This was the message Marama Davidson gave students gathered for the strike against climate change in Tauranga, Friday 24th May. She said the problem we’re facing has arisen from the power being in the hands of a few and she implored the students to stay strong in their conviction.

Students have been striking all over the country.

Much has been said about the rights and wrongs of them skipping school to march the streets.

To the students, I say march and raise your voices louder.

From my experience these students understand more about the problem and solutions we’re facing than many of the adults making decisions on their behalf. I spoke to a few of them at the strike to get their thoughts on what the government should be doing to take action against climate change and what they were doing individually.

Student with sign at the strike

Let their words be a warning to decision makers at any level, these students will shape the future.

Zoe de Malmanche from Mount Maunganui College spoke to her peers and reflected on the impact the strikes have had. She said “The most important thing these climate protests have resulted in is conversation”, and she thinks it’s this conversation that has given more people the ability to understand climate change. This is because the “sit down discussions at the dinner table” between striking students and their parents are encouraging those who can vote (on these issues) to vote for the “good of the future.”

Zoe de Malmanche from Mount Maunganui College speaking to students at the strike

This is really insightful. It’s also really powerful because it means the awareness and willingness to take action of one generation is rubbing off on another. I have hope this will start to shift the imbalance of power Marama mentioned.

I spoke to more students from Mount Maunganui College (MMC) as well as Otumoetai College (OC) and Tauranga Girls College (TGC) who talked about the transformation taking place in their own lives as well as what they thought our leaders should be doing.

Sophie Tinholt (OC) said her family have solar power, buy in bulk and carpool. Anna Petersen (MMC) said she’s vegetarian, working on going dairy free and trying to get her family to follow, as well as choosing to bike or walk everywhere. Brittany Fletcher (MMC) said she is vegan and strived towards zero waste, but was aware the impact of her actions alone were not as effective as they could be if everyone was doing it.

Brittany went on to say, “There needs to be more clarity about what ‘Zero Carbon’ looks like because people just don’t know“. This is true, because if people don’t really understand, it makes it difficult to take meaningful and necessary action. Anna also believes we need more “visible leadership to encourage societal change.” Leadership was mentioned a lot by the students, from declaring a national climate emergency through to including environmental outcomes into local town planning.

From what I saw and heard, it’s the students showing leadership, in both their words and their actions. They also talked to me about the need for better transport options so we don’t have to rely on cars, about introducing regulations and restrictions on plastic manufacturing and waste.

These aren’t just idealistic visions of the youth. These are well considered, achievable solutions which are simply necessary. The students aren’t waiting around for someone to tell them what to do, they already know. One thing they would like to know is, when will they be heard and taken seriously?

Akira McTavish-Huriwai (TGC) made a suggestion to get local youth leaders “together on a panel so it makes it feel like our voices are being heard and recognised on the political stage”. I agree. I would extend that to say make the panel a direct contributor to the plans and policies that start to shape the Zero Carbon Act.

And why not? It’s these students who will be living the consequences of those plans and policies so don’t they deserve a voice at the table? They are in touch with what’s happening on a global scale as well as where our towns and cities are falling short through a dangerous combination of apathy and a narrow view of progress.

As I was leaving the protest and the students were carrying on down the street, a woman who had come out of her shop to watch said to me “What are they marching for?” She had that look so many give to young people when they create a scene, one of indulgence. Of nodding and smiling for a short while in their direction until the grown-ups have to go back to do the real work. I see this a lot from local politicians and business leaders, oblivious to the significance of the message they are missing.

Earth day cupcakes being handed out at the strike

It’s time for change on so many levels. We need to better understand and respond to the connection we have to the environment. This means taking responsibility for reducing our personal impact, and acknowledging the role we play on a global level. A big shift also needs to take place so all members of society are included into the future being created. This is when the system change will start to happen.

My advice to the decision makers is listen very carefully to what these students have to say. Many of them are already in the workforce, they are very close to voting age, they are already leaders with mana, and they are pissed off.

Signs of support for students striking for climate change

I oppose the expansion of the Otakiri Water Bottling Plant in the Eastern Bay of Plenty for a number of reasons, but it’s got me thinking about equity of resources and what that means from a humanitarian perspective. At some stage, unless we experience a massive global sustainability shift, water will become the most precious resource we have. We will need it and so will others.

Owned by Chinese company Nongfu and run by Cresswell NZ the Otakiri operation will be, if they beat the appeals against them by Te Rūnanga ō Ngāti Awa and Sustainable Otakiri, running at 1800 bottles per minute, according to managing director Michael Gleissner. It’s been said most of this water will be exported to China.

This is a lot of water. 108,000 bottles per hour on the conservative side. It’s assumed this water is being commercialised for a market who choose to pay for ‘natural spring water’ rather than drink from the tap.

Looking at Nongfu Springs website, they look like a nice company. There’s many beautiful images of nature and credits to how they have restored waterways. It also looks like they are there to make money from health products, including our water.

Many people (including myself) are unhappy about this and have been taking to the beach in protest, as with the Omanu gathering on Sunday 19th May in Mt Maunganui organised by Greater Tauranga’s Heidi Hughes, Why Waste, and Sustainable Otakiri. This unrest is based on environmental, social and ownership issues.

New Zealand spring water is being drawn from the ground, bottled at the plant into single use plastic bottles, then trucked over seventy kilometres to the Port of Tauranga, shipped to China, distributed throughout that country, consumed and then the bottles left to the whim of the people who have bought them.

From an environmental sustainability perspective, its madness.

It can only be based on profit. This explains the need for scale, but as protest organiser Heidi Hughes said at the beach protest, it’s part of the “gold rush water mining industry.” The ‘gold rush’ is making its mark with plans for two more water bottling plants in Murupara (also Eastern Bay of Plenty) as well as similar activity and community oppositionin Christchurch and elsewhere.

So how does New Zealand curb this without losing the capacity to share our resources?

The impact of the Otakiri expansion to the Bay of Plenty will not be economic. It will be an increase to our CO² emissions due to the projected 202 truck movements per day and add to our already congested transport infrastructure. We as a region and as a country will wear that cost. The impact of those single use plastic bottles unless managed responsibility has the potential to damage oceans and marine life. This is not to be underestimated at over 2,000,000 leaving the plant per day.

There is also the impact of waste water, Sustainable Otakiri state that 440,000 litres of treated wastewater will be dumped per day into local waterways, which leads to the Tarawera river. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of impact modelling of those consequences. The truck movements rattling through smaller regional communities also raise legitimate concerns for the safety of children using the same roads to access their schools.

The question of ownership is also huge, Dr. Keri Mills, senior researcher at the Policy Observatory, AUT wrote Who Owns the Waiin 2018 and I don’t think much has been resolved since. The Te Rūnanga ō Ngāti Awa appeal against the expansion is based on the kaupapa (values) of kaitiaki (guardianship) and mauri (life force) of the water.

So none of this is good for our community. It only makes sense to the company through an outdated linear economic model and is not the future we want. Even the promised sixty jobs don’t cut it for me. Why are we aspiring to shift work in a factory that creates mountains of waste?

Our government needs to understand these issues and respond to the communities raising them. There needs to a balance which allows a sustainable form of water use in a new commercial market. One which actively understands and practices the cultural values of New Zealand and applies a systemic lens over the entire supply chain.

We can’t turn away from the use of water as an exportable resource. It’s already an essential part our export markets, it takes 15,500 litres to grow 1 kg of beef as highlighted by Love Food Hate Waste and New Zealand Wine says ‘Water is of critical importance to New Zealand’s wine industry for irrigation, frost protection and winery operations.’

Nor should we turn away from water being a humanitarian resource. What we can and should be turning away from, is the pillage of our resources in a way that leaves communities and our environment at risk, when commercial gain is the only driver. This is what the expansion of the Otakiri Springs will deliver.

To learn more or to support Sustainable Otakiri check out their Givealittle page: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/funding-our-appeal-to-save-our-water

TheZero Carbon Bill was released by the New Zealand Government on the 8th May, 2019 and everyone has an opinion on it. Will it be any good for us, the biodiversity we cherish and the planet? The jury is definitely out on that one as scientists, academics, economists, politicians and everyday activists like me try to figure out what it will mean.

Its intention is to get New Zealand on a pathway of no more than 1.5C warming, in a way which includes all sectors. Although one of the most controversial aspects of the bill is the way the short (methane) and long (carbon dioxide & nitrous oxide) gases are being treated differently. Some are saying it’s a softer approach to methane, others saying the agricultural sector is being left to do all the work.

Farmers have targets of 10 per cent below 2017 levels by 2030 and within the range of 24–47 per cent below 2017 levels by 2050. Whereas all other greenhouse gases (GHG’s) to net zero by 2050.

The bill will also establish an independent Climate Change Commission to provide expert advice and monitoring. This is intended to keep successive governments on track to meeting long-term goals. Great! This is what I submitted on, however, it seems there is still room for the government of the time to make changes and decisions to the Act when in place. Not so great. It does however require governments to be setting regular budgets as stepping stones to achieve the targets and to set mitigation plans in place. Great again! Plans with teeth that hold business and polluters, as well as government accountable have been missing from this space for a long time.

Big players like Beef & Lamb NZ (B+LNZ) and DairyNZ agree with the net zero target for all other greenhouses gases but not so much for the methane targets. B+LNZ are planning on hard opposition to this, on the basis that ‘what the government is asking agriculture to do is to cool the planet while fossil fuel emitters only have to contribute no additional warming beyond the 1.5c increase agreed in Paris’. While DairyNZ are sounding more positive about the 10 percent by 2030, even encouraging but also concerned about the 2050 targets.

There was always going to be this opposition, the agricultural sector in New Zealand has had a free ride in this regard for a very long time. Remember how they weren’t included in the Emissions Trading Scheme?

I feel for farmers though, because methane does present some hairy issues. For one, even though it doesn’t last as long as other GHG’s, its warming affect can be up to 86 times more damaging to our environment. The other issue is trees don’t absorb methane like they do CO2, so the farmers, like the rest of us can’t plant our way out of this. Some are saying the only way to achieve the targets is through reducing stock levels by half.

If one of the longer term outcomes of this is smaller herds, this has to be a good thing? It’s never been a secret smaller herds are better for the farmer (less stress), for the environment (less feed, emissions and run off), and for the cows (more to eat). I can say that with confidence, without even understanding the productivity increases to the extent of others like Rod Oram who does and discusses in his piece Time to Shout for a Better Climate Law and Jeanette Fitzsimons in A comment on methane targets.

It feels like New Zealand is on the brink of something meaningful. Has the bill gone far enough? I guess we won’t know until we see the plans start to shake out of the next stages. There is a lot a work to do in many sectors, agriculture is just one. Transport is another major contributor to our national emissions profile, approximately 20 percent. New Zealand cities and towns will need to go through substantial shifts in investment, infrastructure, and behaviours regarding how we move about. We are a car heavy and reliant society.

Of course we don’t have to wait for the government to show us the way. Environment Canterbury has just recently declared a Climate Emergency, other regions and cities have not been so bold. For those less convinced councils, this Bill should at least show a much clearer signal that ever before.

And then there is our own personal responsibility. We can be making changes now. They’re on the cards anyway, so reducing our meat and dairy consumption, using our cars less and our bikes more, building smaller houses, investing in solar technologies, buying local…

It always comes down to us, the individual, the community to take action, and to keep moving this Bill towards the Act it needs to be.

Initial consultation for the bill took place between June and July 2018. What we’re seeing now will go through its first reading, then another round of consultation through the Select Committee over the coming months. This is where everyone will be pushing their interests from big business to every day activists.

To be involved, read as much as you can about the bill. Stay ahead of the opportunities to submit by signing up fornotifications. Get involved in advocacy groups and national movements like Generation Zero, understand what the Zero Carbon Bill can mean for New Zealand and have a voice.

Don’t leave this to the big corporations to dominate the way the Act develops. Let’s make it about the people and about the species facing extinction, and lets support the Zero Carbon Bill through submissions and through our own actions.

Awareness became the theme of the day at EnviroChallenge 2019. Students from across the Bay of Plenty region gathered at host school Mount Maunganui College to share their own schools environmental journey, inspire each other and to compete for three awards.

In its eleventh year, the secondary school programme continues to attract students with an environmental passion and commitment to making a difference in their community.

