walking on the wild side.

Today’s rating: 9/10

365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people).  The Low Down on this Blog.

Check out yesterday’s blog.

Here’s the lowdown on Bioneers from the website:

“Social and scientific innovators focus on breakthrough solutions inspired by nature and human ingenuity. These visionaries are already creating the healthy, diverse, equitable and beautiful world we want to live in—our legacy for future generations and the web of life on which our lives depend.”

“Founder Kenny Ausubel coined the term Bioneers in 1990 to describe an emerging culture. Bioneers are social and scientific innovators from all walks of life and disciplines who have peered deep into the heart of living systems to understand how nature operates, and to mimic “nature’s operating instructions” to serve human ends without harming the web of life. Nature’s principles—kinship, cooperation, diversity, symbiosis and cycles of continuous creation absent of waste—can also serve as metaphoric guideposts for organizing an equitable, compassionate and democratic society. “

Keep your ears open for these radio shows – this is positive change making media at its best!

Today’s rating: 10/10

365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people).  The Low Down on this Blog.

Check out yesterday’s blog.

Gaibrielle Syben of www.myva.co.nz is offering an exclusive 20% discount this month only, to Happyzine subscribers only, who would like some help to smooth out their accounts.

It can be a challenge to stay passionate and focused on growing your business with the paper work piling up around you.

I know how it can be. The number of hats we have to juggle as business owners can be overwhelming.  And often, keeping the books balanced gets put on the back burner. If this is you, make the most of this Happyzine-only opportunity to get this area of your business sorted with an easy package designed just for you.

You don’t need to understand spreadsheets or accounting software, and I don’t need access to your bank account. Take advantage of a free, no-obligation, confidential phone-chat to find out just how easy it is to have this aspect of your business taken care of.

It can be reassuring to know exactly where you are on the financial front, especially when you see which areas of your business are creating income for you. It’s easier to relax and enjoy reaping the financial rewards from all your hard work when you know you have the systems in place to take care of your money as it comes in, and to competently meet your tax requirements.

I know you didn’t go into business to do the books, I did.  Let me take the pressure off, so that you can get back to spending more time working on the areas of your business that feel good.

I’m here to help.

Gabrielle Syben of myVA is offering an exclusive 20% discount for this month only to happyzine readers.  Email help@myva.co.nz  before the 30th of September and mention Happyzine to collect your discount.

www.myva.co.nz

This is a Happyzine advertisement.

The Wholefoods Handbook – The Little Kitchen Book That Every Organic Cook Must Have (and can have for only NZ$5).

The incredibly affordable Whole Foods Handbook is a concise guide to 120 basic products commonly sold in organic shops.  The Handbook provides background information on each food, a nutrition profile and preparation instructions, including some recipes.  It’s designed to introduce customers to products they may be unfamiliar with or not know how to use — to boost individual health, organic shop sales and organics throughout New Zealand, helping achieve Organic New Zealand 2020. It’s 56 very full A5 pages, a thorough A-Z all about foods sold in organic shops.
Earthcare Education Aotearoa is a charitable trust specialising in environmental education, organic growing, permaculture and community development. The Whole Foods Handbook was written by a trustee of Earthcare Education Aotearoa to be sold in support of the Trust’s objectives. Proceeds support organic and environmental projects in Golden Bay.
Prices for the Whole Foods Handbook:
Single copy, $5. 2-16 copies, $4.70 each.  17-100 copies: $4.20 each
Postage is $1 for 1 copy, $1.50 for 2-4 copies, $3 for 5-17
copies, and $5 for 18+.

The Story Behind the Wholefoods Handbook – by the author – Joanna Piekarski

When Ro and I put down roots in Golden Bay eleven years ago, GB Organics was a not-for-profit shop run by volunteers, and we took a weekly shift.  Arawa wheat?  Corrail lentils?  We thought: ‘Let’s increase sales by letting shoppers know what all these unfamiliar foods are and how to use them!’  Info cards soon appeared on the bulk bins.  Eventually the cards were expanded and compiled into a handy book.  GB Organics Whole Foods in a Nutshell was soon selling well.  Another idea we had was ‘Other organic shops can sell these books and the profits can be put to good use for our community and environment!’  With a new cover design, the Wholefoods Handbook was soon published by the charitable trust Earthcare Education Aotearoa. The price is kept low (Green$ also welcome) and to date more than 6000 copies have been sold to individuals and in organic shops and Bin Inns all over NZ.

