Posts Tagged ‘sustainable practices’

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Consumption has gone from being a fatal disease to a way of life

Tuesday, October 16th, 2012

A child enjoying a recycled Webbs auction catalogue!

This month I read in an Ecostore tweet that it’s Buy Nothing New Month! It’s a great idea and in a way carshare members are already living the thinking by sharing cars.

What began in Melbourne is becoming a global movement for collective, conscientious consumption.  In 2011, Sydney Morning Herald ran a poll asking “is Buy Nothing New Month a good idea?”  Over 10,000 voted. 82% said “yes”

 

 

 

Explains the website, “It’s a one month challenge to buy nothing new  (with the exception of essentials like food, hygiene and medicines)
Buy Nothing New Month isn’t Buy Nothing New Never. Nor is it about going without. It’s literally about taking one month off to really think, “Do I really need it?” If I do, “can I get it second-hand, borrow it or rent it? What are my alternatives? Can I borrow from a friend? Can I swap with my neighbour?”
It’s about thinking where our stuff comes from (finite resources) and where it goes when we’re done (often landfill) and what are the fantastic alternatives out there to extend the life of our ‘stuff’. ”

Got Affluenza?  The site refers to a  2005 paper from the Australia Institute by Clive Hamilton Richard Denniss and David Baker tells us “Aussies have admitted to spending over $10 billion every year on goods we do not use: clothes and shoes we never wear, CDs we never listen to, DVDs we never watch and food we never eat and each year in Australia nearly 20 million tonnes of waste goes to landfill. By way of comparison, this amount exceeds spending by Australian governments on universities and roads.”

Today after encouraging my family to have a big sort out at the weekend I delivered  a car load of clothing, sneakers, shirts, even a couple of suits to Edmund Hillary school in Otara (they have a junior, middle and senior school). I also took four boxes of books including a set of children’s encyclopedias. My neighbour had her children go through their shelves too. That is perhaps the best part of Buy Nothing New Month – think about what you don’t need or what you can share.

Enjoy the quotes  As Annie Leonard the author of Stuff reminds: “Recycling is what we do when we’re out of options to avoid, repair, or reuse the product first. Firstly: Reduce. Don’t buy what we don’t need. Repair: Fix stuff that still has life in it. Reuse: Share. Then, only when you’ve exhausted those options, recycle.

It’s good for us, will make your  wallet heavier and our planet lighter!

“We used to build civilizations. Now we build shopping malls.” BILL BRYSON

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5 reasons to say No to that plastic bag?

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Do you really need that plastic bag? Just say no! How often has someone gone to put something in a small bag and you say, no thanks? Yesterday I was shopping and I consciously turned down over 8 plastic bags, the only one I accepted is a most useful large recycling bag! I wish more companies would follow the Warehouse model and charge for bags. I’m a fan and  it just requires a change of thinking.

It’s so easy to keep in your car cloth bags. Yet still so many people load up their supermarket trolleys with bags of groceries in plastic bags – some supermarkets have a policy of only 6 items per bag so you can imagine the waste.

So here are 5 reason to help you get into the habit of saying no to plastic!~ Source

1. They are made using non-renewable resources, either petroleum or natural gas. They take huge amounts of energy to manufacture, transport across the country, and recycle. They don’t break down in landfill sites. They’re incredibly difficult to recycle, causing problems such as blocking the sorting equipment used by most recycling facilities.

2. On land, plastic bags are one of the most common types of litter worldwide. Build ups of plastic bags are notorious for causing blockages in  local drainage systems in developing countries. The Bangladesh floods and Manila’s frequent flooding are examples of flooding due to litter blockages.

3. Swaths of birds have been found dead due to ingesting substantial amounts of plastic bag remnants. All the plastic found in the birds on Midway Atoll is brought to the island by albatross parents who fed them to their young. An estimated 4 tons of plastic accumulates on the island every day.

4. There’s a running joke in New York, where a billion plastic bags are used per year, that the New York City flower is actually a plastic bag caught in a tree.

5. According to the documentary Bag It, the paper bags now used by San Franciscans after a plastic bag ban was enforced there are recycled at least 10 times more than plastic bags were.

Be the change: use a recycling bag, encourage others to say no to plastic, keep saying No thanks, ( especially to the small bags like the one your sandwich or sushi came in), volunteer to do beach cleanups, buy a recycling bag for a friend’s gift instead of using wrapping paper. Nothing like getting someone to use one of these, Victoria Carter, cityhop co-founder suggests a nice new design of Trelise Cooper bags available at Countdown for only $5!

 

 

 

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Earth Day coming up – eat green!

