GS report - final appendices · • offering help and advice to householders through the Green Gardener, Green Plumber and Eco‐ Design Advisor services; ... Invite a stranger round

91

Appendix 1: Map of participating Streets 2010‐12

Te Roto Rd, 2010/11

Alexander Rd, 2011/12 Avion Tce, 2010/11

Rainbow Ct, 2010/11 Grange Park Ave, 2011/12

‘Kakariki St’, 2010/11 Wellington Rd, 2011/12

To Wellington

To Levin

92

The Kāpiti Coast District Council has adopted sustainable development as a basic building block

of the Long Term Plan. Sustainable development is about the way things are done, as well as a

vision for the future. It is a way of ensuring the continued social, cultural, economic and

environmental wellbeing of the community. More information about the Council’s sustainability‐

related activities can be found on its website at www.kapiticoast.govt.nz

Caring for the environment

Kāpiti Coast District Council is a winner when it comes to sustainability. In 2011 we won the ‘Central and

Local Government Stepping Up’ category in the Ministry for the Environment’s prestigious Green

Ribbon Awards. The awards are to

recognise “the outstanding contributions

of individuals, organisations, businesses

and communities to protecting and

enhancing New Zealand’s environment.”

Some of those things include:

• installing a wood‐fired boiler to dry

sewage sludge and reduce carbon

emissions;

• upgrading pensioner homes with insulation and solar water heating systems;

• holding an annual ‘Sustainable Home and Garden Show’ to promote environmentally friendly

lifestyles;

• supporting the Clean Technology Centre New Zealand, based in Ōtaki;

• providing grants and practical help to community groups, schools, businesses and individuals doing

good things for the environment;

• offering help and advice to householders through the Green Gardener, Green Plumber and Eco‐

Design Advisor services;

• encouraging sustainable development through innovative planning policies, including Plan Change

75, which requires new homes to have grey water systems and/or rainwater tanks;

• prioritising environmental sustainability and resilience as part of council’s economic development

plans; and

• encouraging sustainable transport through extending walkways and cycle ways.

CEMARS® certification

Kāpiti Coast District Council has been CEMARS certified since 2012. CEMARS

certification (Certified Emissions Measurement And Reduction Scheme)

tracks how we measure, manage and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

The scheme was developed by Landcare Research New Zealand and is the

first Green House Gas (GHG) certification scheme in the world to achieve

Appendix 2: Kāpiti Coast District Council’s commitment to sustainability

Solar arrays on Ōtaki pensioner housing.

93

international accreditation. We’ve chosen

to use the CEMARS certification to give

independent assurance that we are working

to minimise our impacts on climate change.

Coastal Management

The management of Kāpiti’s stunning

coastline is an understandably important

issue for residents. The Kāpiti Coast:

Choosing Futures – Community Outcomes

shows that the community wants a

comprehensive, integrated approach to coastal management – rather than just protection – which

treats the coast as an ecosystem to be managed as a whole.

Therefore, a comprehensive Coastal Strategy looking at the coast in its entirety was developed in

2006. This strategy is not a detailed plan of action but a guiding document which aims to ensure that

our community's vision to restore and enhance the wild and natural feel of the coast is achieved.

Restoring the environment

The Kāpiti Coast has an attractive natural

environment with a diverse range of natural

ecosystems for people to experience and

enjoy. But this appealing landscape and

relaxed lifestyle can have adverse effects as

our population increases and the pressures

of development grow.

The Council seeks to protect and support

biodiversity through regulation, local

projects, and working with other agencies.

The Council engages in its own projects on

public land, supporting private landowners,

and assisting community environmental groups with their activities. We also work closely with other

government agencies like the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Greater Wellington Regional

Council (GWRC), and not‐for‐profit groups like QE II National Trust, on a wide range of projects across the

district.

In addition to the Green Ribbon award, our work to protect biodiversity was honored with a New

Zealand Plant Conservation Network Award in 2010. Winning the ‘Local Authority’ category, the Council

took its place among a diverse group of plant conservation champions, described as New Zealand’s

“leading guardians” of the country’s native plants. The award made specific mention of the Council’s

progressive direction towards preserving and improving local biodiversity.

One of the great success stories of our District is the commitment of local people to environmental

restoration. The number of environmental restoration groups in the district increased from 13 in 2005

Dune restoration project.

94

to 20 in 2009, reflecting a dramatic rise in the number of people wanting to do voluntary environmental

work. Some groups have embarked on ambitious projects to restore large areas such as the Waikanae

Estuary, the Ōtaki River and Whareroa farm in the South of the District.

Riparian Fund

The Riparian Fund is available to encourage better management of our waterways by preventing stock

access and the permanent retirement of riparian margins to allow the establishment of native

vegetation buffers. The area must be put into permanent retirement. Funding assistance is available for

a maximum 50% share of the total project cost and covers fencing, plant supply and weed control.

Green Services

Council provides a range of services to support environmentally sustainable living on the Kāpiti Coast.

More information is available at www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/greenservices

Sustainable home advice

Our free sustainable home advice service provides independent impartial information on sustainable,

intelligent and sensible residential building practices and is available to all Kāpiti residents including

home owners, families renting, community groups, designers/architects and trades people.

Our Eco Design Advisor will visit you and review your home, proposed alterations or new home plans.

The service includes advice on creating warmer drier healthier homes; reducing energy usage; home

design and layout; site selection and orientation; passive heating and cooling; improving indoor air

quality; efficient water usage; best material selection and minimising waste.

Free help to save water

The Water Conservation Advisor program is a Council service for residents who want to improve how

they use water without changing their

lifestyle. You will get a helping hand with small

leaks, a simple assessment of your water use

and professional advice on water

conservation. During this visit the advisor

will also show you how to read a water meter.

Sustainable gardening help

Our Green Gardener can help make your

garden bloom with less impact. The service

offers sustainable gardening advice for local

residents, community groups and schools.

Green Gardener visits and workshops are free.

Reducing waste and recycling

Kāpiti Coast District Council is committed to a policy of waste minimisation. The Waste Minimisation and

Services Officer provides advice and support where possible to schools and community groups

interested in waste minimisation. This has included providing curriculum units, assisting with the

E‐Day 2010.

95

establishment of composting facilities, advising Waste Reduction grant applicants, and supporting

Greenest Street participants with waste audits.

An annual round of Waste Reduction grants provides support for organisations and individuals actively

seeking to reduce waste in the community:

• Waste Levy Fund for Community Projects is available for projects which involve five or more

households and/or businesses or organisations active around waste reduction. Applications may

be made for projects which will lead to long term waste reduction actions by participants.

• Waste Levy Fund for New Technologies and Seed Funding is divided into two categories: Category

A is for new technologies and processes; Category B is for businesses using proven existing

technologies and processes.

Sustainable communities support

This is a practical programme that aims to help communities and local groups get their ideas for

environmentally sustainable living off the ground. The key focus for the programme is to help the

community take action in the areas of waste reduction; energy efficiency (home and transport); water

efficiency; biodiversity; and community resilience.

Rather than providing information or more general education, the coordinator will work directly with

people on their projects, drawing on specialist Council staff and contractors such as the Green Plumber,

Green Gardener and Eco‐Design Advisor and outside resources as necessary.

The co‐ordinator can work with people on

existing initiatives, or she can meet with

groups to consider sustainability actions

they may be interested in pursuing.

Enviroschools support

Enviroschools is a long term, holistic

programme for schools and pre‐schools

dedicated to sustainability of the

environment and communities.

In the Kāpiti Coast District, there are

currently five enviroschools committed to

a long term, whole school sustainability

journey. A number of other schools are connected to the network through cluster meetings and are also

doing great things for the environment at their schools. The Enviroschools service in the district is made

possible in part by the financial support of Kāpiti Coast District Council.

Reading lists

Kāpiti Coast District libraries have a list of books they hold on sustainable living and another on food

production, harvesting and preserving. They can be found at www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/

Sustainable%20Living.php

Raumati South Enviroschool keyhole garden built for Sustainable Home and Garden Show 2010.

96

Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street workshops and speakers

Enhancing biodiversity at your place Rob Cross, Council’s Biodiversity Advisor Biodiversity is the variety of all life forms on earth – the different plants, animals and micro-organisms and the ecosystems of which they are a part. You have more neighbours than you ever thought possible when you start to consider the diversity of life in your own backyards! Rob will give you some tips and ideas for creating local environments that support a rich and healthy network of species essential to creat-ing healthier communities for us all. Reducing Your Waste Simon Calcinai, Council’s Waste Minimisation Officer Invite a stranger round to go through your rubbish with you! In this workshop Simon will help you find ways to reduce and recycle your waste, including using a waste audit to look at how much and what you are really throwing out. Measure and marvel at your progress with a follow-up audit. This workshop is a great precursor to ‘Nutrient Recycling’ with the Green Gardener, as knowing the com-position of your organic waste will help you decide the best composting system for your household. Sustainable and Waterwise Gardening Advice Hannah Zwartz, Council’s Green Gardener Community Visits - get together five or more friends or neighbours for FREE advice on planting, shelter, irrigation, fruit trees, rainwater/greywater systems or other gardening issues. Workshops - formal 2-hour workshops are available on a range of topics. These would usually cost $50 but each group of Greenest Street participants can request THREE FREE WORKSHOPS. Other work-shops aside from those listed can also be developed, e.g. shelter.

Nutrient recycling (compost, worm farming and liquid manure) Building a biodigester: What do you do with pernicious weeds that can't be composted (like wander-

ing willie, convolvulus, oxalis and kikuyu)? Find out how to liquefy them and transform them into mineral-rich fertiliser using a simple double-barrelled bio-digester made from two plastic drums.

Crop rotation and companion planting Seed sowing Basic permaculture design Basic seed saving (best in autumn) Green manures, mulch and no-dig (usually autumn) Fruit pruning/companions (winter) Top ten herbs for Kāpiti Seasonal crops (i.e. spring - greens, peas; summer - tomatoes, pumpkins etc; autumn - broad beans

and peas; winter - garlic) Growing plants from cuttings Natural pest and disease control Growing great citrus

Online advice is available at www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/greenservices (then see ‘garden advice’).

Phone advice is free - call the Council Service Centre on 296 4700 or 0800 486 486. Regular slots in the Observer every second Thursday, on Beach FM 106.3 every second Thursday at 11.30am, and in the e-bulletin On To It (subscribe through the Council website). Harvesting Your Greywater Ben Thompson, Council’s Water Use Coordinator Want to irrigate your trees and lawn while conserving water? Create a resource from your laundry and

Appendix 3: ‘Greenest Street’ workshops, 2011/12

97

shower/bath greywater. Ben will discuss the elements of an effective and safe greywater system and possi-ble models. Build Your Own Rain Barrels Ben Thompson, Council’s Water Use Coordinator Would you like to save rainwater from your roof for use on your garden? Come and see a simple 240L rainwater catchment system being set up, using recycled plastic barrels and commonly-available plumb-ing materials. Written instructions provided. Making Your Home Warmer, Drier and Healthier Richard Morrison, Council’s Eco-Design Advisor Get FREE advice in your home. Make smarter, more informed decisions about your home so it’s warmer, drier and healthier for you and your family all year round. Measures suggested will range from simple and free to the more complex. Richard also meets with groups to discuss common issues in New Zealand homes and answer your ques-tions. To find out more about this FREE impartial advice and book your home review, ring Richard on 04, 296 4651. Getting To School The Alternative Way Brent Cherry, Council’s School Travel Planner Meet Brent, the energetic person who can encourage, guide and inspire the families in your community to use sustainable transport alternatives for getting to school (walking, cycling and carpooling). He can work through the options and issues with you, bringing ideas, problem-solving skills and some great resources to encourage the kids to get involved. Brent’s focus is on finding solutions that work for your community and your kids – whether they’re 6 or 16. Controlling Pest Animals Glen Falconer, Greater Wellington Regional Council As a Greater Wellington biosecurity officer, Glen can talk to you about common pest animals in your ar-eas, their effects and the best methods for controlling them. What’s a co-op and how do I get one? Natasha Robertson and friends Co-operatives take many forms, but in this case Tash is part of two co-ops on the Kapiti Coast in which members have banded together to purchase organic food at wholesale prices – one for dry goods and one for fresh fruit and vegetables. She can give you the lowdown on her extensive experience of the benefits, work involved, pitfalls, systems and structures. Keeping Bees Andrew Beach, President of Wellington Beekeepers’ Association Andrew is based on the Kapiti Coast and can provide an introduction to getting started with beekeeping. He can also discuss the support and assistance available through the Beekeeper’s Association. Building a Solar Cooker Geoff Benge, 04) xxx xxxx, geoff@xxxxxxx Geoff and his offsider, Clyde Lambourne, won the People’s Choice Award for Most Sustainable Site at the 2011 Sustainable Home and Garden Show. Geoff makes solar cookers and is keen to help those who would like to try building their own. Solar cookers work like a slow cooker but they use the sun’s light – no power bill, no pollution, no hot kitchen. Great for summer, for camping, at the bach, or in a civil de-fence situation.

Appendix 3 cont’d.

98

Eco-Cleaners Kylie Jurgensen, [email protected] When Kylie buys household cleaning products she has a simple list: baking soda, borax, washing soda, Sunlight soap, white vinegar, and eucalyptus or tea tree oil. Find out how to make her tried-and-true household cleaners using these simple, eco-friendly ingredients. Installing an electricity monitor Jake Roos, Council’s Climate Change and Energy Advisor The Council has been loaned a set of 12 electricity monitors by Hikurangi Foundation and Tauranga En-vironment Centre. See a demonstration installation of a real-time digital electricity monitor. Find out how much power you’re using hourly, daily or weekly, how much individual appliances are drawing, and what it’s all costing you. Save power and $$ by borrowing a monitor for your own home. Installing eco-downlights Do you have lots of stylish recessed downlights? Would you like to replace them with compact florescent lights (aka. eco-bulbs)? The Council has a supply of eco-downlights for you to try out for FREE follow-ing a demonstration by a friendly electrician showing you how to fit eco-downlights into existing downlight cavities. Save $$ on your electricity bill.


99

Appendix 4: Quarter‐page ad for local newspapers, August 2010

100

Appendix 5: Competition promotion in On To It

101


102

Appendix 6: Competition promotion in Kapiti Observer, 2010

103

Appendix 7: Entry deadline extension for competition round 1, September 2010

104

Competition Rules and Entry Form

Introduction Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street Competition 2010/11 is intended to enthuse and assist groups of neighbours to work together, make friends and have fun while they go on a journey as a community to reduce their environmental footprint, be more self-sufficient and enhance the place where they live. The competition is being run by Kāpiti Coast District Council.

Prize The competition participants from the winning street will receive win a cash prize that will be split 3 ways – one third to a charity of their choice, one third to a local school, and one third free choice for the street to spend communally. The amount of prize money will depend partly on sponsorship, but as a minimum it will be NZ$3,000.

Who can enter Any grouping of ten or more households in the same locality (in a built up area this is defined as where no property is more than 50 metres from at least one other in the group, but can be further for rural communities), can register interest. If the households in the grouping are located on more than one street but meet the locality requirement they will still be consid-ered. We will consider groups with less than 10 households or spaced further apart if enough groups that meet these criteria cannot be found.

Registering interest Registrations of interest will be taken starting mid August 2010. The deadline for registrations of interest will be 30 Septem-ber 2010. A street will need to show they have their community on board and have held at least one meeting, demonstrating support and a basic level of organisation. Acceptable evidence are the names, addresses and signatures for each of the par-ticipating households, and the minutes of the meeting. They will also need to answer the questions on the entry form. From the registrations of interest, up to five streets (or groups) will be chosen by council officers to participate fully in the competition. The criteria for this selection will be based partly on answers given on the entry form, which seek to learn about the group’s capabilities and motivation, and partly on the basis of having a good spread of participating groups from across the district. The decision of the Council in this regard will be final and no further discussion or correspondence will be en-tered into.

Competition launch Council officers will help organise a launch event for each street in spring where a street’s current state and resources and will be reviewed, and the participants will do ‘environmental footprint’ questionnaires (http://www.myfootprint.org/en/) to gauge their current impact on the environment.

Ongoing support Over the course of the competition the streets/groups will have access to assistance from council experts and others on how they can reduce their footprints and how their ideas for the street itself can be made into reality. The Council will seek to provide assistance equitably between the streets/groups, while at the same time being responsive to reasonable requests for help. Expert assistance on gardening, water conservation, energy conservation, travel planning, bio-diversity, surface water management, waste and recycling will be available.

Promotion The streets will be encouraged to use free web resources (e.g. Facebook, YouTube) to promote what they are doing and this

Enter Now ‐ Be the Greenest Street on the

Appendix 8: ‘Competition Rules and Entry Form’, 2010/11

105

material will be linked from a competition webpage. A high public profile will be kept up through a variety of other media including press releases and magazine articles. The Council’s annual Sustainable Home and Garden Show on 26-27 March 2011 will be another opportunity for the streets/groups to showcase what they are doing.

Judging panel The judging panel will be five people, a combination of councillors, council officers, and other trusted and well known public figures. The judging panel will be announced over the course of the competition.