For the past few years the EnviroChallenge tag line has been ‘be the change where you are’ and the focus to inspire environmental leadership. If the last two years event are anything to go by, there is a very real and powerful movement of student change and leadership right under our noses.

Papamoa College during their presentation.

This year six schools participated (Mount Maunganui College, Tauranga Girls College, Tauranga Boys College, Katikati College, Papamoa College and John Paul College) in the day-long event and two more attended as observers (Trident High School and Western Heights High School).

Five challenges are set including; a presentation about their own schools sustainability projects, a debate on a topical issue, the development of an app, a collaborative problem solving exercise and a creative art challenge.

Projects the schools presented on included;

The establishment of Rongoā gardens (traditional herbal Maori medicine gardens)Zero waste goalsCommunity partnerships for local food securityBiodversity and pest eradicationGreen buildingsReducing carbon emissions

Every student group demonstrated a well-researched understanding of the issues they faced and the integrated approach they were taking including forming partnerships with local council and community groups. Katikati College is part of the Predator Free programme for pest control, John Paul College has partnered with Kai Rotorua to build a local food hub, Papamoa College raised money for Forest & Bird by selling tote bags and Tauranga Girls College are part of the Trees4Survival programme, as just a few examples.

The debate and app challenge were focused on transport, given transport contributes to over 30 percent of the regions emissions, it’s a prominent topic.

The debate required students to represent a high profile individual or group and their position on the question of ‘should public transport be free for all to use’. The students presented well researched and convincing arguments with logical thought progression for their closing arguments.

Judges concentrating intensely on the debaters.

One particularly memorable comment was along the lines of ‘we need good roads for our buses to travel on’, highlighting the concern around the congestion and poor roading design our region suffers from. Glen Crowther, Bay of Plenty Regional Manager for Sustainable Business Network was a guest judge for the day, given his extensive understanding of transport in the Bay of Plenty.

The EnviroChallenge programme started in the Western Bay of Plenty and has been sponsored by the Western Bay of Plenty District council and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council for a number of years. Sustainability Options has been running and sponsoring the programme since 2016.

Programme manager Jo Wills says ‘There has been a considerable jump in the student’s understanding of the issues and the kaitiakitanga they show. We’ve seen them go from focusing on the symptoms through to addressing the real causes. They continue to impress us with their awareness and willingness to take considered action and they are not holding back.” This year Toi Ohomaiwas warmly welcomed as new sponsor, providing a cash prize to the winner of the EnviroChallenge Award. The schools involved aren’t ‘in it for the money’, but the contribution made by Toi Ohomai for the EnviroChallenge Award, and by Sustainability Options for the Rising Star Award provide the winning schools putea which can be directed towards their sustainability initiatives.

The students participating in EnviroChallenge are outstanding. Most of the work undertaken on their sustainability projects is during their lunch break. Some of the initiatives are incorporated into class projects but more often than not, the students give up their free time because they understand what it means to be the change where they are.

Winners of the three awards were;

Western Bay of Plenty Award – Mount Maunganui College Rising Star Award – Katikati College EnviroChallenge Award – Tauranga Girls College

Mount Maunganui College with the Western Bay of Plenty Award

Katikati College winners of the Rising Star award

Tauranga Girls College winners of the EnviroChallenge Award

We congratulate all students and schools for their mahi. The calibre on the day was high and the judges felt the pressure. Michelle Elborn, CEO of Bay Conservation Alliance and Lisa Denmead, Academic Staff Member from Toi Ohomai carried out the difficult task of identifying the winners. Lisa said, “…picking a winner was not an easy task because they were all amazing!" See more from Toi Ohomai about EnviroChallenge at https://www.facebook.com/toiohomai

These students can often feel like a lone voice in their schools and communities, which is why raising awareness of sustainability issues and opportunities came through consistently as work they are doing. They reinforced it’s not just the wider student body that needs to take responsibility and action, it’s all of us.

John Paul College busy creating a visual representation of their community gardens.

Tauranga Boys College participating in their first EnviroChallenge.

Western Heights College attended in an observing capacity but completely rocked it!

There’s a lot of talk at the moment about banning plastic bags, this is a good thing right? Our nation drawing a line in the sand and stopping this nonsense of a single use plastic bag for everything from a loaf of bread (conveniently already in its own plastic bag) to a weekly shop.

However the question we’re now asking is, what are we swapping to? And, are the alternatives currently being touted actually any better for our environment than the plastic bag. We’ve spoken to three experts in the waste minimisation sector for their views and kept our focus to Tauranga. This is because it’s important we make informed decisions based on the facilities available to us.

'What do you recommend as the environmentally best form of shopping bag given the myriad of options now being made available by the major players (supermarkets and chain stores) and why?'

Let’s start with Kim Renshaw, Founder of Beyond the Bin.

In terms of what I recommend as the best form of shopping bag…nothing! Get a resuable bag and keep using it. Jute is a good option or cotton if you’ll keep it. I prefer cotton as you can wash it and mend it when it needs replacing. I also think it’s worth getting cotton bags for storing veggies that you can also wash.”

Next up, Lisa Eve, a Waste Management Consultant.“The waste hierarchy should always be applied. So refusing the bag is the best. The preferable alternative is a reusable bag made from natural material that you can reuse. To be a better environmental choice than the thin plastic bags, studies show that a paper bag would need to be reused 4 times, a ‘reusable’ plastic bag 5 times, a reusable bag (the plastic-lined ones sold in most supermarkets) 14 times, and a cotton bag – a whopping 173 times.”

The number of times refers to the comparable whole of life environmental impact of the alternatives – to a plastic bag. While one hundred and seventy three times sounds like a lot, that’s only just over one weekly shop for three years, and cotton lasts that long, so as a longer term decision, it checks out.

The third person we asked is Rebecca Maiden, Manager Resource Recovery & Waste, Tauranga City Council.

“Tauranga City Council encourage the community to opt for reusable bags made from quality, environmentally friendly materials such as cotton or hemp. Bags made from these materials last longer and can be reused over and over again,avoiding the need for single use bags.

Tauranga City Council does not support the use of compostable bags as an alternative to plastic bags. This is mainly due to the inconsistency of how ‘compostable’ products breakdown and also the lack of collection service and drop off facilities located in or near Tauranga.

If LoveNZ introduce their Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme in Tauranga, Tauranga City Council would recommend plastic bags over compostable bags, as the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme would provide a drop off point to enable plastic bags to be recycled. There is no such option for compostable bags."

A strong common theme emerged from these responses. The use of a reusable natural fibre bag that gets used over and over is preferable to using a compostable bag.

For Tauranga right now, there are no collection services for compostable bags, nor are there any facilities for processing them (close by). This would leave our backyard composts to deal with them and these home systems are not adequate to process the material efficiently. And really, we have to ask the question, does it make sense to perpetuate the behaviour of a single use, disposable product over something that can be used multiple times?

It’s important we understand this problem as part of a bigger system and the role we can play within that. Which leads me to the next issue raised by reducing plastic bag use. Bin liners.

A plastic supermarket bag reused as a bin liner is as kiwi as gumboots. So what happens when we lose our supply by switching to a natural reusable bag? We naturally want to use a bin liner because our rubbish can be wet and smelly due to all of our food scraps. Lisa Eve shared more insight on that issue. “Biodegradable waste, of any kind, should be kept out of landfill if at all possible. Nearly 5% of our greenhouse gas emissions are from waste, and the vast majority of this is methane that comes out of landfills, due to biodegradable waste breaking down anaerobically.” says Lisa.

Food scraps in our bins, that we then send to landfill is not a good environmental option. Composting it at home is better, and the more we do this, the more we will reduce the need for a bin liner.

However if we still have a need for a liner, Lisa suggests using one of the soft plastics bags we get as part of our weekly shop such as a bread bag, although no liner is the ideal option. Either option requires a behaviour change. Thinking twice about the amount we throw out because our bin capacity may have shrunk somewhat (if using a bread bag), or rinsing the bin out a few more times (if using no bag).

The sustainable choice is not necessarily always the easy one, it can take some thought and almost always a bit of behaviour change. It’s easy to get sucked in by the latest big marketing push or product on the shelf, in this instance, compostable bags are definitely making their presence known. But, they are not the answer for Tauranga, at least for now.

The conclusion is the waste minimisation hierarchy remains the same. The first response, wherever possible is to refuse. If you can’t refuse, reduce. Then comes reuse (reuse, reuse!), and only after all other options have been exhausted, recycle.

Reference:

There is currently work being undertaken to come up with labelling, definitions and standards for New Zealand for terms such as compostable, biodegrable and degradable.

Straws Suck will share these as soon as they are available, in the meantime, we thought Foodstuffs did a pretty good attempt with their layman descriptions from this article.

Degradable – basically, a standard plastic with a chemical added that disintegrates the bag into tiny pieces of plastic.

VERDICT: Environmentally damaging as tiny pieces of plastic will remain in the environment for a very long time and will be impossible to clean up.

Biodegradable – unregulated and not guaranteed to break down or do so without any residue.

VERDICT: Potentially environmentally damaging.

Compostable – there are two standards here, home compostable and commercially compostable. The majority of rigid bio plastics are only compostable in a municipal composting environment where they require moisture and temperatures of 70 degrees centigrade minimum to breakdown.

VERDICT: If all bio plastics were guaranteed to be correctly disposed of to appropriate composting environments, this would be arguably better than standard single use plastics. However, they are not, and there are major flaws in the end of life disposal of these items meaning only a tiny percentage would ever be composted. The reality is the majority will go to landfill where they are unlikely to breakdown.

At present:

They are not accepted in commercial composting operation from kerbside collections for fear of the general public not distinguishing the compostable from standard plastic and causing contamination.Rigid plastics are usually not home compostable.In the standard plastics kerbside recycling system, compostable plastics are considered a contaminant.

We're delivering a free public seminar in Rotorua to share what we know about building new, in a way that creates warm, dry and healthy homes for all Kiwis. We want to see new homes that use less resources to build, and to operate, which means lower utility bills for you, as well as lower maintenance costs. We're learning all the time from our own experiences as well as specialised training and research. This seminar will focus on performance.

We've teamed up with Rotorua Lakes Council to bring this to you:

Thursday 21st June, 5.30pm - 7pm, Committee Room 2, Rotorua Lakes Council RSVP to jo.wills@so.org.nz by 13th June to go in the draw to win a $100 Plumbing World voucher.

EnviroChallenge is a one day, high energy event for secondary students from all over the Bay of Plenty intended to inspire environmental leadership. Participating this year were Mount Maunganui College (hosts for the day), Katikati College, Papamoa College, Tauranga Girls College, John Paul College (Rotorua) and Trident High School (Whakatane). The day was sponsored by Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Sustainability Options.

Each year participating students must prepare a presentation of the choice (we had a dance this year!), to share with the judges:

- the sustainability vision for their school,

- what action plans they have in place,

- what activities they are doing, and

- what they have done to support sustainable outcomes for their school and community.

This was the brilliant performance we were treated to by John Paul College from Rotorua. It was to "Fight Song" and shared the students love and sense of kaitiakitanga for the Utuhina Stream that runs through their school.

As well as the presentations, the students are asked to prepare for a debate. The topic this year; Should the Govt impose a statutory fee on plastic bag use in New Zealand?

Each school represented a different stakeholder and position. The result was very nearly explosive!, but all in the name of fun and genuine passion for the environmental issues we are all facing.

Judges were absolutely blown away by the calibre of the students debating and commented on how well researched, articulate and professional they all were throughout. The arguments were excellent and hard hitting, one phrase stood out in particular and became a brilliant metaphor for the day...'what would the dolphins say?' in the context of all of the plastic in the ocean. This was demonstrated again by one of the art challenge creations!

Judges for the day were Stephanie MacDonald from Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Ilze Kruis from Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Michelle Elborn from Bay Conservation Alliance and our guest judge for the debate, Angie Warren-Clark from the Labour Party.

We can't speak highly enough of the students who participate in EnviroChallenge, each year they impress and inspire, not only each other, but the teachers and Sustainability Options as well. We learn so much from their deep understanding of the issues and the way they can come up with innovative solutions at a moments notice. Already, only hours after Challenge Day has ended, relationships have been formed, contacts shared, and plans made to take some of the ideas into action. Some of the other issues discussed (as well as single use plastic) were urban biodiversity, the complexities around transport and the emissions it creates, renewable energy generation and zero waste.

