Welcome

Hi & welcome to the webpage version of NZAEE's (Christchurch Branch) ecoNet Newsletter.

Feel free to pass on news of ecoNet Newsletter and our subscription address: eventdiary@environment.org.nz to others you think may find it interesting/useful.
To supplement the diary here's a selection of news and articles and bits and pieces of interest from around and about, and here and there, e.g:

from here

Canterbury & South Island:

Christchurch: Long term parking fees could be increased to get more commuters on buses. (1 April, The Press/Stuff).

Proposed RMA changes: Plea to save 'thin green line'. (31 March, Stuff/The Press).
Also:
ECan: Proposed RMA changes may have unintended consequences. (1 April, ECan).

ECan's long term plan open for submissions. (1 April, ECan).

South Canterbury: Temuka couple scoop top farm environmental award. (27 March, ECan).

Timaru: Water strategies discussed. (2 April, Timaru Herald).

Waimate: Russian ownership likely for NZ Dairies. (31 March, Stuff).

Waitaki River: Plea for funds to fight power scheme. (2 April, Otago Daily Times).

Southland: Market for illegal fish broken up - blue cod, rock lobster and oysters. (1 April, Otago Daily Times).
Also: Gisborne: Taking from the next generation - seven facing fisheries charges: undersized paua, removal of kina without lawful authority, possession of undersized rock lobster and possession of excess paua. (31 March, Gisborne Herald).

Haast: residents in overwhelming opposition to Ngai Tahu hapu Te Runanga o Makaawhio's application for nine mataitai (traditional fishing reserves) along South Westland coastline. (1 April, Otago Daily Times).

Wakatipu's heritage huts: intriguing treasures restored. (1 April, Otago Daily Times).

North Island & national:

NZ drops bid for UN Human Rights Council seat in favour of US. (2 April, NZ Herald).

Now is not the time to be signing away NZ's sovereignty. Prof Jane Kelsey to select committee. (2 April, Scoop).

Labour Party offering to work with the Government on amended emissions trading scheme, lest it become captive to Act Party on climate change. (31 March, NZ Herald).

Electricity Review puts heat on Commission. (1 April, National Business Review).

Campaigners push for plastic bag levy. (30 March, NZ Herald).
Also:
Key squashes plastic bag tax. (31 March, Dominion Post).

Tourism Ministry's accommodation monitor: Longest stays for camping. (30 March, Otago Daily Times).

Farmers hit hard by falling property values. (29 March, Sunday Star Times/Stuff).

Auckland's recycling: a pile of rubbish. (29 March, tvnz.co.nz)

Wairarapa: Genesis sizes up major windfarm. (31 March, Wairarapa Times-Age).

Manawatu Gorge: Mountain bikers hamper walking track upgrade. (31 March, Manawatu Standard/Stuff).

Manawatu: 6 food science giants make deal to make the region a food hub. (31 March, Manawatu Standard/Stuff).

Franklin: Contact Energy buying Franklin district land for wind farm pylons. Would be NZ's largest windfarm. (2 April, National Business Review).

Kaka beak one of 180 NZ plants on endangered list. (1 April, NZ Herald).

Taranaki: 'Plant nerd' thrilled to rediscover native fern. (2 April, Taranaki Daily News/Stuff).

Whirinaki Forest: Possum hunter rescued - after ingesting cyanide? (2 April, NZ Herald).

Cheap starter homes with style. Nationwide design competition.(1 April, Dominion Post/Stuff).

First round of Community Conservation Fund allocations: Community restoration groups the big winners. Forty six projects receive funding for over a quarter of a million plants. (31 March, DOC).

2009 Science Book Prize: short-list of six finalists announced. (25 March, RSNZ).

Education vacancy: Enviroschools Canterbury want a facilitator for their programme in Christchurch City & Kaikoura districts. The position is part-time, fixed-term (12 months), 0.8 FTE. For more information contact
Enviroschools Canterbury Regional Coordinator: andrea.creighton@ecan.govt.nz
Applications to: Regional Coordinator, Enviroschools Canterbury, PO Box 345 Christchurch. Further information at www.enviroschools.org.nz. Applications close Sunday, 19 April.

Re-linked awards, submissions, consultations etc:

• Environmental Education: The Enviroschools Foundation has launched a great new web-based tool to help measure the outcomes of environmental action in schools. The measuring change tool is available to all NZ schools to help measure their progress. More info here. (www.enviroschools.org.nz). (25 March, Enviroschools).
  