The final weekend There will be a second environmental footprinting round at the end of the competition to measure improvement. On the final weekend of the competition (sometime in June or July 2011) the judges will tour each of the streets on Saturday. On the next day (Sunday) there will be a final ‘wrap’ event in the form of a family-friendly party in the afternoon where the streets will make their final presentation (their choice as to the format they use), the judges will make a final decision and the winning street will be announced. They will have the title of ‘Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street 2011’

Judging criteria The Streets will be judged based on • 30% for the proportion by which they reduce their collective environmental footprint; • 30% for the absolute size of their average footprint at the end of the competition; • 30% for what they achieve as a community – how well they have worked together, involved people and made the most of their skills and resources; 10% points for ‘green’ actions as a Street or within their individual households not covered by the footprint questionnaire.

The judges’ decision will be final and no further discussion will be entered into.

Participant’s obligations By agreeing to take part in the competition, the participants (i.e. all members of each group) agree to complete environmental footprint questionnaires as honestly and accurately as possible at the beginning of the competition and at the end, in a timely fashion. Representatives (being some or all) of each grouping will: • Co-operate with the Council to organise a launch event where the street and participating households will be briefly toured by the competition organisers. • Liaise with council officers regularly (once every 1-2 months) to keep them informed of their progress and help promote the competition to the wider public. • Attend the Sustainable Home and Garden Show on 26 - 27 March 2011 to promote the competition. The exact form of the competition’s presence at the show is to be determined, but the streets/groups are likely to be given the choice of how to use the event to promote sustainability and what they are doing. • Co-operate with the judging panel to arrange a visit by them to the street/locality at the end of the competition. Attend the closing event of the competition and make a final presentation (open format) about their group’s journey through the competition to the judges and assembled audience. This will be held sometime in June or July 2011.

If the groups/participants fail to meet these obligations, the competition organisers reserve the right to disqualify them. Contacts: Jake Roos Stacey Gasson Senior Advisor Climate Change and Energy Sustainable Neighbourhoods Coordinator Te Kaitohutohu Matua Pūtaiao DDI: 04 2964846, Fax: 04 2964830 DDI: 04 296 4700 [email protected] [email protected] www.kapiticoast.govt.nz


106

Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street Competition 2010/11

Registration of Interest/Entry Form Please give the name of street/locality that you would like to use to describe your group of households: Please give two main contacts for the group:

Please attach: Map of locality with properties marked (ask the Council if you need help with this). A list of participating households with addresses names and signatures (use sheet on the next page). Minutes of your group’s meeting, including the date, venue, names of attendees and details of any decisions made (such as

how the group will be organised). A description of your street/locality and community in your own words (limit 200 words). A statement of what your street would like to achieve by being part of the competition (limit 200 words). Send your completed registration of interest to: Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street Competition C/o Jake Roos Kāpiti Coast District Council Private Bag 60601 Paraparaumu 5254 Please ensure your entry gets to us by 30 September 2010

Name 1:

Address:

Phone numbers:

Email:

Name 2:

Address:

Phone numbers:

Email:


107

Par

ticip

atin

g H

ouse

hold

s

P

artic

ipat

ing

Hou

seho

lds

cont

’d

Gro

up N

ame:

Hou

seho

ld c

onta

ct p

erso

n O

ther

mem

bers

of h

ouse

hold

A

ddre

ss

Phon

e Si

gnat

ure


108

Appendix 9: FAQ Sheet to accompany ‘Competition Rules and Entry Form’, 2011/12

Welcome to Kapiti Coast’s Greenest Street competition 2011-12

What is it? Kapiti Coast’s Greenest Street competition is a nine-month competition between streets from across the District. They compete to be the ‘Greenest’ with the help of the Council. How does it work? Groups of neighbours (‘Streets’) measure their environmental footprints (i.e. their impacts) at the beginning and end of the nine-month competition. In between they work together to reduce their impacts. What is an Environmental Footprint? An environmental footprint is a way of measuring how much of the Earth’s resources we each take up. It considers all different elements of our lives and expresses them as the land area (global hectares) needed to support them. Footprints can also be expressed as ‘Earths’ - the number of Planet Earth’s needed if all the world’s 6.5 billion peo-ple had the same impact as the person in question. Why is it important? There are huge differences in footprint around the world and between individuals, and the impacts are often felt most by those least responsible for them. The world average footprint is 1.5 Earths, but we only have one! So to be sustainable in the long term we need to live within the Earth’s capacity to produce resources and absorb pollution, and share this capacity more equitably. How will our footprints be measured? The Council is working with The New Zealand Footprint Project - from 2010-2013 Otago Polytechnic and Victoria University are partnering in a project to better understand the Ecological Footprint of New Zealand communities. The three year project will provide knowledge and tools, essential for guiding policies and practices for sustainable settlement development, on lowering the ecological footprints that make up human living patterns. The project will work alongside four communities, two in Otago and two in Auckland, to increase their understanding of their im-pacts, and then facilitate strategies for decreasing their footprint. We have previously used a U.S. footprint quiz to measure participants’ impacts but were looking for a tool that was better tailored to the New Zealand situation. Thus we are using the Footprinting Project's quiz which is in the final stages of being developed. The benefits of this are that we have a more locally-appropriate measurement tool and can assist the development of the quiz by using it with community groups who are engaging with the kinds of is-sues the Project is exploring. How is it judged? The judging criteria and weighting is as follows: • 20% for the proportion by which the Street reduce their collective environmental footprint; • 30% for the absolute size of their average footprint at the end of the competition; • 40% for what they achieve as a community – how well they have worked together, involved people and

made the most of their skills and resources; the streets’ summary and the judges’ tour are the final opportu-nity for streets to communicate this to the judges and improve their score in this area.

• 10% points for ‘green’ actions people have done within their individual households not covered by the foot-print questionnaire. (NB: Council reserves the right to reduce amount of weight given to this category subject to a review of the footprinting methodology).

109

The sections relating to footprint size are decided purely by comparing the initial and final footprint sizes. The other sections are decided by a panel of judges: Mayor Jenny Rowan, Joy Darke, Liana Stupples, Robert Glensor and Brenda Vale. What’s the prize? Making friends, building a stronger community, helping the environment and $3,000! The participants from the winning street will receive a cash prize that will be split three ways – one third to a charity of their choice, one third to a local school, and one third free choice for the street to spend communally. Communities who make strong bonds improve their quality of life and can pool resources to help each other through tough times. Being more self-sufficient reduces environmental impacts and improves disaster-readiness and resilience. Based on previous experiences, participating streets can expect to gain new skills and friendships and an improved local social life! If you don’t know your neighbours already, www.neighboursday.org.nz has some great suggestions for taking that first, second and subsequent step! What support is available? Over the course of the competition the streets will have access to assistance from council experts and others on how they can reduce their footprints and how their ideas for the street itself can be made into reality. Expert assistance on gardening, water conservation, energy conservation, travel planning, bio-diversity, surface water management, waste and recycling will be available. Resource folders will also be given to streets to provide inspiration and an extensive list of online ideas and resources is available at http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Our-District/greenest-street/ The Sustainable Communities Coordinator is available to assist Streets in practical ways, including assistance with planning and implementing initiatives, finding skilled people who may be able to help…. And you can find plenty of good ideas and interesting reading in the blogs of previous competing streets: ‘Kakariki Street’, Paekakariki - www.kakarikistreet.wordpress.com Rainbow Court, Raumati South – www.rainbowcourt.wordpress.com Avion Terrace, Raumati Beach – www.avionterrace.wordpress.com Te Roto Road, Ōtaki – www.terotootaki.blogspot.com What if households want to enter or withdraw after the start of the competition? If individual households wish to enter the competition after it has commenced (e.g. having moved into the street), council officers will make a judgement as to whether it is too late to measure their initial footprint. If this is the case, they may submit a final footprint which will be included in the absolute size category, but not the proportional reduction. Participants who do not submit a final footprint by the date specified will be considered to have with-drawn from the competition. Key dates: Competition launch / meet the judges 9 October 2011 Sustainable Home & Garden Show (each street will have a display in a shared tent) 24 - 25 March 2012 Summaries of activities due mid-June 2012 Final footprinting June 2012 Judges final tour Saturday in late June 2012 Prizegiving Sunday in late June 2012


110

Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street Environmental Footprinting Quiz Adapted from www.myfootprint.org

First, we need a little information from you. Your name:_________________________________________ Today’s date:____________ Address:______________________________________________________________________ 1. How many people live in your household? 1 2 3 4 5 or more 2. What is your annual household income (NZ$)? See note for Annual household income. $ 38,399 or less $ 38,400 - $ 76,749 $ 76,750 - $ 115,129 $ 115,130 - $ 153,499 $ 153,500 or more

Now, we will estimate your carbon footprint. Your carbon footprint is the area needed to absorb carbon emissions generated by your home energy use and transportation. 3. What best describes the climate zone you live in? If you are not sure, the dominant climate for your country is already selected. See note for Energy use and climate zones.

Temperate or Mediterranean (like New York, Rome, Buenos Aires or Hong Kong)

4. What is the size of your home? Include garage, sleep-out, workshop etc. but not sheds. 50 - 100 square meters or less (apartment or studio) 100 – 150 square meters (small home, approximately 2-3 bedrooms) 150 - 200 square meters (average home, approximately 3 bedrooms) 200 - 250 square meters (large home, approximately 4 bedrooms) 250 square meters or larger (very large home)

5. What energy sources do you use in your home? Please check all that apply. Electricity Natural gas, propane, or liquefied petroleum gas Heating oil Wood or biomass

6. If your house uses electricity, what percentage is generated from renewable hydropower, wind, biomass, or solar sources? See note for Energy sources. _____________%

Appendix 10: Hardcopy of the Ecological Footprinting Quiz used in 2010/11

111

7. Please enter the number of kilometers you travelled in the last 12 months for each mode of trans-portation. Automobiles, including personal vehicles and taxis _____________ km Bus, including metro and long distance service _____________ km Rail, including subways, inner-city light rail, cross country trains _____________ km Air travel _____________ km

7a. What best describes the vehicle you most often drive or ride in? A hybrid A small or compact car (2 door) A mid size car (4 door sedan) A large car (including vans and minivans) A pickup truck or sport utility vehicle (SUV)

7b. Do you usually share rides with at least one other person? (Do not include ‘taxi’-type jour-neys when considering your answer e.g. school run) Yes No

8. Below is a list of energy saving features and energy saving habits. Please check all that apply. See note for Small lifestyle changes make a big difference. Energy saving features. See notes for Energy saving features. Compact fluorescent bulbs Energy efficient appliances Extra insulation Insulating curtains Solar panels Draught-proofing Hot water saving fixtures (i.e. aerating taps, shower heads)

Energy saving habits Turn off lights when leaving rooms Turn off appliances at wall when not in use Turn off computers and monitors when not in use Dry clothes outside whenever possible Keep internal temperature relatively low in winter (i.e. 20°C or less) Minimal use of power equipment when landscaping


112

9. What best describes where your home is located? See note for Sprawl and climate change Inner city Older suburb Newer suburb Rural

10. Have you purchased offsets for carbon emissions associated with your home energy use and transportation? See note for Carbon offsets. Yes No

Next, we estimate your food footprint. Your food footprint includes the area needed to grow crops, fish, and graze animals and absorb carbon emissions from food processing and transport. 11. What best describes your diet? See note for My diet and my footprint. Vegan – Plant based foods only Vegetarian – Primarily plant based foods, but some dairy Omnivore – An assortment of meat, seafood, vegetables, dairy, and grains Carnivore – Meat, seafood, and dairy several times a week Top of the food chain – Meat, seafood, or dairy at almost every meal

12. Where do you obtain most of your food? See note for food miles, packaging and where I shop (tick only one!) Farmers markets, gardens, cooperatives, and other local and fresh sources Natural foods markets Supermarkets for some items, natural food stores and/or local and fresh sources for others Supermarkets, convenience stores, and prepared foods from restaurants Restaurants, fast foods, and take out

13. How often do you select foods that are certified organic or sustainably produced? Most of the time Sometimes Almost never

14. Which choice best describes how much you normally eat? One large meal and a couple of light snacks per day Two large meals and two or three light or medium sized snacks per day Three large meals and several hefty sized snacks in between

15. Do you have a garden or share one to grow your own vegetables and herbs? See note for The growing importance of community gardens and local food.

Yes → What is the approximate size of your garden plot? ___________sq meters No


113

The next step is your housing footprint. Your housing footprint includes the area occupied by your home and the area needed to supply resources used in construction and household maintenance. 16. Which best describes your home? An estate, ranch or farm → write in land area _____________ m² A free standing single family house → write in land area _____________ m² A house or building with 4 or fewer units A small apartment building (5 - 20 units) A large apartment building (20+ units)

17. Was your home or any portion of it built with recycled materials, wood certified as sustainably harvested, or any other green design features? See note for Green buildings. Yes No Not sure

18. Approximately what share of your home furnishings are second hand or made of either recycled or sustainably produced materials? Almost none A few A fair amount Almost all

19. Which water saving features and habits do you have in your home? Please check all that apply. See note for The footprint of water consumption. Water saving features Low flow toilets Low flow shower heads or taps Instant water heaters Rainwater catchment system Grey water recycling system Drought tolerant landscaping: mulching, building up soil, wind shelter, plant choice, low-water

lawn.

Water saving habits Compost rather than use garbage disposal Minimize shower time and toilet flushing Run clothes and dish washers only when full Wash cars rarely Look for and fix leaks regularly Avoid hosing down decks, walkways, driveways


114

20. How often do you select cleaning products that are biodegradable or non-toxic? See note for Why green cleaning products matter.

Almost never □ Sometimes □ Most of the time

Lastly, we estimate your goods and services footprint, which includes the area needed to supply consumer items you purchase and absorb carbon emissions from their manufacturing, transport, and disposal. 21. What best describes your spending and saving habits? I tend to spend all of my income and then some. I generally live within my means I am a frugal spender, and regularly save money for the future.

22. How often do you buy new things to replace old ones? See note for Planned obsolescence and our economic footprint. I tend to use things until I genuinely need to replace them. Some items I use for years, others I replace before I need to. I frequently replace belongings even if they are in good condition.

23. How many standard size garbage bins does your household fill each week? See note for Towards a zero-waste society. Rubbish bags (60L) Wheelie bin (240L)

Less than one □ One-third

One or two □ Two-thirds

Three or more □ One 24. What proportion of the following wastes do you recycle or re-use?

None A fair amount Almost all

Paper

Aluminum

Glass

Plastic

Electronics


115

25. When you buy clothing or paper products, how often do you select items labeled as recycled, natural, organic, or made of alternative fibers such as hemp or Tencel? Almost never Sometimes Almost always

Please put details here about things you want to tell us about that haven’t been covered adequately (or at all) by the quiz, e.g. do you keep chickens or bees, hunt pest animals such as deer, goats or possums, have double-glazing or solar panels etc.

__________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________

Your Footprint Result and National Averages (Jake & Stacey to fill in)

You NZ USA China Ethiopia

Carbon: _________ gHa 13.2 37.0 4.0 0.9 Food: _________ gHa 24.0 26.6 5.8 1.2 Housing: _________ gHa 7.0 12.8 2.0 0.2 Goods and Services: _________ gHa 13.4 23.4 5.7 0.1

TOTAL _________ gHa 57.6 99.8 17.5 2.3 _________ Earths 3.7 6.4 1.1 0.15

Admin notes


116

Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street Accompanying notes & instructions for environmental footprinting quiz, adapted from www.myfootprint.org

Annual household income This question is in here is purely to estimate environmental impact from discretionary spending, which relates to income to a degree. It's an imperfect method but there's no other simple way to estimate this, however there are questions later in the questionnaire on how you spend your money, which does refine it further. If some one really doesn’t want to answer this question, an estimate will be made using the relevant mesh block from the most recent Census data.

Energy use and climate zones Colder climates require more energy for heat and somewhat more for lighting and cooking. Hot and humid cli-mates, on the other hand, require more energy for cooling and refrigeration. It may not be immediately obvious which climate zones require more energy. Statistically, however, there is a strong correlation: the coldest areas re-quire the most energy. The choices above are ordered from most to least energy intensive.

Energy sources The Government gives the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources in 2009 as 72.5 %. Figures from current annual reports from the main energy suppliers in this region are as follows: Meridian Energy 100 % Contact Energy 62.3 % Genesis Energy 76 % TrustPower Limited 100 % Mercury Energy 91 % Pulse Energy# 100% Energy OnLine* 72.5 % Energy Direct* 72.5 % # Pulse Energy is not an energy generator, however they currently secure their generation from local, small scale, hydro developments; many of which are run-of-the-river. * Energy OnLine and Energy Direct are not energy generators – they buy your electricity from different generators, hence writing in the national average is your best guess.

Small lifestyle changes make a big difference. Many of us tend to ignore the small things we can do to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions because we don’t feel like we’re making a big difference. But small things add up. Energy efficient appliances use 2 to 10 times less energy for the same level of functionality. Line drying clothes saves 3 to 4 kilowatt hours per load – about 5 pounds of carbon dioxide. Compact fluorescent bulbs use four times less energy and last eight times longer than incandescent bulbs.