So who won? The judges had an exceptionally difficult time this year, but they did, after much deliberation announce the Western Bay of Plenty Award to Mount Maunganui College, the team shown on the left. The EnviroChallenge Award went to Trident College. Both schools are respective award winners for the second year running!

Sustainability Options is excited and privileged to work with these students and schools on their sustainability journeys and we thank everyone who helps make EnviroChallenge possible!

Watch this space for these students!

We are a nation of car lovers. I grew up to the sound of a V8 engine and the smell of petrol. My dad was a mechanic, there was always one family car in the driveway, and another in the garage being ‘fixed’. It’s part of who we are. Car ownership as a young adult is a rite of passage, it signifies our independence and then as our income and age increases, it becomes a symbol of our wealth and status.

It’s no surprise then New Zealand’s car ownership rate is the highest in the OECD. However, there’s a direct correlation between this and the per capita CO² emissions in most of our major cities, the growing issue of congestion and urban space, and the worrying obesity statistics. More than thirty percent of kiwis are obese, we're third on the OECD scale behind America and Mexico. This is nothing to be proud of.

There are of course other modes of transport equally important to help combat these issues; public transport, car share schemes and walking all have a place. However none seem to provoke the same bone of contention as cycling.

Let’s just get this out of the way. You can be a dickhead if you’re a driver or a cyclist. The mode of transport doesn’t determine your behavior on the road, behavior is a choice regardless.

So let’s break down the ways more people cycling will help everyone, including those who don’t cycle.

1. Cars take up a lot of space

Cars dominate our space whether they are mobile or stationary. Cycles take up much less space comparatively. Take a look here for clever ways of illustrating this. We think cars bring people into a city, but the reality is when cars dominate, there is little room and even less motivation for people to also be in that space. More cycles and less cars equals more space for people (and cafes, shops, museums, theaters etc.).

2. Ease congestion Poorly planned infrastructure can contribute to congestion, however even the best planned roads will fail if the number of vehicles using them continue to increase exponentially. Let’s imagine what would happen to our roads if even fifty percent of everyone who could cycle did, on the same day, at rush hour into work. (The NZ Transport Agency reports ‘seventy five percent of kiwis say they would cycle if the network better met their needs’.) Congestion would ease. Those who it doesn’t suit to cycle will have a quicker drive into work.

3. Finding a park Finding a park right outside of the shop you want to go to is a right, right? Imagine if there are less people driving into the city and more people cycling. Cycles have a wonderful way of fitting into small spaces and can even be stacked on a wall, they don’t compete with space for car parks. Car parks would be easier to find, because there would be less demand.

4. Our health Cycling is a low impact activity that many people can do regardless of experience, age or ability. It’s a great form of aerobic exercise meaning the heart and lungs get a workout, and is fantastic for weight loss. The health system we're so fortunate to have in New Zealand is bulging at the seams from demand while being under funded and under resourced. Remember the high obesity statistic, (we're ranked third in the world), a contributing factor to this is our sedentary lifestyles. A twenty minute cycle each way to work would do wonders for the cyclist and for our health system. Who doesn’t want to be healthy?

Source: http://indoorcyclingbenefits.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/biking.jpg

5. Reducing our emissions New Zealand’s road transport related emissions are again some of the highest in the OECD. The 2014 figures state seventeen percent, and before you cry freight, its largely private vehicles (remember our high car ownership?). Another problem with New Zealand’s fleet is its largely old and inefficient. The beauty about a bike is age is no problem. I have a restored 1980’s Malvern Star and she runs as clean today as she did thirty years ago. Reducing our emissions through more people cycling would take a gigantic effort, but it’s possible.

My 'thirty something 'emission free Malvern Star

What’s needed is a shift in both perception and understanding of why cycling should be encouraged, supported and invested in as a form of transport. Our transport system needs to change to reflect a more balanced approach to different modes. Our children need to be safe riding their first bike to school, drivers need to have confidence when passing cyclists, and cyclists need to know they have a place on our roads. This will take time, money, patience and consideration for each other.

If we can do this, we will all be better off.

When we were kids, our backyard was an incredible maze of pumpkin plants and guava bushes. We’d play hide and seek with the neighbourhood kids and eat the guavas when we got hungry. For me it was a magical place to play, full of life and mystery. Then, mum and dad, probably with our slave labour, pulled it all out and they planted grass. Our wonderland had turned into a lawn. Our weekends became about mowing and cutting the edges. It became important how our lawn looked. What would the neighbours think if it got too long, or if it was riddled with daisies or dandelions? For a long while into my adulthood, I diligently mowed and weeded and kept my grass in accordance with expected standards. Then I happily passed the job on to my partner Cory, who is more of perfectionist than me anyway, so the lawns would look even more pristine.

Then a couple of years ago, I asked Cory why are we doing this? What logic are we applying to this energy intensive (ours and the planets) bizarre practice? We actually couldn’t come up with any. So we stopped.

Much to the horror of friends and family we just stopped mowing our lawns. They got long and glorious. We revelled in the growth and the change our garden started to go through. We have two large raised vegetable gardens and a few trees around the perimeter and we noticed a few things – completely unscientific observations but observations nonetheless.

We noticed more birds (Tui in particular), more insects (especially butterflies), more neighbourhood cats (they love to nest in the long grass) and one more thing, less bugs on our vegetables.

We’ve mowed pathways to allow easy access to the letterbox, gardens and the deck, this takes Cory about fifteen minutes, maybe once a month. The pathways are an endless source of joy. We call them the ‘cat highways’. The long grass is a haven for our own cat Ada where she can hide and sleep, she loves it.

One of the reasons we stopped mowing was time. We were planning our weekends around mowing the lawn, with full awareness it would grow again, and we’d have to cut it again. We’re pretty outdoorsy and enjoy spending our time riding or hiking so giving that up, to mow lawns is just plain silly.

Another reason was resources. I was adamant about using a push mower for a long time (which took a long time), but after meeting Cory, he eventually convinced me we should buy an electric mower. This is better choice than its petrol fuelled cousin, however, in exchange for the service provided by this electricity, what were we getting? All I could come up with was the privilege of performing a function that’s only function was to perpetuate the necessity of the function. I would desperately look forward to summer because it meant the lawns would die. Never in my wildest dream would I consider watering the lawns. For a start, we live at the beach, our soil is sandy so watering sand is utterly ridiculous. Secondly, if the water actually had any impact, it would mean the lawns would grow, which would mean they would need to be cut again…the cycle is vicious. Third point, water is precious. A ‘backyard’ lawn serves no purpose other than to be walked on. A pristine lawn is symbolic of being a good homeowner. We’re conditioned to believing this and anyone outside of the norm is in the wrong. At a recent dinner party it came up that we didn’t mow our lawns. The immediate response was ‘is that because you’re lazy?’ What an interesting response! At what point in our society did we connect the length of a lawn with the character of the person?

We’re not lazy. We’re good people. Letting our lawn grow has been another step in the journey we’re on to understand how to reduce our own environmental impact. We still have a long way to go, but having an awareness of our behaviours and actions and why we do what we do is an important part. It’s also about simplifying our lives. We’re less affected by things like water restrictions because we adopt conservation as the norm with all resources. At worst it means I put off washing the car (not a hardship).

If this all sounds unimaginable to you then mow your lawns. But if nothing else, think about the time you give to this practice, you won’t get that back. I for one would rather enjoy the time not spent allowing a mini ecosystem to take shape in my yard and enjoy its wonder.

Photos: Cory Model: Ada

Sitting in a room full of academics gives me a thrill. Its the anticipation of knowledge that I love and constantly hunger for. Attending the Eco City World Summit fed my appetite on a grand scale. I came away with considerable learning and deeper insight about the role we have to play as part of this global community we all belong to. The summit attendees were largely academics and local/state government representatives from all over the world, with presenters and key note speakers boasting world class stature. Needless to say, I felt a little intimidated heading into day one of the three day programme of over one hundred sessions. However, that all faded away with first plenary session, when Aromar Revi, Director, Indian Institute for Human Settlements spoke about the Sustainable Development Goals under the umbrella of 'no one, no place, no ecosystem left behind'. Followed by Dr Debra Roberts, Climate Change Adviser to ICLEI sharing her insight regarding the divide between science, policy and practice and the 'knowledge community'. I felt right at home.

The focus for the summit was 'Changing Cities: Resilience and Transformations'. Rapid urbanisation; the need to feed, house, educate, employ, move about, entertain as well as keep healthy and safe millions of people comes with challenges and they extend far past GDP and politics. Cities are said to be responsible for roughly seventy five percent of GHG emissions and they sprawl, swallowing up productive land and destroying biodiversity. Issues of poverty, inequality, disease and despair are as synonymous with city living as high paid jobs and fancy cars. Cities are bulging at the seams and decision makers are being faced with incredibly difficult choices, BAU, or is there another way?

It's fair to say, unrestrained economic growth, the BAU model we have been conditioned to accept, has a lot to answer for. Our cities, economies, political and social structures are based on moving forwards, upwards, getting ahead and increasing the GDP, our cherished measure of success. This model expects us to earn more, spend more, have more and we place a lot of value on 'more'. Balance isn't something we've been taught to seek. Not work-life balance, but ecological balance. The balance that allows us to enjoy a high quality of life within the natural boundaries of the planet. This type of balance means something different. It means a fairer distribution of and respect for resources and it means a different set of measures for success.

The key theme from this topic was however, not new economic models. (I have referenced a great book at the end of this blog for that). It was really about social and climate equity. Aromar Revi and many others kept bringing us back to what was a fundamental component of a resilient city, it simply must deliver to its most vulnerable.

A 'high quality of life' is not as simple as one size fits all, but it doesn't take much to work what the basics are. This is where the Sustainable Development Goals are so important - it's delivering to those goals that requires a paradigm shift, but it's a far superior approach for societies to use when striving for success. Interestingly though, and pleasingly so, when cities start to focus on reducing carbon emissions, those goals start to become a lot more realistic.

Let's look at transport as an example. Transport is a major headache for most cities for many reasons; 1. Financially - roads cost a lot of money to build and to maintain, cars take up a lot of space on the road regardless of when moving or stationary.

2. Congestion - if people can't get to work, or to the shops, they get angry and start demanding more roads, and the economy suffers because of lost productivity and sales

3. Emissions - cities that understand their emissions profile know transport is one of the largest contributors, but its BAU to build more roads, which allow more cars...see points 1 & 2.

Accessibility and connectivity are essential components of a good city and add to quality of life, so providing infrastructure to support this means giving people an alternative to cars and to prioritise active and public transport. This needs to be done in a way that 'the poor aren't marooned in the outer suburbs with their cars' as one of the presenters expressed.

Stockholm has a great reputation for quality of life and for its commitment to reducing carbon emissions. They have plans in place to be a fossil fuel free city by 2040 and have a congestion charge on cars entering their CBD. However before introducing that charge they invested in public and active transport networks delivering accessibility and connectivity needs to their entire community, from the most vulnerable up. As a result of the congestion charge, one fifth of cars disappeared from their city streets and seventy five percent of Stockholmers now use public transport. They also developed this network with 'gender considerations' so as to not disadvantage women with prams or small children in tow. A story which struck a chord with me about how important it is to understand your community was shared by Linda Holmstrom, Policy Advisor, Climate Unit, Executive Officer, City of Stockholm. She said when it snows and the roads need to be cleared, they start with the footpaths. The reason being, people using the footpaths are more vulnerable to the conditions and have higher transit needs, than those who get to ride in warm cars.

Victoria, Australia has declared a law stating they will have zero emissions by 2050. C40is made up of 91 cities and each have committed to over 10,000 actions to reduce GHG emissions by 2020 (to meet the Paris agreement and Zero Carbon by 2050.) All 20 cities involved in the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliancehave made commitments to reduce their emissions. Every city with a commitment to reducing carbon emissions will be addressing transport. Every city that does this well will be supporting all members of its community to move about safely, affordably and efficiently enhancing accessibility and connectivity within and outside of the city. And as a side note, every time a city provided carbon reduction data, one column showed emissions declining and the other showed the GDP increasing. Every time. While I don't agree with GDP as our priority measure, it can clearly be decoupled from taking a mitigation approach to climate change.

