Wanaka Wastebusters - The Doco!

Wanaka Wastebusters have been privileged to have super star film maker Tim Pierce, direct, shoot, edit and release a fabulous short film about how we work. It's true to Tim's form, beautifully shot & cut and gives a fantastic behind the scenes look at what goes on down at the corner of Riverbank and Ballantyne Roads. Once you've watched this I'm sure you'll want to pop on over to his web site www.zerosandones.co.nz to see more of his work!

Cheers Tim, we love your work!

Wanaka Wastebusters Documentary from Zeros&Ones on Vimeo.

Enviroschools in 4 Minutes

I'm sure that some of you will be aware tha tthe National government has announced that it will soon be cutting the funding for Enviroschools. We are sure that this has been a simple oversight which will be turned around as soon as the politicians realise what the implications will be.

In the mean time, a talented young film maker from Dunedin, Nick Holmes, took time out of his life to make a short doco about Enviroschools and the fabulous work it inspires young poeple to take. This film is beautiful and explains how Enviroschools is so much more than just a kit in school. Well done Nick! Get yourself comfortable and press play....

Oh my goodness.....

I've jsut realised how long it is since I've made a post here. I hope you don't all think I've been resting up doing nothing.....I wish....well, I don't actually. Anyways the last term has been crazy;

• The new Enviroschools kit is launched - I travelled to Rotorua to meet with all the other facilitators, regional coordinators and national team to unpack it. If you thought the first kit was an amazing resouce then be prepared to rethink and be regenergised. This kick rocks!
  
  
• I've been trained on three more Zero Waste modules to deliver in schools; Reduce - year 3/4, Recycling - Year 5/6 & Resource Sustainability - Year 7/8.
  
  
• I've been having lots of sessions with teachers planning.
  
  
• ReGeneration Wanaka - 21 students from MAC took part in an all day workshop ran by Jinty and Te Rawhitiroa from Enviroschools National Team - Talk about re-energised.....These guys are our future and after the ideas they came up with I'm feeling much more confident about where we are headed.
  
  
• You may have heard that natinal funding for Enviroschools and our fantastic EfS team has been withdrawn by the National Government. Come on guys, please don't take away our money. If you have four minutes to spare I urge you to watch an awesome movie made by a very talented young film maker from Dunedin over at YouTube

So thats the editted highlights...keep you eyes peeled for more to come over what is looking to be a very cold and fun winter! Wrap up warm and find lots of cool sustinable projects to do on these long winter nights.......

GetReal - Stop Free Plastic Bags

I've heard about this new website today - GetReal.

GetReal was set up by a bunch of passionate Kiwis who want change.

They want better design and less waste. They want companies to use minimal packaging, and to be proud of it. They want packaging that can be recycled back into the same product.

To get change, they need your help. Together we can force manufacturers and suppliers to use less packaging and to take more responsibility.

So get in behind GetReal, and lets get going.

The first campaign they are getting involved in is to will ask Progressive and Foodstuffs, in no uncertain terms, to stop giving away free plastic bags and to introduce a levy.

So pop on over to GetReal, and get signed up!

Packaging Free Lunch

Packaging free lunches are a real big way to vastly reduce the waste produced in schools. We all want that to happen don't we? However, maybe getting started just isn't quite as easy at it seems.

One of the easiest ways to 'get it' is to have a look at a few pictures. So here we go. Below are a few pictures of what my and a few of my friend's packaging free lunches look like. They are easy to prepare, generally more nutritious and very often cheaper than the heavily packaged alternatives.


This photo above is a sandwich wrapper made by some students at Warrington Primary School. The rather ingeniously figured a way to make a reusable sandwich wrapper out of an old plastic bag, some material and a strip of Velcro. Obviously, a sewing machine helps too.

I also found a few web sites which discus packaging free lunches, there are heaps of ideas on these about what to include in your packaging free lunch box.

http://www.wastefreelunches.org/
http://greenlivingideas.com/kids/tips-for-packing-a-nutritious-waste-free-lunch.html
http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/baglunches.htm

As for buying the lunch boxes, try the Warehouse, your supermarket...