Energy saving features ‘Compact fluorescent lightbulbs’ means eco-bulbs in 75% or more of fittings. ‘Energy-efficient appliances’: Any two of fridge, freezer, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher and/or heat pumps with 3 or more stars qualifies as a tick. ENERGY STAR is the global mark of energy efficiency. Energy rating labels provide consumers with information on how much electricity an appliance uses in a year, plus a star rating to show how energy efficient it is. All new whiteware and heat pumps available for sale in New Zealand must display an energy rating label. ‘Extra insulation’: Any house which was built, or has had an EECA-grant standard insulation upgrade in the ceil-ing and under the floor, since 2000. The Building Code specifies minimum R values for floor, wall and ceilings. Different materials have different insulating properties and therefore need to be laid to different thicknesses to at-tain the required R-values.

Appendix 11: Guide Notes to accompany Footprinting Quiz 2010/11

117

Approximate R-values for different insulation materials: Wool insulation: 100mm-thick wool blanket or segment is 1.8 to 2.3. Loose fill: 150mm loose fill is 2.5 when applied at 15kg/m3. Polystyrene: 100mm-thick polystyrene is 2.5 to 3.0. Glass/mineral wool (includes Pink Batts): 100mm-thick glass or mineral wool insulation is 2.6. Paper-based loose fill: 100mm of paper-based loose fill is 2.5. Polyester: 100mm of polyester is 1.8 to 2. Reflective insulation: R values for reflective insulation can start from R 0.6, depending on air gaps and placement.

‘Draught proofing’: Aluminum windows or well-fitting wooden windows or draught strips on all wooden win-dows. Draught strips on all external doors.

Sprawl and climate change Carbon emissions are generally highest for households living in newer suburbs. This is because spread-out suburbs require far more energy per person for public infrastructure, housing, and both personal and commercial transporta-tion. Compact urban living is much less energy intensive. In rural areas, greater self reliance on local food, energy, and water resources and fewer short trips on congested roadways lead to lower energy requirements relative to sprawling suburbs.

Given that this question is about sprawl, rather than the age of the suburb per se, the relatively small size of Kāpiti however means that most participants could answer ‘older suburb’.

Carbon offsets A growing number of organizations are helping consumers calculate their carbon footprint and selling offsets that can make you, your car, or your entire household carbon neutral. Carbon offsets typically sell between $4 and $40 per metric ton of carbon dioxide depending upon the type of offset and its effectiveness. The money is invested in projects that reduce carbon emissions including renewable energy, forest protection, and energy efficiency projects endorsed by leading conservation organizations. If you have purchased carbon offsets for all your flights in the last year, this will count as a ‘yes’ in the quiz. And obviously, if you’ve calculated and offset all your carbon this is a ‘yes’ too.

My diet and my footprint A plant-based diet is significantly less land and energy intensive than a diet with a high proportion of meat, sea-food, and dairy. A recent study found that a low-fat vegetarian diet needs 0.18 hectares per person per year while a high-fat diet with lots of meat needs 0.85 hectares because animals need so much more room. And because meat

R values for light timber-framed homes Building Code minimum Better Practice Best Practice Zone 1 & 2 North Island excluding the Central Plateau

Roof R1.9 R2.6 R3.3 Walls R1.5 R2.1 R2.6

Floor R1.3 R1.9 R3.1

R values for solid construction homes Building Code minimum Better Practice Best Practice Zone 1 & 2 North Island excluding the Central Plateau

Roof R3.0 R3.5 R4.6 Walls R0.6 R1.6 R1.9

Floor R1.3 R1.9 R3.1

Source: New Zealand Standards 4218:1996 and 4244:2003


118

production drives deforestation and requires high inputs of energy for processing and transportation, it also comes with a high carbon footprint price tag. Globally, it has been estimated that up to 18% of all greenhouse gas emis-sions are associated with animal product consumption.

Food miles, packaging, and where I shop Two important variables affecting your food footprint are food miles (or miles to market) and the amount of proc-essing and packaging. If your food comes from far away – such as out of season produce imported from across the world – it requires lots of energy for transportation and refrigeration. If it is highly processed and comes in copious paper packaging, it puts a strain on forests. Buying fresh local foods from farmers markets and other locally owned sources or natural foods markets reduces these impacts.

The growing importance of community gardens and local food Transitioning from global to local food systems is one of the most important challenges in the era of peak oil, cli-mate change, and growing economic and political insecurity. Small scale food production at the local level relieves the enormous environmental impacts associated with industrial agriculture and is an essential source of nutrition for those in need. The Food Security Learning Center has found that community gardens – particularly those in under-served areas – address lack of access to fresh produce, making them a critical piece of a community's food security. One study estimates that home or community gardening can add US$500 to $1200 worth of produce per year to a family's diet – a big difference for low-income families.

Green buildings Green buildings significantly reduce demands for energy, water, and materials through ecologically sensitive siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal practices – the complete building life cycle. Passive so-lar heating, water efficient fixtures, recycled materials and other green design features can generate up to 30% in energy savings, reduce carbon emissions by 35%, reduce water use by 30 to 50% and save 50 to 90% in waste dis-posal costs.

The footprint of water consumption Fresh water consumed in households requires energy for both delivery and treatment. Household water use also takes water from other beneficial uses such as irrigation or in-stream flow for fish and wildlife. All of these impacts increase a household’s ecological footprint, so saving water is a key strategy for footprint reduction. It has been estimated that by installing water saving features and adopting water conservation habits such as those listed here, households can easily reduce their water footprint by 60% or more.

Why green cleaning products matter Products used to clean floors, carpets, bathrooms, and other building elements often contain harmful chemicals that can have serious human health effects and contaminate water supplies, fish, and wildlife if they are poured down drains, circulated through ventilation systems, or disposed of outdoors. Environmental damage can also occur dur-ing the development, manufacture, and transport of these products. Fortunately, biodegradable and non-toxic alter-natives can significantly reduce or eliminate these impacts altogether while providing the same level of cleanliness.

Planned obsolescence and our economic footprint The faster we buy new items, the faster we deplete resources and the more likely it is that we are exceeding the Earth’s regenerative capacity. Unfortunately, today’s economy is designed to convince us to buy often and replace items that are in perfectly good working order. Planned obsolescence – the deliberate manufacturing of products to wear out quickly – adds to the problem. To counter this, we can try to repair things as much as possible and only buy products that are designed to last.

Towards a zero-waste society Recycling our wastes has enormous environmental and economic benefits in the form of reduced landfill space, fewer demands for raw materials, less energy consumption, less air and water pollution, lower waste-disposal bills, and cheaper goods. Recycling one metric ton of paper saves 17 trees. It takes 40 - 95% less energy to produce goods with recycled aluminum, glass, plastic, or paper than it does to manufacture them with raw materials. Com-munities throughout the world are striving for zero-waste economies where the outputs from each resource use are turned into inputs for another use. Zero waste does not aim to simply manage waste, but eliminate its creation in the first place.


119

If you want to do the quiz online to see how some lifestyle changes could affect your initial footprint size, you will need to know how we adapted the quiz. Find the online question number in the table below and see how it corre-lates with our quiz.


Myfoot-print.org question #

Council quiz question #

Changes or notes

1 - New Zealand

2 - metric

3 1

4 2 Converted to NZ$ but kept same brackets, so if you ticked the first bracket and your income hasn’t changed tick the first online bracket.

5 3 Tick ‘temperate’

6 4 Include garage, sleepout, workshop etc.

7 5

8 6 The Government gives the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources in 2009 as 72.5 %. Figures from current annual reports from the main energy suppliers in this region are as follows: Meridian Energy 100 % Contact Energy 62.3 % Genesis Energy 76 % TrustPower Limited 100 % Mercury Energy 91 %

If you buy your electricity from Energy OnLine, write in the average of 72.5% as they are not a middleman and buy their electricity from different generators.

9 7 Enter distances travelled for the last 12 months. This allows participants to bet-ter track changes over time and means you can enter kms from off your warrant forms without needing to adjust them.

7a This is an online pop-up that opens when you enter kms travelled by car.

7b Answer yes if most of your car journeys serve to convey two or more people to their destination. i.e. not journeys that only serve to drop off one person. Exam-ples: Drive one child to school and return home – no. Drive child to school and then carry on to shops/work – yes.

10 8 Energy saving features See below for definitions of ‘energy-efficient appliances’ and ‘extra insula-tion’. ‘Storm doors and windows’ = draft-proofing. ‘Water saving fixtures’ = hot water saving fixtures (i.e. aerating taps, shower heads) Energy saving habits ‘Use power strips to turn off standby lights’ and ‘Unplug small appliances when not in use’ have both been replaced by ‘turn off appliances at wall when not in use’ as this has the same effect. Also, power strips that recognise standby lights are not currently available in NZ. So if you turn off appliances when they’re not being used (especially those with standby lights), then tick both of these habits. ‘Keep thermostat relatively low in winter’ = keep internal temperature rela-tively low in winter (i.e. 20°C or less).

120

11 9 12 10 13 11 14 12 With the third option you can interpret ‘natural food markets’ as including local

and fresh sources. 15 13 16 14 17 18 Some of you will have had garden plot size written into your quiz at #4 and others

here. 18 16 A pop-up for land area will appear if you tick either of the first two boxes.

19 17 20 18 21 19 Water saving features

‘Low flow shower heads or faucets’ = low flow shower heads or taps ‘Drought tolerant landscaping’ has been defined for our region.

22 20 23 21 24 22 25 23 A standard US garbage bin is about 22 gallons. We have the choice of 60L Coun-

cil rubbish bags or 240L wheelie bins so we have converted each bracket to its US equivalent – that is, if ticked the second box to indicate that you use one or two rubbish bags, tick the second box in the online version.

26 24 27 25

Myfoot-print.org question #

Council quiz question #

Changes or notes


121

Appendix 12: Profiles of judges

2010/11 and 2011/12

Mayor Jenny Rowan has recently been re-elected for her second term. She has professional experience as a previous Mayor and Environment Court Commissioner and mediator.

Liana Stupples, Executive Director of The Hikurangi Foundation, has a MSc in Natural Resource Man-agement and has worked in business as a microbiologist, environmental planner, communications advisor and strategic consultant. She has advised from within Government departments on a wide range of green issues and has led international non-Government organisational campaigns on human rights, business re-sponsibility and agriculture. She ran her own consultancy in the UK helping organisations and coalitions on strategy, communications and culture. The Hikurangi Foundation is a national not-for-profit helping kiwis take positive action on climate change. She lives in and works out of Paekākāriki.

Joy Darke, “Mother of Mulch” and Waikanae’s “Queen of Groundcover”, was named the Wellington re-gion’s NZ Gardener of the Year in 2010. With a background in interior design, fashion clothing, and as an art gallery consultant, a change of circumstances led her into a part-time job at a local garden centre where she remained for the next 17 years. When Joy and her husband retired to Waikanae they created a garden that was admired by the thousands of people who visited over the years. Downsizing eight years ago gave her another opportunity to put into practice all the ways and means of starting a sustainable gar-den, with particular thought for times of drought.

2010/11

Kevin Milne of ‘Fair Go’ fame is one of New Zealand television’s longest-serving reporters. Milne was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, for his ser-vices to broadcasting and the community. He also won the 2004 Qantas Media Award for Best Presenter, and a 2009 Qantas Television Award for best News and Current Affairs presenter. Kevin hails from Reikorangi where he tends 0.9 ha of covenanted native forest.

Caleb Royal, a self-described “Maori-Greenie”, is the Kaihautu (director) of the Kaitiakitanga Putaiao (Environmental Science and Management) program at Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa. Born and raised in Ōtaki and living most of his life on the Kāpiti Coast, he has developed a keen interest in the rivers, forests, and coastal areas within our district. Caleb says: “Through my work, I have been exposed to many new envi-ronmental innovations as well as the many challenges that modern living is having on our environment, which is why I am excited to be appointed as a judge in this competition” An advocate for environmental restoration, he also enjoys the bounty that mother-nature provides us.

2011/12

Brenda Vale, MA DipArch (Cambridge), PhD (Sheffield) is a Professorial Research Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington. She and her husband Robert, are architects and academics who wrote their first book on sustainable design, “The Autonomous House”, in 1975. Following their design of award winning commercial buildings in the UK they went on to build the UK’s first autonomous house in 1993 and the first zero-emissions settlement in 1998. They have received international awards for their work. More re-cently they developed the Australian government’s National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) which has now been put into operation. Their most recent book is “Time to Eat the Dog? The real guide to sustainable living”, which analysed the impact on the environment of a western life-style and things people do every day. They are currently working on a book that looks at what living within a

122

fair earth share would look like.

Robert (Bob) Glensor is the founder and managing director of Paraoa Bakehouse Ltd. Paraoa Bakehouse is New Zealand’s first and only BioGro-certified organic bakery, creating a wide range of bakery prod-ucts under the Purebread, Gluten Free Goodies and 4EverFree brands. Robert says that by being a certi-fied organic producer, they are very committed to supporting organic agriculture, which he sees as the one and most important step towards true sustainability. That is, supporting the farmers who look after our lands, that grow our food, that nourish our greatest asset - our people and children.

Paraoa Bakehouse won the Sustainable Business Network title of ‘Central and National Sustainable Busi-ness of the Year’ in 2008 and the OANZ Organic Enterprise Award in 2010.

“Sustainable to the core, my wife, son and I live on a 12 acre property in Te Horo running chooks for eggs, pigs, cows and calves, which has a wonderful symbiotic relationship with the Bakehouse by utilis-ing any food leftovers after supporting local and Wellington food banks.”


123

Appendix 13: ‘Blast Off for Greenest Streets’, from On To It, November 2010

‘The competition has already helped to bring our

community closer together through helping each

other and sharing knowledge, which can only be

positive. When you get a group of like-minded peo-

ple discussing a problem, such as a cheap way to

insulate a house, you have a greater chance of com-

ing up with a solution that works for you and your

community and, chances are, someone will help

you do it.’

Te Roto Rd, a rural street on the outskirts of Ōtaki,

had their turn later in the afternoon. Spokesman

for the group, Peter Campbell, presented a long list

of their ideas. These included setting up their own

local recycling collection point, rearing animals for

food, installing rainwater tanks and low-energy

lightbulbs, raising locally-sourced native seedlings,

purchasing food in bulk and carpooling. The pres-

entation was followed by a barbecue featuring lo-

cally-produced food.

The average environmental footprint of Te Roto

Road was announced as 3.5 ‘Earths’. Converted to

a land area, the collective footprint of the 20 par-

ticipants is equivalent to 18 Ōtaki Racecourses.

The following weekend, residents of Avion Terrace,

Raumati Beach, hosted judges Caleb Royal, Joy

Darke and Mayor Jenny Rowan at a barbeque in

the unexpected sunshine. The local ducks and their

brood of ducklings stopped by for a visit and there

was a bagpipe recital by street resident Jack

Kerkvliet, age 15. The judges went on to tour some

of the gardens and see the abundance of fruit and

Blast-Off for the Green Streets

Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street competition

was officially launched in November as the

four competing streets hosted judges and

Councillors for a tour of their neighbourhood.

Kakariki St, a group of Paekākāriki households

from Tilley Rd, Te Miti St and Haumia Street, and

Te Roto Rd of Ōtaki kicked it off on Sunday 14 No-

vember. First up, Kakariki Street, met judges

Kevin Milne, Joy Darke and Liana Stupples over

coffee and home-baking before outlining their am-

bitions on a walking tour of their neighbourhood.

Highlights included some residents’ solar panels,

grey water irrigation and rain tanks. Vegetable

gardens, fruit trees and children were well-

represented.

Competition organisers announced the average

environmental footprint for Kakariki Street as 3.0

‘Earths’, that is the number of Earths we would

need if their consumption habits were extended to

everyone on the planet. The national average is 3.7

Earths. Expressed as a land area, the collective

footprints of the 24 participants is equivalent to

more than two Queen Elizabeth Parks.

Steve Bright, speaking for the group, said, ‘It's

good to put a number on the effect of our actions,

influences and impacts. I personally was quite sur-

prised to discover the size of my environmental

footprint and I think this scheme will help us to

figure out what we are doing and what we can do

better for ourselves, the wider group, the village

and the greater environment.’

Rainbow Court residents and competition judges at their launch event

Some Te Roto Road residents and judges

124

vegetables the residents were cultivating. Street

spokesman Vic Young explained their group’s

ambition to keep beehives in the street to help

keep their plants fruiting.

The average environmental footprint of the 22

Avion Terrace participants was announced as 3.6

‘Earths’, or the collective equivalent of more than

ten Paraparaumu Airports.

The judges then moved on to Rainbow Court in

Raumati South for afternoon tea. To break the ice

there was a game of ‘Eco-Saints and Dirty Green

Sinners’, challenging residents to match each

other’s names to a list of their greenest and not-

so-green confessions. Some of the more ‘saintly’

actions included maintaining orchards, going

carless by using the shoppers’ bus instead and

making their own cleaning products

The average environmental footprint of Rainbow

Court was announced as 3.7 ‘Earths’.

Kylie Jurgensen, spokesperson for Rainbow

Court said, ‘I think getting most of the house-

holds on the street involved is a great achieve-

ment. We’ve got a fantastic sense of community

here and we’re going to use the opportunity of

the competition to make our street even stronger

and more resilient.’

Competition judge, Liana Stupples (Executive

Director of the Hikurangi Foundation, an envi-

ronmental not-for-profit), said she is really curi-

ous to see what happens over the next 8 months,

"Part of the beauty of this is not knowing what

they might come up with. We all know how in-

genious kiwis can be and this Kāpiti competition

is going to show what can happen on-the-ground

when neighbours get together with a purpose."