For more insight into transit, check our Andy Likuski's page Rescapes. I met Andy at the summit, hes an urban planner and technologist living in San Francisco who doesn't own a car. Andy's experience of public transport is vast and his commitment to not needing a car is awesome. His choice is supported by the city's commitment to public and active transport. I use my bike as transport as often as I can but even with the best intentions I still have little choice but to drive on many occasions. Take a look The Transbay Transit Center Project, this project set out to 'transform downtown San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay Area’s regional transportation system by creating a “Grand Central Station of the West” in the heart of a new transit-friendly neighborhood.' The images are pretty impressive and look a little futuristic with a 5.4-acre rooftop park, but Andy told me its seventy five percent completed.

This brings me to the next major opportunity for cities to reduce emissions and provide a higher standard of living for its people. Urban greening. I attended an academic session by Anne Cleary, a student at the School of Medicine, Brisbane entitled Nature Connection. This something I understand innately, but to hear respected medical research backing up my own values was not something I was prepared to miss.

By 2030, depression is predicted to be the number one global disease. Consider that alongside the prediction that seventy percent of people will be living in urban areas by 2050 and the first visual to come to my mind is concrete, grey concrete. Couple that with the manufacture of cement contributing six percent of global emissions, the outlook is potentially bleak. However, nature in its simplest form can help deliver a different outcome, supporting ecological systems, biodiversity, reducing emissions and improving peoples emotional and physical well-being. Cities and urban sprawl is notorious for clear felling land and calling it progress. Turns out that practice is flawed. We need to bring nature back into our cities and actively plan for this when developing areas. Here are the benefits of having green spaces as part of our city form, credit to Anne Cleary and her work. It can:

reduce urban heatreduce impact floodingimprove air qualityprovide noise bufferingreduce UV exposureact as a carbon sinkimprove social interactionfoster community cohesionincrease physical activityreduce stress and anxietyimprove attention restoration

Bringing accessible and functional green spaces into our city and urban areas by design is essential. Yes these spaces will cost to maintain but measure that cost against the negative social and environmental costs of not doing it and see what adds up faster. In Tauranga 'health services' are currently the largest contributor to our GDP. This screams 'we have a problem'. The problem is systematic however providing accessible and functional green spaces, linked with active transport networks is a medicine that will pay for itself in no time, and it will be generational.

Functional urban greening can be rain gardens, storm water management systems, even urban forests and community gardens are great examples. When medium or high density housing is planned, so should accessible green spaces (not just a grassed area) and so should community gardens. A roof top garden is another example and can be retrofitted into existing built up areas providing access and function with shade, food and community spaces. While communities are benefiting, so is the environment - which benefits the community.

Another strong theme for the summit was community involvement. Every time a city

shared success, every time a world renowned leader spoke, they all had the same message. Community participation in planning, design, decision making and even implementation of city projects is vital. Communities only tend to bite back when they are ignored, not when they are intentionally and genuinely involved. There were a number of grass roots organisations profiled. Beyond Zero Emissions is a community Think Tank producing independent research, showing that 'zero emissions is technically feasible now'. The Rescope Project produces podcasts, hosts large public forums and small community gatherings 'taking the national dialogue beyond the consumer growth society, to new visions and systems for what’s most important in life.' These are both Australian initiatives, we have them here in NZ as well, Generation Zerois a great national example and locally there is theTauranga Carbon Reduction Group.There of course many more.

One presenter made the comment 'people need to realise they have a choice' and that they could be a different person in the world, living their values if there were the systems and services in place to support that. Not everyone has the courage or support networks to choose a different path, we're so conditioned to follow the pack. Fortunately these grass roots groups are forming a new pack, advocating for new systems and leading change.

The Elderman Trust Barometerglobal annual study reports that only fifteen percent of the general population believe the present system is working. That's got to be encouraging for local and national government to start taking a leadership role in the change is needed. For this to happen though there needs to be a high level of acceptance that there is no other option. I guess that's where Al Gore comes into play who was a guest speaker on day two. His message packs a pretty decent punch.

The summit was three days of intensive learning and sharing. I could go on for days. Instead, I will finish with (just) ten of my favourite one liner takeaways, sometimes these are all that's needed to be jolted back on track.

1. 'Problem admiring' - we need to stop this. We know what the problems are inside out, so let's shift our energy (and investment) into solutions, new ways to do things. The problems are largely the same across the globe, let's get over ourselves thinking our problems are different and get on with it.

2. 'Every climate action is a community action.' (John Mauro, Chief Sustainability Office, AK City Council)

3. 'We are the people we've been waiting for.'

4. 'No one, no place, no ecosytem left behind.' (Aromar Revi) No excuses.

5. The 'Holy Shit Network', this from the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance on the realisation of what's at stake,

6. 'Keep calm and play the long game.' Dr Debra Roberts 7. We're stuck in a state of 'Procedural fetishism'. More from Dr Debra Roberts

8. When it comes to addressing climate change, we are all developing countries.

9. 'Ecosocialism' - I'm still trying to get a good grasp this term!

10. And finally, 'The place you stick out the most is the place you should stay because that's where you can contribute something new.' With thanks again to Dr Debra Roberts

To follow is something I jotted down between sessions, a combination of all I was hearing and what made sense to me as approach for real engagement...

Co-mmunity involvement and leadership is vital in planning and pathways, needs to be a stakeholder with a seat at the table.Co-llaboration has got to be a driving principle for all actions and needs to be genuine (needs to be 'open mind' approach to community activity)Co-development and a willingness to experiment ideas that deliver to outcomes other than growth (well being!)Co-benefits based on an understanding (from the above points) about what the community values are and what they value.

If you would like to talk in detail about anything discussed in this blog, please don't hesitate to contact me at jo.wills@so.org.nz

Great reads:

To learn more about the planetary boundaries and new economic models, check out Doughnut Economicsby Kate Raworth.

This one is a few years old and highly regarded, Prosperity Without Growthby Tim Jackson.

Also a few years old about equality, The Spirit Level by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson

For a great read the transformation of the streets of New York check outStreetfight, a handbook for urban revolution by Janette Sadik-Khan.

Websites and more reference:

http://www.ecocitybuilders.org (originators of the Eco City Summit series)

http://www.ecocitystandards.org (set of standards for cities to strive towards)

https://rescapes.net/#about (Andy's website has loads of great links)

http://www.liveatthecape.com.au/ (a sustainable residential development in Vic, Aust) https://www.strongtowns.org/ (rethinking the way American cities are built)

As many now know, Sustainability Options is a social business committed to visiting as many homes as possible providing free, independent & trustworthy sustainability advice to help create warm, drier healthy homes as well as supporting good decisions now that will positively affect our future generations. We’ve visited hundreds of homes, identifying needs and providing advice on home performance (how to create a warm, dry, healthy home), but through our vast experience we know our advice takes a back seat until vital maintenance work can be completed. We see many homes that need minor repairs, and if these are done, the home and its residents would be so much better off. The needs range from installing or fixing bathroom and kitchen ventilation, fixing windows, window joinery, draft stopping, fixing rotten floor boards, fixing guttering and drainage and fixing leaks in the roof and leaks in plumbing, to fixing poor and unsafe wiring, rotten steps, rotten shower cubicles and broken windows.

We know that these repairs are often the stumbling block to homes being warmer and drier, and together we want to help those most vulnerable in our community have a higher quality of life.

Introducing Tradebank, an exciting online platform born out of a desire and necessity to provide healthier, warm, dry and comfortable living conditions to the most vulnerable and at risk in our community.

How it works: Tradespeople with big hearts, professional skills and qualifications volunteer their time, energy and skills to help the most vulnerable and at risk in our community who need house related repairs. Tradespeople log on and load their availability on any given day of the week at any time of the day. Tradebank then identifies, describes and qualifies the housing repair needs for vulnerable and at risk homes and act as project managers. Tradebank matches the right tradesperson to the right job using an online booking system which Tradespeople have populated (with their availability).

We have gone to great lengths to make this process simple for all parties involved, making sure the ultimate goal is removing barriers for people to get essential maintenance work completed on their homes that otherwise wouldn’t get carried out.

What we need: We are looking for Tradespeople willing to be involved in the beta testing phase of the Tradebank, to ensure the platform is ready for release to the wider community. Initially we intend launching in the Western Bay of Plenty and Rotorua Lakes districts and we require builders, plumbers, electricians, glaziers, tilers, painters, roofers, draft stoppers and more who work in these areas and are willing to be involved. We will have real time jobs for our Tradebank Tradespeople to attend, so to be a part of the beta-testing phase, Tradespeople must be willing to volunteer their time to the job as well. We’ll be asking you to test the app we have for capturing your volunteer time & allocating the jobs.

What about cost of materials: This will be something Tradebank will manage on a case by case scenario, as there are various options to work through; the tenant or homeowner pays, the landlord pays, we seek funding, the tradesperson donates all or some of the materials as well as time. Check out the site for FAQ’s.

Where to find more information: Check out www.tradebank.org.nz for all information about this initiative. The site isn’t yet connected to our app, this is because we want to test the system with you first. You can also contact Jo Wills from Sustainability Options who is project managing Tradebank on 021 2777 042 or jo.wills@so.org.nz to find out more or to sign up as a volunteer and to help us test this system!

‘A lion doesn’t attack antelope to sell them to its buddies.’ A lion hunts for two reasons, hunger and survival. When a lion is full, he is no longer a threat to antelope or any of the other animals that share the bush with him. A lion won’t keep attacking and killing antelope for fun. The law of the jungle isn’t based on who has the largest amount of fresh meat stockpiled, in fact there is no currency, but there is a system. It’s a system of balance and it would make no sense for a lion to kill all the antelope around him. This would diminish his own food supplies. This would mess with the balance. This would put his own life at risk.

This is one of the concepts discussed in the French documentary Demain (Tomorrow) directed by Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent. It was an analogy used to describe the human obsession with economic growth – or to use another term from the movie – accumulative plunder.

The documentary team traveled the world to learn more about the initiatives people and communities are doing to tackle some of the biggest issues we as a global community are facing, looking specifically at the economy, agriculture, energy, waste, democracy and education as well as the relationship between each.

About half way through the movie a question was asked about civil disobedience, and should ‘we’ just stop abiding by the laws that are in many ways contributing to growing issues around social injustice and environmental degradation. The response was this, there are two higher laws and it’s suggested all others that don’t support them, should be disobeyed. The first law is to protect the earth and the biodiversity it sustains, the second law is to protect human rights and democracy. These provide a great place to start discussing some of the other initiatives shared in the film.

Going back to the lion analogy, changing the economic model from one that depends on growth is essential, because we exist in a closed system with 100% reliance on the essential services and resources that system provides us. Infinite growth implies those essential life giving services and resources are also infinite. They are not. The lion knows this.

Changing the economic model from one that provides ‘power and authority’ as a privilege of the few is also essential, because this model has been for a while now, delivering on social injustice and environmental degradation. We place a higher status on people based on their financial wealth and we allow them entitlements unbelievable to those with less. Money isn’t fundamentally bad, but the system in which money has become the higher law, is devastating.

However this movie didn’t focus long on what’s going wrong, its purpose was to share better ways of contributing to a brighter tomorrow. Many of them started at a grassroots level, not setting out to change the world, but to ‘be the change where you are’. I love this.

Obeying higher laws was well depicted by a company from Lile in France that produces envelopes. Their business model does not return profit to shareholders, at least not in a traditional sense. The shareholders they return to are the natural systems they rely on to produce envelopes and keep their company running. They plant 4 trees for every 1 tree they use. They produce their own energy (electricity from solar and for additional heat they grow bamboo for fuel), they use organic inks so all the water can be used to water the bamboo. Every part of their operation has a purpose higher than profit, and there is very limited actual waste, they are working towards a cyclical system, one that is balanced.

They also recognise the contribution of their people as a part of the system the business relies on to operate. The have income parity of 1:4 and they have incredibly high standards of safety and engagement. The business believes a financial economy isn’t the only economy in which they have to operate, they are proving there is another way.

Turning now to agriculture and large factory farms. It was discussed how factory farms are 'really good at making money but not producing food' and how they cater mostly to producing feedstock and biofuel, calling them ‘hopelessly inefficient’ with regards to resource use and actual output.

We rely on soil, sunlight and water to produce our food. Well at least we used to. Now we rely on land, water, chemicals, machinery, fossil fuels, factories and cheap labour to produce our food. And we rely on phenomenal amounts of land, water, chemicals, machinery, fossil fuels, factories and cheap labour to produce food to feed our food.