To buy your copy today, email: rojoanna@ihug.co.nz

by Claire Chateau

“And after we get the Gold Award…what do we do?”
This was one of the burning questions asked by Alex, eight, last week, as he was reflecting upon the eco-journey of his school, together with 40 or so other students from the Whangarei region. Alex in his own words was trying to understand the vast concept of sustainability, key principle of the enviro-schools philosophy.
During their workshop, the students were encouraged to draw an awa (in maori:river) and place some concepts relating to the step they felt their school was at, stand on a line depending on how they view themselves in their reflection process. They were also asked to elaborate future action plans based on the five enviro-school guidelines.

As I was accompanying five ecstatic High-School eco-warriors, I spent some time observing the ten primary school students sitting around the table next to ours.

Their focus and positive attitude just blew me away! Not only did they ask pertinent questions but they were also fully engaged all-day (and at time the day did feel long!). They initiated the karakia and enthusiastically shared ideas with people around…A young year-six girl even had the final word and, with full confidence, kindly thanked the facilitators for their organisation of the workshop!

Young leaders of tomorrow…grow a tree from the planted seed. Our future is in safe hands!

Like me, you are probably an expert at finding reasons why you are not going to make it to the early local growers market at the week-end. Busy week at work (“all the meetings”), another late night (“we just HAD to catch up, it had been a long time”),  the poor weather (“too bad it’s raining” or “winter is not for me”), the early start (“I am not a morning person”).

However, the positive impact an early jump out of bed will have on yourself and your household is huge!!!

- We all know that local markets abound with organic spray free products which are beneficial to your health. Feel good about yourself by feeding your family free range farm eggs and organically grown mandarins.

- Your purse will benefit as well as you’ll find that most of the products are much cheaper than in the supermarket. $50 will feed a family of 4 with fruit and veggies for the week. This budget-wise attitude will get you positive feedback from your partner….

- You’ll lessen your impact on the environment by buying from and helping local producers…spend some time to discuss their products with them. You’ll meet some passionate people with amazing life stories.

- Make the trip to the market a family bonding and educational time. First gather your strength together to leave the warm house early, then discuss each others favourite type of apples…drop every now and then some comments about factory farming and why we can’t support it, let each child pick their favourite fruit then share them around a lively brunch and make family plans together for the day.

- Moreover, going there will make you happy! You’ll feel great about yourself for being eco-conscious (buying local but also for having brought your own bags and refusing any plastic one offered!), you’ll get to catch up with the local figures ( especially interesting when about to elect your local representatives) , buy fund-raising tickets to support your neighbours’s daughters netball trip. You’re contributing to your community and getting a great sense of belonging.

so…setting  the alarm for next week-end??

Love,

Charlotte

Today’s rating: 8/10

PS I’m currently preparing (mentally) for two major launches: my first ever e-book and the Wild Energy competition.  Tee hee hee!!!  Exciting!

365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people).  The Low Down on this Blog.

Check out yesterday’s blog.

Aucklander Robyn Simcock is renovating her garage. As is, it is slightly sunken into the ground so that the roof is only a metre above the pavement.  She has pumice, wild flowers, succulents and New Zealand natives ready for the renovation. She wants the garage to look nice, because it can be seen from the street.  However, these plants and rocks aren’t for landscaping the garden around it. They are part of the renovation. Ms Simcock is creating a living, growing, roof.  Robyn Simcock, who works at Land Care Research New Zealand, has one of the first living roofs in New Zealand.

Her green roof, as it’s called, is made up of a mixture of media. It has a base layer which provides the solid roof, a soil layer, and a ‘mat’ of plants –mainly sedums, which are mosses.