Streets will measure their footprints again in June

2011 to discover the effect of their efforts. They will

be judged on the final size of their footprints, the

proportional reduction over the course of the compe-

tition and their achievements as a community.

See the new Greenest Street webpages here:

www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/greenestst

Environmental Footprint National Averages

(From Center for Sustainable Economy)

‘gHa’ = global hectare(s). A hectare of land of aver-

age productivity for the world.

‘Earths’ expresses the total land area needed if eve-

ryone in the world had the same environmental foot-

print as the person in question, expressed as a num-

ber of planet Earths. The average global environ-

mental footprint is 1.5 Earths, meaning we are over-

shooting the Earth’s capacity to support us.

Avion Terrace (left) and Kakariki Street (right)

units = gHa NZ USA China Ethiopia

Carbon: 13.2 37.0 4.0 0.9

Food: 24.0 26.6 5.8 1.2

Housing: 7.0 12.8 2.0 0.2

Goods and Ser- 13.4 23.4 5.7 0.1

TOTAL gHa 57.6 99.8 17.5 2.3

TOTAL ‘Earths’ 3.7 6.4 1.1 0.15


125

Appendix 14: Ideas and Resources Directory, 2011/12

Resources for participants in Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street

Ecological Footprinting The ecological footprint quiz being used for Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street competition is from the Center for Sustainable Economy and can be found at http://www.myfootprint.org. If you want to find out how lifestyle changes would affect your footprint, have a look at the notes in your folder to see where we made alterations between the online quiz and the paper version you completed initially.

EPA (Environmental Protection Authority) Victoria, Australia has some simple notes and sug-gestions at http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/calculators/personal/completed.asp to accompany their personal Ecological Footprint quiz. They also worked with Global Footprint Network to develop a documentary film about ecological footprinting. This resource, "The Eco-logical Footprint: Accounting for a Small Planet", can be downloaded from http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/about/documentarydvd.asp.

If you want to find out more about footprinting, Global Footprint Network is a leading interna-tional Ecological Footprint body. A not-for-profit organisation, they seek to develop the science behind footprinting and the definitions and standards that are applied. See www.footprintnetwork.org

Waste – reduce, reuse and recycle When thinking about how to reduce your rubbish, you may want to start with a waste audit. This will give you an idea of what you are throwing out and thus the best options for diverting them from landfill. Directions can be found at www.sustainability.govt.nz/rubbish/rubbish-audit.

Around 40% of household waste going to landfill is kitchen waste (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/waste-data/swap-baseline.html). Composting, worm-farms and ‘effective mi-croorganisms’ (e.g. bokashi, a variety of yeast) are all good ways of turning this waste into a resource: • Council’s Green Gardener will be able to support you with setting up these systems. We

also have a ‘Nutrient Recycling’ booklet that is included in your street’s information pack.

• Create Your Own Eden covers three elements of composting: traditional composting us-ing a heap or bin; vermiculture or worm farming; and bokashi. http://www.createyourowneden.org.nz/

• You can see what books the library holds by searching their online catalogue (http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz) or taking a look at their Sustainable Living book list at http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php or in your folder.

126

Find out everything you need to know about rubbish and recycling services in Kāpiti, get some ideas for reducing your daily waste, and have a look at the laws and strategies that exist for waste on the Council’s website at http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Your-Council/A---Z-Council-Services-and-Facilities/Rubbish-and-Recycling.

If you have a small quantity of household hazardous waste (1 kg or 1 litre per person) you can drop it off at Otaihanga Transfer Station for a fee of $ 35. Quantities over 1 kg/litre must be re-ferred to a specialist collector (see the hazardous waste collector section of the Yellow Pages). Examples of household hazardous waste include cleaning solutions, pesticides, pool chemicals, antifreeze, or used batteries. Waste oil can be disposed of at the Otaihanga and Ōtaki transfer stations at a charge of .50c per litre. Paint can be disposed of at the Otaihanga or Ōtaki transfer station free of charge

If you have empty, triple-rinsed agrichemical containers, they can be dropped off at the Ōtaki Transfer Station on the first Friday of the month between 10 am and 2 pm. This collection is run by Agrecovery and is only available for chemicals produced by an Agrecovery participant. For more information refer to Agrecovery website at www.agrecovery.co.nz.

Note that Council’s Waste Reduction Fund for Community Groups has grants of up to $5,000 available for groups of 5 or more households who want to undertake projects that will reduce waste. Applications for 2011 close on 30 November 2010. More information at http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Your-Council/A---Z-Council-Services-and-Facilities/Rubbish-and-Recycling/Waste-Reduction-Grants/

A source of good ideas for reducing your rubbish is http://www.rubbishfree.co.nz. In 2008 Waveney Warth & Matthew Luxon decided to try and avoid contributing to the growing rubbish problem by setting themselves a challenge of living for a year without sending anything to land-fill. The average Kiwi couple sends 1.5 tons of rubbish to landfill every year - they sent 2kg! They have learnt a lot about living a rubbish free lifestyle and have set up a website to pool knowledge. The site has an alphabetic guide and a store selling items that they found useful.

There are some interesting websites that look at reusing and reducing waste, including:

• www.sustainability.govt.nz, the NZ Government sustainability resource for households.

• Funk & Flash from Junk & Trash – an Ooooby (Out of Our Own Backyards) group fo-cused on creative recycling ideas for gardens, porches and patios (their motto: "Make Gar-dens - Not Landfills"!). See http://ooooby.ning.com/group/funkflashfromjunktrash

• Zerowaste Trust (http://www.zerowaste.co.nz/index.sm), an organisation that no longer operates, still has some interesting articles on sustainability and waste and instructions for making a wormfarm (http://www.zerowaste.co.nz/default,499.sm).

• Waitakere District Council’s Guide to Avoiding Construction Waste is at http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/abtcit/ec/bldsus/pdf/sustainabledesign/avoidconstrwaste.pdf

• The Ministry for the Environment has some more technical resources on resource effi-ciency issues (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/resource-efficiency.html): waste, sustain-ability and sustainable industry. These include national strategies, codes of practice, issue papers and data. This is also a good place to look for information on hazardous waste dis-posal and special wastes: batteries (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/waste/use-disposal-batteries-jul06/

index.html),

used oil (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/special/oil/index.html), tyres (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/special/tyres/index.html),


127

agrichemicals (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/special/agrichemicals/index.html), e-waste (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/special/e-waste/index.html), nappies (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/special/nappies/index.html) household lighting (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/special/household-lighting.html).

Disposable versus reusable nappies are a topic of much debate. A summary can be found at Zerowaste New Zealand Trust (http://www.zerowaste.co.nz/default,507.sm). Have a look at http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/pdf/SCHO0808BOIR-e-e.pdf for an update of a report by the United Kingdom Environmental Protection Agency. The report concluded that re-usable nappies can be more environmentally friendly than disposable ones, but it’s how you wash and dry your reusable nappies that make the difference.

You may want to get involved with Seaweek (http://www.seaweek.org.nz/). Run by the NZ As-sociation for Environmental Education from 26 February to 6 March 2011, you can sign up to get rubbish bags and gloves for a local beach clean.

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns: http://www.youtube.com/storyofstuffproject" \l "p/u/4/9GorqroigqM

Packaging is an obvious source of rubbish in most homes – the plastic, paper and cardboard that transport goods into our home then go straight into the rubbish or recycling. Reusable gro-cery bags are a good way of reducing the number of plastic bags that we use, as are cloth bags for fruit, vegetables and dried goods. Rubbish Free (www.rubbishfree.co.nz) sells reusable gro-cery and produce bags. They also have rubbish free shopping kits and full rubbish free kits. Or you can make your own bags with a pattern from http://www.morsbags.com/morsbaginstructions.pdf (this pattern is also in your folder, as is one for vegetable and fruit bags).

What can you do with stuff that’s too good to throw away? Or you need something, but want to try avoiding buying new?

• Sustainability.govt.nz have some suggestions for secondhand goods at http://www.sustainability.govt.nz/shopping/second-hand-goods.

• Otaihanga Resource Recovery Facility has a shop where you can drop household goods for resale (note that they don’t take electrical goods). Addresses and opening hours can be found at http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Your-Council/A---Z-Council-Services-and-Facilities/Rubbish-and-Recycling/Transfer-Stations/.

• Waikanae Kapiti Freecycle http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/KapitiCoastFreecycle/ and Wellington Re-Cycle http://groups.google.com/group/wellington-re-cycle are both open to all who want to “recycle” that special something rather than throw it away. Whether it’s a chair, a fax machine, piano or an old door, feel free to post it. Or maybe you’re looking to acquire something yourself!

Transport Kapiti Coast District Libraries cover transport in their Sustainable Living book list. A copy is in your folder or you can find it at http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php#transport


128

In the last ten years the number of New Zealand’s primary school children driven to school by car has nearly doubled. Tiffany Jackson, School Travel Planning Coordinator at Kapiti Coast District Council, can help you set up a Walking School Bus or carpooling system. Informa-tion sheets on setting up a Walking School Bus or carpool are included in your folder. Contact [email protected]

Let’s Carpool is Greater Wellington Regional Council’s online carpooling tool for individuals (http://www.letscarpool.govt.nz). NZTA also have a large number of carpooling resources at http://www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/info/businesses/carpooling.html. These are aimed at organisa-tions and range from guidelines for setting up a carpooling scheme to brochures for employers and employees, to posters, parking space stencils and radio jingles (!). The Carpooling Informa-tion for Employees brochure is in your folder.

GWRC also offer an online Cycling and Walking Journey Planner at http://www.journeyplanner.org.nz. Once you’ve entered your starting point and destination it will auto-matically map a course for you that avoids unnecessary hills. You'll find out how long your jour-ney will take, how hilly the trip is and get an estimate of how many calories you'll burn! Detailed route directions are provided in a print or email friendly format and the journey planner will even give you the location of bike racks, drinking fountains, toilets, street lights and points of interest such as parks.

Kapiti Coast District Council has produced a map of the cycleways, walkways and bridle-ways in our district. A copy is in your folder. You can also find a Kapiti Coastal Cycle Routes Map at http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Documents/Downloads/Kapiti-Coast-District-Coastal-Cycleway-Guide.pdf and a Short Walks and Picnic Spots map at http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Documents/Downloads/Short-Walks-and-Picnic-Spots-on-the-Kapiti-Coast.pdf.

Metlink offer lots of resources for using public transport at http://www.metlink.org.nz:

• bus, train and ferry timetables

• journey planners using more than one mode of transport

• service updates

• ticket and fare information. Bike Wise offer some great cyclist resources at http://www.bikewise.co.nz. They are the organ-izers of Bike Wise Month in February 2011, which includes Go By Bike Day on 16 February (a Street activity?) and a Bikewise Challenge throughout the month - http://www.bikewise.co.nz/news/2010/07/19/bike-wise-month-2011. The start cycling section of their site is being devel-oped at present but will have some good resources on cycle safety, cycle maps, skills and train-ing, and cycle rules. Check back at http://www.bikewise.co.nz/bikes-riding to see how it’s shap-ing up.

If you’re really serious about running, cycling and walking, you can get a personalized fitness plan and nutrition advice at ACC’s Active Smart site (http://www.activesmart.co.nz/).

Tips for driving fuel efficiently can be found on NZTA’s website or in EECA’s action sheet, Saving Energy in Business: Transport, which is at http://www.eeca.govt.nz/sites/all/files/action-sheet-5-transport.pdf and has been included in your folder.

EECA have a fact sheet on biofuels at http://www.eeca.govt.nz/sites/all/files/biofuels-factsheet-jun-08_1.pdf.

If you’re looking at buying a car, or want to find out how your current vehicle rates for fuel economy, safety ratings and features, CO2 emissions and pollutants have a look at


129

www.rightcar.govt.nz.

A list of Kapiti Coast cycle groups is in your folder.

Did you know your bike can travel on the train for free (space permitting)? If you’re unsure about negotiating the madness of Wellington once you get there or want to cycle all the way (!), maybe you could find a local cycle buddy to show you the routes and tricks.

Information and tools on teleworking can be found at www.telework.co.nz. Teleworking is the flexible alternative that helps reduce reliance on travel (and thereby the costs of road and trans-port networks).

Carbon offsetting…hmmm. For a summary of the issues, have a look at Carbon 101 in Good magazine (http://good.net.nz/magazine/7/features/carbon-101). If you are keen to offset your flight emissions, you can do it at the same time as you purchase your ticket with many airlines, including Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue. Or you could use Landcare Research’s travel cal-culator and offset option at http://www.carbonzero.co.nz/EmissionsCalc/tourismeditor.aspx.

Energy & housing Richard Morrison is Council’s Eco-Design Advisor. He offers a range of free services, includ-ing home eco-audits where he will visit your home and give advice for making it warmer, drier and healthier; phone advice; proposed plan consultation; and group talks. Contact [email protected] or 04-296 4651.

Kapiti Coast District Libraries’ book list Sustainable Living covers sustainable architecture in the Home/Health section – a copy is in your folder or at http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php#home_health. Energy-specific is-sues are in the Energy section or at http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php#energy

Learn more about being energy-efficient from EECA at http://www.energywise.govt.nz/how-to-be-energy-efficient:

• Appliances - When it's time to replace your old appliances choosing more efficient models is a good way to save on your appliance electricity bill. You can also save money by using your appliances sensibly and switching them off when you aren't using them. Priceme (www.priceme.co.nz) is a good tool when it comes to actually shopping for appliances – once you choose the type of appliance you can narrow your search by Energy Star rating.

• Building and renovating – incorporating energy efficiency into your homes design.

• Your home in general - Many homes in New Zealand waste energy. They are often poorly laid out and constructed have inadequate insulation and consequently use a lot of energy to heat adequately. As a result of this they are frequently underheated and un-healthy. There are, however, many things you can do to make your home warmer, health-ier and more energy efficient. Issues covered are insulation, heating, dampness, venti-lation, hot water and lighting.

Smarter Homes is the Department of Building and Housing’s website (www.smarterhomes.org.nz). It was created in a joint initiative by the Department, the Ministry for the Environment, Consumer, Beacon Pathway Ltd and URS, with assistance from a number of other organisations to provide clear, independent, factual information about sustainable home design, building and lifestyle options. Set aside some time to have a look around this set as there’s a lot in here: design, energy, water, siting and landscaping, materials, and con-


130

struction. Their Guide to Smarter Insulation is also in your folder (http://www.smarterhomes.org.nz/fileadmin/docs/Insulation_Guide.pdf).

Level (http://www.level.org.nz) has been developed for the construction industry by BRANZ Ltd, the independent research, testing, consulting and information company. Level aims to help you design and build homes which have less impact on the environment and are healthier, more comfortable, and have lower running costs. Covers site analysis and site use, passive de-sign, water, material use, energy, wet areas, and health and safety.

If you’re interested in generating your own energy, EECA’s website is excellent:

• Generating your own energy: http://www.energywise.govt.nz/how-to-be-energy-efficient/generating-renewable-energy-at-home

• Distributed energy generation: http://www.eeca.govt.nz/efficient-and-renewable-energy/distributed-electricity-generation – generating electricity from small-scale systems and us-ing it on-site or nearby. Distributed generation projects are hooked up to the local distribu-tion network, so they can still get electricity from the network when they need it, or can ex-port excess electricity into the network.

• Stand-alone power systems: http://www.energywise.govt.nz/how-to-be-energy-efficient/generating-renewable-energy-at-home/stand-alone-power-systems - also known as off-grid generation, these are similar to distributed generation systems but are not connected to the electricity network.

• A paper from 2008 briefly reviewing the unit costs for a range of small scale electricity generation technologies up to 15 MW in capacity can be found at http://www.eeca.govt.nz/sites/all/files/costs-of-distributed-generation-08.pdf

• Wind turbines: http://www.energywise.govt.nz/how-to-be-energy-efficient/generating-renewable-energy-at-home/small-wind-turbines

• Solar panels: http://www.energywise.govt.nz/how-to-be-energy-efficient/generating-renewable-energy-at-home/solar-electricity-generation

• Hydro turbines: http://www.energywise.govt.nz/how-to-be-energy-efficient/generating-renewable-energy-at-home/small-scale-hydro-generation

• Bio-energy (e.g. biogas or wood energy): http://www.eeca.govt.nz/efficient-and-renewable-energy/renewable-energy/bioenergy

• Renewable Energy Services directory: http://www.eeca.govt.nz/efficient-and-renewable-energy/renewable-energy-services-directory

Sustainable Energy Association New Zealand (SEANZ – www.seanz.org.nz) is the industry organisation which promotes micro-scale renewable energy technologies, has information on domestic scale distributed generation. They also provide a renewable energy business direc-tory, a Standards Guide for Renewable Energy, a distributed generation metering guide and copies of NIWA’s irradiance and wind maps of New Zealand.

EECA’s guide to buying solar water heating is in your folder or at http://www.eeca.govt.nz/sites/all/files/solar-water-heating-buyers-guide-07-09.pdf.