  
• Conference coming up: The third Australasian environmental education in early childhood (EEEC) conference, 22 - 24 October, Melbourne. (First was in Christchurch in 2006, second in Sydney, 2007). This year's theme: engage, empower, enact: sustainability & the early years. They're calling for proposals for papers/presentations: contact is eeec@alphalink.com.au. More info here: www.cccvic.org.au.
  
  
• Angus Ho (Wastebusters Wanaka) wants support for the Get Real campaign against free and profligate plastic bags usage in NZ. (1 billion bags a year). "We also looking for many volunteers to help on the Action towards Foodstuffs on 14 April in Christchurch". Contact: Angus@wanakawastebusters.co.nz.
  
  
• Reissued (revised & updated) book: Treaty of Waitangi: Questions and Answers, Network Waitangi, 2008. Available in hard copy ($5.00 plus p&p, 56 pages) or online. More info here (www.nwo.org.nz/resources.html) or email organisers@nwo.org.nz.
  
  
• Heat pump water heaters: New funding pilot programme for efficient water heating - same grant as for solar. (26 March, EECA).
  
  
• Call for further submissions: on the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. Further submissions close 14 April 2009. (Ministry for the Environment).
  
  
• For science students (year 1 - 10) : NZ International Science online project. Ten weeks, 27 April - 3 July. (DOC).
  
  
• New Canterbury Home Energy Advice Centre open - free, independent, professional advice to help reduce your energy consumption. (17 March, sustainability.govt.nz).
  
  
• Enviroschools eco-hut challenge: for school-age students to design and build an ecological habitat on their school grounds that enhances all living things around it. (3 March, Enviroschools.org).
  
  
• Nominations called for Community Service Awards. By Thursday, 9 April. (5 March, CCC).
  
  
• CCC's draft Long Term Council Community Plan available for comment (till April 16). The plan, background info and public meeting times see here. (CCC).
  
  
• Free, research-based advice on sustainably renovating your home. HomeSmart delivers warmer, healthier homes that are more affordable to run and kinder to the environment. Further details: www.beaconpathway.co.nz. (Homesmart Renovations).
  
  

& from there

• Arctic: Meltdown, permafrost and methane. Fred Pearce on some very recent findings. (25 March, New Scientist).
  
  
• Climate Change: Solution to the carbon problem? Study finds greenhouse gas can be buried without fear of leaking. Hope yet for CCS. (2 April, The Independent).
  
  
• Papua New Guinea: Global warming creates world's first climate change refugees. Carteret Atoll off the coast of Papua New Guinea. (3 min video clip, 25 March, The Independent).
  
  
• UK: Govt agency says: Climate change will make it impossible for rare wildlife like beech trees, cuckoos and turtle doves to survive in some of the country's most treasured landscapes. (31 March, The Telegraph).
  
  
• US: Pentagon looks at green options. (29 March, The Daily Telegraph/News.com.au).
  
  
• Greenpeace: Credits for safeguarding forests could undermine carbon market. (30 March, Reuters).
  
  
• Singapore: Scientist: Farmers face growing climate change dilemma. (27 March, Planet Ark).
  
  
• UK: Fish oils reduce green house gases from cows. (29 March, Daily Telegraph).
  
  
• UK: Farm bug found in hospitals: new form of MRSA - experts believe excessive use of antibiotics in factory-farmed animals may be behind its development. (30 March, Daily Express).
  
  
• Scientists film HIV spreading for the first time. (video clip c3 mins., 26 March, The Independent).
  
  
• Household cleaning products: creating a bacterial time bomb in our drains and rivers. (29 March, The Guardian).
  
  
• UK: Bottled water sales starting to run dry after 3 decades of increases. (23 March, The Independent).
  
  
• Asia: Shark fin out of vogue among the young. (29 March, Reuters).
  
  
• US: Portland, Oregon: Which is greener - a new building or an old one? (23 February, OPB News).
  
  
• India: The toxic end of the global marketplace. (6 min video). (Celsias).
  
  Financial crisis:
  
• Canada: It's the ecology, stupid. The most obvious fact about ecological economics is that, well, ecology comes before economics. (25 March, University of Vermont).
  
  
• US: Banks starting to walk away from foreclosures. Not enough value to justify further expense. (29 March, New York Times).
  
  
• US: Abandoned boats littering the coastline. Too costly to keep. (31 March, New york TImes).
  
  New technology:
  
• Irish sea: could provide 5% of UK's electricity. (25 March, Telegraph.co.uk).
  
  
• NASA: Turning the tide to energy. On a large scale. (5 March, NASA).
  
  
• Italy: Biofuel from canal algae to power Venice. (27 March, ecoWorldly).
  
