Trees Gone or going. All of them! That’s what the current laws allow.
Wānaka is going through a continued growth. We all witness current bulldozer suburbia practice, removing all trees, destroying soils and building nearly boundary to boundary with token native plantings. We all experience traffic, pollution and landscape degradation. It is unsustainable, decried by locals, it ruins the natural beauty and feeling of our little town. Yet it is fostered by the Council and current laws and regulations.
Over 20 years, I have attended many community meetings or Council workshops on Wānaka future, and many korero, as part of wonderful Festivals of Colour and Aspiring Conversations, Shaping Our Future, WAO Summits, Regenerative tourism huis, Royal Society, U3A, Paradiso movies etc… I am taking notes, so I have several notebooks of minutes. They show that in every meeting I went to, the attendants clearly declared the need to stop the growth, for over-capacity reasons and lifestyle choices.
But the Council rules still allow bulldozers advance and tree windbreaks to go down. Where do the birds go? The QLDC Strategic Framework “Dawn Chorus” outcome depends on it.
In 2011, Wānaka town centre design guidelines were produced by the Council to add quality to Wānaka character, with appropriate space for the public and trees. Yet, the 66-pages report being advisory only, maximization of sqm2 is practiced by developers making the whole exercise pointless.
In 2013, Shaping our Future conducted workshops in all the villages of the district. I attended the workshops in Wānaka and remember the discussions: we were most concerned about growth and our vision described a sustainable urban community, with kids biking, people growing food together, renewable energy produced here and plenty of green space. I am currently locating these foundational results.
In 2019, the Council extensively consulted for the Wānaka Town Centre Master Plan. 55 pages later in 4 pdf documents, there are 3 more carparks, several roundabouts, hardly more nature nor bike lanes, but cars are removed from the lakefront (overloading Brownston Street).
Master Plan 2019 page 95 – Plan for 2030-50
In 2023, the locals group Heart of Wānaka worked on the traditional town centre from Wānaka Station Park to Mount Aspiring College. The proposed active transport and retained open spaces seem to happen. The increased biodiversity corridors, slow streets and community gardens are yet to manifest.
What did happen is urban intensification, after many hearings and dozens of pdf documents, buildings are now allowed to block views, all bits of grass built up: new zoning has been created to cater for developers wishes, including “greater heights and density will be enabled in locations near central and on generally greenfield land in Wānaka South, increasing current permitted heights from 8m to 11m and removing density requirements of one residential unit per 250m2 net site area.”
This urban strategy is planning for intense growth, despite the community reiterated wishes and way beyond Wānaka town centre. Let’s talk about the wider Wānaka Area.
Please share a thought for the elders who planted the trees creating these green spaces. GRATITUDE. Respect.
Beyond the Wānaka town centre
In March 2002 started a well-remembered community consultation, the Wānaka 2020. With 150 participants in the launch meeting, followed by well attended 3-days workshops, the 2020 Wānaka report recommends that “The long-term town boundary should remain inside the Clutha and Cardrona Rivers and to avoid sprawl. The 40-pages report highlights the need for better water, transport and green infrastructures.
Extract:
It also recommends “A new sustainable urban extension zone with new rules“. The Green Belt, never really connected and is now rapidly nibbled.
Location and focus of Wanaka 2020 process. Base map source: NZMS 26:F40, Crown Copyright.
In November 2019 in the Whaiora Grow Well workshop roadshow for the QLDC Spatial Plan, community members were invited to have a vision for Wānaka growth then ask to vote for their preferred option for the future: all tables voted to stop Wānaka growth to where it was then and growing satellite towns (Hawea Luggate, Cardrona) with well-connected public transports. ONE table raised their hand to grow Wānaka and they were booed! If you were there, do you remember that?
Following these clear consultations, the report mentioned for the first time, a “Wānaka South area supporting 5000 new dwellings”! That is completely the opposite of the community preference and creates unrestrained unsustainable urban sprawl.
59 people attended in Wānaka. 8 groups were asked to evaluate 3 scenarios. Tick is “better”, O is “same”, X is “worse”. The “Dispersed/Extension category” received X from ALL groups expect one table giving them 4 “better”, 4 “worse”, 1 “same”.