EECA offer Energywise subsidies for solar or heat pump water heating, and insulation and clean, efficient heating (www.energywise.govt.nz). Subsidies vary from $500 to $1200. Greater Wellington Regional Council is also participating in the scheme by providing financial assis-tance of up to $2,600 per ratepayer to help fund the remaining cost of home insulation and clean heating over and above the grant provided by EECA. This can be repaid by way of a tar-geted rate over a 9-year period. Information on Greater Wellington's offer can be found at http://


131

www.gw.govt.nz/warmer-gw/

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs are also known as CFL’s or energy-saver lightbulbs. Con-sumer magazine tested 19 different models to find out which shone brightest and lasted longest. The results are available for free at www.consumer.org.nz/reports/energy-efficient-lighting. If you are concerned by reports about the mercury content in this type of bulb, a clean-up guide can be found on the Right Light website (www.rightlight.govt.nz/residential/general-lighting-info/safety). Or you may want to look into Marexim Xe Hybrid Convertibles – halogen lighbulbs that come in three components: a base, filament capsule and glass top. When the filament burns out, you only need to replace that piece. The Xe Hybrid is mercury- and lead-free, uses 85% less power and lasts 4 to six times longer than a standard bulb. It works with a dimmer switch (unlike CFLs) and is recyclable. Available from Electrical Direct (www.electricaldirectltd.co.nz), OfficeMax and Mitre 10.

CarboNZero is a NZ carbon calculator created by Landcare Research – you can work out your emissions for your household, your travel or your small enterprise. You can find it at www.carbonzero.co.nz/calculators/index.asp. Information on managing your carbon emis-sions can be found at http://www.carbonzero.co.nz/steps/manage.asp. They also offer the op-tion of offsetting your emissions.

Greentech New Zealand is an online shop at http://nzsites.com for energy-saving solutions like solar panel kitsets and components, solar-powered spotlights and shed lights, and wind turbine kits. They also have a useful list of energy-saving tips.

Garden Council’s Green Gardener will be available from December. They will offer a range of standard workshop for $50 each. Topics available can be expected to include garden planning; compost-ing; worm-farming; mulching; fruit trees - planting and pruning; no-dig gardening; water reduc-tion; and lawn maintenance. They will also offer free neighborhood visits of a more general na-ture to help you assess the conditions of your property and answer questions.

Kāpiti Coast District Libraries Sustainable Living book list has a permaculture section that covers lots of aspects of gardening: http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php#permaculture

Get Growing is an initiative of New Zealand Gardener editor, Lynda Hallinan. A free email newsletter that comes out every Friday, it includes hints, tips and weekend tasks - whether you're a beginner gardener or an expert grower. It also includes competitions, recipes, events, requests for particular plants or seeds and answers to your vege growing questions. To receive Get Growing, sign up via the NZ Gardener website http://www.nzgardener.co.nz/ or send an email to [email protected] . An archive of past newsletters can be found on the NZ Gardener website.

Edible Backyard http://www.ediblebackyard.co.nz is Kath Irvine’s website. She teaches per-maculture design and edible gardening to schools and community groups and promotes a series of workshops run from her home garden in Ohau. She also puts out a weekly blog for gardening tips, recipes and news and a newsletter, both of which you can subscribe to via her website.

Edible Garden http://www.ediblegarden.co.nz/ has a great catalogue of fruit trees with very helpful information on each. Stockists of Koanga heritage varieties. Ignore the out-of-date front page and look for the Autumn 2010 catalogue on the right-hand side.


132

Good Magazine has a map of community gardens across NZ and list of gardens with website links or pdf information where available http://good.net.nz/magazine/community-gardens. There’s bound to be something of interest for those who want to look at gardening as a street or setting up a community orchard.

OOOOBY (Out Of Our Own Backyards) http://ooooby.ning.com has lots of interest groups/discussion like Poultry in Urbania, Growing By the Moon, Seed Collecting, Worm Farming, Sea-sonal Recipes, Companion Planting, Organic Gardening for Beginners, Preserving, Herbs, Pruning….

Create Your Own Eden http://www.createyourowneden.org.nz/ covers three elements of com-posting: traditional composting using a heap or bin; vermiculture or Worm Farming; and Bo-kashi.

Seedy Sunday http://seedysundaynz.blogspot.com/ is a relaxed gathering for those who gar-den, or want to learn about gardening, growing food and sustainability, to share ideas and inspi-ration. The Seedy Sunday exchange table is for the exchange of 'useful' seeds, plants and pro-duce (meaning edible plants and support species, including pretty flowers).

Whenua For the People http://www.whenuaforthepeople.org.nz/ is a community of individuals, whanau, groups and friends looking to reconnect with the land, share ideas and information, learn new skills, get involved in planting and growing, save old seed, make new friends and em-brace all things to do with nurturing and caring for Papatuanuku (Mother Earth). You will need to join to get past the front page. This is an initiative of the Centre for Papatuanuku http://centreforpapatuanuku.org.nz/. Topics covered include:

• Whenua (land) Health

• Maramataka (Maori Moon Calendar)

• Maori Kai (traditional food gardening)

• Maori Seedbank Online

• Nutritional Kai

• Rongoa Maori

American Community Gardening Association http://www.communitygarden.org/learn/ has many printable articles and tip sheets covering different topics related to community gardening, garden organising, general gardening and horticulture.

Grow Sheffield: Urban Food Growing Landscapes http://www.growsheffield.com/ is an active network of individuals and groups promoting urban organic food growing. Beautiful and interest-ing site with an artistic bent, in particular:

• ALLOTMENT SOUP is an annual creative and artistic harvest celebration. The aim of the event is to celebrate food growing and allotment culture.

• ABUNDANCE is a project to harvest the seasonal glut of local fruit. Last year they pro-duced the Handbook as a guide to community urban harvesting - http://www.growsheffield.com/pages/groshefhandb.html

Incredible Edible Todmorden http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/ aims to increase the amount of local food grown and eaten in the town. Businesses, schools, farmers and the community are all involved. Projects include transforming public flower beds into community herb gardens and vegetable patches, community orchards, working with public bodies - like the fire station and churches – to use their land, a campaign to encourage the production and con-


133

sumption of local eggs, and supporting local growers and farmers. Go to http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ideas/20100502 to hear Chris Laidlaw interview one of the projects’ founders for Radio New Zealand’s Ideas programme on 9 May 2010.

Best Gardening http://www.bestgardening.com/bgc/howto/organic.htm is quite an old-style gar-dening website, but has some useful stuff in the ‘Organic’ section.

Organic Pathways http://www.organicpathways.co.nz/garden/ provide an online guide and marketplace for organics in New Zealand. Includes a gardening page with a broad range of arti-cles.

Kaiwaka Organics http://www.kaiwakaorganics.co.nz is an organic garden centre that used to trade as Koanga Gardens. They sell a wide range of garden and composting products, seeds, hand tools, fruit trees, animal products, kitchenware, books, body care and health, wholefoods and fair trade organic cotton online. Seeds and fruit trees are from Koanga Gardens.

Koanga Institute http://www.koanga.org.nz/ has been collecting and growing old fruit trees, vegetables, and flowers for 25 years to conserve the seed. They are particularly focused on New Zealand heirlooms. The Institute is a membership-based organization: for $30/35 a year members receive Spring and Autumn catalogues and two free packets of seeds.

Permaculture in New Zealand http://permaculture.org.nz/ has various forums and a resources page with reading materials and links to other permaculture sites in NZ and overseas.

Homegrown http://www.homegrown.org/ is an American site created by Farm Aid, which “celebrates all of us who pioneer a HOMEGROWN way to eat, grow, and express ourselves. We connect to the land and to each other.”

Kings Seeds http://kingsseeds.co.nz is an online seed shop with a huge range that includes some organic seed, sprouting seeds, green mulches etc.

Levin Soil & Health Association http://www.organicnz.org/branch/levin/ is the local branch of Organic NZ. They organise field trips and guest speakers and share their knowledge of organic gardening and sustainable living to encourage others to live more organically. See website for contact details and archived monthly newsletters.

Organic Garden Calendar for Kapiti to Manawatu, by Kath Irvine, is a month-by-month guide to organic gardening in our area. Published by the Levin Branch of the Soil & Health Association it is available from Commonsense Organics in Paraparaumu or through Levin Soil & Health.

Youtube www.youtube.com is a great source of all kinds of DIY instructionals, including build-ing raised beds and chicken houses.

Water Ben Thompson, Council’s Water Use Coordinator, can offer advice and workshops on vari-ous subjects relating to water conservation:

• Rain collection systems;

• Installing a recycled rainbarrel;

• Greywater systems: turning your washing machine into a greywater irrigation powerhouse.

• Contact 04-296 4616 or [email protected]

Council also offers free Green Plumber services changing washers on most showers, taps and


134

toilets. Call 04- 296 4700 to book a visit.

Council’s Greywater Suitability Maps can be found at these URLs:

• Waikanae to Paekakariki http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Documents/Downloads/Greywater-Suitability-Map-Waikanae-to-Paekakariki.pdf

• Otaki http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Documents/Downloads/Greywater-Suitability-Map-Otaki.pdf

Kapiti Coast District Libraries Sustainable Living book list covers low-water gardening and grey-water in the Home/Health section – a copy is in your folder or at http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php#home_health

Oasis Designs: Original designs for living better, cheaper, & more ecologically since 1980 http://www.oasisdesign.net/index.htm have lots of information on using rainwater and greywater. Has a particular focus on low-tech DIY ecological systems.

Smarter Homes, the Department of Building and Housing’s website, has a section on water at http://www.smarterhomes.org.nz/water/. Covers easy ways to save water, reducing water flow, catching and using rainwater, outdoor water use, onsite sewage systems, and re-using grey-water.

Level, BRANZ’s website for the construction industry, has a section on water at http://www.level.org.nz/water/. Their focus is on designing, building and renovating homes that use water efficiently for range of reasons:

• to help keep water and wastewater infrastructure costs down,

• provide ongoing economic benefits,

• make the home better equipped to cope with prolonged droughts or short intense storms,

• to benefit the environment by, for example, reducing the need to draw more water from riv-ers and waterways, and reducing the need to build new infrastructure for supply and dis-posal.

• You can also find links to the BRANZ publications—Water http://www.branz.co.nz/cms_display.php?sn=71&st=1&pg=3302, and Plumbing http://www.branz.co.nz/cms_display.php?sn=71&st=1&pg=3303

Environmental Rob Cross and Matt Ward are Council’s biodiversity team. They can offer you advice on pest animal and weed control and planting natives.

• If you want to plant natives over the winter as a group, contact Rob on 04-296 4653 or email [email protected]. Planting locally-sourced natives helps the environ-ment. The booklet Growing Native Plants in Kapiti is a useful source of local information about planting in local conditions and is available in your information folder or from Council offices.

• Rob also administers the Council’s Heritage Strategy which assists private landowners to protect and manage the ecologically precious parts of their property, such as native bush and wetlands. Funding is available for fencing, pest animal and weed control, planting, the development of management plans and covenanting. Projects are funded on a cost shar-


135

ing basis, with Council contributing up to $5,000.

• Assistance with fencing ecological sites and riparian margins is available through the Heri-tage and Riparian Funds.

• Though the control of pest animals and noxious environmental weeds is the responsibility of Greater Wellington Regional Council, Rob can provide advice on pest animal and weed control in natural areas or around Ecological Sites.

Greater Wellington Regional Council http://www.gw.govt.nz/activities/ has information on our regional parks and forests, including maps, directions, and information on events, activities and camping. They also have regular weed swap events and run a great summer programme of guided walks, tramps and family days – watch their website for details. Information on DOC-managed parks in our region can be found at http://www.doc.govt.nz/by-region/wellington/parks-and-recreation/

Take Care http://www.gw.govt.nz/takecare/ is Greater Wellington's community environmental programme. Through Take Care, the Council makes financial support and specialist assistance available to community groups that want to look after their local environment. There are oppor-tunities for individuals, groups and businesses to work on environmental projects that contribute to the health and restoration of our region's most threatened ecosystems.

Extensive information on native plants can be found on the web and through the library. Web-sites worth a look are:

• The Green Toolbox http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/services/greentoolbox/ is a free Windows-based software package to help users choose and evaluate plants for a variety of land management applications, throughout New Zealand.

• New Zealand Plant Conservation Network http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/ provides information about New Zealand’s flora, native and exotic, with a long list of species by their Latin and common names and their status.

If weeds are your problem, have a look at:

• Landcare Research’s list of useful websites at http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/education/weeds/resources-5.asp.

• Weedbusters www.weedbusters.co.nz is another great site which has an A-Z of weeds (and suggestions for their control).

• The library holds copies of the Department of Conservation’s book, Plant Me Instead, which not only helps to identify and control unwanted weeds but suggested attractive, non-invasive alternatives (see http://www.doc.govt.nz/publications/conservation/native-plants/plant-me-instead/ for more information).

KCC (Kiwi Conservation Club), junior Forest & Bird, http://www.kcc.org.nz/ is a membership-based group for kids who are “wild about nature”. A $19 annual subscription gives members a Wild Things magazine five times a year and the chance to take part in outdoor trips and activi-ties in the Wellington region. The website also has some games, quizzes, activity ideas and in-formation about our wildlife and wild places.

Landcare Research has some good family-friendly resources:

• They organise an annual Bioblitz – a 24-hour race to count as many species as possible in a large urban area. If you were really keen, you could adapt this idea for your street (or 2011’s may be in Wellington), but you may just want to have a look at the posters that can be downloaded from http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biosystematics/bioblitz/posters.asp


136

• They also collaborate with Forest & Bird and the Ornithological Society to monitor the dis-tribution and population trends of garden birds through their annual Garden Bird Survey http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biocons/gardenbird/. This is open to all.

• And they have a great online bug identification guide http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biosystematics/invertebrates/invertid/index.asp

If you’re keen to get down and dirty for the conservation cause, various planting and working bee dates can be found through:

• Nga Uruora – Kapiti Project http://www.kapitibush.org.nz\\fixtures

• Forest & Bird http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/whats-on-in-your-area/regions/Wellington

• GWRC http://www.gw.govt.nz/events/

Food What does ‘eating sustainably’ mean? Roughly summarized, the crux is to eat wholefoods, locally sourced, in season, as organic as possible and go easy on the meat. For more informa-tion:

• Try Googling ‘eating sustainably’ for a wealth of (American) blogs and articles www.google.com;

• Or a good summary, ‘The No Impact Sustainable Eating Plan’ from No Impact Man (a blog worth a look), can be found at http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2007/07/the-no-impact-s.html.

• Or you can go old-school and borrow The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan from the library (find it at 394.12 POL; or a teens version at T338.10973 CHE).

Organic dry goods and fruit/veg cooperatives are operating in Paekakariki and Raumati. These sometimes take new members or may be willing to talk to your group about setting up your own co-op. Contact Stacey at [email protected] for more infor-mation.

Growing your own is as local (and fresh) as you can get. If you’re really serious about feeding your family from your garden, How To Grow More Vegetables (than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine) by John Jeavons is a classic; as is Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew (google “square foot gardening” for lots of results, including a SFG Foun-dation).

Fancy taking a locavore challenge? Also known as the 100 Mile Diet, participants aim to eat locally for a set amount of time (pick the height of summer unless you really like root vegeta-bles). Whole books have been written on this, including Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (available from Kapiti Coast District Libraries at 641.0973 KIN) and The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. Moveable Feasts: the incredi-ble journeys of the things we eat by Sarah Murray is a US examination of food transportation and produce trade (381.41 MUR).

Which leads us to eating seasonally, a natural consequence of localism... The trick is working out what is (really) available when and what you can do with it. This can be a big step for those who don’t garden, but there are lots of helpful cookbooks out there:

• Shop Local, Eat Well: Cooking With Seasonal Produce in New Zealand by Kathryn Haw-


137

kins (641.564 HAW)

• Eat Fresh: Cooking Through the Seasons by Annabel Langbein (641.564 LAN) - NZ book

• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Eating Seasonally by Barbara Kingsolver (641.0973 KIN)

Or you can find a seasonal eating chart (and how to cook beans and lentils) at http://www.nicolagalloway.com/59

Or there’s the option of eating less meat. Have a look at the sidebar alongside this article http://good.net.nz/magazine/7/features/carbon-101 for an idea of how much carbon different animals generate. If you don’t have vegetarian tendencies it can seem like a big change, but even one dinner a week will make a difference. Vegetarian recipes abound so just try the inter-net or library if you’re stuck for ideas. For more information on vegetarianism, the New Zealand Vegetarian Society http://www.vegetarian.org.nz/content/ is a good place to start.

Another option is to acquaint yourself with the Slow Food Movement (they have a Wellington branch at http://wellingtonslowfood.org/). Among their principles, they state, “We believe that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible. Our movement is founded upon this concept of eco-gastronomy – a recognition of the strong connections be-tween plate and planet. Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environ-ment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work”. Their mission to defend biodiversity in our food supply, spread taste education and connect producers of excellent foods with co-producers through events.

Kapiti Libraries also have an After the Harvest book list, which is available at http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Harvest.php. Focused on gathering and preserving the surplus of your garden and beyond, it covers the best crops to grow for preserving; bottling and preserv-ing; Maori food gathering; and wild foods.