Sunday, April 15th, 2012

Earth Day 2012 is coming up on Sunday April 22. It’s an opportunity to think about the amazing job this earth does providing for us all. It’s also a chance to say thanks and practice an eco-friendly behaviour!

We are going to do a series of blogs on Earth Day and watch out, the closer we get Cityhop carshare could have some surprises for you!

With Earth Day in mind here are some ways to green up your diet.

Buy organic:  Yes it is a bit more expensive and can look a bit peculiar! But remember those veges that aren’t perfect are less tampered with! Buying organic usually means that those veges have been produced with health in mind. Choosing organic foods is reported to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 68 percent.

The following list means you don’t always have to buy organic! The US Environmental Working Group named a “Clean 15”  of veges and fruit  least likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues).

They are onions, corn, pineapple, avocado, asparagus, sweet peas, mango, eggplant, cantaloupe, kiwi, cabbage, watermelon, sweet potatoes, grapefruit and mushrooms.

Buy local: We all know the mantra, buy local because it cuts down on your food miles. I like the idea that someone locally (often a small operation)  has grown something and then sold it locally. Lots of people must agree with this which is why Farmer’s Markets are so popular. When we buy local we are reducing the journey food travels from farm to fork.

Typically small farms use sustainable agricultural techniques that protect water and build healthy soils. Their livelihood, depends on it. I read that small is also good because small growers  typically plant a variety of crops, whereas some large industrial farms, grow acres of the same crop. Crop diversity is a good defense against the spread of damaging insects and plant pathogens. If a problem arises in one crop, it’s unlikely to spread to others.

Grow your own: Whether it’s a pot of herbs or you replace a bed of flowers with dark leafy greens, a home garden is the ultimate local food source. Nothing beats the satisfaction of picking and eating something you have grown!

And don’t forget our friends at Hungry Bins, who have NZ’s best worm farm for feed your garden with.  Maybe just like a New Year resolution which you apply to your own habits you might consider an Earth Day resolution, start a worm farm, start growing your own veges, plant a fruit tree or join carshare!

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Being a green city

Friday, April 6th, 2012

The garden with railway tracks still visible

 

The Huffington Post has come out with an interesting article that Auckland Council could learn from. The article lists 10 of the greenest cities in the United States, possibly the last place many of us would think of as green!

10 large cities have been measured on their clean energy, public transit and local food. We think of American cities as overcrowded, polluted and dirty but with clean efficient public transport, bikes, car share and other friendly infrastructure, the planting of trees, encouraging locally produced food and looking for renewable energy sources see how more progressive these US cities are to Auckland.

“Slashing greenhouse gas emissions and coming close to zero waste is no easy feat for a metropolis with a population of at least 250,000, but these 10 cities — from Boston to San Francisco — prove that sustainability is possible on the largest of scales, in good economic times and bad.”

Read about the efforts the cities have taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become more sustainable. Not surprisingly most of the cities are on the west coast.

Of more interest to me, is how seriously these American councils are taking the need to be more sustainable and the efforts they have gone to, to make it easier for their residents and ratepayers to be more eco-friendly. How have they done this? By supporting carsharing, bike sharing initiatives, creating more bike ways, green open spaces, planting more trees and much more.

Len Brown, Auckland Councillors please consider this!

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Sustainable Network showcase

Monday, November 7th, 2011

The Sustainable Business Network has its first ever showcase on Wednesday  9 November. It’s a free public event  to highlight the many eco-friendly and sustainable choices business and individuals have to improve the way we live.

Cityhop will have a car on display to show people how easy it is to carshare and why they might like to consider it.

Come and meet  New Zealand businesses, government, community and non-profits leading the way towards a collective sustainable future.

When: Free public open day on 9th November

Where: Shed 10, Queens Wharf, Auckland

See  a 2 day celebration of sustainable business, technology, innovation and lifestyles. Spend a day in the life of our sustainable city, network, connect and learn from New Zealand’s sustainable champions and social innovators.

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Creative use of inner city wasteland

Sunday, September 25th, 2011

Victoria enjoying the Highline

In 2009, the HighLine was opened in New York. What was a disused elevated freight railroad spur has became a beautiful urban park filled with wild grasses, plants, shrubs and trees and is well-used by locals and tourists.

The garden with railway tracks still visible

Auckland Council take note, here is a great example of rejuvenating an unattractive part of the city. On the Sunday I walked it, it was packed with locals and visitors enjoying the views of the sea, the water path, the gardens, walkways and seating areas.

Children and adults enjoyed the footpath with water trickling over it

In 1999 visonary neighborhood residents Robert Hammond and Joshua David created the community group Friends of the High Line to create the inner city green belt. New York City committed $50 million to establish the park, the quality of the environment, the sculptural quality of the walk ways, water features and planting is obvious.

