From iconic Wastebusters shaping Wanaka and New Zealand zerowaste future to Te Kakano reforesting our area with thousands of volunteers for 15 years, to WAO inspiring and empowering the community in yearly Festivals, many ecofriendly businesses, the Regenerative Wanaka Facebook page and the QLDC Climate and diversity action, our active community is loving and caring for the place, often choosing a lifestyle in harmony with nature.
View our Here – Us – Now List here send us a note if you believe your business or organization should be included.
WAO Summit
Coming up in October, WAO Summit is a great inspiring and galvanising festival in WΔnaka.
I will talk about: 1- low-carbon, resilient, biodiversity-enhancing lifestyle at household level 2- beyond individual action, how to foster regeneration at district level.
Exciting!
Beautiful Gardens of Wanaka
Our guided garden tours are a great complement to this thriving sustainability culture, showcasing outstanding private gardens, a unique way to share garden beauty and connection with the place and people. Great activity for manuhiri/visitors, our tours also benefit locals presenting local gardeners’ best practices for Central Otago special conditions (frost, heat, draught, rabbits…)
New this season is ourΒ educational tourΒ featuring biodiversity attributes and practices to adapt to our current climate crisis era, demonstrating how to regenerate land and gardens in harmony with nature. The property showcased on this tour is an inspiring example of sustainable living with forest and regeneration, food growing, beautiful flowers fostering biodiversity, entirely run without fossil fuels… Come and learn how it’s done.
I believe humans (me and you) nature and trees are one.
I AM TREE! I realize it’s a bit extreme…
But it’s the story of my life and my purpose to protect them.
Growing with trees
Pun intended, as a child, I was often found in the garden observing or dreaming, up in “my” cherry tree.
Always, I found solace sitting against a big tree. I remember running to the park nearby to calm down after exams.
I feel the trees’ sap pulsing I feel the trees strength and grounding infuse and calm me.
A sequoia nook. Powerful!
Seeing oneness
But it’s only at 50 that I experienced ONENESS with nature and trees, in Rakiura, after 3 days walking in the forest.
I had slowed down, influenced by the calm, on the lookout for wildlife and photos, to enjoy it longer, and surely the feet and the back were getting tired!
I stopped to drink the delicious champagne of the sky collected at the last hut. I realized that THIS water had surely been in THOSE trees before.
DID YOU KNOW?
Trees are 50% water and humans 60% approx
The rest is mostly carbon
We are the same! Trees are just much bigger, rooted, many old and wise, living in beautiful living communities.
I was standing there in that forest, amazed, open.
I felt my blood and the sap pulsating together, just at a way different speed I felt the life force in the trees and my self as one, as a big healthy body I felt small but nurtured, in full gratitude and humbleness I felt WE ARE LIFE.
A deep connection moment
Once you’ve seen that,
there is no unseeing.
Valuing Trees
Now, we all know that trees, forests and nature are degraded for resources, agriculture, housing, or for a revamp or for water reservoirs right here in Wanaka. In our society, trees have value as timber, when they are dead; In our society, nature has value per square meter, when it is bare.
Luckily, more and more people realize that trees provide great habitat, air cleaning, water sponge, shade and wellbeing and other “ecosystem services” and we need them. Importantly, trees are fantastic carbon absorption machines. So trees are now central to climate action.
For me, trees are beings. They have intrinsic value. Because they are, because they live. Thank you ππΌ
Trees communicate, trees feel, taste, touch, see… Trees adapt, they help each other.
An immense intelligence that we don’t understand. Trees are sentient beings. Their consciousness is beyond ours. But the life in me recognize the life in them.
ONENESS – LOVE – RESPECT
A Canadian study found that Mother trees send more nutrients to their baby offspring compared to other seedlings!
Action for nature and trees
So what do I do with this realization?
All my life, I linked in nature-related jobs and groups
All my life, I planted and gardened where I could, and now, it’s a lot!
For years, I have spoken for the trees. The Lorax you know. I talk at meetings, I write submissions and letters, I sign, I march, and I share on social media to protect nature and trees.
“Don’t cut trees!” – “Put nature first!” – “Plant more diversity” over and over…
But at the Wanaka Climate March earlier this month, I publicly pledged to do more so I launched the #LoveWanakaTrees campaign to create a tree loving culture.
At the Wanaka Climate March earlier this month organized by Mac Team Green, I pledged to create a tree loving culture #lovewanakatrees. With love, comes respect and protection.
With MAC Team Green – Climate March March 2023
CREATING A TREE LOVING CULTURE
#lovewanakatrees is an invitation to everyone to take note and photos of trees around them, in parks and gardens, when driving around Wanaka or from the carpark to the office.
Stop and look.
Admire! The leaves turning day after day into beautiful colours.
Observe! The cones, the bark, catkins and samaras, maybe a nest;
Listen! To the birds, the insects, the wind, maybe the tree
And give a thought to whoever planted them.
Breathe.
Thank the trees, honour them, enjoy them, love them.
Regenerative Livestyle Blog 