Goods & services Kāpiti Coast District Libraries’ book list, Sustainable Living, covers natural housekeeping, plant medicine and alternative remedies in the Home/Health section. A copy is in your folder or at http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php#home_health

The book list also contains some relevant books in the Business section http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php#Business, including Cradle To Cra-dle: rethinking the way we make things by William McDonough. McDonough’s book takes the consideration of industrial design and management and production waste a step further than cradle-to-grave analysis by introducing recycling as the end-of-life disposal step. Cradle-to-grave analysis (also known as life cycle analysis, LCA, or ecobalance) assesses all the impact associated with all the stages of a process from cradle-to-grave (i.e., from raw materials through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling). Both analyses are an attempt to move beyond the prevalent cradle-to-gate model in which the product life-cycle is only partially assessed from manufacture ('cradle') to the factory gate (i.e., before it is transported to the consumer). The use phase and disposal phase of the product are usually omitted.

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford is a philoso-phical treatise on both how we value different types of work and our relationship with the built,


138

material world. Crawford says, “A decline in tool use would seem to betoken a shift in our mode of inhabiting the world: more passive and more dependent. And indeed, there are fewer occa-sions for the kind of spiritedness that is called forth when we take things in hand for ourselves, whether to fix them or to make them. What ordinary people once made, they buy; and what they once fixed for themselves, they replace entirely or hire an expert to repair, whose expert fix of-ten involves installing a pre-made replacement part”. The original essay from which the book came can be found at http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/shop-class-as-soulcraft

Domestic Goddess on a Budget by Wendyl Nissen is a New Zealand guide to making your own natural cleaning and beauty products book. Copies are held by Kapiti Coast Libraries (640.41 NIS). Wendyl also has a website with recipes for cleaning, pet, baby and beauty reci-pes, and a shop selling her books and products (http://www.wendylsgreengoddess.co.nz/)

Grow Your Own Drugs: easy recipes for natural remedies and beauty fixes by James Wong is a UK book but very relevant to NZ. Held by Kapiti Coast District Libraries at 615.321 WON

Or more locally, Helen Heath, self-described writer and new media maven, book marketer and copywriting whiz from the Coast, has a great list of eco-friendly cleaner recipes on her blog at http://www.helenheath.com/eco-friendly-cleaners. She also has some nice body care recipes for doing without commercial shampoo/conditioner, and making your own toothpaste, baby wipes, bath bombs and bath salts - http://www.helenheath.com/body-care-recipes.

The Ministry for Economic Development has developed a directory to improve the availability of information about ecolabels and other sustainability indicators. It provides summary information about each label, and users are encouraged to access further detail from ecolabel owner web-sites using the links provided. http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/ContentTopicSummary____37890.aspx

Ecobob http://www.ecobob.co.nz/is New Zealand’s great generalist website for all things re-lated to eco-friendly living: eco-friendly houses/homes, products and services, sustainable de-sign, eco news/events/information, online shop and a chat forum.

What can I do about clothing waste? Clothing was once highly valued, handed down, and re-cycled but cheap offshore production and synthetics have changed that. Information on the amount of clothing sent to New Zealand landfills is not currently available but a United Kingdom study found that an average of 30 kilograms of clothing and textiles per person is wasted by be-ing sent to landfills each year.

• You can find more information about clothing waste at http://www.sustainability.govt.nz/shopping/clothing-waste-issue

• Some suggestions for addressing the issue, including a wardrobe audit, are at http://www.sustainability.govt.nz/shopping/what-can-i-do-about-clothing-waste.

• Another fun and money-saving option is a clothes swap (especially for outgrown kids’ clothes) – get your street / Playcentre / friends together with your bags of unwanted clothes and a few bottles of wine and away you go. Or have a look at http://www.lifeorganizers.com/cm_articles/16_organize_a_clothes_swap_189.html or http://www.nzgirl.co.nz/know/8248/ for more specific instructions.

Brave enough to take The Pledge? Wardrobe Re-Fashion is a website dedicated to abstaining from buying new clothing and instead refashioning, renovating and recycling preloved items of clothing for an agreed period of time. Have a look at the links for some inspiration. http://nikkishell.typepad.com/wardroberefashion/the_pledge.html


139

General/community Kapiti Coast District Libraries’ Sustainable Living book list has a General section for all the great books that didn’t fit elsewhere. A copy is in your folder or at http://www.kapiticoastlibraries.govt.nz/Sustainable%20Living.php#general

Chill-Ed: Paekakariki’s Winter Skills Series proved to be a successful way for locals to share their skills with each other (so successful that they’re thinking of doing it again). Have a look in your folder for a copy of the programme and a description of how it was done. Contact Stacey at [email protected] if you are interested in doing something similar.

Neighbourhood Support aims to make our homes, streets, neighbourhoods and communities safer and more caring places in which to live. Neighbourhood Support New Zealand Incorpo-rated provides support for all neighbourhood and rural support groups throughout New Zealand. To find out how to start your own group, see http://www.ns.org.nz/index.html/About/HowToStartYourOwnGroup. The NS Coordinator for Kapiti is Shona Jaunas. She can be con-tacted at [email protected].

On To It: Great Ideas for a Sustainable Kapiti is Kapiti Coast District Council’s monthly sustain-ability newsletter. To receive it electronically, email [email protected] with “Subscribe” in the subject line. Information and back copies are at http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Planning/Sustainability/Home-and-Garden/On-to-It/

Living sustainably means living smarter. Through http://www.sustainability.govt.nz/ you’ll learn how to reduce your impact on the environment and save money. In addition to their information pages, the site has discussion lists for all your tricky questions, blogs and news. It is also the home of 25 Easy Steps to Sustainability (http://www.sustainability.govt.nz/system/files/25-steps-towards-sustainability.pdf).

Time To Eat the Dog?: the real guide to sustainable living by Brenda and Robert Vale. The world and its resources are finite, yet we are seemingly locked into a system based on growth: growth of population, growth of income and growth of consumption. From this irrefutable starting point, TTETD? attempts to uncover what sustainability really means, exploring the environ-mental impact of the decisions we make, from what we eat and what we wear to how we travel and enjoy ourselves. This book has been called subversive and provocative for the challenge it poses to the orthodoxies that underpin our entire economic system – and it’s a New Zealand book! Kapiti Coast District Libraries have copies at 363.7 VAL.

Happyzine is a positive news website, weekly electronic magazine and blog with a strong Aotearoa flavour. They focus on the environment, Maori, youth, and inspiring New Zealanders. Happyzine also includes general good news from around the planet, opinion pieces, blogs, posi-tive thinking success stories, and much, much, more. And the editor, Charlotte Squire, is inter-ested in hosting a Greenest Street blog….watch this space! Have a look at http://happyzine.co.nz/ then sign up to receive it in your inbox each Monday.

Celsias° (tagline: Climate Change is Not a Spectator Sport) is all about doing practical things to combat climate change. A membership-based website, the idea is that you sign up then pledge to undertake actions and tell the online community when you’ve done them (and there’s lots of actions to choose from). This might not appeal to everyone but a similar model for children cre-ated by Meridian Energy, Treepeople, proved very popular and successful (could be a family project?). Or you can just have a look at the actions for ideas or check out their interesting news and opinions (http://www.celsias.com/).

Sustainable Living (www.sustainableliving.org.nz) is a NZ charitable trust providing pro-grammes and resources to help you make your household and lifestyle more sustainable.


140

Courses cover what could make your house a healthier living place, how you can reduce your weekly waste, transport, organic gardening, water saving, shopping choices, carbon footprints, energy, eco-building design and community resilience, all with a practical focus. You can download action guides from http://www.sustainableliving.org.nz/Actions.aspx and a set of use-ful reading on environmental sustainability issues is available either from http://www.sustainableliving.org.nz/Issues.aspx or http://www.sustainableliving.org.nz/Sustainable-Living-Quiz.aspx

Information and resources provided by the NZ television series, Wa$ted, for reducing your waste, including greenhouse gas emissions, can be found at http://www.wastedtv.co.nz/.


141

http://kakarikistreet.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/chill‐ed‐kakariki‐street‐workshops/

We have been busy bees here behind the scenes on Kakariki Street setting up a series of workshops to delight and

inspire.

The main theme for our workshops is “Closing The Loop” which means the production to waste cycle. We’d like to

encourage everyone to grow food in their gardens and then process all of their garden waste and as much house‐

hold waste as possible on their own properties. This results in minimising the need to send it to landfill, and up‐

ping the nutrients they can keep for use in their own lush garden. It also means less transportation of food and for

delivering waste to the dump ‐because yes, even the recycling truck uses fuel!

As we believe that the Kakariki Street concept is much bigger than just the 13 participating households, we have

joined forces with another local community initiative called Chill‐Ed. They ran low‐key informal workshops here in

Paekakariki last winter, so we are combining ours with theirs this summer and offering a bit of K.St to the wider

community.

Here’s the workshops list. Spot the GreenK.St hosted ones !

Earthships: The Dirty Truth. Following the popular ‘Earthships: what, how, why?’ presentation, Steve Bright will

show how it’s done. Come and see how the basic building blocks are made using old car tyres, earth and a sledge‐

hammer, and get some ideas for using them. This will be a practical demonstration, focussed on a work‐in‐

progress. Earthship buildings were developed by American architect Mike Reynolds to reduce the costs of building

new houses, the running costs and the ongoing environmental costs. Steve Bright is an engineer by trade. In 2003

he built an Earthship with the Low Carbon Network (Brighton) and Mike and his team. With Steve Bright at 9 Por‐

ter Place. Monday 14thof February, 7pm – 9pm

Mixed Media Magic. Come and make mixed media magic and explore your creative instincts, with experimental

drawing and painting techniques that would be suitable for the absolute beginner or the advanced artist looking

to be refreshed in their art approaches. Class incorporates NLP and right brain hemisphere exercises as well as

painting and drawing to music. Classes will be playful, esteeming and your art practice will be invigorated. All ma‐

terials supplied – chalk pastels, oil pastels, acrylic paints, oil paints, conte, charcoal textured and large art papers,

inks, dyes. With Rachel Benefield at St Peter’s Hall. Mondays for five weeks, starting 14thof February, 7pm – 9pm

Organising and Promoting a Gig or Other Event. We offer tips on organising and promoting gigs, community

events, symposiums and community workshops while staying sane. On the principle ‘everything is easier than you

think’, we’ll explore the Gaffer Tape and Checklist method now used internationally. With Al Witham, Helen

Keivom and Sam Buchanan at 52 Tilley Road. Wednesday 16thof February 7pm – 9pm. Bookings required – lim‐

ited to 10 people

Building a Raised Garden 101. A hands‐on introduction to making a lasagne garden. Make a quick and simple tim‐

ber vegetable frame from non‐toxic timber and build a layered compost heap (like a lasagne) directly into the new

plot. Learn about the different materials that go into making a fertile garden, and where to source them from.

Bring gloves and something for the compost such as seaweed, kitchen scraps, leafy greens, grass clippings or ani‐

mal manure. With Steve Bright and Flo McNeill at 11 Haumia Street. Saturday 19thof February, 10am – 12 noon

Everyday Yoga for Women. Learn some simple exercises to stretch or relax in the course of your everyday life.

Create flexibility, muscle tone and relaxation as you become more aware of your posture, muscles, joints and

breath. With Aleks Tanasic at 51 Ocean Road. Sunday 20thof February, 10.30am – 12 noon. Bookings required –

limited to 10 women

Appendix 15: Chill‐Ed & ‘Kakariki Street’ workshops

142

Harvesting Your Greywater. Want to irrigate your trees and lawn while conserving water? Create a resource from

your laundry and shower/bath greywater. Ben will discuss the elements of an effective and safe greywater system

and possible models. With Ben Thompson, Council’s Water Use Coordinator, at 137 Tilley Road. Wednesday

23rdof February, 7pm – 9 pm

Long‐Line Fishing 101. An introduction to long‐line fishing, with practical demonstration if the weather permits,

covering bait, equipment, local species, regulations, preparing the catch and kayak use. With Pete McLaughlin and

mystery guests on beach by Memorial Hall if fine, or in the Scout Hall if wet. Saturday 26thof February, 10am – 12

noon

Vegetarian Cooking. An introduction to vegetarian cooking based on Ayurvedic principles. Ayurveda is a tradition

of Indian healing which places emphasis on food, cooking and digestion to maintain excellent physical, mental

and spiritual health. The class will cover: 2.5 hour cooking demonstration followed by a delicious shared lunch;

use of spices and preparation of dahl, vegetables, chutneys, grains and sweets; an introduction to vegetarianism

plus tips on Ayurvedic lifestyle and nutrition.

With Anja Foley at 28 Te Miti Street $15 per person. Sunday 27thof February, 10.30am – 1.30pm. Bookings re‐

quired – limited to 10 people

Know Your Seaweed. An introduction to common seaweeds of the Kapiti Coast. A short talk on seaweeds, what

they are, and why they are so interesting, and a ramble. Some wading might be involved, wear footwear for walk‐

ing on rocks, preferably shoes you don’t mind getting wet. With Joe Buchanan (currently completing a PhD in ma‐

rine biology, focussing on genetic variation in brown seaweeds) at Pukerua Bay Beach. Sunday 27thof February (If

weather is hideous, Sunday 13thof March. Meet at St Peter’s Hall, Beach Road, 9.45am for carpooling or 10am at

the carpark at the south end of Pukerua Bay beach.

Keeping Chickens (with a supplement on ducks). An introduction to keeping and caring for chickens. Darcy is a

serious chicken man, consultant on This Way Up’sFunky Chicken Farm and repeat guest at Kapiti’s Seedy Sunday,

so he can answer your burning questions too. With Darcy Philp (and Sam & Jane Buchanan) at 137 Tilley

Road. Monday 28thof February, 7pm – 9pm

Basic Bike Repairs. Demonstrations and advice for doing your own simple bike maintenance: repairing punctures,

adjusting brakes etc. Please note this is a how‐to session rather than a repair workshop, so you don’t need to

bring your bike. A notebook and pen may be useful. With Torv Rozing at 141 Tilley Road. Wednesday 2ndof

March, 7pm – 9pm

Introductory Permaculture. Permaculture is smart design, aimed at creating a garden that’s as self‐sustaining as

possible by linking together different elements –plants, trees, animals and humans – to hopefully form an ecosys‐

tem. We will look at a garden that’s (almost) a blank slate and start to plan a design. With Hannah Zwartz at 7

Haumia Street. Saturday 5thof March, 2pm – 4pm

Paekakariki Ukes (PUKES). An informal gathering on the first Saturday of each month where we play ukulele and

sing together. Bring a uke and whatever you want to eat/drink. For a printable copy of the songs we have played

before email [email protected] You don’t have to be experienced, just willing to have a go – you can just sing, do per‐

cussion or drink if that’s where your skills are at, or even play something other than a ukulele (but please no am‐

plified instruments, tubas or pipe organs). With PUKES at Paekakariki Playcentre. Saturday 5thof March, from 8pm

Make a Bio‐digester. What do you do with pernicious weeds that can’t be composted (like wandering willie, con‐

volvulus, oxalis and kikuyu)? Find out how to liquefy them and transform them into mineral‐rich fertiliser using a


143

simple double‐barrelled bio‐digester made from two plastic drums. With Hannah Zwartz, KCDC’s Green Gardener,

at 23 Te Miti Street. Sunday 6thof March, 10am – 12 noon

Build Your Own Rain Barrels. Would you like to save rainwater from your roof for use on your garden? Come and

see a simple 240L rainwater catchment system being set up, using recycled plastic barrels and commonly‐

available plumbing materials. Written instructions provided. With Ben Thompson, KCDC’s Water Use Coordinator,

at 137 Tilley Road. Monday 7thof March, 7pm – 9pm

Building a Compost Bin. Want to compost your garden waste? Come and see a quick and easy compost bin being

built from old pallets. Pallets are readily available, free and often made of untreated timber. With John Wraight at

23 Te Miti Street. Wednesday 9thof March, 10am – 12 noon. Please donate homegrown produce as koha

Introductory Homebrewing – back by popular demand. Get some pointers for making your own beer from

scratch or using brew kits. With former Paekakariki residents, John and Joe. Workshop may retire to a nearby resi‐

dence for further research into particular brews. With Joe Buchanan and John Anderson at Paekakariki Playcen‐

tre. Wednesday 9th of March, 7– 9pm

Easy and Speedy Food Gifts for Friends. Fast and easy food gifts that make a change from the usual bottle of

wine or chocolates. Examples may include preserved lemons, flavoured sugars, herb vinegars, rubs for meat, pot‐

ted cheese, fruit in alcohol and so on… Some items will be available for tasting on the day. Bring a notebook and

pen. With Frano Schuster‐Keith at 8 Te Miti Street. Sunday 13thof March, 2pm (prompt start). Bookings required

– limited to 10 people. Koha of $10 or more requested –to be gifted to Kapiti School, Kenya (a planned school and

forest conservation centre) – see www.kapitischoolkenya.org/home

Summer Pruning. Which fruit trees need pruning in summer and which in winter? Stonefruit or pipfruit? What’s a

lateral and what’s vegetative growth? A simple beginner’s guide. With Hannah Zwartz at 9 Porter Place. Sunday

13thof March, 10am – 12 noon

To book a place in any workshop email: [email protected] or phone Sam on xxx. Entry to all workshops is

by koha/donation. Additional costs are noted in the workshop description.


144

Appendix 16: Electricity monitor information sheet

The Current Cost Classic energy monitor allows you to monitor how much electricity you are using at any time

of the day and show you how much it is costing you. It also keeps track of how much electricity has been used

the previous day (in three time bands) so you can see what’s been happening while you were out.