I've also happened across the Eco-Tanker. This is a stainless steel water bottle and you can buy spare tops for it. So when the cap breaks you don't have to buy a whole new bottle. You can get information about getting these from http://www.janicecleghorn.co.nz/ecotanka.htm

Happy Lunches!

Enviroschools Otago Regional Hui

On Tuesday I went to Dunedin for the Otago Regional Hui. This years theme was 'Water for Life'. With this theme in mind the event was run at Mount Grand Water Treatment Station, Arae Te Uru Marae and the Kaikorai stream. As usual it was a fantastic day.

Wanaka Primary and Queenstown Primary made the trip over, so our district was very well represented. You guys were awesome. We try to get as much student involvement as possible in these regional hui's, and it certainly happened at this one.

The day started at Mount Grand. I had no idea how much effort goes into creating the water we drink. The tour we went on was superb, the guide was fantastic, he knew answers to every question that was fired at him.

We got to see every part of the process, from injection of alulminimum into the water, the separation of the sludge off the top right through to the zapping with UV light. Absolutely fascinating. The next time you flush the toilet, water the garden, leave the tap on when brushing your teeth.....have a think about the effort, energy and expense that goes into making that water drinkable. I can't think of a better way to educate our children about conserving water than showing them the process it takes to make the water drinkable.

This is the computer nerve centre of the plant

This is where aluminium is injected into the water as part of the clarification and flocculation process

Look how high we are!

This is the sludge that they scrape off the water - the result of the flocculation process

Underneath the sludge, this was quite spooky

Look how big this place is. The green wall building is where all the flocculation takes place.

Zapping the water with UV to kill the last of the baddies so it's safe for us to drink

My group for the day - Raupo. Queenstown & Wanaka Primaries. Sitting on the grass before the tour talking about various water issues.

Making water bracelets. You mark off on the bracelet everytime you use water during the day. This really indicates to you how much water you use in a day.

Once we'd finished at Mount Grand we all headed down the road to Arae Te Uru marae and the powhiri. This is a fantastic opportunity for students and teachers to experience this important part of Maori traditions and customs. I must admit it's the most nerve racking part for me. Being the only boy on the team it's my job to deliver the whaikorero, the speech representing all of us during the ceremony.

After we all had lunch, and may I say, well done to everyone for bringing fantastic packaging free lunches. I don't think I saw any Glad Wrap at all, we had some sharing time. During this time I saw one of the best packaging ideas I've ever seen from Warrington school. They have devised a way to make a wrapper for your sandwiches from old plastic carrier bags and some old cloth. Ingenious use of waste products and a fantastic way to avoid using the dreaded Glad Wrap.

We were treated to some amazing kōrero about Otago before we ventured outside to the stream for some action. We split into two groups, one was going to plant and the other was looking at the quality of the stream. There has been a lot of work go into regenerating Kaikorai stream and it is starting to show. They have some fabulous community gardens down there and the place is looking fantastic. Well done everyone!

Kōrero in the whare nui

Learning about planting

Reflection at the end of a very enjoyable and productive day

Wanaka Primary Walking School Bus Features on National TV

This morning Tamati from TV1 Breakfast came to town. He is currently on a tiki tour of New Zealand visiting various towns who are making the effort to get as many cars off the road as possible.

They found Wanaride Share on the Internet and it just snowballed from there. Sophie Ward, the general manager of Sustainable Wanaka did a fantastic job of rounding up all the cool folks in town who use alternative methods of transport to get to and from work and just travel about, we even had a horse or two.

The walking school bus turned up just in time for his final live slot and the ywere fabulous. So many happy smiling faces. Being on national telelvision is a pretty cool way to start the day. Well done to Kath and all the other adult helpers who do a marvelous job of keeping this great initiative going.

You can watch the whole of Tamati's special report on the TV1 website.