  
• US/UK: Windpowered car breaks record. (27 March, BBC).
  
  
• US: Coming soon - your personal electric use tracker. (26 March, Money.CNN.com).
  
  
• New nanogenerator: May charge iPods and cell phones with a wave of the hand. (27 March, Science Daily).
  
  Miscellany from the more or less natural world:
• East-africa: Lions poisoned by pesticide. (31 March, Treehugger).
  
  
• UK: Online dating proves success for gorillas. (26 March, The Independent).
  
  
• Rwanda: Gorillas get drunk on bamboo sap. (Photographs). (Telegraph.co.uk).
  
  
• Australia: Only 20 left - inch long bat could become extinct within weeks. (30 March, ecoWorldly).
  
  
• Scotland: Missing cow spent nine months on the run. (30 March, The Telegraph).
  
  
  

Using ecoNet

Is easy. Just send in to the editor information about an event, activity or submission you want to share and it will go in ecoNet....as long as it's appropriate of course.

ecoNet is put out (Fridays) by Christchurch Branch of NZAEE (NZ Association for Environmental Education), a non-profit, national organisation of people working to promote and support environmental education, lifelong learning and sustainable behaviour throughout New Zealand/Aotearoa.

How do I contribute?

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• Bio-blitz 2009.

  Part contest, festival, educational event & scientific survey – a scientific race against time to find as many species as possible in 24 hours in the Liffey Domain.
  When: 3.15 pm Friday, 3 April to 3.15 pm Saturday, 4 April.
  Where: Liffey Domain, Lincoln.
  More info here: BioBlitz (LandcareResearch/Manaaki Whenua) and here: www.lincolnenvirotown.org.nz.
  
  

• DOCNZ 2009 Documentary film festival.

  When: Christchurch schedule: March 26 - April 5.
  Selected environmental documentaries here.
  More info and full programme here: www.docnz.org.nz.
  
  

• Training Day: Whale Rescue.

  Become a marine mammal medic.
  When: Saturday, 4 April.
  Cost: $80. Minimum age 15 years.
  Info/contact: Project Jonah NZ.
  
  

• Workday: Eastside Bush revegetation release.

  When: 1.00 - 4.00 pm Saturday, 4 April.
  Where: Meet Victoria Park. (Beyond main carpark to carpark behind visitors centre)
  Bring: Gloves.
  Contact/more info: Di 941 7572, or 027 201 5653.
  
  

• Work day: Otamahua/Quail Island Ecological Restoration Trust.

  When: Sunday, 5 April.
  When: Ferry leaves Lyttelton 9.20 am (& returns 3.30 pm). Booking essential.
  Contact: Ian 384 5388 or email id.mclennan@xtra.co.nz.
  
  

• Recreational cycling: City to Avon River ride.

  When: 2.00 - 5.00 pm Sunday, 5 April.
  Where: meet at Armagh St bridge.
  More info: here. (spokes.org.nz).
  
  

• Heritage event, Oamaru: Harvest Home.

  To celebrate storing the season's last sheaf of wheat.
  When: Sunday, 5 April.
  Where: Totara Estate.
  More info: here.
  Organised by NZ Historic Places Trust.
  
  

• Transition Forum:

  Exchange information and experiences of local transition initiatives.
  When: 12.30 pm Tuesday, 7 April. (Hall open from 12.00 pm for socialising and lunch - drinks provided).
  Where: St Albans Community Centre, 1047 Colombo St. 
  
  

• Talk: Einstein's Universe.

  Speaker: Brian Foster (European Director of the International Linear Collider) and Jack Liebeck (musician).
  When: 7.30 - 9.00 pm Tuesday, 7 April.
  Where: Great Hall, Arts Centre.
  Host: University of Canterbury.
  More info: here.
  
  

• Event: Japanese wood craft demonstration:

  Step by step demonstration of wood construction and metal hinge-making process.
  Craftsman: Kenji Suda.
  When: 10.00 - 4.00 pm Tuesday, 7 April.
  Where: Christchurch Polytech School of Art & Design.
  Info/contact: 940 8085.
  
Also:

• Presentation and floortalk:

  Crafting beauty in wood. Modern design, traditional skills.
  Presenter: Kenji Suda, fine wood craftsman.
  When: 6.00 pm Wednesday, 8 April.
  Where: Christchurch Art Gallery.
  Free.
  
  

• Talk: 1080: a research update.