To install you simply clip one part around a cable coming out of your electricity meter. It wirelessly connects

with the display unit, which can be placed conveniently around your house. Choose spot where you’ll remember

to look at it and can easily notice the display changes – on the kitchen bench, for example!

Electricity monitors can really help you to reduce the amount of electricity you use, saving you a lot of money!

1. The monitor will show you which appliances in your house are high energy consumers, so you can consider

habit changes to use your electricity more efficiently.

2. The monitor will help you to find appliances that have been left on, especially those with stand‐by functions –

what does it really cost you to leave the computer on stand‐by while you’re at work?

Because this model monitors your total energy use (not individual appliances), you can still see how much energy

individual appliances use by looking at the monitor, switching the appliances on or off, and checking the differ‐

ence.

Energy Advice

More and more people are thinking about the environment.

Already most of us do some form of recycling, and are careful about water use, but few truly understand the ac‐

tual cost of electricity in the home.

If we all do the small things such as turning off lights and switching appliances off at the wall instead of leaving

them on standby we will all make a massive difference. Not only to our electricity bill but also to the amount of

energy waste across the country.

It’s more important than ever with the introduction of LCD and plasma screen TVs, home computers and even

garden lighting ‐ the nation’s use of electricity is on the rise.

Changing behaviour is a simple task. What we need is accurate information on cost. We all have a detailed phone

(From www.currentcost.com)

145


bill and now with the Current Cost monitor, we will have real time information that will surprise everyone.

What’s the real difference of an energy saving light bulb or what we actually save when turning off the TV at the

socket and most of us wouldn’t have a clue. That old freezer in the garage ‐ you might be surprised how much it's

costing.

Impact

The beauty of Current Cost is that it shows you how much energy you’re using right now. It shows how much your

electricity use is going to cost every day and every month, unless you alter your behaviour.

It can’t save you money on its own but it can help you change your habits.

We suggest you check the display regularly. If it shows that your usage is high, it could mean there’s something

you can switch off now, like a light bulb or an appliance on stand‐by.

As you leave the house, it’s good to check the display. It will show you exactly how much electricity you’ll be using

even when you’re not at home. Perhaps you’ll be persuaded to switch off the TV instead of leaving it on stand‐by.

Check the display before you go to bed. How much money will you spend while you’re asleep? And what can you

save by switching off an appliance, or two ... let’s face it, you'll be asleep, you won't be needing them for the next

eight hours.

Testing how much energy is consumed by your home will surprise you how much is wasted when some appli‐

ances are not turned off altogether. You'll soon get used to what your 'baseline' usage is, if it’s suddenly higher

you'll know something's been left on. Compare your friends and family baseline to yours ... beats talking about

the weather.

Energy saving ideas

• Don’t use the remote to switch off the TV or stereo as leaving the appliance on stand‐by still uses up electric‐

ity

• In most homes about 10‐15% of the electricity bill is for lighting. Always turn off the lights when you leave a

room. Energy saving light bulbs will also cut your costs considerably ‐ by as much as 80%!

• Dropping the temperature of your wash when using the washing machine will significantly decrease energy

consumption

• Only use a washing machine when you have a full load and if you have to do a smaller wash, use the half load

function

• You can avoid using the dryer by line drying clothes whenever possible or using an indoor clothes airer when

the weather is bad

• If you do need to use the dryer, then ensure the clothes are as dry as possible after washing, e.g., they have

gone through a fast spin so that there is minimum excess water, reducing drying time considerably

• Unplug any chargers when not being used

• Set computers to sleep/hibernate. The hibernate mode turns the computer off in a way that doesn’t require

you to reload everything when you switch it back on. Allowing your computer to hibernate saves energy and

is overall more efficient than shutting down and restarting your computer

146

• Keep your printer turned off when not in use

• When heating water only heat the amount needed and use the correct size pan

• If only using a small pan, use a small burner. Boiling water in a kettle first will save the time the burner needs

to heat the water and putting a lid on will help it come to the boil quicker

• The location of your fridge is important to how energy efficient it is. Where possible make sure it is out of di‐

rect sunlight and not close to the oven

• Make sure you defrost your fridge and freezer on a regular basis as ice build‐up will make a freezer work

harder therefore wasting energy

• Only set your fridge as cold as you need it and avoid keeping the door open for long periods of time as the

more cold air that escapes, the harder the fridge has to work

• Never put warm or hot food into the fridge as it will have to work extra hard to try and keep cold

• Aim to keep your fridge at least three‐quarters full to maintain maximum efficiency.

Why is my display showing '0' watts (or is very low)?

A fairly easy mistake is to place the CT (sensor jaw) around either more than one cable or a multi‐core cable. The

CT must be placed around one single mains cable. If you place it around both Live and Neutral, it will have a can‐

celling effect or possibly a very low reading that doesn't reflect the real figure.


147

Appendix 17: Kāpiti Coast District Council’s Waste Reduction Grants

148

Appendix 17cont’d.

149

Appendix 17cont’d.

150

Appendix 18: ’Neighbours work to make greenest street’, from ‘Greenzone’ in The Dominion Post, 30/04/11

151

Appendix 19: Example of a Greenest Street column from The Kapiti Observer, 2011/12

Rented

hou

se? No prob

lem!

“But I’m a ren

ter – what can

I do

?” is

something

that’s been he

ard a few

times over the course of K

āpiti

Coast’s Green

est S

treet C

ompe

tition.

Too often suggested ways to becom

e

‘green

er’ or redu

ce you

r en

viron‐

men

tal impact are fo

cused on

you

r

house ‐ solar panels, greyw

ater

system

s, rainw

ater collection, wall

insulatio

n and do

uble‐glazing. B

ut

whe

n you do

n’t o

wn your own ho

me,

expe

nsive and pe

rmanen

t measures

aren

’t really an op

tion. But th

ere are

plen

ty of things you can do

in and

arou

nd you

r ho

me that are still

worthwhile in

the short term or can

be ta

ken with

you

if you

move on

.

Here are some ideas:

> Han

g curtains – goo

d curtains can

be effectiv

e as dou

ble glazing.

> Get rain ba

rrels – a DIY set up can

cost as little

as $2

00. To see a

demon

stratio

n, com

e alon

g to

Paekākāriki Schoo

l on Mon

day 30

April at 3.30p

m, w

eather permitting.

Back‐up date is Tue

sday 1 M

ay. For

more info, use th

e contact b

elow

.

> Grow a vege garden

– low cost,

quick results, easy to reverse!

> Get com

posting or worm fa

rming

– bins can

be moved

or made from

free

materials like pallets.

It’s also im

portant to remem

ber

whe

n it comes to

red

ucing your

environm

ental impact, som

e of th

e

biggest things you can do

are

unrelated to you

r ho

me – e.g. whe

re

For the rest of this article, som

e useful resou

rces and

link

s to th

e streets’ blogs, see

www.kap

iticoa

st.govt.nz/green

est‐street or contact the

Sustainab

le Com

mun

ities

Coordina

tor on

04‐296 47

00. G

reen

est Street run

s each year from

Octob

er to June

.

Veges, fruit trees and

berries can

be moved

with

you if grow

n in pots, or y

ou cou

ld go on

e step

furthe

r with

a garde

n‐on

‐whe

els like Stefanie

152

Appendix 20a: Happyzine ‐ Launch

153

Appendix 20a cont’d.

154

Appendix 20b: Happyzine ‐ Mark Amery, ‘Kakariki Street’

155

Appendix 20b cont’d.

156

Appendix 20c: Happyzine ‐ Andy Fraser, Te Roto Road

157

Appendix 20c cont’d.

158

Appendix 20d: Happyzine ‐ Kylie Jurgensen, Rainbow Court

159

Appendix 20d cont’d.

160

Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street: Cheap & Chilled Community Education Submitted by staceygasson on February 27, 2011 – 11:45 pm

Blog 5: by Stacey Gasson

Steve Bright is one of those people who seem willing to turn their hand to most things, except maybe being interviewed. The prospect of talking about himself has him looking for cover – next time I’ll remember to frame the request as a technical problem….

As one of the coordinators for Kakariki Street, Steve is a part-time single parent of two school-age children and a conservation contractor by day. He’s also a Scout master and self-described odd-job man, and moonlights as a construction engineer helping a local person design, and hopefully later build, an ‘Earthship’-type building. When I asked him why he got involved with the Greenest Street competition, I figured it wasn’t because he was bored.

Steve says, “I saw Greenest Street as a chance to get to know my neighbours better, for us to be

more co-operative and help each other. The reality is, when you’re a single parent, you need all the help you can get. It’s also a chance to share our resources and work. June [when the competition ends] probably won’t change much for us – Greenest Street has just been the means to kick-start things, like the community mulcher* and our gardening bees”.

One of Steve’s latest projects has been his involvement with Chill-Ed, a series of work-shops he describes as “community-based knowledge sharing, at koha rates, by commu-nity for community”.

Started last winter by a group of locals, supported by Kāpiti Coast District Council, the Chill-Ed se-ries has taken on a life of its own. Each series is planned and organised within three weeks, starting with two lists: skilled locals and requested workshops. As one of the organisers, Sam Buchanan, says,

“Everybody has something they can teach and something they need to learn, it’s just a matter of getting the latter together with the former”.

Almost everybody approached to host a workshop is happy to take part, particularly when it’s ex-plained that this isn’t about being an expert, but ‘showing others how you do what you do’. Dates are chosen within the allotted month and venues are found (mostly tutor’s backyards, homes or decks, though the Scout Hall, beach and Playcentre also feature). A copy of the programme is deliv-ered to every household in the village and away it goes.

Chill-Ed II: The Return is currently underway and boasts 19 workshops, ranging from everyday yoga to long-line fishing to homebrewing. Many of the workshops have a sustainability theme, accentu-ated by the involvement of Kakariki Street. Having planned to learn about things such as rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse, permaculture and vegetarian cooking, Kakariki St decided to pool their energy and resources with the Chill-Ed team and make these opportunities available to the whole community.

Chill-Ed I saw Steve fronting an introduction to Earthships, in which he outlined the basic principles of Earthship buildings and their pros and cons, illustrated by his experiences as part of the Low Car-

Appendix 20e: Happyzine ‐ Steve Bright, ‘Kakariki Street’

161

bon Network (Brighton) team that built the Brighton Earth-ship in 2003. Earthship buildings were developed over the last thirty years or so by American architect Mike Reynolds to reduce the costs of building new houses, the running costs and the ongoing environmental costs. He coined the phrase ‛biotecture’ for his ideas and designs for buildings that work in harmony with the Earth’s natural systems and use what he what he describes as ‘the new natural re-source’ – old car tyres – as the basic building block.

Last week Steve made good on his promise of a practical demonstration and showed nine Chill-Ed II participants how to pound a tyre full of earth and use it to build a re-taining wall. On the weekend he and Flo co-piloted ‘Building a Raised Bed 101’, a workshop that took partici-pants from a pile of planks to creating a lasagna garden in their newly-constructed frame. Steve’s dislike of public speaking comes to the fore as he admits that the first workshop was totally nerve-wracking, but he now knows what to expect: friendly, enthusiastic people with lots of questions who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. He laughs as he recounts last weekend’s success, “It’s great – they built a garden for me and paid for the privilege!”

Personally Steve has found Greenest Street has resulted in lots of small subtle behaviour changes – he uses the car less; he recently opted to take the ferry and train from Wellington to Christchurch instead of flying (“Very pleasant, I recommend it”); he finds himself turning off appliances at the wall more; and he spends far more time in the garden growing produce for his family. Gardening is a brand-new occupation for him and has been a definite learning curve. His next goal is “to learn to use the stuff I grow”.

When I ask Steve if he thinks he would have been so engaged in his neighbourhood and made these changes without Greenest Street he says it’s been good to have the incentive of the competition. Sure, he admits, Greenest Street isn’t essential and people could do these things under their own steam, but for those of us who haven’t yet, an incentive may be needed. His advice to those who do want to build their communities would be to (take a deep breath) knock on your neighbour’s doors and introduce yourself. Looking for ways of working together and sharing stuff, like working bees, can be the key to growing those relationships.

When I close by asking Steve what his hopes are for the next few months of the competition, he tells me they’ve already happened: “We’re working more strongly together and helping each other. The pea straw is a classic example – I’m doing a swap with Holly for some chainsaw work”. Of course.

[* More to come on this: in summary, Kakariki Street applied for a Waste Reduction Grant from Council to purchase a mulcher. As Steve explains, this is the kind of tool that’s expensive to hire and not used a lot, but will enable residents to process and reuse their green waste on site.]

Stacey Gasson is the Sustainable Communities Coordinator with Kāpiti Coast District Council and one of the organisers of the ‘Greenest Streets’ competition. This blog is part of series profiling par-ticipating households and their projects.

Appendix 20e cont’d.

162

Appendix 20f: Happyzine ‐ Doreen Douglas, Avion Terrace

163

Appendix 20f cont’d.

164

Appendix 20g: Happyzine ‐ Peter Campbell, Te Roto Road

165

Appendix 20g cont’d.

166

Appendix 20h: Happyzine ‐ Joe Simmonds, Rainbow Court

167

Appendix 20h cont’d.

168

Appendix 20h cont’d.

169

Appendix 20i: Happyzine blog ‐ Vic Young, Avion Terrace

170

Appendix 20i cont’d.

171

Appendix 20i cont’d.

172

Appendix 20j: Happyzine ‐ Terena Harris, Te Roto Road

173

Appendix 20j cont’d.

174

Appendix 21a: ‘Kāpiti Update’ announcing ‘Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street 2011’

175

Appendix 21b: ‘Kāpiti Update’ announcing ‘Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street 2012’

176

Greenest Street 2010/11 Final Report:

Rainbow Court, Raumati South Where we began

At the outset of this competition we gathered as a street to meet each other, most for the first time. None of us

felt like we had particularly “green” credentials, and many were dubious about the time they’d be able to commit

to anything extra on top of our busy lives. When we took stock almost every household had at least one and in

some cases both adults commuting into the city to work, taking them away from the street for ten or more hours

a day, three households were heavily invested in starting up businesses, numbers of residents were studying on

top of their already busy lives and few adults were actually at home during the week. Our street has lots of kids,

and most of them are either preschoolers/ in their first years of school, or teenagers – all high maintenance age

groups! In other words, we were pretty much a typical suburban kiwi street. This was borne out in our initial eco‐

footprint which indicated that our green score was 3.7 earths – exactly the same as New Zealand’s national aver‐

age.

The key challenge for us then was how to incorporate green initiatives into lives that were already too busy, in a

community of individuals for whom ecological awareness is still of marginal – though growing – importance.

One thing that all of us were overwhelmingly supportive of was our desire for greater connection as a street com‐

munity. The Greenest Street competition provided a framework for our self‐styled quest to “build a sustainable

street community”. For us this meant forging connections that would:

• be sustainable within each household’s limitations, such as time, energy and money

• encourage each other to value and actively promote environmentally friendly ways of living

• be sustainable beyond the scope of the competition, hopefully even becoming a legacy for the children

of the street

• be inclusive of our wider community and flexible enough to allow residents of the street to be more or

less involved at different times as they felt able

• provide lots of varied opportunities for different individuals and organisations to contribute their

unique skills and resources, and for the community to value those contributions

Initiatives

Some of the ways in which we have pursued, and are pursuing these goals are listed below.

1) Recycling

a. We set a goal of keeping all our organic waste on the street. Since many of our households did not

have organic recycling systems at home we applied for a Waste Fund Levy grant to purchase either a

bokashi, worm farm or composting system for each household. We have received this funding in the

past week and are in the process of ordering these.

Appendix 22: Rainbow Court’s final summary, 2011

177

b. Two households bought chickens from a local farm and collaborated as they built appropriate housing

and feeding systems for them. Neighbours contribute food for the chooks from their vege gardens

and eggs are traded. We also worked together to buy bulk feed and shared ideas on making feeders

and waterers from recycled materials. One household recycles paper by shredding it for chickens. An‐

other two households will have chook runs by the end of the year.

c. When we built our community garden we called on local businesses for recyclable materials including

40 pallets, four trailerloads of carpet, large quantities of horse manure from the stables at QE Park,

hair from the local hair salon, coffee grounds from the local café, seaweed and fish scraps from the

beach and numerous truckloads of prunings and waste mulch dropped off by local landscaping con‐

tractors.

d. We have an ongoing arrangement with two local landscaping contractors to leave organic waste that

they would otherwise have dumped on our community garden site. Street residents use this in their

own gardens/compost heaps and we use it in our beds as well as a groundcover for the carpeted ar‐

eas where we are trying to suppress rampant blackberries.

e. In order to reduce the use of wheelie bins on our street some residents are sharing use of these. We

are also currently negotiating with the different waste management companies that service our street

in an attempt to consolidate so that all residents use the same wheelie bin company, and therefore

avoid having numbers of different trucks rumbling down our street on rubbish day.

f. In the next month we will be building compost bins, a worm farm, and large storage bays on our com‐

munity garden where locals can leave prunings and garden waste, and where street residents who

don’t have gardens can recycle their organic waste. In the interim we have encouraged people to put

their organic waste directly into the garden beds, and we have a stack of tyres where people who use

the accessway from our street to QE2 Park can leave household waste which is then mixed in with

mulch to make compost.