In August 2023, at a Blue-Green Network workshop, all attending stakeholders expressed their concern about the growth paradigm declared by the Council. The Council anticipates and fosters growth of population, business and tourism. “All consultations reveal the community wants to STOP growth. Why does the QLDC continues to promote growth?” asks a participant. The growth is already beyond people’s desired lifestyle and the carrying capacity of the land is over the maximal load, particularly water pollutions.
All participants wished for more biodiversity and food space in the plan presented and proposed to cap growth at a sustainable post-growth level. Several times was raised the missing tool to enable the change from unsustainable business-as-usual growth.
I suggested a regenerative land zoning to create commons on private land on a voluntary basis. I followed up without answer so far. It’s such a good idea, it’s generous. It’s community building, resilient, low carbon… it’s nearly free.
the urban area is planned to be 10 km from East to West and 10 km from North to South.
Going South, there are no public park beyond opposite the Medical Centre
The area in blue is currently “Rural“, with lifestyle blocks of minimum 2 hectares, some more than 20. This zoning allows development at a density of up to one residence every 4000m².
Many blocks have substantial mature trees planted by their owners over generations.
The area is full of birds. Dawn chorus already here. And birds need vast areas of nature to thrive.
This green large tranquil area is jeopardized by the plan to change zone and allow subdivision. It concerns landowners. They bought a piece of land in a natural area many years ago, because they wanted a tranquil natural life and many planted trees. The plan, putting growth first, is disrespectful and damages the environment irreversibly. Specially if the trees are the first to go.
All the zones in orange, dark blue and within the “area of influence” are concerned by this QLDC Structure Plan.
A new QLDC initiative Smart Growth Wānaka is promising, with a planned citizen assembly. I am a strong advocate of citizen assemblies as I believe it is able to lift society beyond the current misfunctioning democracy. However, since the community has time and time again expressed the same idea (Stop growth), there is no divisive issue here, it delays the action further.
The action is to pause growth immediately, until the results of the citizen assembly. It IS possible to pause growth as in Greytown in Wairarapa.
Now is the chance to create a landmark Wānaka, before all the trees are gone, before it’s all built up.
What does regenerative urban growth looks like?
To be regenerative, first be sustainable. Sustainable means not extracting from the Earth, not polluting the Earth, not damaging the Earth, and sharing within communities. Regenerating is improving above that baseline.
Research has also shown that the ideal sustainable population of a urban area is “whether a city’s population matches what its systems can handle” Associate Professor Kamruzzaman said. “That’s the key to sustainability.”
Some research shows that about 1000 inhabitants settlements is the best size for resilience and ecological responsibility. A NZ study says that people’s preference is to walk less than 15mn which is 5mn drive.
The End of Suburbia documentary describes the fossil fuel overuse and wellbeing decrease in suburbs which is the current trajectory. Green sustainable urban development is well documented, including for small towns.
In Wānaka
Wānaka development is removing all green areas and existing trees.
Only one community garden, and a few satellite food growers but most of the food is disaster dependent
Wānaka is already beyond capacity eg. waste water leaking the river.
It already takes 15mn at a quiet time to drive from boundary to boundary, not to mention the daily queues.
Solutions exist to create a beautiful healthy sustainable low-carbon equitable district.
Traditional villages 300-1000 inhabitants, green space with food production and trees
In modern denser urban sustainable environment, there is also a lot of nature and community wellbeing
Bulldozer land clearing in Wānaka-not one tree left
– immediately enforce 10% of land kept for nature. It is already on the guidelines for subdivisions. let’s make it a prerequisite for all new consents. Educate, encourage all landowners, small or large to create a 10% nature buffer.
– Plan and support (with financial and practical help) landowners to protect/restore 30% of their land by 2030. eg. Jobs for nature, support for social enterprises who provide fencing, local food growing and natural pest management…
Up until recently, the Council had some reserves between developments and some area kept as Parks with connecting pathways eg. Lismore Park. But beyond the existing centre, there are only private properties with no provision for Reserves. The absence of land available for shared green space was raised at the Blue-Green corridors meeting (August 2023). Potential solutions are to enforce reserves on all new projects and foster voluntary reserves by a Regenerative Land Zoning (see 3 below)
2- Protect all existing trees and groups of trees.
