The bright light of sustainable practice
On the home stretch through Canterbury we came across this canola field – it summed up a lot about this Sustainable Practice roadshow – many rich, golden experiences. It brought back into to focus the importance of a deep connection to the land and the importance of a sustainable land ethic as the baseline for sound, strategic decision-making for the long view – a sustainable future for our grandchildren.
Our choice to use biodiesel to fuel this roadtrip was brought into sharp focus while driving through these fields, highlighting that to transition from ‘business as usual’ is a matter of choice. Travelling with Steve Henry, nothing short of a high energy particle in the field of sustainable practice, has shown me that overcoming the barriers is A MATTER OF WILL. With the right vision, planning, preparation and collaboration around ideas that provide genuine win-win-win outcomes, we all benefit, the land included.
By shining a spotlight on all the great examples of sustainable practice in different pockets of the country we gain new ideas, fresh insights, inspiration and the knowledge that a sustainable future is a reality for all of us – we just need to choose it!
The depth of the connections along the way has been astounding, the communities we been fortunate enough to have continued real engaged dialogue have told us they are ready to embed sustainable practice.
This is, in no small way, testament to the vision, hard work and tireless efforts of Steve Henry and the team at the Centre for Sustainable Practice.
The message of this ancient Maori whakatauki speaks the language of sustainability in a way we can all understand.
Manaaki whenua, manaaki tangata, haere whakamua.
Care for the land. Care for people. Go forward.
What strikes me is that it’s message is even more relevant today.
EECA meeting in Wellington – a collaborative project around solar hot water
After a 6am start in Levin, Steve and I made our way down the beautiful Kapiti Coast for pre-work meeting with the EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) team.
From left: Steve Henry, Julia Barton, Jane O'Loughlin, 'Mike the sustainable builder' & EECA CEO, Mike Underhill involved in a whirlwind Solar Hot Water demonstration at the Wellington Interislander ferry terminal
Thanks to EECA CEO, Mike Underhill, senior advisor, Jane O’Loughlin and Julia Barton from the EECA solar hot water team for taking the time to see a quick demonstration of the brand new Otago Polytechnic Solar Hot Water demonstration trailer (it’s existence is owed to EECA’s significant financial contribution).
In a show of high commitment, local sustainable designer and builder, Mike, made the early morning trip out to see us. He registered his interest in enrolling in the new sustainable practice graduate diploma, beginning in Feb 2011. “I’ve studied a lot of theory in this space. It’s time to get stuck in with some action”.
He jumped into our roadtrip ‘rig’ to continue the conversation all way the mouth of the ferry before Steve and I drove into the ferry bowels to cross Cook Strait. We’ve had these sort of experiences the whole way – passionate, committed people ready to embed sustainable practice in what they do for a living. It’s inspiring to be involved and makes the hard work we’ve invested to spread the message worthwhile.
The North Island leg of the roadtrip has been a resounding success – a rich and diverse range events, ranging from ‘top-of-town’ strategic decision making and planning events along with grass-roots activism and community projects and everything in between. The importance and relevance of sustainable practice in all segments of the community has been on full display – a demonstration of the fact that with a shared vision of what a sustainable future looks like we can all look towards a prosperous and healthy future.
Next on the event schedule is Nelson on Thursday evening with a lunchtime event in Kaikoura – please come join us if you’re in the neighbourhood!
Return to Awhi Farm to meet with tangata whenua
Welcome to Awhi Farm - Turangi Sustainability Centre
Our return visit to Awhi Farm has proved to be the most culturally rich experience of the tour so far – a grassroots action project, practical outcomes, a supportive learning community, tangata whenua involved intimately in the process – all necessary to create a culture of acceptance, forward thinking and a sustainable future.
Nick, a young Maori man talked passionately about his 8-months at Awhi Farm “this has changed the way I think about what I do, about who I am, about myself”
Lisa, tangata whenua, talked about being able to inhabit the land without having to go into debt, something she had done before and was not prepared to do again – the opportunities Awhi Farm provides allows for this possibility.
Bryan spoke again about the Awhi Farm vision of creating a low-cost practical learning centre for young people in the local community.
Jo talked about the profound impact a 2-week permaculture course had had on her perspective and how it had informed her ideas and community vision for Awhi Farm.
The discussion came up around the idea of whether Awhi Farm could be a teaching and learning hub for sustainable practice in the Central North Island –“It already is” was the response. There is the potential that more formalised recognition of the work being done could be credited through the qualifications in sustainable practice being developed by Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice (CSP).