‘Our system is insane, destroying our ecological base (through the use of chemicals) and our social base (farmers), so where will all the food come from?’ Good question. Check out agroecology and urban gardening.

All over the world urban gardening is happening. Smaller, more localised gardens producing massive amounts of food within city boundaries, providing food close to where people live. Although it was highlighted that urban agriculture is not intended to replace rural, rather compliment it. Check out this example from the film in Detroit, Greening of Detroit.

Another example I loved was the Incredible Edible initiative from Tormorden, UK. In the truest example of community spirit, a couple of ladies held a meeting to which 100’s of people turned up (they expected about 5) and they ‘created a reason to have a conversation about food’. They now grow food all around the town centre, on routes to schools, railway stations, in front of the police station, available for anyone, anytime to pick and enjoy. This was a beautiful example of where the local council at first panicked, thought of all the reasons why the planting couldn’t go ahead and then took a step back and saw the initiative for what it was – and gave their full support. It was a genuine and purposeful way in which the community was changing where they lived and taking control, the outcome ‘radical community building in action’.

The other messages around food and agriculture were to grow forest gardens (monoculture doesn’t exist in nature), use more hand tools and more physical labour (less fossil fuel) and less chemicals in food production, oh and, eat less meat, eat less meat, and eat less meat.

The movie didn’t go deep in to the details of the ethical considerations around animal agriculture, but touched on the environmental impact of the insatiable greed the world has for eating meat and animal products. The following is taken from an earlier blog with sources referenced; globally, animal related agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, higher than air travel (14%). One acre of land can yield 250 pounds of beef, or, 53,000 pounds of potatoes. Locally, (2013) data available from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment showed Fonterra, New Zealand's largest company used 410,000 tonnes of coal to turn liquid milk into powder.

Since we are talking about coal, time to move onto energy. We have ‘dug up the burial ground of carbon’ and are in ‘real time climate change’. Yet we are insanely addicted to fossil fuel for transport and electricity when alternative energy sources are sitting patiently by, ready for when we are ready to break apart the failing system in order to recreate a more sustainable one. Copenhagen isn’t waiting though. Copenhagen wants to be entirely self-sufficient by 2025 and they have invested close to 1 billion Euros in renewables (sun, wind, water & biomass). Neither is La Réunion in France, they have embarked on a major renewable project sharing space between energy generation and farming by providing greenhouses to farmers free of charge in exchange for the use of the rooftops for solar. This is supporting small scale farmers and has the following goals.

Transport was also featured; ‘there is no more cost effective thing to do in city planning than build infrastructure for bikes and pedestrians. Plan and build to influence people’s behaviours, choices and lifestyle – not to support cars. There is no alternative.’

Those comments (not made by a cycle advocacy group but by a local authority in France) bring me immense joy and hope for a future where people on bikes and foot have priority on the streets and cars are a necessary but secondary option. Here is a great article of some cool ways cities are already achieving this (some also featured in the documentary). And if you are interested in changing your perspective on the role streets can play in creating strong communities forever, read this book. Streetfight: Handbook for an urban revolution If we can reclaim our streets and spaces as being for people by changing our behaviours around transport, the benefits are many and massive. Less of these: congestion, emissions, personal cost (fuel + parking), space (cars take up a lot of space), severe accidents. And more of this: health, vibrant communities, connectivity, money in your pocket, and money in the community. It also means connectivity and accessibility is possible for everyone within the community, owning a car isn’t a luxury for the few when it’s unnecessary. There is also much research to show supporting cyclists and pedestrians within retail spaces has a positive impact on spending. Check this out report fromNZTA.

From transport to education. The documentary team also travelled to Finland to look at the education system there, recognised as one of academic excellence globally. They profiled a school in a lower socio-economic area in Espoo, the second largest city, that caters for 7 – 16 year olds. This school is a part of a national system that has no national testing, 2 teachers for every 15 students, with additional teacher aids as needed, less time in the classroom and believes teachers aren’t the authority (therefore are equals to the students). Teachers are required to complete a minimum of 5 years for their degree and continue training throughout their career. When one of the teachers was asked what’s different about the way she teaches, her response was ‘tolerance, non-racial ideas and loving each other’. The Principal (and teachers) sit in the cafeteria and eat lunch with the students, they form relationships based on respect, trust and kindness. When asked ‘are there still behavioural issues?’ his response was ‘of course’. But the way they approach learning must be doing something right, type Finland education system into a Google search and see for yourself the evidence for academic excellence.

The possibilities of those principles being learned at such a young age are immense so it’s no surprise that Europe is also leading the way with alternative currencies. Is the connection between those two things too much of a stretch? I don’t think so. If entire communities are growing up learning respect and compassion for one another as well as academic excellence, could it be that they are less driven by excessive financial wealth, through a deeper appreciation of what really matters? Makes sense in my mind.

The examples in the film about alternative currencies could be an indication this is true. Basel, Switzerland is the home to WIR Bank. This is really interesting. The WIR Bank was established in 1934 and has an alternative currency to the Swiss franc to ‘provide a way for small and medium businesses to continue trading during the economic crisis when nobody had money.’ Local businesses can use WIR within their local network and can switch to Swiss franc for external purchasing. It’s a way to keep ‘money’ circulating in the local system rather than it going to multinational corporations who contribute very little (to the local system). But get this, there is no interest paid on WIR savings, so the point is to keep it moving so everyone benefits and excessive individual wealth is avoided. This is a direct hit at the ‘power and authority being a privilege of the few’ model. There are many other examples of alternative currencies, check out Bristol pound and Totnes pound.

Waste and democracy were also well covered in the documentary, but in an effort to manage the length of this blog and to keep some of the stories just a little bit of a surprise for anyone yet to see it, I won’t go into any detail. Plus…my notes got a bit sketchy in places because I was sitting in a dark cinema and I couldn’t jot them down quick enough.

But to give you an idea of what’s happening in other parts of the world around waste, it’s the law for San Franciscans to participate in residential recycling and composting and it’s a user pays system – but they get a discount based on the volume of resource diverted from landfill. And, plastic bags were banned in 2007. They are working towards a goal of zero waste by 2020.

Meanwhile in Iceland (a few years back), Icelanders took to the streets and forced their entire government to resign. Due to my limited notes, and risk of sourcing something less than credible online, watch the film to hear this story from someone directly involved.

Demainis a positive and powerful look at a future being created now that prioritises social justice and environmental sustainability by working in unison with the natural systems we rely on and taking a step back from the failing system of economic growth. And the people involved aren’t millionaires, celebrities or politicians, they are just people who have seen a better way and no doubt largely fed up with inaction from the leaders making decisions with potentially good intentions but limited real understanding of what’s actually possible outside the broken system.

So who should see this movie? You should.

Who can 'be the change where you are'? You can.

NB: I have written this blog based on the notes I took while in the cinema, in an effort to capture as many of the key points as possible, I didn't take down 'who said what' so where a comment is in ' ' (in the blog) it was said by one of the people interviewed in the film. If I have misrepresented any of their messages I take full responsibility.

Took the van on a drive over to Rotorua today - two of us in the vehicle. We were a bit nervous (a wee bit of range anxiety), but it all went very well!! Thanks Unison for the free use of the Rapid Charge Station! This enabled us to get home, with no sweat at all!

Am now getting in to mode of happily charging the van at home, and on long trips, using a rapid charger.

It's a great van to drive. Drove it around all last week with a full load - it went well.

Dec 5th 2016

Sustainability Options has purchased its first EV vehicle. We purchase a fully electric Van! (see photo below). Last week on Thursday, we took it out for a number of home assessments. We knew it would be touch and go, but we wanted to push it to the limit. We covered around 100k's (the Van has a range of 170k's). So, a few more hills than we thought, and we turned off Eco Mode and then we ran the distance down! But the van did great, and I got to Bayfair shopping mall and was able to put it on charge. Below is my hungry wee van, getting a good power top up!

It took me 22 minutes to fuel up the van, and in that time I did some productive work and frequented the shopping mall. I was stoked.

We have recently purchased a home that is our 'project' for renovation. Given my job is to promote household sustainability, I thought that this might be a worthy journey to share with others.

My key focus is energy sustainability, but I will also be sharing my journey regarding water and waste sustainability.

In this post, I want to give a bit of background as to 'the project' and the 'journey'. Then as time goes on - I'll seek to keep the posts up to date with how its all progressing.

The home: It was originally 1950's weatherboard timber home with a metal roof and then it was renovated in the 1970's, with a two story addition. The home now has four different cladding types: vertical cedar, fibrolite, timber weatherboard, vertical timber tongue & groove. The metal roof has been covered over with metal tiles. We have timber window joinery. 60% of the home is on timber piles and underfloor insulation has been strapped up, the other 40% is a concrete basement which houses a single car garage and a space we have made for an office. The basement walls are concrete brick. 50% of the home has a ceiling cavity with insulation measuring around 120mm and the other 50% is a skillion timber ceiling with no cavity and this appears to have some insulation from the original build. The home as you see it below, is north facing. It has little glazing on the west and south and a medium level of glazing to the east.

The home is approximately 187sqm, we have 4 bedrooms (no ensuite), one bathroom, one toilet, one dining room, a living room and a separate lounge. The kitchen is fairly compact (still 1950's style), one basement office space and a single car garage space (basically storage).

Heating / Cooling:

The home is meant to be heated by two open fires (spot the chimneys) and one 2kw panel heater in the dining area. Whilst the home has insulation, it is barely meeting NZ minimums and is below what it needs to be (I'll do some calculations on the heat loss in another blog). We moved in to the home in late Feb and the temperatures inside the home were very hot. The upstairs lounge was regularly over 26 and often between 28-30 degrees C.

For the past 3-4 months I have been measuring the temperature and humidity in 4 different points in the home. During March & April, the outdoor temperature has fluctuated between 8 degrees and 26 degrees C. The indoor temperature has fluctuated between 16 degrees and 30 degrees. At night, the temperature in the home did not drop down below 16 degrees despite a few 8 degree evenings, but we continued to have warm days above 20 degrees heating up the home passively. The upstairs lounge continued to heat up to 26 plus degrees even at the end of April.

In May the outdoor temperatures were a bit cooler in the evening, but still around 20ish during the days, in the home, the temperatures were between 15 degrees - 21 degrees.

In June the outdoor temperatures have dropped down regularly to between 5 degrees - 8 degrees overnight. The indoor temperatures are now regularly down to 11 degrees - 14 degrees overnight in the home. During the day, the home will passively heat up in the north facing rooms to 18 degrees - 24 degrees, the bedrooms will get up to around 16 degrees - 17 degrees. My office (in the basement) will hover around 16 degrees during the day but has not dropped below 14 degrees at night.

One of the open fire works, the other has some concerns, so we are only operating the one open fire. This provides good radiant heat and if we are lucky, we can get the living room and the kitchen up to 18 degrees, but basically, to get warm, you need to be close to the fire. Further away from the fire - its all about blankets and layers of clothes!

In the morning, we use a small fan heater in the kitchen to help take the chill off, and in my office I use a panel heater for a couple of hours in the mornings. My office does not take much to heat up, but it still only gets to 20 degrees.

The curtains in the home are either non-existent, light or old and poor. So we lose lots of heat.

Ventilation & moisture:

The home has no mechanical ventilation, but we have heaps of drafts and natural ventilation. The home has lots of louvers and these let a fair bit of draft in. The bathroom has no mechanical ventilation. The only way of venting the bathroom and kitchen is to open the windows. We do this regularly, every day for 15 minutes twice a day, except when its raining and moist outside.

The home does naturally ventilate and its also good really good cross flow when we open a few windows and doors.

The humidity in the bathroom is 65% at its lowest, but generally its between 80% - 100%+, suffice to say - we have mildew and mold that need removing regularly.

The humidity in the living areas is often 55% - 60%. The humidity in the bedrooms next to the bathroom is a bit higher at between 55% - 70%. The humidity in my office is 60% - 75%.

Condensation in the home is not large. The boys rooms have body condensation on the windows and a little bit of impact from the bathroom. Our main bedroom has very little condensation at all. The only area we have serious condensation is the bathroom and at this point, we are wiping this down and regularly tackling mold with our vinegar / water mix.

Power:

I won't comment on my power use yet, but I will do this another day. I am monitoring my power and am gathering information on this and where I am using it.

Actions:

At this point, we have not done much to the home, because we want to get a handle on its performance and to see how it goes over winter.

