CO2 savings in Queenstown
To date the members of the Queenstown Lakes Biodiesel Consortium has saved almost 6.5 tonnes of CO2 from entering the earth’s atmosphere!
48 vehicles are using Biogold B20 derived from used cooking oil to make this happen and we applaud them.
New Qualifications in Sustainable practice are here
It is a watershed day. After 15 months we have permission to offer a new Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Practice. This sits along side our existing Certificate in Sustainable Practice. We will offer these anywhere in NZ using a combination of real projects in busness or community supported by theory in short courses and online learning.
The programmes will be offered full time in Wanaka and Queenstown in conjunction with 140 business who have participated in the Queenstown Lakes Sustainable business programmes in the past 12 months.
Lots of businesses are pretty excited about this and their endorsements are here.
Full time students who attend the graduate diploma next year will be placed with a business or other organisation in the area of their choice, choosing a major in either business or community development. This will be two days a wek, the other two for theory work and then a day doing webinars and tutorials
Im excited.
48 vehicles running on Biodiesel in Queenstown
We sold a record 1000L last weekend through the community run facility.
Kiwi Discovery and Queenstown Rafting have led the way putting 25 buses on to the 20% blend of NZ made biodiesel.
Tim Barke the manager can be heard on national radio speaking about this today.
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The drill-hole of no return!!
Yesterday something dawned on me and it created more than a slight tweak of nervousness in my stomach. Top-down bottom-up, inside out and upside down, 7 months into my PhD research and I think I have finally nailed down a footprinting mythology. But it is only now that I reaslise the enormity of the journey I have embarked on. I feel as though I have just left the diving board and am hurtling head-first into the footprint ‘drill-hole of no return’ . Until now I have managed to keep my distance from being drawn into a specific ‘specialist area’ or discipline, also known as a ‘drill-hole’.
This has been my intention! I have been more than satisfied with the opportunity to continue to float around picking up any information that might be of interest or any opportunity that emerged. If I were to be asked what area of sustainable practice I work in (nb: most people don’t ask due to their initial confusion of what this actually is), I could reply I am a ‘generalist specialist’ … with a background in everything from ecology, to strategic sustainable development, Antarctic law and engagement and participatory processes. In other words “I know a little about a range of topics”. Generally my focus has been on connecting people and ideas with the right information or the best expert advice and support. The Centre for Sustainable Practice is best known for its work in facilitating conversations (whereby people share their experiences about moving their business/organisation towards sustainability) and its the ‘train-the-trainer’ model of education (to provide organisations and businesses with their own internal expertise to plan for and implement sustainable practice).
So why the nervousness? One thought is, until now I always had an ‘out’. When someone asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to I had no qualms referring them onto someone else or getting back to them once I had enquired with an expert. But once I dive into this ‘drill-hole’, once I spend three years doing this research, how much will people expect that I know? Even more worrying, how much will I expect myself to know? I have already started to experience the ‘drill hole’ whereby every new article or research project opens a whole new ‘can of worms’ into which I dig a little deeper into the theory and practice on which ecological footprinting is perched.
Then I woke up this morning with a different mind-set. Overnight I realised what an amazing place I am in. How fortunate I am to have the opportunity to spend my days immersed in something that fascinates me. (And information that sometimes terrifies me). I am excited about the opportunity to ‘find out more’ and to work alongside people who have been through this before and have come out the other side unscathed! can see the opportunities this presents. (I hope) the project and research experience will empower me to help others to understand, collaborate, experience and support the continued implementation of sustainable practice. But I do have two and half more years to go!