Steve and I were provided with the opportunity to speak from the heart about why the new qualifications are so important – John, one of the founding trust members highlighted the need for the new qualifications to be promoted with Maori communities. Strong ties between a traditional Maori perspective of land and the type of sustainable practice both Awhi Farm & the Centre for Sustainable Practice means that genuine collaboration is possible between these unique, rich and diverse communities; united under the shared vision of what a sustainable future looks like for all of us.
Manaaki whenua, manaaki tangata, haere whakamua.
Care for the land Care for people. Go forward.
Enough said.
Awhi Farm solar trailer demonstration
Hamilton TNS event with Simon Harvey
At Tuesday lunchtime event in Hamilton to the local Chamber of Commerce brought together many of the big players in the Hamilton business scene to hear Simon Harvey, CEO of The Natural Step NZ, speak persuasively about the business case for sustainability.
For those not familiar with the science-based decision making framework The Natural Step explained in two minutes is well worth watching
Simon Harvey talks about the backcasting process to Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
In many ways, the focus of Simon’s presentation was ‘business beyond compliance’ and the opportunities available to early adopter businesses who pro-actively decide to inhabit the sustainability space
In one fantastic confronting slide, Simon got to the heart of the matter by asking the following question:
Where is your business in relation to sustainable practice?
Following were a number of possible scenarios:
Leadership
Integration
Compliance +
Compliance
Denial
The resounding silence in the room spoke volumes. Then, in a highly compelling way, Simon went on to describe the opportunities for businesses in NZ to take up an active role in the sustainability space.
Tom Walter presents the Ziptrek Ecotours business case to Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
As the representative for Ziptrek Ecotours, I was provided with the opportunity to speak about the business case of opening up a new sustainability-focussed operation in the already saturated Queenstown adventure tourism market. By firmly placing ourselves in the sustainable tourism niche niche (and one of the very few left in Queenstown) Ziptrek have been able to build a significant profile in a very short time since opening in December 2009.
Kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga - a vision for NZ tourism by 2015
By strategically aligning it’s business with the 2015 Tourism Strategy vision of a sustainable NZ tourism industry which embraces the Maori concepts of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and manaakitanga (hospitality), Ziptrek have welcomed the numerous opportunities to present it’s compelling vision to businesses and organisations looking to do business in a new way.
Thanks and kudos to Simon for his excellent presentation and for providing the opportunity to present Ziptrek Ecotours in this setting.
Green Drinks Tauranga
Steve Henry from Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice and Tom Walter from Ziptrek Ecotours were invited to a very civilised Green Drinks event from 5-7pm hosted by Jo Wills from the Sustainable Business Network
Jo – thanks for the providing the Centre for Sustainable Practice, Ziptrek Ecotours, and Nomad Safaris with the opportunity to speak to such an enthusiastic and engaged group.
We took advantage of a sunny afternoon to demonstrate the Centre’s new solar hot water trailer in central Tauranga along with being able to showcase the Southern Lakes success stories in sustainable business.
Kudos to Jo for bringing together such a committed and high caliber of attendees – sustainability is alive and well in this region!
Awhi Farm -Turangi
On the suggestion of James Samuel, Steve Henry and I dropped in on Awhi Farm on our way through Turangi not really knowing what to expect. 3 hours later we had to drag ourselves away after being blown away by the scope and breadth of the work that had been done by Bryan, Jo and the the board of trustees.
Steve, Bryan and Jo at Awhi Farm
A fantastic community focussed, led and run project – 10 acres of land on the edge of Turangi, this is old Ministry of Works land overgrown with blackberries and numerous other invasive species. Since March 2010, the board and a committed group of voluteers have come to together to clear the land, erect temporary structures and showcase low-cost sustainable projects including harvest gardens, sustainable building techniques, landscaping and a working community of health and low impact lifestyles.
Much of the work is based on permaculture principles and it is obvious that this is the case when looking around the farm and the trnsformation it has gone through in such a short space of time since opening in March.
Many of the folks there were kind enough to offer their time to describe the projects they had been working on. In this series of posts, I’ve embedded a number of short videos to show what sort of innovative projects are possible when a group of people come together with the shared vision of creating a sustainable future together.
Check out some of the Youtube videos from our time at Awhi Farm:
Bomun talks about creating this low cost sustainable structure
We look forward to out second visit on Wednesday 13th October when Lisa, who is tangata whenua, is available to speak to us about the project and her visions for it. I’m looking forward to it!
