Issue No:3

Welcome

Hi. Welcome. Thanks for the encouraging responses. Keep on sending us information to promote your upcoming events and causes - and keep forwarding ecoNet's address to others you think may be interested (we are not allowed to send it uninvited).

Don't forget NZAEE's seminar evening this week at ECan's Waiau Theatrette (see events diary).

Here's a further selection of news and articles of interest from around and about, and here and there:

from here

Land Transport's New Zealand sustainable travel campaign launched this month. The aim is to get people to leave their car at home and use other travel options, such as public transport, walking and cycling or sharing a ride. more here

What happens when the lakes run dry next year and the year after?Sustainable Electricity Association New Zealand (SEANZ) is concerned at the failure to ensure this country has adequate long term energy supplies. It wants to see active encouragement of small scale renewable electricity sources.
 more here

Air pollution forecasts
Air pollution (PM10) forecasts are issued from 1 May to 31 August for Christchurch, Timaru, Rangiora, Kaiapoi and Ashburton. You can check these out on a daily basis: click here

Garden bird survey 2008 Spend an hour (i.e. just one) counting birds in your home garden, local park, or school ground sometime over the survey period and contribute to a national survey of common garden birds.
Survey period: Saturday, 12 July - Sunday, 20 July 2008
Time: between 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. details here

Resources for more sustainable living in New Zealand – ways to reduce your impact, get a healthier lifestyle and save money on energy bills, shopping, gardening, metered water and motoring: sustainablehouseholds.org.nz.

Questions on the environment for political parties
Forest & Bird aims to ensure environmental issues really count this election. It has put 20 questions to the political parties' conservation spokespeople - seeking their answers to what they see as some of the most pressing environmental issues we currently face. They will report responses ahead of the election. more here

For the uninitiated: Green Drinks (see events diary) is a monthly meet-up for a drink and a chat for anyone interested in environmental issues. Now in many cities around the world (relatively recently instituted in Christchurch), the current local venue is the upstairs lounge at Dux de Lux. Complimentary snacks courtesy of Christchurch Branch of the Environment Institute of Australia & NZ.
For more see: greendrinks or contact Peter at petertaylor.co.nz to receive a monthly e-mailed Christchurch Green Drinks invitation.

Re-linked submissions, consultations etc:

• open now: ECan tree planting, fencing, biodiversity fund  
  Landowners or groups working to protect and enhance native biodiversity in Canterbury have until the end of August to apply for contestable grants of up to $5,000 through Environment Canterbury’s Environment Enhancement Fund: more here
  

• DOC Canterbury: Conservation Management Strategy review
  The Department of Conservation’s Canterbury Conservancy wants your help to develop the direction of its conservation work over the next 10 years. To find out more and to contribute: click here
  

• Two Thumb conservation park proposal
  A new park is proposed for mid-Canterbury bringing 11 pieces of conservation land together across the Two Thumb Range. Written comments are invited up till 4.00 pm Friday 4 July 2008. For further information click here

• ECan website feedback wanted
  As part of a complete website overhaul, ECan are running interviews and focus groups in late June to gain opinion of the website and how they can improve. People interested in sustainability are one of their target groups. (...more)

from there

Woops! last week an AWOL link to the next article - should work OK now:

• UK: Major new study shows that modified soya produces 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent: Exposed: the Great GM Crops Myth: Geoffrey Lean, The Independent, 20 April 2008.

• US: Getting rid of what the doctor ordered: Proper disposal of unwanted medications is daunting, costly. June 15, The Boston Globe, Massachusets.
  
  
• England: Tell us something we don't know... interesting all the same: Shopping: June 19, UK, The Independent.
  
  
• One man's crusade to plough up London's inner city: urban farmer June 1, The Independent, UK:
  
  
• UK, June 1: the world's first edible high rise: Pie in the Sky
  
  
• A book about global warming has won this year's Royal Society prize for popular science writing. BBC, June 16.
  
  
• As food crisis worsens, some nations are desperate for arable land: countries are renting farmland abroad US News.
  
  
• Sea level rise: top of sea warming 50% faster than thought , Telegraph, UK.
  
  
• Australia food bowl areas soon "beyond repair" June 18, Reuters, UK.
  
  
• Time for peace in the whaling world? June 19, BBC, UK.
  
  
• Book: the end of food June 13, The Seattle Times, US.
  
  
• How clean coal Cooks Your Brain. June 16, Worldchanging.
  
  
• Taking More Risks Because You Feel Safe June 9, Washington Post.
  
  
• The freedom that comes with bicycling June 18, Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
• Singularity: Thermodynamics is thermodynamics, and no amount of godlike thinking can reverse the irreversible. Worldchanging.com, June 11.
  
  

Using ecoNet

Is easy. Just send in to the editor information about an event, activity or submission you want to share and it will go in ecoNet....as long as it's appropriate of course.

ecoNet is put out (Fridays) by Christchurch Branch of NZAEE (NZ Association for Environmental Education), a non-profit, national organisation of people working to promote and support environmental education, lifelong learning and sustainable behaviour throughout New Zealand/Aotearoa.

How do I contribute?