“I had to make sure the Auckland City Council understood exactly what I meant,” she says of the process involved in getting resource consent to build her green roof.  At first they thought it was landscaping, she says, but after a few hard line phone calls, she managed to tick all necessary boxes and got permission to build one on her suburban home.

Her experience of having the green roof installed led her to join University of Auckland researcher Dr Elizabeth Fassman and Auckland Regional Council in a joint project looking into the potential uses and application of green roofs in New Zealand.  After a four year study, involving a roof being installed on top of the engineering department at the University of Auckland, their research is almost complete.  Amid the droughts and torrential rain Auckland experiences, the research has proven that green roofs can effectively reduce storm water runoff by up to 75 percent. It also has the potential to reduce the urban heat island created by concrete roofs in the city.

The initial focus for the project was to find New Zealand plants that could potentially be used for green roofs on commercial buildings. However, along the way they discovered more interest in residential roofs with aesthetic value and the potential for growing vege gardens.

“At first it doesn’t look nice,” says Dr Fassman.

But their use is catching on, and they are becoming more and more popular. However, the roofs are still expensive to use, and according to the researchers of green roofs, there  is a public perception that they could be leaky.  Dr Fassman and Ms Simcock all agree, in order for the technology to be successfully used in New Zealand there now needs to be policy towards their use, adapted at a government level.

Haydon Easton, the storm water advisor from Auckland Regional Council, who also helped out with research, says policy is still a long way off.
“It’s a growing industry that’s still in its infancy,” he says. Mr Easton’s view is that education about the roofs needs to come next, before anything else progresses.

Many local councils do have guidelines for people and businesses wanting to install a green roof.  North Shore City Council has incentives for use, and Waitakere City Council currently has a green roof.  But it is unsure what will happen once the council changes in November.  Deputy Mayor of Waitakere City Council, Penny Hulse, says that although there are current guidelines for green roofs in place, they may be lost among the transition to a super city council.

“My concern at the moment is that no one has bothered to talk about sustainability for the super city.”

Ms Hulse believes that green roofs are an example of new technology that could benefit the city overall, but is one of many sustainability issues that is being forgotten amid the confusing transition to become Auckland Council.  Local government policy analyst Larry Mitchell also agrees.

“It’s one of the many question marks surrounding the super city. How strongly will advocacy for air, soil and water issues be?” says Mr Mitchell.

He believes the answer lies in how Auckland Regional Council, which deals with environmental issues, is “folded into the new super city”.

Lucky for Robyn Simcock, the outcome of the elections won’t affect her bid to get a green roof.  Says Simcock:

“At first you’ve got to get the technical standards up to scratch, demonstrate that the roofs can be affectively used, and then you have to demand that they’re used.

“You just have to do it,” she says, likening the process to that of changing the earthquake regulations and standards for buildings.

Within 24 hours of clicking on the “Submit for Review” button I was up to my ears in water. I mean, actually.

Hot water.

But there was no way I could do without it. Just as there was no way I was going to manage without the help of my partner and two midwives.

When David Holmgren was devising his ideas on permaculture design using zones, zone O being the heart of the home, where the most activity would take place, I wonder, was he thinking to include the arrival of our daughter?

On a day that I’d planned to sow seeds, make bread, do a load of washing I went into labor, ten days early, without a single tick on the list. I persevered. I could get two towels on the line between contractions. And then, when I knew I could resist no longer I picked up the phone, called in the team and headed to the shower.

Lovely, hot water. On my back and on my belly.
I sang.
I breathed.
I labored.

My midwife arrived not much later and suggested I got in the pool.
And so I did.
There in my lounge room was a big pool filled with 500 litres of water.

As the sun made its journey across the sky it created soft rippling reflections on my kitchen ceiling; my daughter made her slow decent. The sun set and she arrived, having brought the spring with her.

Today we planted our placenta beneath an almond, in the centre of our new fruit forest- hopefully a place where she’ll play with her big brother…