  The toxicology of 1080 and better ways to use it. And: Reducing the cost and adverse consequences of aerial 1080 poisoning.
  Speakers: Ms Penny Fisher & Dr Graham Nugent, Landcare/Manaaki Whenua scientists.
  When: 8.00 pm Wednesday, 8 April.
  Where: Room C3, University of Canterbury.
  All welcome.
  More info at: www.canterbury.rsnz.org
  Organised by Canterbury Branch, RSNZ.
  
  

• (Brand new!) Annual event: Festival of Walking.

  More than 39 walks from downtown (level) Lyttelton to the high tops of Mt Herbert.
  When: 11, 12 April.
  Where: In & around Lyttelton Harbour Basin.
  More info: www.lyttelton.net.nz
  
  

• Weekend workshop: The Power of We

  Harnessing community power to shape the future and create collective change.
  With: Margaret Jefferies & Anneleise Hall.
  When: April 11 and 12.
  Where: The Old Vicarage, Governors Bay.
  Cost: $220 (Accommodation, materials and most meals included)
  More info/registration: Anneleise  (03) 328 9317  or email ah@potentiate.co.nz.

• EARTHWISE, Plains FM 96.9

  Each Monday & Wednesday at 9.00 pm.
  Conservation, environment and peace with justice.
  This week's interview: Kennedy Graham, Green MP, on NZ overseas aid: where does it go, how much & under what conditions; why some NGOs are concerned about changes
  the govermment proposes - and the challenges facing Helen Clark in her new post.
  Presenters: Martin and Lois Griffiths.
  NB: Listen again to Earthwise programmes on archive.
  
  

Coming up:

• WEA Open day.

  When: 10.00 - 1.00 pm Saturday, 18 April.
  More here (a little): cwea.
  
  

• Timaru talk: A wake-up call on water.

  End official stagnation on the fresh-water crisis in our rivers, streams & lakes.
  Speaker: Mike Joy, Senior lecturer, environmental science/ecology, Massey University.
  When: 7.45 pm Thursday, 16 April.
  Where: St John's Hall, Wai-iti Rd, Timaru.
  Info/contact: F&B secretary Margaret McPherson 03 686 1494.
  Organisers: South Canterbury Branch, Forest & Bird.
  
  

• Wellington workshop: Cultural identities in a globalising world.

  Defining the contributions, challenges & reponses of multi-culturalism in Aotearoa.
  When: 9.00 - 5.00 pm, Friday, 17 April.
  Where: Ministry for Social Development, Bowen St building, Bowen St, Wellington.
  More info/contact/registration here. (Registration due now).
  Organised by RSNZ, Social & Human Sciences Sub-commission, NZ National Commission for UNESCO, & BRCSS.
  
  

• Event: Asian Cultural Fiesta:

  Acts from China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Asian food for sale.
  When: Saturday, 18 April. (Doors open 5.00 pm for 6.30 pm start).
  Where: Repertory Theatre, 146 Kilmore St.   Cost: $18 adults; school children $5; under 10s free.
  Contact/bookings: Taz 0272 738 815 or (a.h.) 03 960 2477; Msg 03 379 4222.
  Sponsored by the Chinese Poll Tax Fund.

• Wanganui Conference: Community Currencies Conference 2009.

  Trading through troubled waters & Creating resilient communities.
  When: 17 - 19 April.
  More info here.
  
  

• Taranaki event: Camp for Climate Action Aotearoa Gathering.

  Information, discussion & workshops
  on climate chaos and climate justice.
  When: 24 - 26 April.
  Where: Parihaka Pa.
  More info: here.
  Contact: climatecampnz@riseup.net
  

Reminders:

• Free home composting workshops:

  Hot composting of kitchen scraps & garden waste, Bokashi and worm farms. All methods demonstrated.
  At two sites:
  1. Opawa Community Gardens, 176 Opawa Rd (at Aynsley Tce). 1.00 - 2.30 pm each Saturday.
  2. Okeover Community Garden - University of Canterbury, Engineering Road. (Map here). 12.00 - 1.30 pm each Wednesday.
  More info/contact: Annmarie 021 190 4559 or 942 7190 (evenings).
  Supported by CCC.
  
  

• Free bike checks, service and maintenance:

  When: 4.00 -6.00 pm each Monday.
  Where: Latimer Square.
  
  

• Science Alive! - Botanica

  A botanical exhibition including interactive learning about pollination and seed dispersal, its importance and its vulnerability.
  When: Until Sunday, 10 May.
  Where: Science Alive! 329 Moorhouse Ave, Christchurch.
  For ages 3 to 103.
  More info, costs etc: Science Alive!
  Contact: 365 5199.
  
  
• Support Get Real. (see under relinked awards, submissions etc).