We have however put a ground vapour barrier down on the soil in the underfloor cavity.

And I have just started to change over our old incandescent bulbs to LED's.

At this point, that's it.

Ok - will now try to write more later and more regularly.

Nik

Tues 28th June

The last week has been really quite wet and I've noticed through my monitors in the home, that the humidity is now regularly between 65% - 75%, the bathroom is almost exclusively above 80%, and outside it's been over 80%. Yep, we are regularly cleaning mold off the bathroom roof. I'm sitting in my office (down below the moist ground level) and it was 79% and 15.5 degree's when I came in, I've opened the door and windows and it's now 72% and 16.8 degrees.

The night temperatures on the south of the home have been between 10 degree's to 12 degree's, so not too cold. But interestingly, we have seen little condensation on the windows in the home all winter (so far).

I've just given the home a full airing (opened all the windows and doors) and tried to change out the air, the temperature has not dropped greatly and the humidity has not changed markedly (due to the high outside humidity). Have now closed the windows and am trying to capture the sun's heat.

Am looking to bubble wrap my office windows shortly - to see if I can retain more heat in the office overnight......at present, I loose any heat gained during the day, to end up being about 2-5 degree's different from the outside temperature.

Friday 1st July

Cold night last night - outside south temperature dropped to 5 degrees. Inside temperature dropped to 10.2 degrees in the bathroom (open window), 12.4 degrees in the boys bedrooms and 13.4 degrees in our bedroom and the lounge. Very low levels of condensation - more like a mist.

Power use - measured microwave use for past 16 days. We have a 700w output microwave (small). On standby it was using 1.85w. At peak use, it was using 1.229kw. We use it mainly for re-heating, very little for cooking. Over the 16 days we used 2.180kwh, on average 136wh per day. This would equate to 49.64kwh per year, or an approximate cost of $14 per year.

Update - bright sunny day but a cold southerly blowing. On the south side, it's 9 degrees. Home got up to 18 degrees in the lounge and 16 in the bedrooms. Humidity was 73% around the home. Opened all the windows. Forgot about them for 40 minutes (oops), and have just closed them all. Temperature has dropped down to 15 degrees in the lounge and 11 degree's in the bedrooms, but humidity has fallen to 50 percent. Yah. Even got the bathroom humidity down to 58%.

Monday 4th July

It's been down to 1 degree outside (was below zero yesterday), the bedrooms are down to 6.5 degrees and 68% relative humidity and the lounge is down to 10.5 degrees at 58% relative humidity. Got our first lot of condensation in the lounge and the boys room is a bit worse, but not really bad. The bathroom was below 6 degrees and 70% relative humidity. I was up at 5am to heat the lounge with the open fire. Got it going and had it going for 2 hours and all I gained was an increase to 12.1 degrees. A lot of firewood for very little temperature gain. Once the boys got up, I measure the condensation on their window. The southern room had a light dusting of moisture on two glass panes and I collected 2.5mm of moisture - not much. The western room had slightly heavier dusting on 4 panes and I collected 25mm. I then went in to the bathroom. One shower had been taken, the bathroom was at 87% humidity, and I collected 45mm of condensation from two large panes.

The sun has come up, and in the space of 1 hour, the house is improved to 14 degree's and rising. My office is still sitting at 12 degrees and I have a panel heater on low.

Power

The other day I updated a bunch of our lightbulbs. I converted 9 incandescent bulbs and 2 halogen over to LED equivalents. We have already noticed the superior light difference. We had a lighting load of 628w and I now have a load of 83.5w. I still have around 10 other lights to change over. I'm now drawing 13% of the energy of my previous lights.

Friday 5th August

It's been slightly warmer over the past couple of weeks...around 15 outside during the day and down to 8 at nights, no really cold nights. Condensation hasn't been noticeable. The home has generally dropped down to around 12-13 degrees at night. During a good sunny day, it's been back up to 20 plus degrees. On a cloudy day, it sits at 13-14 degrees.

Moisture

I've been tracking my condensation (on the days when it is noticeable). Today was one such day. The night temperature wasn't too bad, 8 - 9 degrees outside (13-14 degrees inside), but it's been still and misty outside, the relative humidity yesterday was above 80% for most of the day yesterday and this morning it was 96%, so lots of moisture around.

I've been using my Karcher moisture vacuum to measure condensation on our windows and over a few measurements I've concluded that on a medium sized window (600mm x 800mm)ish, a light misting of condensation is around 2.5ml - 5ml of moisture, a clouding is around 5ml - 7.5ml of moisture, a crying window is 15ml plus of moisture. Doesn't take a lot to make a window cry! Doesn't take much to have mould grow.

I also measured my bathroom. Interestingly, after one shower (our bathroom has no extraction fan - yet), I collected 250ml of water off the windows and shower walls, after another shower, I collected 500ml of water off the same surfaces. It is said that a shower can generate 500ml - 1l of moisture. I'd believe that. No sooner had I collected the moisture, than the air was dumping more on the windows (our bathroom is constantly above 80% relative humidity). Therefore it takes less than 2% of the shower moisture to create a problem on the surface of a mid sized window. When I open the bathroom door, I can see the moist air immediately go out in to the hallway.

Up in our upstairs lounge - we have not had any moisture on the windows previously, however, recently we put up some heavy curtains. This morning I had a light misting on the windows. The curtains had trapped the moist air, where-as previously, because the house is drafty, the air was moving (we have leaking louvers). The curtains didn't cause the moisture - as the room had a relative humidity of 70% yesterday, so we already had a high moisture content - so it's no surprise that once the air got trapped it released its moisture as it cooled.

Toaster

I've been tracking the energy use of my toaster. We are a family of 5, with 4 of us at home, two teenage boys, my wife and myself. At least one of us uses the toaster each morning, and the toaster is used at least twice more during the day. I measured the toaster for two weeks. The low was 1.3w, the high was 1441 watts. The average use was 13.8wh or 330wh per day, a daily cost of 9c.

Saturday 6th August

Feel a bit happier, I insulated my office windows with bubble wrap a week ago and put up a curtain over the main glass doors, with the somewhat milder temperatures (only down to 8 degrees at night), I wasn't really seeing any difference between my office (which is an enclosed space underneath the home) and our home, which is wide open, lots of louvers and lots of drafts. However, this morning it was down to 4.8 degrees outside, the house temperatures ranged between 9 degrees and 11 degrees, and my office was up at 13.2 degrees, so a wee bit warmer, having retained a bit more of yesterdays heat. Also, in the home, there is a bit of condensation on various windows (not much - a clouding on some, misting on others - no weeping), but in the office (which has similar humidity levels to the main house - 70%), no condensation forming. See my pic below.

Saturday 13th August

Been an interesting week. The week started out very cold. External temperatures down to below zero degrees. The internal temperatures dropped down to 8-9 degrees in the bedrooms, 9-11 degrees in the lounge area (where the fire is), 6-8 degrees in the bathroom, where the window has no covering and is left slightly open as we are trying to remove moisture from the late night showers.

Moisture

With these cold temperatures, a couple of days were nice and sunny and the external relative humidity (RH) was below 50%. On these days, I opened up the house in the colder mornings and was able to reduce the RH from the mid 60% to mid 50%. Whilst the days were fine and cold, we have had a cold house with 8-12 degree temperatures overnight, but lower RH at between 50% - 60%.

Over the last 24 hours, warmer night time temperatures have returned (6-8 degrees) along with the rain, the internal temperatures are at 12-15 degrees, but the RH is back above 65%, between 65% - 75%. The external RH is over 85%.

Whilst our internal activity is contributing towards higher moisture content in the home, without any doubt, the external humidity is also impacting our home, as our home lets in a lot of external air!

However, with the warmer temperatures overnight, whilst there is much moisture in the air, our condensation levels remain low. Additionally, my office has no internal moisture source, but its RH is high when the external RH is high. Presently it is 68%, outside it is 88%, but I have not had any condensation on my windows either before or after placing bubble wrap on them....

Saturday 10th September

Been a while since I have had the chance to update. Weather has been a mixture of mild(ish), wet, and cold.

Home improvements: 4 weeks ago we installed a heater to our bathroom. A 2kw fan heater. We wanted to install both a heater and an extractor fan, but we couldn't get an extraction unit in to our roof, as we are going to renovate the bathroom we didn't want to install one in to the outside wall and then just have to remove it when the bathroom gets renovated. So we only installed the heater. I was also interested to see, what impact will the heater have on its own? We also installed a new dishwasher. What impact will this have on our power bill? It should be less, because we have a deep sink and we were washing dishes 3 times per day, to stop the bench getting cluttered.

Bathroom: wow, what a difference the heater has made! Yes, we still have high moisture readings after showering. Our moisture readings are still above 85%, but, we have the heater on before showering, during showering and for 15 minutes after our showers. We also open the window fully after the shower. Our thinking; lets keep the air really warm so that it holds the moisture, then lets keep the heater on with the window open so that the moist air is more easily changed out. Result: our bathroom is much drier. We have been able to reduce the RH content down to below 50%, which we could never do without the heater. Also, the boys bedrooms have lower RH readings, they are now more regularly down below 60%. The bathroom ceilings and walls are noticeably dryer. Yes, our power bill will have taken a hit (still to see how large a hit), but the key thing, is that our bathroom and home is drier, less moisture and therefore less mould. We still need an extraction system, but the heater is a great start.

Heating trials: On the 24th August, it was another cold, grey day. Outside it was between 10 degrees and 14 degrees, with humidity between 70% - 80%. I put my heater on for 8 hours at maximum. It gave me 2hrs 47 minutes of heat, using 4.485kWh. I was able to improve my office temperature from 14.7 degrees to 20.9 degrees. It took 4 hours to get me close to 20 degrees. My RH dropped from 62% to 58%. Upstairs, there was no heating, and the house was at 16 degrees. So it took me 4 hours to get a reasonable temperature and it cost me $1.35.

On the 25th August, which was a cold grey day, it was damp outside with a humidity reading of 93% and an outdoor temperature that peaked at 13.8 degrees. I put my oil radiator on for 7 hours. I had it on the highest temperature. Over the 7 hours, it used 4.2kWh to heat my 12sqm office up to 21.5 degrees. My office temp started at 14.9 degrees in the morning, it took almost 4 hours to get to 20 degrees. The humidity started at 65% and dropped down to 61%. I could not ventilate the office, as the air outside was more moist than the air inside. So, in summary, it cost me $1.20 and over 4 hours to get my office up to a nice temperature, my humidity remained high. 4 hours after switching the heater off, my office had lost 1.5 degree's and was at 63% RH.

Thoughts: even in a small space, when it is cold outside and the room is poorly insulated, it takes a long time to heat. Heater thermostats compromised the ability of the heater to stay on constantly to heat the room up faster. It didn't cost me as much as it could've, but I was having to use blankets to stay the course. Humidity was not impacted as much as I would've like.

I've also been doing some night time bedroom trials - more on this later.

Saturday 17th September

Been a mild week, started out nice and sunny and then has got damper and wetter. During last week and the beginning of this week, we have been able to air the house out on the nice fine days (17 - 18 degrees) and to capture that low moisture air from the cooler night time temperatures (6-7 degrees). Our internal RH dropped down to 44% - 48%, and was regularly below 50%, which was really unusual for our house.

However, the last 3-4 days have brought rain, and the outdoor RH has been over 90%. Our internal humidity has been steadily rising and is now running at 65% plus. In my office, it is now up to 78%. If I open the doors to let new air in, the outdoor RH is 92%.

My office has no internal source of water or moisture, but it is easily the most damp area of the home, it is below ground level and the ground moisture seeps through the walls.

On Wednesday, it was raining / drizzling consistently in the morning. So I thought I'd try out the de-humidifier. My starting RH was 68%. After 3 hours, I reduced it down to 62%. It took 564wh of energy, so cost me around 15c. I've just turned it on now - its drizzling outside, and the outside RH is 93% and 15.3 degrees. My office RH is 78% and 17.2 degrees.......I'll be back soon.....see what my power use is over the next hour and the difference I make.....so, now it's been just over 7 hours. It's been raining pretty consistently outside all day, I've used 1.4kWh of energy to run the dehumidifier all day, which has cost me around 40c. The RH outside is up to 95% and is 15.5 degrees. I've not had a heater on at all. My indoor temperature has remained steady at close to 19 degrees and I have an indoor RH of 67%, which is down only a little bit from this morning! Wow, not much RH change but, now this is the scary part, whilst my RH didn't reduce much, I still collected during the day 2.5l of water in my dehumidifier!!