Proposal: Treat all trees as protected and strengthen existing rules about trees on public land to control how they can be removed and I am asking for an immediate moratorium on feeling trees until discussed.
I presented this tree protection policy concept and a demand for a moratorium in a QLDC public forum in February 2026. I had no feedback; since then, at least 5 windbreaks of mature poplars have been felled in the outstkirts of Wānaka. My heart breaks!
If we are serious about climate change and enhancing biodiversity then we will extend trees protection to the whole district. All trees are important and there are so few left! Trees are living beings, historical, sacred.
Native/Non-native trees… In Wānaka, most mature trees are non-native therefore viewed as “worthless” and are chopped by inconsideration or convenience. The problem is, if we remove them, we have a 20-50 years of bare land until the baby natives grow. Poplars, willows and douglas firs, cherry, dogwoods, cedars are not native but if we continue removing them all, our town will be bare. With the native-only logic, sheep, cows, and pakehas… all culled! I love natives and plant lots of them. But existing trees should never be removed to plant natives, it goes against common sense and climate science.
So we need to discuss how to protect trees effectively and learn how to love them and manage them. I realise there will be exemptions but starting by a blanket protection is the most effective easiest solutions. A moratorium right now will save many trees.
I believe Protecting trees is the cornerstone of sustainable urban development as trees need space. The space allowed for trees can be left for nature, used for bike lanes, walkways, parking, park, food growing, all things wanted by the community.
I understand it is the responsibility of the developers or the landowners to choose to protect or kill trees. So I am creating a campaign for cherishing Wanaka Trees, ALL of them. Jump on if you love trees too. I am continuing this campaign and appreciate all contributions/ideas.
3 – Create public-private partnership where the Council and the public benefits from land without the need to own it. It doesn’t matter who owns the land, 30% need to be protected.
Since 2022, I work on a new voluntary land zoning that protects a land from subdivision for perpetuity when it contributes to the community, future generations and the planet. Maybe 30% minimum of the land is kept for nature and regenerated, and maybe also shared for the greater good.
When someone planted trees, it’s not to be cut for houses next generation. It’s for the Trees, for Papatuanuku. For All.
Some landowners are already sharing part of their land as civic assets for wildlife habitat, for food growing (essential in a low carbon society), for access (bike commuting, walk, bike and horse tracks, for parks…). This creates commons that serve both the environment (so that it can continue to provide ecosystem services) and the community (recreational parks, connected bike lanes for commuters, food production areas…)
Developers can subdivide well, with keeping all the trees, regenerating 30% of the land creating shared spaces rather than stripping the land and adding as many rows of houses as possible. 30% for nature means: out of 60 sections, 20 should be reverted to a natural environment.
Loosing fertile greenfields to concrete and buildings is unsustainable, as highlighted by a government report dated April 2024. I am not radical here. Science is clear. In a climate and biodiversity crises, it’s land clearing and tree killing that is radical.
I hope the opportunity is taken by the Council, as this would foster a beautiful green low-carbon resilient and happy community. We need nature and land for food here, not 83km away where the National Park starts. That’s whaiora, with dawn chorus and other principles in the 2050 spatial plan. This new land zoning is the missing tool of the shift, allowing willing landowners to start and pave the way. Please refer to the well-research page on the powerful yet simple proposed piece of regulation here.
Bold Inspiring Vision
I urge the Council to be bold and inspiring, actually creating a beautiful future, starting now, not in 10 years when it’s all built up – when what we do have and love will be destroyed.
At the historic Regenerative Tourism Hui 3 in 2023, the Carbon Zero by 2030 goal was adopted. Solemnity rippled on the crowd after we collectively committed to it, fully understanding the why and meaning of such a bold engagement. Tyler Robinson said “Queenstown Lakes is the ideal place to show the world that decarbonization and regeneration is possible. We have an ecosystem of early adopters here“.
We all know that carbon zero goal means slowing the crave for more. More houses don’t solve the affordability crisis or cities like Auckland or London would be cheap. More money for more consumption exhausts the planet already beyond capacity. Living simply, locally, circular, without chemicals and pollutions, keeping precious remnants from the natural world and regenerating the land, that’s achievable.