Paths, seating, wild flowers and grasses

This one mile park crosses busy streets along the lower west side of Manhatten, in an area known as the Meatpacking District.

It’s quite obvious to see how this was resulted in more intensive urban redevelopment, residential conversions of warehouses and hotels. One hotel even spans over the walk!

Some lessons for any urban city from this clever use of an ugly past! Interestingly there has been no reported crime since it opened three years ago. It was cheaper to create the park than demolish the lines. Now other major American cities are looking at how they can re-use some of their disused spaces.

I’m sure Auckland could learn a thing or two from this amazing rejuvenation. Surely this is the most creative form of recycling and re-using!

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Irking drivers urban policy in Europe

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

New York Times has an interesting article on how urban policy in some European cities is to irk drivers!

European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars. The methods vary, but the mission is clear — to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

One  strategy is intentionally making it harder and more costly to park. 

It’s been calculated that a person using a car takes up 115 cubic meters (roughly 4,000 cubic feet) of urban space in Zurich while a pedestrian took three. So on the basis that it’s not really fair to everyone else if you take the car it is getting harder and harder to park.

In Copenhagen,  at the European Environment Agency, the office building ha more than 150 spaces for bicycles and only one for a car, to accommodate a disabled person.

Carless households have increased  from 40 to 45 percent in the last decade, and car owners use their vehicles less.

It does help to have very good public transportation!

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War on packaging – vote now!

Monday, April 11th, 2011

One of my pet hates and the subject of other blogs is the daft over-packaging in plastic that some manufacturers still use to wrap their goods.

My pet hates are toothbrush packets (I nearly always end up with a cut!) or just about anything from Dick Smith!  That sharp plastic is a killer and so environmentally unfriendly! And it turns out I’m not alone. Dozens of others also think that toothbrush packaging with no recyclable label  is not only hard to get into but hard to get rid off!You have until April 29 to cast your vote on what is the most friendly and unfriendly packaging. Check out unpackitI voted for the humble egg carton – yes I know that most companies use cardboard that can be recycled but I love how versatile it is. My kids used to use them for amazing artworks at kindy and today I take them to our Leigh Dairy and Ted re-uses them for his organic eggs. Lots of farmers markets also recycle them in this way. Just have to remember to ignore the stamped date on the box!

 Let manufacturers know we hate over-packaged goods and let them know what we love and why. Great idea people at unpackit and let’s hope more consumers catch on and vote!

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City full of wonderful bird life

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Cityhop co-founder, Victoria Carter has a kereru that visits her bird bath each evening. “To see this magnificent native wood pigeon land on the edge of the bird bath is the most extraordinary sight,” she says.

“We live right on a main road but our garden is full of the most amazing bird life despite having a dog. Lucy dog has learned  the morning bread thrown on the lawn is out of bounds!

The photo of the pigeon on the birdbath isn’t  the best photo I’ve ever taken but proof adds Victoria! The first time it appeared we were so surprised but since then it comes back most nights for a drink!

But there’s more!

Says Victoria:

“Our garden is full of tui’s diving, squawking and chasing eachother, and we have the usual array of other birds, grey doves, sparrows, thrushes, and many more.

On Saturday I was having a coffee with a friend and to our amazement there was a rustle of wings in our magnolias and suddenly the majestic wood pigeon arrived on the bird bath and suddenly with another  flourish of wings a second arrived and promptly sat in the water bathing itself!

My first thought was get a camera, where’s my phone, but they were inside and I didn’t want to frighten them off. They were startled by something else and flew into our neighbour’s frangipani tree and sucked the flower’s necter.

We felt so priviliged to be watching this amazing bird life on a main road!

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can the spam

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Email spam takes up 80% of the world’s email and uses 33 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year says good.net.nz.

Junk mail in the mailbox is just as bad.  A Christchurch man worked out he got 70 kilograms of junk mail in 2006 and that was up 51 kilograms in 1992. Imagine what it would be today – in one week our mailbox has more fliers, magazines than mail! Stop it with a No junk mail sticker from Letterboxer -a Christchurch campaigners way to encourage residents to stop junk mail.

In the US junk mail creates greenhouse gases reported to be equivalent to 2.4 million cars idling 24 hours a  day 7 days a week!

62 trillion spam emails were sent in 2008. The electricity used to create, send, transmit, process, filter, store, view and delete was equivalent to the output of an entire power plant, produced 17 tonnes of CO2 – the same as 1.5 million US homes reports a Study by ICF International and commissioned by mcafee.

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