Wednesday 26th October

It's been over a month since I last reported. Not too much has happened of note. The temperatures haven't dropped down below 6 at night and have largely been above 8/9 degrees, so not too cold. The bedrooms inside the home have remained above 14 degrees. Our moisture levels have largely fluctuated with the weather - on rainy days, the moisture in the house is generally between 60% RH - 68% RH, on these same days, the moisture in my office (basement below ground level) is usually between 70% RH - 80% RH. Today for example, there has been rain overnight, it's fine, sunny and clear, but the ground is wet. The house is reading between 62% RH and 65% RH. My office is reading 71% RH and outside is 77% RH. Already, over the past hour, the outside RH has dropped from 88% RH to 77%. But the office has not changed. When I tracked this the other day, outside the RH dropped from 93% - 64%, but the office stayed at 72% despite opening windows and doors. I've got the doors wide open today, it's 9am. Lets see how we go. It's 19.4 degrees inside (no heating at all), and its 17.3 degrees outside. I'll come back to this in an hour.

Just on the bathroom. Wow, that little heater is making a huge difference. We run it during and after each shower (for around 10 minutes). Then we open the window and close the door and wait for the hot air with moisture to escape. The bathroom has been much, much, much drier! The RH drops down pretty quickly, to be in line with the house at around 60%. We have far less mold growth on the walls and ceiling and we have heaps less moisture building on the ceiling. I used to go in to the bathroom, and it was almost permanently above 75% RH., despite having the window open a huge amount of time. Now, the bathroom moisture reflects that of the home at 60% (ish).

It's now 10:30, it's 19.7 degrees inside, the RH has fallen slightly to 68%, outside the temperature is 17.7 degrees and the RH had fallen to 71%, but now it's on it's way back up and the rain is coming in. In short, airing out my office did help a wee bit.

Wednesday 16th November

The last few weeks have had a good number of rainy days and a few really sunny days. Whilst the evening have been relatively warm (15-18 degrees), the days have been average (17-20 degrees). There has been little to no condensation (as you would expect with warmer evening temperatures), but the humidity in the home has been between 65% - 80%, it has been very hard to reduce it. Outside the humidity has been 80% - 90% on most days, even when it hasn't been raining. We have not really noticed the high levels of humidity in the home - if it was winter, we would notice it through condensation, but in these warmer conditions, the moisture either stays in the air or beds down in the furnishings. BUT, in the office, unless I 'air out' the office, the humidity very quickly starts to show in all the paper that I have in the office, my books and paper are curling and becoming damp. I have two choices, put the heaters on to try and dry things out, or ensure doors and windows are opened regularly to get some form of air movement. Observation: even on days when it is raining, we need air movement and air change, otherwise the moist air settles and makes things damp and musty in a closed environment.

Monday 5th December

Well, in today's update, I've got a bit of power information and a continued observation around humidity.

Humidity: It's been much warmer outside (18 - 25 degrees) and the nights have been pretty warm as well (15-18 degrees). A number of sunny days in a row. Interestingly, upstairs in our home, the RH has dropped down to 45% - 55% and it has stayed in this range for both day and night. But my office, has stuck consistently at around 62% - 67%. At night it nearly always moves back up to 67% - 69%, during the day it drops down to 62%. Once or twice it dropped down to below 60%, when it was really dry outside. Most days the outside humidity has been between 55% - 65%. The difference between my office and the house, is that my office: a) gets no sun, b) is surrounded by earth on two sides. Without sun, I'm not drying it out, I'm just changing the air and then the moisture comes through the walls from the earth. The office is below 22 degrees, and is much cooler than the outside temperatures - makes it nice to work in, but the RH is not decreasing. Will be interesting to see what happens over summer.

Power use: I've been tracking my office power use for the past 75 days. Over this time, I have a laptop on for 8-10 hours a day, a printer on, and a second screen for my work. I also used the heater to stay warm over the winter period. My average use was 2.57 kWh per day, or 107 watts per hour.

Fridge / Freezer: I also tracked my fridge over winter. The fridge is over 10 years old. At it's peak, it was drawing 1085kw. On average over the week I measured it, it was using 2.54kWh per day, which equates to a daily running cost of around 71c, or an annual use of 927kWh. A good modern fridge would use 1/3 of this.

Prior to attending an urban design presentation by a person with the name Ludo, my expectations for something pretty special were high. I was anticipating something provocative, something leading edge and something worthy of such an interesting name like Ludo. I wasn’t disappointed.

The presentation was hosted by Project Tauranga, a unique programme that encourages organisations to invest in innovative and exciting projects that benefit the community. Sustainability Options are Project Tauranga Partners and are wholeheartedly committed to the purpose of the programme through our own actions and projects as well as contributing to others.

Ludo started the presentation by sharing knowledge and experiences of how to invigorate inner city retail sectors. To be honest my heart sunk as I thought about how much I didn’t want to sit there for an hour to hear how to encourage consumerism. That’s not high on my list of priorities.

However it didn’t take long before he moved into the main purpose of his presentation which (in my words) was how to create a city that people wanted to be a part of, contribute to and be proud of and one that recognised community at its core. If those things are achieved then I think a natural outcome would be that retail, restaurants and cafes etc. would thrive anyway. (Ludo showed numerous examples of that being exactly the case).

Ludo had my full attention, and from the nods and comments coming from those close by me in the room, everyone was completely engaged in his message.

If we build a city that gives priority to cars and parking, we will get a city that is made up of cars and parking. This is largely what we have in Tauranga (and without question many other towns and cities in NZ). It might be a generalisation but I think many would agree this doesn’t create much of a sense of place and isn’t somewhere many chose to spend their time on either side of having to ‘come into town’ to buy an item.

Ludo’s message was largely that more than just a shift in thinking is required to create a city where its people become part of the energy of the place. A shift in believing in what’s possible is required. And yes, the most difficult part, a shift in behaviour is required.

Throughout Ludo’s presentation and all of the nodding and murmuring of supportive comments when he showed pictures of inner city roads being closed to traffic and people engaging in active transport such as cycling and walking as modes of transport I thought to myself…I hope everyone realises they have to be a part of this change. There is a fantastic phrase (which I don’t have clue who to credit it to) ‘you’re not stuck in traffic, you are traffic’. I love that phrase and remind myself of it every time I make the decision to drive instead of ride my bike.

But it’s not all about cycling and closing streets to cars. The spaces (including roads) themselves need to be designed well, and clearly Ludo is extremely well qualified in this area, he showed many inspiring examples of beautiful inner city spaces just oozing with people. Many of these examples were in places like New York, Bogota and Melbourne…so nothing like Tauranga at all. However, they were all faced with the same issues, dying city centres, congestion, pollution, retail sales struggling, not to mention the social challenges that come with cities that don’t work for the people who inhabit them.

So Ludo shared another really compelling message for Tauranga. Yes Tauranga is unique, just like every other city or location in the world. So instead of using that excuse to not do something, he challenged us to look at these examples and realise that if a city of over 8 million (New York) can alter its inner city space to be people friendly, close streets, support active transport and support a change of behaviour that its people embraced, then what is the real reason a city of 117, 000 (Tauranga) can’t also do something? Because its not that we are so unique its impossible for us to take any direction from other equally unique cities.

Ludo mentioned something along the lines of ‘just get on and do it’.

Since Ludo’s presentation I have also watched a TEDx Talk with a strikingly similar message. Gil Penalosa’s presentation entitled ‘creating 8-80 cities, from thinking to doing’ is well worth watching. Gil uses some of the same examples as Ludo, and the key take home message is if a city can be designed to suit people ages 8-80, it will pretty much suit everyone in between. This is a hugely significant consideration because of Tauranga’s aging population. It's also hugely significant because accessibility means different things to different people, and enabling all members of the community to use and enjoy the same spaces should be priority.

What both Ludo and Gil are saying is the young and old and those with mobility needs are the target markets urban designers should be strongly considering. Ludo showed a really powerful image of 2 little kids, probably around the ages of 8 – 11, cycling, without an adult on inner city Auckland streets, and they were by all accounts, safe. They were on a cycle path that was well designed and didn’t require navy seals training to navigate. It was designed for cycling to be safe for all ages.

Ludo and Gil spoke a lot about having a vision of what we want from our city. ‘Safe’ always features high for a city vision. Safe cities have people about, all the time, at 10am, 3pm, 8pm, 11pm. This doesn’t have to mean people out drinking at 11am, creating vibrant city centres doesn’t have to revolve around bars and pubs. Ludo shared another example of the transformation that took place on the Auckland waterfront at Wynyard Quarter when they revitalised it from an industrial place to a space people wanted to be. He said people play basketball under lights till early hours of the morning, and this is in the same development that community gardens were established.

Ludo’s approach of just get on and do it appeals to me. We live in one of the most beautiful places in the country, and a business as usual approach to how we do stuff is really starting to take its toll. Our communities and city spaces are dominated by cars. Cycling is considered a dare devil activity. Accessibility is often as after-thought. Concrete is poured over green space. More and more money is invested in roading and parking and out of public transport and our communities are disconnected from each other.

However, one of the most fantastic things I took from Ludo’s presentation was that it’s not rocket science to address these things. Many of the key points he (and Gil) communicated (active & safe transport, closing streets, shared community spaces, accessibility, well designed green spaces, less cars, more people) are all basic principles that many of us already understand and share as part of a vision for Tauranga.

There are so many fantastically talented and passionate people in this city that realising some of these dreams are well within our reach. We are incredibly unique, just like New York, or Auckland, so we have many beautiful examples of what can be achieved if we want to, maybe with tweak here or there just to make it our own. So let’s stop using the ‘but we’re different’ response as a solution to not doing anything.

Finally, big ups to Project Tauranga for bringing Ludo’s message to Tauranga, sometimes a good shake up from the outside is just what’s needed to get the people on the inside thinking but more importantly, doing. So…let’s just do it!

A couple of weeks ago I attended a seminar; ‘Climate Change & Health: Is food a major player?’ a science based presentation delivered by Emily Rushton (a health professional), and on behalf of Ora Taiao (New Zealand Climate and Health Council), check them out.

A couple of years ago Ora Taiao submitted a briefing paper to the then incoming Minister for Health highlighting the ‘Health Co‐benefits of Climate Action’ and showing examples of this under three headings: increase active transport (cycling, walking), improve housing (energy efficiency) and supporting a population shift to plant-based diets (vegetarian and vegan). The latter was the focus of this particular seminar.

I attended because the three topics in the title of this blog (Climate, Housing & Food) are constantly on my mind. Sustainability Options is focused in the housing space, we give free, independent sustainability advice to people about energy and improving the efficiency and performance of their home. We know a more efficient home can improve the occupant’s health and financial situation, as well as reduce resource use, which is better for the planet and future generations. We know we are in the right place, focusing on something really important. So housing is always on my mind.

On a personal level, I’ve been vegetarian for 25 years and have recently moved to being dairy free. It was the ‘next level’ shift I’d thinking about making for a long time, but like every meaningful decision, the timing had to be right. I am always thinking about food because I’m really interested in the relationship between food and energy and my own health.

Emily’s seminar was perfectly timed as a follow on from the Chasing Ice forum I attended last month, (a documentary about the melting glaciers followed by a panel discussion about climate change, see here for my blog about it). A few of us commented after that forum it was strange how food hadn’t been mentioned as both an issue and an opportunity for change, when it has such an incredibly high impact on our environment. Emily’s seminar provided a huge insight into this and I learnt a lot more about the connection to climate change, the third topic never far from my thoughts.

The following uses information from Emily’s presentation, which is based on science and backed up by references (http://www.slideshare.net/EmilyRushton2/climate-change-and-health-is-food-a-major-player) I have included the relevant slide # if you would like to take a look.