But not with the current rules and the touted growth goal. Growth is the money-carrot for many, growth will benefit the developers and workers but growth is not the solution, it worsens all the crises. Instead of planning for growth, let’s plan for a sustainable, circular economy, where all people have enough. We need a paradigm change, that put people and planet first BEFORE the money and bulldozer growth; It’s a culture where we share, creating a beautiful connected community.
I will speak at the QLDC Council meeting in Wānaka on the 23rd July 2026 to encourage sustainable urban development with urgency and practical solutions. It’s all possible -and better. And invite Councilors to take responsibility for us and future generations. What else?
Appendix Exemples of rules that results in generous green connecting natural spaces (click on image for links)
Substantial sustainable greenways in Baton RougeThe most generous green corridor image I find online is from the gameplay Cities: SkylinesDetroit green space food production
Appendix Example of Regenerative Urban Roads
Roads become green corridors, much wider than the current plan “New street trees shall not be planted where the projected mature canopy spread is within 5 meters of any street light or overhead services.” A 5 meter canopy is reached within 10 years by many trees. Allow for 12 or 15 meter canopy, the average crown size of a medium size oak tree.
Appendix Practical rules for subdivisions and all landowners
Here are better practices, to embed in compulsory rules, as we see that discretionary recommendations do not work.
30% of nature is integrated into subdivisions as parks, surface water management, shared food production, connected pathways, beautiful and great for wellbeing
Each section keeping 30% for nature OR each subdivision keeping 30% for nature OR each group of apartments built on land with 30% for nature around them.
mandate to ensure existing trees on subdivision are protected particularly the trees surrounding the property, protected as public land trees, ban clear felling.
Limit terraforming, soil removal and compaction to maintain soil life and its sponge properties
All rainwater to be slowed down with surface planted drains, reed beds and wetlands, the local Kirimoko Park offers some of these features
compulsory roof rainwater harvest tanks, possibly subsidised like on the Kapiti Coast, also great for resilience.
Protect ridgelines, no dominant house, all ridge houses to be integrated in planting
Keep at least one viewpoint to be preserved for public access,
All new streets and access to have separate connected bike-lanes and separate footpaths
All streets and dead ends to be connected with at least foot access to adjacent streets
Appropriate junctions with existing roads paid for by the developers, not minimal intersections generating traffic congestion for both new residents and neighboring residents, as we have on North Lake or on the Ballantyne/Sir Tim Wallis intersection.
Developers to pay the costs of infrastructures needed to accommodate the new housing residents, not existing ratepayers. (eg. The Longview Hawea waste water is literally a shame)
Ban the use of herbicides and pesticides
What does it look like?
Exemple: a 8-10 hectares block holds 60 household blocks. All the trees have been kept. The outer hedges trees are complemented with three layers of plantings for a generous hedge, hosting wildlife and tracks. There is access for pedestrians and bikes on all sides. The centre of the subdivision is a park featuring trees, children playgrounds, reed beds for water sanitation, shared gardens or plots for food production. The park can be borded with a couple of apartment blocks with view on the trees. The centre of the subdivision can host shared spaces, shared tools, market place, community building…
Each 1/4 acre section is well surrounded by trees, space for gardens and play, a sustainable house, water harvesting, orchard, food production and nature, at least 30% or more. Imagine the wildlife and privacy here!
Or any combination of these, like here: 1 acre showing 4 households with a shared nature zone and food production to ensure wellbeing for people and nature. Sorry, the drawings are not the best! But I hope you get the idea. Lots of trees. Just make sure you plant deciduous trees on the sunny side of the house for cooling in summer and sun in winter.
Does any of this inspire you? Let us know in the comments below.
Have you ever wondered where goes what you put in the toilet? In most cases, it goes to a septic tank or to the local wastewater treatment plant. The former need regular emptying, the latter is expensive and is often overflowing into rivers or the sea.
There are lots of options online for compost toilets or composting toilet or dry toilet or off-grid toilet or bio-toilet or humanure system. Some are expensive and complex, some look like “normal” toilet, most are interestingly smell free. And they save so much water! And they close the food cycle too!
Lots of system, screen capture from the first “compost toilet” Ecosia image search.
I made one.
My system is simple, in a corner of the garden : a bucket, a toilet seat and lid from Wastebusters, a toilet paper roll in a water tight container, a bag of saw dust.