2) The community garden

a. There was unanimous support among residents for the idea of a community garden. With permission

from the owner of a plot of vacant land on our street we worked together to make the community

garden a reality. We applied for support from the BNZ “Closed for Good” campaign in order to get

labour to build the beds, and sponsorship from local businesses provided the materials that we were

unable to obtain for free by recycling.

b. Over a series of Saturday and Sunday afternoon working bees, residents finished building the raised

beds, laid carpet to suppress weeds, covered the carpets with a thick layer of mulch, filled the beds,

dug a swale for kumara, built raised mounds for potatoes, planted green crops and seedlings, and

erected a notice board for listing tasks so that any resident with some spare time can get involved.

c. Already the community garden supplies us with salad greens as well as an opportunity to meet and

work together on a shared project. As we thin seedlings, these are sent back to residents for use in

their home gardens.

d. A small committee manages the community garden, meeting one evening a month to plan and dis‐

cuss the direction of the garden and then letting residents know what needs to be done and any re‐


178

sources or skills that are needed. On the third Sunday of each month an open working bee is held

where residents work together in the garden.

e. Since there is no water supply for the garden, we have obtained funding to build storage bays which

will be roofed to provide a rainwater catchment area and this water will be channeled into rainwater

barrels to water the gardens. We are also experimenting with water retention systems like mulching

and building swales on the slopes of the community garden site.

f. We expect the community garden to provide a focus for on‐going interaction as a street, through

working together, sharing the produce, fund‐raising, demonstrating what we are doing to the many

people who visit our street and who use our street’s accessway to QE2 Park. We also hope that our

experience will be able to provide a model for turning vacant residential sections into productive land

with minimal expense, and an organizational model which is sustainable for “average” suburban

streets like ours where many residents do not have large blocks of time to devote to a community

garden and may lack confidence in their shared gardening expertise.

3) Travel

a. One of our initial goals as a street was to establish a walking school bus. However here again we ran

into issues with a shortage of home‐based adults who were able to escort the bus since many parents

were dropping kids on the way to catching trains or taking other children on to schools or preschools

beyond walking distance. Although this looked like a lost cause, the discussion process itself provided

connections and two families with similar aged children began to take turns escorting the kids on

bikes. Another family joined this, then another, and soon we had kids from up to five households bik‐

ing to school where previously they would have been dropped off by car. Another household found

an older child in an adjacent street to walk their children to school. Kids and parents on bikes are a

much more frequent site on our street these days.

b. With our newfound sense of community, parents of preschoolers are a lot more confident taking their

kids out to learn to ride bikes in the cul de sac. This is an important step in building a culture on our

street of bike use.

c. Since meeting each other through the competition, commuting residents have found it much easier to

contact each other to share lifts where convenient, or to share childminding so that parents can get

out to do errands without having to make trips elsewhere to drop off kids.

d. Recognising the costs of commuting has encouraged some residents to work from home more, and

other talk about how they now try to use bike, bus or foot transport for local trips.

4) Gardening

a. Encouraged by a similar initiative on “Kakariki Street” we arranged a day when residents could do a

walking tour of each other’s veggie gardens. This not only developed relationships by bringing us into

each other’s homes but it also provided huge inspiration and most households can now boast at least

some sort of veggie patch, with plans for fruit tree planting during the current planting season.

b. One resident’s adult son converted her backyard to an extensive series of raised beds built from pal‐

lets. This garden is providing for a vegetarian household as well as supplying a local friend who is us‐


179

ing a juice and vegetable diet as part of a battle against cancer. When neighbours admired the gar‐

dens, he went on to build similar beds for two other households.

c. Using free mulch supplied by local landscaping contractors, residents and other locals were able to

mulch their gardens extensively throughout the summer months.

5) Community spirit

a. In addition to numbers of shared afternoon teas and suppers, we held a street Christmas party with a

“green” Santa sack for which residents contributed recycled items from their homes.

b. A street contact list has been distributed to all residents and an email list enables us to share surplus

items, recycle unwanted goods, share skills and tools, and let each other know about relevant local

events and initiatives.

c. Without exception, residents have commented on how good it is to know everyone on the street be‐

yond just waving at each other. We know each other’s names, something of our circumstances and

have been able to support each other through life events like providing meals after the birth of a

baby, caring for each other’s children, checking mail and watering gardens for absent neighbours,

making a joint response to an attempt by vandals to break into cars on the street, and even finding a

toddler who wandered away from home.

d. A number of the men got together to do their gun licenses. The plan (although we’re still waiting,

guys!) is that they will bond on useful missions to eradicate pests like rabbits, goats and deer on local

farmland and forests and also provide us with meat. In the interim the families with boats have

shared resources on boating trips and brought back fish for neighbours.

e. A resident who makes eco‐friendly household cleaners ran a workshop at the Sustainable Home and

Garden show sharing recipes and tips on how to source ingredients and make your own dishwasher,

laundry, cleaning products and shampoo.

6) Food

a. In addition to sharing veggies, herbs, preserves, eggs, fish, venison and meals with each other we

have also begun to harvest salad greens from our community garden.

b. Three households have joined a local organic fruit and vegetable co‐op.

c. A resident with contacts at an organic feijoa orchard provided the opportunity for residents to access

the orchard to pick the end of season fruit. Shared recipes enabled us to make the most of this wind‐

fall.

d. During the blackberry season our street was a hive of activity from early in the day with the young

children picking piles of blackberries and peddling them up and down the street. This fuelled a spurt

of home‐grown entrepreneurial ventures by the kids on the street, including making and selling fridge

magnets from recycled bottle tops, and selling homemade cookies.

7) Energy savings initiatives

a. Many of the new houses on our street already have the benefits of high‐spec insulation, water tanks,

gas and solar heating, and energy saving devices. Beyond this we have taken advantage of the Coun‐


180

cil’s offer of free eco‐bulbs, and will also be getting electricity usage monitors for those who have not

had them.

b. We are fortunate to have a household who own a business providing eco‐efficient home solutions.

This couple have been instrumental in supplying and promoting the use of electricity monitors, retro‐

fitting double‐glazing in some of the older homes, providing recycled building materials sourced from

some of their installation sites, and providing discounted solar panels to three households. Three

other households have invested in solar panels.

c. The geography of the older part of our street, where many of the productive gardens are set on

higher ground than the homes, has made the prospect of gravity‐fed watering systems based on rain‐

water barrels a slightly more complicated issue. However, as mentioned earlier, we are in the process

of building a rainwater catchment “roof” on our community garden. Once this is in place we will get

rainwater barrels set up and hold a workshop so that those residents without built‐in tanks can brain‐

storm ways to harness rainwater for their own properties.

For more personal stories about what’s happening on our street, please read our blog at rainbow‐

court.wordpress.com


181

Appendix 23: Summary of Behavioural Survey Results for 2010/11 and 2011/12

Yes, and

expect

Chan

ges to last a

year or more

Yes, but do no

t ex‐

pect cha

nges to

last

No

Was already

do

ing this

(2011/12)

Num

ber of

respon

ses

No, but plan to

do th

is in

the

future

(2011/12)

No, and

won

't be

doing this

(2011/12)

Did not act in

this area

(2010/11)

TRAVEL

Incr

easi

ng tr

avel

by

publ

ic

trans

port

27.6

% (8

) 3.

4% (1

) 26

.7%

(4/1

5)

40.0

% (6

/15)

42

.9%

(6/1

4)

26.7

% (4

/15)

29

Red

ucin

g ai

r tra

vel

27

.6%

(8)

10.3

% (3

) 6.

7% (1

/15)

33

.3%

(5/1

5)

42.9

% (6

/14)

40

.0%

(6/1

5)

29

Red

ucin

g ca

r tra

vel

64

.5%

(20)

6.

5% (2

) 0.

0% (0

/16)

12

.5%

(2/1

6)

0.0%

(0/1

5)

43.8

% (7

/16)

31

Car

pool

ing

mor

e

38.7

% (1

2)

3.2%

(1)

25.0

% (4

/16)

43

.8%

(7/1

6)

33.3

% (5

/15)

12

.5%

(2/1

6)

31

Incr

easi

ng tr

avel

by

foot

or b

ike

64

.5%

(20)

0.

0% (0

) 12

.5%

(2/1

6)

0.0%

(0)

13.3

% (2

/15)

43

.8%

(7/1

6)

31

WATER

Col

lect

ing

rain

wat

er

37

.5%

(12)

0.

0% (0

) 52

.9%

(9/1

7)

17.6

% (3

/17)

40

.0%

(6/1

5)

11.8

% (2

/17)

32

Re-

usin

g gr

eyw

ater

35.5

% (1

1)

3.2%

(1)

35.3

% (6

/17)

41

.2%

(7/1

7)

35.7

% (5

/14)

5.

9% (1

/17)

31

Det

ectin

g an

d fix

ing

wat

er

leak

s

35.5

% (1

1)

0.0%

(0)

11.8

% (2

/17)

0.

0% (0

/17)

35

.7%

(5/1

4)

76.5

% (1

3/17

) 31

Inst

allin

g w

ater

-sav

ing

feat

ures

in

hou

se

25.8

% (8

) 6.

5% (2

) 11

.8%

(2/1

7)

17.6

% (3

/17)

57

.1%

(8/1

4)

47.1

% (8

/17)

31

Con

serv

ing

wat

er in

the

hom

e

53.1

% (1

7)

6.3%

(2)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

5.9%

(1/1

7)

13.3

% (2

/15)

58

.8%

(10/

17)

32

Con

serv

ing

wat

er in

gar

den

50

.0%

(16)

3.

1% (1

) 0.

0% (0

/17)

5.

9% (1

/17)

20

.3%

(3/1

5)

64.7

% (1

1/17

) 32

Usi

ng b

iode

grad

able

or n

on-

toxi

c cl

eane

rs

62.5

% (2

0)

3.1%

(1)

11.8

% (2

/17)

5.

9% (1

/17)

13

.3%

(2/1

5)

35.3

% (6

/17)

32

Boug

ht a

pplia

nces

with

a h

igh

wat

er e

ffici

ency

ratin

g 23

.5%

(4/1

7)

0.0%

(0)

35.3

% (6

/17)

5.

9% (1

/17)

-

35.3

% (3

/17)

17

Boug

ht a

pplia

nces

with

a h

igh

ener

gy a

nd/o

r wat

er e

ffici

ency

ra

ting

(201

01/1

1)

71.4

% (

10/1

4)

0.0%

(0)

- -

28.6

% (4

/14)

-

14

Run

ning

clo

thes

and

dis

h w

ashe

rs w

ith fu

ll lo

ads

46.9

% (1

5)

3.1%

(1)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

5.9%

(1/1

7)

0.0%

(0/1

5)

88.2

% (1

5/17

) 32

Mul

ch! (

2011

/12)

52

.9%

(9/1

7)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

5.9%

(1/1

7)

- 41

.2%

(7/1

7)

17

182

Appendix 22cont’d. EN

ERGY

S

witc

hing

to re

new

able

ele

c-tri

city

pro

vide

rs

25.0

% (7

) 3.

6% (1

) 42

.9%

(6/1

4)

7.1%

(1/1

4)

57.1

% (8

/14)

35

.7%

(5/1

4)

28

Turn

ing

off a

pplia

nces

at t

he

wal

l

51.6

% (1

6)

6.5%

(2)

6.3%

(1/1

6)

18.8

% (3

/16)

0.

0% (0

/15)

56

.3%

(9/1

6)

31

Usi

ng a

n el

ectri

city

mon

itor

20

.7%

(6)

13.8

% (4

) 26

.7%

(4/1

5)

46.7

% (7

/15)

50

.0%

(7/1

4)

6.7%

(1/1

5)

29

Inst

allin

g w

all,

ceili

ng o

r flo

or

insu

latio

n

40.0

% (1

2)

0.0%

(0)

5.9%

(1/1

7)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

38.5

% (5

/13)

70

.6%

(12/

17)

30

Inst

allin

g do

uble

-gla

zing

20.7

% (6

) 0.

0% (0

) 25

.0%

(4/1

6)

43.8

% (7

/16)

76

.9%

(10/

13)

12.5

% (2

/16)

29

Inst

allin

g ec

o-bu

lbs

46.9

% (1

5)

6.3%

(2)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

5.9%

(1/1

7)

6.7%

(1/1

5)

76.5

% (1

3/17

) 32

Boug

ht a

pplia

nces

with

a h

igh

ener

gy ra

ting

(201

1/12

) 18

.3%

(3/1

6)

0.0%

(0)

50.0

% (8

/16)

0.

0% (0

) -

31.3

% (5

/16)

16

Boug

ht a

pplia

nces

with

a h

igh

ener

gy a

nd/o

r wat

er e

ffici

ency

ra

ting

(201

01/1

1)

71.4

% (

10/1

4)

0.0%

(0)

- -

28.6

% (4

/14)

-

14

FOOD

Sou

rcin

g m

ore

of m

y fo

od lo

-ca

lly

61.3

% (1

9)

6.5%

(2)

0.0%

(0/1

6)

6.3%

(1/1

6)

0.0%

(0/1

5)

56.3

% (9

/16)

31

Red

ucin

g th

e am

ount

of m

eat

in m

y di

et

40.0

% (1

2)

3.3%

(1)

0.0%

(0/1

6)

37.5

% (6

/16)

28

.6%

(4/1

4)

43.8

% (7

/16)

30

Obt

aini

ng w

ild m

eat

32

.3%

(10)

0.

0% (0

) 18

.8%

(3/1

6)

56.3

% (9

/16)

53

.3%

(3/1

5)

6.3%

(1/1

6)

31

Gro

win

g m

y ow

n fo

od

65

.6%

(21)

0.

0% (0

) 5.

9% (1

/17)

0.

0% (0

/17)

6.

7% (1

/15)

52

.9%

(9/1

7)

32

Sou

rcin

g m

ore

orga

nic

food

45.2

% (1

4)

6.5%

(2)

25.0

% (4

/16)

18

.8%

(3/1

6)

26.7

% (4

/15)

25

.0%

(4/1

6)

31

CONSU

MPT

ION

Sour

cing

sec

ond

hand

/recy

cled

/sus

tain

ably

pr

oduc

ed g

oods

45.2

% (1

4)

0.0%

(0)

5.9%

(1/1

7)

11.8

% (2

/17)

28

.6%

(4/1

4)

58.8

% (1

0/17

) 31

Buy

ing

less

45.2

% (1

4)

0.0%

(0)

0.0%

(0)

5.9%

(1/1

7)

21.4

% (3

/14)

76

.5%

(13/

17)

31

Lear

ning

new

(or r

esur

rect

ing

old)

DIY

or M

IY (M

ake

It Y

our-

self)

ski

lls

56.3

% (1

8)

3.1%

(1)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

17.6

% (3

/17)

20

.0%

(3/1

5)

41.2

% (7

/17)

32

183

Appendix 22cont’d. WASTE

C

ompo

stin

g

(15)

0.

0% (0

) 0.

0% (0

/17)

0.

0% (0

/17)

13

.3%

(2/1

5)

88.2

% (1

5/17

) 32

Rec

yclin

g or

reus

e of

was

te

(1

6)

(1)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

0.0%

(0/1

7)

6.7%

(1/1

5)

82.4

% (1

4/17

) 32

Purc

hasi

ng re

-usa

ble

(inst

ead

of d

ispo

sabl

e) g

oods

(11)

(1

) 0.

0% (0

/17)

5.

9% (1

/17)

35

.7%

(5/1

4)

76.5

% (1

3/17

) 32

Red

ucin

g ho

useh

old

was

te to

la

ndfil

l (20

10/1

1)

100.

0% (1

5)

0.0%

(0)

- -

0.0%

(0)

- 15

Avoi

ding

exc

ess

or n

on-

recy

clab

le p

acka

ging

(201

1/12

) 11

.8%

(2)

0.0%

(0)

0.0%

(0)

5.9%

(1)

- 82

.4%

(14)

17

COMMUNITY

Soc

ialis

ing

with

my

neig

hbou

rs

93

.5%

(29)

6.

5% (2

) 0.

0% (0

/17)

0,

0% (0

/17)

0.

0% (0

/14)

0.

0% (0

/17)

31

Sha

ring

tool

s w

ith m

y ne

ighb

ours

71.0

% (2

2)

6.5%

(2)

11.8

% (2

/17)

5.

9% (2

/17)

7.

1% (1

/14)

17

.6%

(3/1

7)

31

Wor

king

with

my

neig

hbou

rs

74

.2%

(23)

9.

7% (3

) 0.

0% (0

/17)

0.

0% (0

/17)

7.

1% (1

/14)

23

.5%

(4/1

7)

31

Pur

chas

ing

colle

ctiv

ely

with

my

neig

hbou

rs

41.9

% (1

3)

9.7%

(3)

50.0

% (8

/16)

18

.8%

(3/1

6)

26.7

% (4

/15)

0.

0% (0

/16)

31

OTH

ER

Incr

easi

ng b

iodi

vers

ity, e

.g.

plan

ting

nativ

e tre

es, c

reat

ing

habi

tats

for n

ativ

e an

imal

s

(16)

0.

0% (0

) 17

.6%

(3/1

7)

5.9%

(1/1

7)

26.7

% (4

/15)

47

.1%

(8/1

7)

32

Bec

omin

g a

mor

e sk

illed

gar

-de

ner (

2010

/11)

71.4

% (1

0/14

) 7.

1% (1

/14)

-

- 21

.4%

(3/1

4)

- 14