Use the links below to:

• forward ecoNet address to others you think may like to receive it - it's free
  
• become a subscriber
  
• send us information for the weekly diary.
• contact us

 

 

• World Refugee Day:

  The Benefits of Refugee Resettlement in New Zealand.
  Speaker: Anne-Marie Reynolds, Southern Regional Manager, Refugee Services Aotearoa NZ.
  Where: at the Canterbury WEA, 59 Gloucester Street
  When: Friday 20 June, at 6 pm
  Cost: Gold coin donation.
  Contact: Phone 366 0285.
  Organised in association with Amnesty International -  all ages welcome -
  refreshments provided.
  
  

• Community Planting Day: Creating a matai-totara forest for the future

  Date: Saturday 21 June
  Time: 10 – 12.30 pm
  Meet at Travis Wetland Education Centre,
  Beach Road.
  Supported by: Honda Tree Fund, Environment Canterbury, Christchurch City Council and Travis Wetland Trust.
  There will be a BBQ after the planting.

• Free Home Composting Workshops(1)

  Strickland St Community Gardens
  188 Strickland St, Spreydon 
  Saturday 21 June 1- 3 pm, & 
  Saturday 28 June 1-3 pm 
  Sign up to our Home Composting Advisory Service 
  Contact: Christine Blance
                ssgardens@paradise.net.nz
                Ph: 942 6630
  
  

• Free Home Composting Workshops (2):

  Bokashi, Hot Compost, and Worm Farms
  Where:   Opawa Community Gardens, Opawa Rd (at Aynsley Terrace).
  When:    First and third Saturday of the month at 1 pm      &
  First and third Tuesday of the month at 1 pm, eg: June 21, July 1, 5, etc.
  How:  Just turn up!
  For more information:  Annmarie Banchy 021 190 4559, or 942 7190 (evening).
  

• The Resource Consents Process:

  An overview with reference to Central Plains Water Scheme.
  Speaker: Donald Fraser, Consents Hearing officer, ECan.
  Where: Canterbury WEA, 59 Gloucester Street
  When: Wednesday 25 June, 1.30 - 2.30 pm.
  Cost: $4.
  Contact: Phone 366 0285. All welcome.
  
  

• Christchurch Green Drinks:

  When: Thursday 26 June, 5:30 pm.
  Where: Dux de Lux (upstairs lounge), cnr Montreal and Hereford Sts.
  For more: See underNews and Links.

• Seminar evening: ‘Are there wiser ways of living?’

  - climate change, peak oil, pollution, loss of biodiversity, drought, famine, rising food prices …. the issues mount up.
  Five people representing five differing world views – Christian, Buddhist, Mãori, Scientific, and Deep Ecology - will share their perspectives.
  Date: Thursday 26 June. Time: 7-9 pm
  Venue: Environment Canterbury lecture theatre, 58 Kilmore Street
  Cost: koha gold coin. Supper will be provided.
  For more information contact: Jocelyn Papprill, jyc@caverock.net.nz (NZAEE branch sec)

SOC: Sustainable Otautahi Christchurch:

Transition Communities: the concept outline and network. 8.00 pm
(following the AGM, 7.15 pm).
When: Monday 30 June
Where: Environment Canterbury, 64 Kilmore St.
Supper will follow. For more information contact Dave Evans,
dave.evans@alliedtelesis.co.nz

• Conference: for women working with or interested in all fields of science:

  Striking a Balance (AWIS). How to balance roles from researchers to partners/mothers to entrepreneurs to teachers/science communicators.
  Date: Wednesday, 2 July - Friday, 4 July
  Time: 8:30:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
  Location: Holiday Inn on Avon, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
  More info: (Landcare Research) click here.

• Forest and Bird Protection Society:

  The botanical significance of Mt Cass and other Canterbury limestone areas:
  Speaker: DOC Botanist, Nick Head
  When: July 9, 7.30 pm
  Venue: WEA, 59 Gloucester St

• Exhibition: Artists for SAVE OUR WATER

  Artists based in Te Waipounamu concerned at the effect the taking and diverting of water in the Mackenzie Country for intensive farming will have on our instream ecosystems, birdlife, water quality, and the cost to our beloved landscape.

  When: exhibition 3 June – 30 June
  Where: NG Gallery, 212 Madras St, Christchurch

• Earthwise, Plains FM 96.9
  

  Each Monday & Wednesday at 10 pm.
  Conservation, environment and peace with justice.
  This week's interview: Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and author of Come Together, Right Now.
  Presenters: Martin and Lois Griffiths.

Coming Up:

• Conference: Sustainable Networking

  - APAN26 – Sustainable Networking. Showcasing how advanced broadband networks and applications are accelerating research and collaboration in the Asia-Pacific region and pioneering environmental and regional sustainability.
  Date: Monday, 4 August - Friday, 8 August 2008
  Time: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
  Location: Millennium Hotel, Queenstown
  More info: (Landcare Research) click here
  
  
  

• Zero Waste & Zero Carbon Conference

  When: 20-22 August 2008
  Where:  Hotel Ashburton, Racecourse Road, Ashburton
  Cost: $200 per day
  More info: Event Coordinators, Diane & Tony Dawson Tel. 03 3026 791, mobile 0211 748 578
  email: a.dawson@xtra.co.nz
  
  

• Otamahua/Quail Island Ecological Restoration Trust Tree Planting:

  The Trust plans to plant over 7,000 native trees and shrubs during the ten weekend days of August. More volunteers needed & very welcome.
  (Further shortly - meantime, to register interest and for more info: Bev or Ian MacDonald,
  ihmacd@paradise.net.nz or ph 3325322 & website at http://www.quailisland.org.nz/)

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