I love being with the birds under the trees. I use it for number 2s. I love that I don’t use water to flush. I love that my poo becomes fertilization for the garden. Not a waste.
Behind a tree, hidden with a loose fence of cabbage tree leaves
Here it is, a bucket, a toilet seat with lid, a water tight box for a toilet roll and bags of saw dust. Simplissimo.
Like most people, we have toilets inside, so I only use it when I want. In nature.
When the bucket is full, I empty it in a compost bin, nested into straw, covered with straw. It does smell but already hardly looks like what it is.
In summer, a bucket can receive about 30 uses. In winter, only 12 or 15 as it doesn’t decompose as it goes.
I can empty the full bucket in compost bins four or five times as it reduces quickly.
In autumn, I incorporate the content of the compost bin into the hot compost. At this stage, we cannot tell what it is. I make layers of leaves, mulch, a bit of biochar, our cold compost, bokashi, straw, alternating fresh (nitrogen rich) and dry (carbon rich) layers.
The layered compost is watered, often by rain this autumn season, then covered.
Temperature will reach 70 degrees C. It smokes in the morning. All baddies are transformed in goodies by wonderful nature.
In spring, the pile is 1/3 of the initial height, all nicely decomposed, used in the garden.
For commercial use in the garden, a second turn of the compost and another season are practiced, I think. Any precision on that?
Abundant garden potager, fed yearly with our home compost
2 bags of biochar, enough for a year
Even in a small garden, it’s possible (In my previous urban garden, I had hidden it in a corner, with a few planks and a frost cloth!)
I find it rewarding to close the loop!➰🌏💧🐞💖
I hope I’ve inspired you to do your own dry toilet. Post your experience or problems in the Comments below, we may find solutions together.
What do we want? CLIMATE ACTION! When do we want it? NOW!
Following and chanting in the Wanaka Climate March on Friday 5 April behind my ex-students (feeling very proud of them!), I reflected on MY climate actions. Here they are, small steps in all aspects of life…
These are actions one person can do at home in their lives. I share these ideas to inspire. I would love to know what you already do to mitigate climate change and enhance biodiversity. Let’s save the planet together, because “We have to“, says Janet Goodall in her Book of Hope.
“Halve our emissions by 2030…”
“…And halve that again by 2040“, says local climate scientist Carly Green. For a long time, I have been looking at my emissions and phasing out fossil fuels and embedded carbon, in plastics, transport, chemicals, consumption, energy, land management, food…
Solar panels, gardens, lots of trees, beautiful and relaxing
So here is a list of changes I and we have done over time, in no particular order.
Plastic and waste
For years, I stopped single use plastic, always carrying bags and cups. If I forget my cup, I don’t get a single use cup: I either sit and have my drink there, or I don’t have any. Then I don’t forget anymore. When shopping, we are phasing out plastic items, always choosing the non-packaged, wood, bamboo, hemp or cardboard option and this is still ongoing. We refill the same plastic pockets for bulk nuts, lentils, etc. No gladwrap here! Instead we have a bunch of beeswax food wraps, reused and reused. We are not zero waste, yet: Our rubbish bin goes out every two months, our recycling once a month approximately. I make our crackers, bread, etc, to avoid plastic but we still have plant milk cartons. I separate and recycle soft plastics and tetra packs.
I have campaigned the Council for years so they use a chip in the wheelie bins to count people’s waste and practice the Polluter Pays Principle rather than a blanket rate for waste that enables, therefore encourages people to fill a whole wheelie bin of rubbish every week.
I have lived in Wanaka for 20 years, raising my family. I have been involved in several local community groups and initiatives. Green drinks, Transition Towns, Kapa Haka, Mac Team Green, 2015 Climate March, Local Food Wanaka, Plastic Free Wanaka, Friends of Wanaka Wastebusters, Te Kakano, a lot of fun really. I have now retired from all these community involvements but I continue nature advocacy at the local Council level and wholeheartedly admire WAO, WAI and Grow Wanaka work for nature and community education.