Globally, animal related agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions (#19). Interestingly, this is higher than air travel, which sits around 14%. Land use is a major issue, one acre of land can yield 250 pounds of beef, or, 53,000 pounds of potatoes (#14). Thinking about it in another way, 1kg of beef equates to 100kms of driving with regards to emissions (#24). To give that some more local perspective, (2013) data available from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment showed Fonterra, New Zealand's largest company used 410,000 tonnes of coal to turn liquid milk into powder. Altogether the dairy industry burns 512,811 tonnes of coal. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/68714710/Fonterra-a-large-scale-coal-user Utilising land and changing land use (i.e. from forestry) for animal agriculture has undeniable negative impacts to the environment. In New Zealand, agriculture contributes to 51% of our total emissions and then on top of that is the amount of water needed to sustain the industry (huge amounts). It was quite an eye opener, even as a dedicated vegetarian, to better understand the magnitude of the issue we are facing in NZ and globally due to animal agriculture.

But food waste in general is another massive contributor to emissions, and this includes plant based food, a study from 2011 shows NZ along with USA, Canada and Australia as having the most food waste per kg/per person – about 110kg (#23). Globally, 35% of emissions come from wasted food (#21). So emissions are generated from food through land use, feed stock, animal care, food production, food transportation and then after all of that, food waste. We are just wasting energy.

And, we haven’t even talked about health yet. Emily has a slide (#28) which says ‘Low carbon, plant-based diets reduce disease burden’. She went on to share research about meat, milk and haem iron (iron from meat) which showed very important results about increased mortality rates, diabetes, stroke, cancer and dementia to name a few (#29). This is clearly a very contentious issue, especially in NZ with diary being such a significant industry, although more studies and data is coming out supporting plant-based diets as being better for our health as well as the environment.

I was sent an article from the Huffington Post earlier this week, written by an America’s Heart Attack Prevention Doc and author of The Whole Heart Solution and Professor of Cardiology, Joel Kahn M.D. The article can be found here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-kahn-md/third-times-a-charm-shift_b_9767546.html) ‘Vegan medicine has arrived, is normative, and is a powerful tool to reverse many chronic conditions’ it says.

Here is one paragraph: ‘Just a few weeks ago a group of researchers from University of Oxford published an analysis of climate change from a variety of possible dietary changes. After looking at different options in farming and diet, they concluded that “transitioning toward more plant-based diets... could reduce global mortality by 6-10 percent, and food related greenhouse gas emissions by 29-70 percent compared with a reference scenario by 2050.” The authors went on to predict that this shift to vegan diets would provide economic benefits globally of $1-31 trillion U.S. dollars’

It sounds quite amazing, but by shifting our diets to being more plant-based it can have such a powerful and positive impact on our health and the planet. And, a positive change for you can also have a flow on positive effect for others. This sits well with me, and the principles of Sustainability Options, compassion, social justice, kaitiakitanga. Emily had some ‘clear, simple instructions’ (slide #33), aim to reduce meat intake by 60%. Taking things slowly and working out what’s best for you will help achieve long-term results. I strongly believe everyone’s diet is individual to them, and for me being vegetarian and dairy free is absolutely the right choice. I am really fit and active, and I know of other people, fit, muscular, strong, athletic people who are vegan as well. After finding out I was vegetarian, a friend of mine once said to me, ‘do you run? I didn’t think vegetarians could run.’ Haha! I could outrun him any day of the week.

The world is taking notice of plant-based diets, Emily showed a slide (#18) with recommendations made by health leaders in other countries to reduce meat intake. The Netherlands are suggesting meat only two times per week, and only once red meat. While America had an amazing outcome of reducing red meat per capita by 10% between 2007 and 2014 equating to four hundred million less animals consumed during that time. Four hundred million!

Many internationally renowned athletes have long since recognised the benefits of a plant based diet, Scott Jurek is an ultra-running super star, and features in one of my ‘life changing’ books ‘Born to Run’ http://www.chrismcdougall.com/born-to-run/. In fact he has been awarded the title of ‘Hero of Running’, he’s won so many Ultra-Marathon titles there are too numerous to list. He’s vegan. Venus and Serena Williams turned vegan about four years ago, they seem to be doing ok. Check out this site for more vegan super stars (http://metro.co.uk/2015/08/26/13-vegan-athletes-smashing-it-on-a-meat-free-diet-5349835/)

So maybe there is something in it. If you are interested in finding out more about what a vegan diet might look like or just want to find more information take a look at this site http://govegan.org.nz/ It doesn’t have to be extreme, you might never become full time vegan, but reducing your meat and dairy intake enough to make a difference can be really easy, you might even enjoy it, and you'll definitely benefit from it.

Emily has kindly shared a You Tube clip of her delivering the seminar, also worth checking out.

On Friday 1st April I attended a Climate Change Speakers Forum in Tauranga organised by Envirohub. The event began with a short Al Gore presentation by Michelle Elborn from Tauranga City Council, followed with a screening of Chasing Ice, a documentary about the retreating glaciers around the world, specifically Iceland and Alaska. It was such a powerful and haunting visual representation of the rapid transformation our planet is going through with magnificent and ancient glaciers shrinking, retreating and collapsing into the ocean. When pieces fall off it’s called calving, and this is a natural process. The alarming thing is that now, in some cases the glaciers are shrinking, retreating and collapsing at such an intense rate, what has in the past taken 100 years, is now taking 10 years. The balance between the ‘warm’ and the ‘cold’ has tipped, and the climate change we are experiencing now is quite literally changing the ecosystems we rely on for our own existence.

It can sometimes be difficult to fully grasp the severity of this, especially when in NZ, for many of us, an increase in temperature is welcomed. We love the sun, we rejoice in a hot summer…and for most of us, we are not at risk of losing our homes and our livelihoods to sea level rise. But the devastation from sea level rise as well as flooding, tornadoes, drought and other natural disasters we have either experienced first-hand or see on our TV screens are all too real and unless a lot happens to reduce our C0² emissions on a global scale, they are going to get worse and more frequent.

The world we live in is a system, when we drastically change one thing i.e. temperature, we have to expect consequences.

None of this is new. I didn’t attend the forum to learn what climate change was (although I always learn every time I attend anything like this), and I imagine many of the other people in the ‘sold out audience’ were the same. We know this is real, we know what’s causing it, and the only people arguing it are those who are making millions of dollars from contributing to the problem, i.e. fossil fuels.

The real question is how do we stop it? Or more to the point, what do we need to do to stop temperatures rising past that ‘canary in the mine’ figure of 2°C. The outcome of Paris COP21 (which NZ has agreed to), was that we should be striving for a global average temperature rise of no more than 1.5°C. The problem being we have already surpassed this (globally). The NZ government’s actual response to this has been lacking in integrity and urgency to say the least and we have a very poor performance in C0² emissions when compared to the rest of our all-important trading partners. NZ is going to reach its targets by buying carbon credits.

It’s easy to get carried away with what’s wrong and what’s not working, and how bad the situation is, (and it is pretty bad). But, the second part of the forum I attended included a panel of speakers each who had 7mins to share their thoughts on climate change. It was an impressive line-up; Professor James Renwick - Professor of Physical Geography of the School of Geography, Environment & Earth Sciences, Victoria University, Professor Ralph Sims – Professor of Sustainable Energy at Massey University and Director of the Centre for Energy Research, Chris Karamea Insley – an expert of climate change policy development (too many qualifications to list), Rod Oram – (my personal hero and someone I am so proud to call an acquaintance) 40 years’ experience as an international business journalist, with Kate Frykberg as the facilitator, Kate has an extremely impressive bio of involvement in philanthropy and the community sector, also a former Business Woman of the Year and a recipient of the NZ Order of merit for services to business and community. I have been lucky enough to work with Kate as well. Needless to say we were in good hands.

All of the panelists are connected to this issue globally as well as being a solid selection from NZ’s finest authorities on what’s actually happening from a scientific, economic and social perspective. These are the people we should be listening to on climate change, and it was a brilliant opportunity to do so through this exceptionally well organised and delivered forum.

So each of the panel had 7mins to share their wisdom and knowledge with us about climate change and then the audience had time to ask questions. And I have to say, not only was the caliber of the speakers outstanding, but from the types of questions the audience answered, we were a pretty switched on bunch as well. There is one question and the subsequent answers I want to share, because it really struck me as being a very powerful part of the answer to the question I raised earlier – what are we meant to do about climate change.

The question was this: to all panelists, if you became the ‘ruler’ of NZ tomorrow and had the chance to affect any change you wanted to overnight, what would be the first thing you would do to impact climate change. What a great question and the answers might surprise you.

Rod Oram grabbed the microphone and said; ‘I would make every NZ’er excited about the opportunities that exist for us all if we take action – who wouldn’t want reduced costs for electricity and travel?’ Chris Karamea Insley was up next, he agreed with Rod and said he would also raise the price on carbon, make it a cost to business so they had to address it and he also said, ‘make climate change an election issue’. Professor Ralph Sims agreed with Rod and Chris and added that he would get people to care about climate change and the impacts not just on our lives but on the lives of the global community. Professor James Renwick was the last to answer, and his response was largely, ‘I have not much more to add except that we needed to shift from a world where everything has a price and nothing a value, to where we value our resources’. What a deeply insightful and compassionate bunch.

This is the type of leadership I respond to.

No one mentioned specific ‘silver bullet’ technologies although throughout the seminar technology was discussed as having a major role, and that is obvious, but the thing I found really powerful was the each of them focused on the same thing as being the first thing they would do - get people to care.

It makes perfect sense, if you care about something enough, you take action, if you don’t, you won’t. But in many cases, people don’t always know why they need to care, its such big picture stuff. We all can so easily get wrapped up in our lives and the important things like paying the bills, upgrading the car, raising kids etc. so what’s happening to a particular species we have never seen or a community of people we will never meet, can sometimes just not seem important enough. Especially when we have people we should trust like the government telling us not to worry about it, as well as how important it is to continue our reliance on fossil fuels because it’s good and it will make us all richer.

After watching ancient glaciers crumble and fall into the sea, all that seems a little trivial. It’s symbolic of the ivory towers collapsing, because if we don’t make significant changes and quickly, those symbolic glaciers will be falling down all around us, even in NZ.

We just need people to care. We need people to care about the communities they will never meet and the species they will never see, because ultimately we all rely on exactly the same ecosystems for our survival.

This is a big part of what Sustainability Options has been set up to do, share our sustainability knowledge with communities so people have a reason to care, and when they can, make decisions that have long term and wide reaching benefits.

Thanks to Envirohub for putting on such a provocative and impactful forum. Here is more information about Chasing Ice https://chasingice.com/about-the-film/synopsis/

Had the immense pleasure of attending Tauranga's first shopping mall EV station yesterday. Congratulations and well done to the Bay Fair team. Amazing effort. An electric vehicle owner can now fast charge their vehicle whilst attending the mall.

The reason I write this, is because Jo Wills, our Sustainability development manager has been holding heaps and heaps of discussions with lots and lots people around establishing, promoting, and advocating for electric vehicles in the BOP. Jo has been a strong advocate, seed sower and catalyst for the benefits to NZ of engaging electric vehicles. Many moons ago, she sowed some seeds in a conversation with Steve Ellingford at Bay Fair and from that conversation grew a wonderful outcome which we saw yesterday. All credit to Steve for his forward thinking and action, and a big ups for the huge collaboration by Powerco, the Regional Council and the many others involved in this initiative.

There's lots of talk and rhetoric around EV's and the huge benefits to NZ; 80% reduced environmental impact over the life of the vehicle, the ability to significantly reduce our nation's reliance on fossil fuels and the positive impact on our balance of payments and economic standing, the lower costs to run for the user, the improved performance, quieter running, less pollution......the list goes on, but for our communities, our environment, for future generations to benefit from this technology, we need people to stand out, stand up and to start things happening, not for financial reward, but for the simple benefit of others.

Sustainability Options is constantly looking for projects, activities and momentum that will grow and encourage the advance of social and environmental sustainability. Advancing the ability of the community to embrace electric vehicles for the benefit of the community, seemed like a worthy cause to pursue. Wouldn't it be fantastic if the community could not just partake in an electric vehicle future, but could be a signifcant stake holder! So that our future in this space is not decided by profit interests, but rather by community outcomes? True partnership between community, business and government?

Jo, your many conversations, your passion, your research, your commitment to lots and lots of discussions is starting to have an impact!

Jo is now involved in conversations across the Bay of Plenty, seeking to be a stimulant, connection point and a catalyst for community EV engagement where-ever it may benefit the community, the environment and future generations. She has a wealth of knowledge, a huge amount of passion and is willing to share and to help anyone seeking to be part of this positive environmental impact.

The journey is only just beginning, but it appears be a positive legacy to leave our children's grandchildren......