Transport
In 2015, I swapped my car to a Prius and had hybrid vehicles since. It means, I have halved my fuel consumption all this time and I halved my fuel bills too. Now with an ebike, all local trips are solar and muscle powered. And I love it, smiling away like a teenager on their moped, just silent and more careful! We make sure our activities and hobbies are not carbon intensive. We have decided to halved our travels, nationally and overseas. This hurts a bit but ethically, I had to! Now, we plan ahead and will stay “there” a bit longer. Many people tell us the planes fly anyway. Of course, until many people also halve their travels and there will be twice less planes. Electric planes are coming up so that will ease emissions of national transports.
With panniers for shopping and mirror for safety
Chemical free
Chemicals are made from fossil fuels, they are polluting and bad for health. So I have always chosen chemical free soaps, creams, cleaning products… Skin Deep database has been helpful to identify the risks of cosmetics. Reading the labels and googling it is helpful too. Making my own oils and cleaning products (easy) is even better. Likewise, we don’t use synthetic chemicals in the garden, fertilisers nor pest/weed sprays, instead we use natural soil enhancers, a lot generated on the land, compost, comfrey tea, etc. To support agriculture without chemicals, I am buying organic as often as possible.
Energy
We are nearly off the grid. This is important because 20% of NZ electricity still comes from fossil fuels. We initially installed 10 solar panels, then a few years later, another 10 panels and a year later, a battery. Over the years, we have swapped all our tools to electric versions. As powerful, lighter, not smelly, not noisy. Our latest car drives 55km on a charge, which is sufficient for most of our trips. It feels good to be powered by the sun and our electricity company owes us money! We have also reduced our own energy use. There are lots of ways to do that: short showers, lights and standby off, replacing bulbs with led, heating the oven for all the baking at once, putting on a jumper instead of a heater, just being mindful of energy, we are energy too, we can tune in…
The solar panels return on investment is immediate! If you have $10K in the bank and put them on the roof, the next bill is $100 cheaper, that’s equivalent of a 12% interest rate! Oh! and it’s so easy to install with local solar pioneer Wanaka Solar and it feels so good to cook, shower, travel, work with the sun!
Several NZ banks now offer a zero% interest loan on solar panels so you can reimburse with the gains.
Rewiring NZ reports that households can save money and also significantly reduce their emissions by electrifying their appliances and vehicles. Let’s ride the ‘electrification tipping point’ together!
In gratitude and awe with the Sun and nature, thank you.
Consume less
For years, I have reduced my consumption, asking myself if I really need it before I buy it, always looking at Wastebusters first and we repair stuff. It’s fun and also cheaper! I am content with what I have, I don’t want more, I prefer simplicity. Granted it doesn’t contribute to the “economy”, it is about degrowth, but degrow we must to come back within the Planetary Boundaries.
A simple way to stop contributing to climate change is to divest my own money from being invested in the fossil fuel industries. I checked the MindFul Money comparison tool and made sure my money is in a bank 100% not invested in fossil fuel, and divested my kiwisaver too. The returns are excellent and it feels good.
Clearly GDP is not a good indicator of progress: disasters creates reconstruction jobs, sickness creates a medical industry, crime creates lots of security devices, war is fostering weapon industry, all tallying up in the GDP. When the economy contracts (0.3% in the last month in NZ), economists, businesses and people freak out, they fear of lacking so they accumulate as much as they can, in case of a rainy day. Thereby creating a rainy day! In fact, it is best for the climate and the planet if we are buying less stuff, making less stuff, working less, needing less. The best policy the government could do is to accompany recession to soften the impacts. A universal salary is a good start, then people would no longer fear lacking. I personally feel I have enough and it is not luck, it is a conscious choice. To me, having “enough” is better than wanting “more”. Another way to look at economics is the Doughnut concept (really good presentation of the Doughnut in NZ here): putting people and the planet first, decoupling economic growth from carbon use, investing in clean technologies, putting the economy back in its role as a tool not an end. Dunedin Council started in 2020 and is going for it (see ODT article here). The Happiness Index seems more holistic, fair, relevant and climate-friendly too. Maybe Confucius said: “Live simply and happy“. No he didn’t! But it is true.
Land management
Here is how we manage our land in harmony with nature to enhance biodiversity, on our 2.5 hectares just on the outskirts of a growing town:
planting hundreds of different trees, creating an arboretum. No monoculture here!
the park is not mowed, lawns are only cut around the house and on footpaths. The uncut uneaten grass grows and dies back every year, absorbing carbon, becoming a sponge, regenerating the land and now a home to insects, birds and skinks.
the whole property is cared for without chemicals and without fossil fuels (electric tools, incl. the lawn mower are charged with solar panels)
we share the land: the park is open to the public as part of guided garden tours and the land is shared with another household in a tiny house. And we share the story and how-to as part of the garden tours and Regenerative Lifestyle classes.
Good for the bees, and beautiful too
Food
Food has one of the biggest impact on the climate. In the Drawdown, Solution 3 is “reduced food waste”, solution 4 is “plant based diet”, silvopasture and regenerative agriculture are close behind. Reducing consumption of meat, milk, cheese, and butter are a critical way to reduce our carbon footprint.
I have never been a big meat eater and became vegetarian since my pledge at the first Wanaka school strike for climate March in 2019. And I love it, I feel more healthy. Now, meat production looks unnatural and unethical to me. Fish? Oceans are in crisis so I let the fish replenish. No loss there.
Climate friendly food is a variety of cereal, with lots of vegetables and fruit everyday, a dose of beans or other protein, with a dollop of seeds, a handful of nuts. Simple, healthy, delicious, affordable and allegedly better for the planet too. Planet friendly food is also:
seasonal (cheaper too),
as local and organic as possible (less transport km, no chemicals which embed a lot of carbon and pollute),
not processed, as most processes require energy, degrades the food wholesomeness and comes with packaging. So I make our bread, muffins, juices, etc.
not peeled for all the goodness and fiber (only if organic),
not cooked long (also saves energy),
without fat (easier to wash the dishes, using less water and hardly no dishwashing liquid),
hardly any salt nor sugar (better for health too)
leftovers are reused or frozen.
all the peelings goes to bokashi or compost, without the fruit sticker!
It is important to read the ingredients to avoid chemicals and ban palm oil.
Lots of vegetables, many from the garden
A report published in 2010 by Ella Lawton and R. Vale concluded that in remote areas like Wanaka, the biggest difference we can make is to grow our own food. So we do. Not all of it, but more and more and it is fun. Grow Wanaka Community gardens is a great place to start and learn, as well as the Wanaka Vegetable Growers club.
Action to hope
Do these little things make a difference? Yes they do! All the plastic I haven’t bought and discarded, all the petrol I haven’t consumed, for years… I adds up. I have calculated our household carbon footprint with this tool https://www.futurefit.nz/ and it turns out, we are emitting less than the “target”!
We are nonetheless continuing to reduce our waste, energy, consumption, travel and planting more trees, because we love it.
I act to keep hope, I feel the need to share my vision of the world and climate friendly practices. So I am advocating online (Twitter, Regenerative Wanaka and in this blog), in submissions, in climate marches, in community speeches… I love to share solutions, positive actions, no grumble, no judgement, we are together in these crises on one planet. It’s my hobby! I continuously learn more about nature (trees are incredible!!)
Most importantly, we spend a lot of time in the garden, not only to grow our own food, plant a lot of trees and plants adding diversity and beauty, but also to enjoy nature. Connecting with nature, trees, peace, calm, simplicity, I think this is the key, nature changes us.
Relax, do and eat less, be and love more.
Many things that many people can do, if they choose to. It’s no hardship, it’s caring, it’s loving. Because I love nature, because I love children. It is a little effort, a focus, like we attend to our children. I hope I gave you some ideas and inspiration. I believe all these little actions make a difference for the climate and the planet, therefore young people and future generations.
What do you think? What are your climate actions? What are you ready to change ?
I enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Sustainable practice in 2010 and I have finally graduated! I did not have to wear the black graduation cap but instead was offered this amazing pounamu / greenstone that connects me to the Earth and gives me strength to care for her. A mandate, a mission!
This is my final presentation, summarizing my years learning in 10 minutes!
The most interesting part of my studies has been the development of the Yellow Blue Park concept. A public/private partnership contract has been signed in December and a task force is being set up in January to implement it.
I now feel ready and skilled to help businesses or organisations who-want-to-but-are-not-sure-how-to embrace sustainability. Exciting times ahead!
Regenerative Livestyle Blog 