(NB: Hi. This is the last issue for this year, at least. And my 73rd and last as editor. Thanks for your interest, support & contributions. Seasons Greetings & Best Wishes. E noho ra. Michael, ed.)

from here

Canterbury & South Island news:

Action Alert: Factory farming in the Mackenzie country. Three companies have applied to establish massive factory farms in the Mackenzie Country, housing 18,000 dairy cows in cubicle stables - bad news for water quality, animal welfare, our iconic high country landscapes and our clean, green image. Take the time to tell ECan of your concerns. (The linked page has background info & submissions guide). Before 5.00 pm Friday, 18 December. (Source: www.greens.org.nz). More here: Cows in cubicles. (source: ECan).

Have your say: State of the Environment charges relating to water. By 15 January, 2010. (ECan).

Warning to gardeners over death: Legionaire's Disease, thought to be from potting mix. (10 December, Stuff/The Press).

Canterbury region dairy report released. Significant increase in the number of dairy farms in Canterbury over the past year. Of 851 farms monitored 43.2 per cent were fully compliant compared with 45.8 per cent in the previous year.  (10 December, ECan).

ECan deluged with submissions on planned 'cubicle' dairy farms. (11 December, Stuff/The Press).

Ocean outfall project: McConnell Dowell fined $115,000 for safety breach. (9 December, Stuff/The Press).

2009 Roger Award finalists named. (7 December, Voxy.co.nz)

Canterbury coasts in 'pretty good shape' for swimmers. However, even good swimming sites should be avoided after heavy rainfall. (10 December, Stuff/The Press).

Commissioners release recommendations on land use and urban growth management for greater Christchurch. (7 December, ECan).

Heat pumps don't pump up power bills - study. (10 December, Stuff/The Press).

Banks Peninsula residents asked to conserve water. Restrictions in force for Akaroa, Takamatua. (7 December, CCC).

Banks Peninsula possum control programme extended. (10 December, ECan).

Sydenham bus lanes essential part of citywide bus priority lanes plan. (4 December, ECan).

Timaru groundwater research project for better understanding the interaction between surface water and groundwater. (1 December, ECan).

Amberley prospective 'cubicle' dairy farmer fined three times for discharging effluent. (10 December, Stuff/The Press).

Twizel: Meeting to discuss factory farm plans: to give people the chance to learn about and debate proposals for 16 new dairy farms, with up to 17,850 cows, intended for the Ohau and Omarama areas. (11 December, Otago Daily Times).

Mackenzie Basin: 25,000 ha irrigation scheme in doubt after Govt plan to overhaul electricity industry. (11 December, Otago Daily Times).

Central Otago: Rabbits thriving in dry Central region. (8 December, Southland Times/Stuff).

Tapanui, Otago: Councillor demands action on dirty water.(11 December, Otago Daily Times).

Mt Stuart, South Otago: Pioneer Generation hopes for wind farm consent. (10 December, Otago Daily Times).

Otago: Record cold (& hot), dry spring. (11 December, Otago Daily Times).

Southland: Water shortages loom - aquifer levels continuing to plummet, made worse by diminishing rainfall. (8 December, Southland Times/Stuff).

Southland: Tiny insect has gall to take on broom. (8 December, Southland Times/Stuff).

Southland: Cows outnumber people 4-1. (8 December, Southland Times/Stuff).

North Island & national:

Major energy sector overhaul. (9 December, Dominion Post/Stuff).
Also:
Engineer slams hydro split plan as silly. The man who built the Upper Waitaki hydro scheme has come out strongly against Government plans to split the project. (10 December, Timaru Herald).

New Zealand's climate is warming. Average trend 0.9 degrees over the last 100 years. (9 December, NIWA).

Indoor cubicles for cows planned. Three companies want to build massive dairy farms in the Mackenzie Basin. (7 December, Stuff).
Also:
PM: Govt against factory farming - could have negative impact on NZ's international free-range brand. (9 December, NZ Herald).
Also:
Fonterra fears cow cubicles could mar brand. (8 December, Stuff/The Press).
Also:
Greens: Govt passing buck on stalls farming. (10 December, NZ Herald).
Also:
Govt will stay out of cubicle dairy row. (9 December, Timaru Herald/Stuff).
Also:
Foreigners join fight over 'cows in cubicles' proposal. (11 December, NZ Herald).

Sharples urges debate on water ownership. Wants the issues of water ownership and water management to be debated at the local and national level. (11 December, NZ Herald).

Australian government-backed fund offers A$50m for carbon capture, storage. (7 December, NBR).

Phone poll: Majority support emissions cuts even if it would cost them money. (9 December, NZ Herald).

TVNZ to lose public service role. Charter to be repealed. (10 December, NZ Herald).

Kura kaupapa claim bias in te reo exams. (10 December, Stuff/Dominion Post).

Food companies' tactics as bad as tobacco firms'. Obesity should be tackled the same way as discouraging smoking - by directly targeting the companies causing the problem, researchers say. (9 December, Stuff/Dominion Post).

Costs put many off healthcare. (11 December, Stuff/The Press).

Happy childhood key to happy life. Study shows children who experience psychological or social adversity may have lasting emotional, immune and metabolic abnormalities that help explain why they develop more age-related diseases in adulthood. (9 December, Stuff/NZPA).

Leaky homes add $26m to health costs. (9 December, Stuff).

Greens mark 10 years in Parliament. (7 December, NBR).

RSNZ embraces the Humanities. “For the first time there will be an organisation in New Zealand that promotes excellence in research and scholarship across all the disciplines and areas of knowledge.” (10 December, RSNZ).

Cook Strait: Marine turbines for Cook Strait? (8 December, Marlborough Express/ Stuff).

Wellington: Could be more like Venice by 2100. (5 December, Dominion Post/Stuff).

Wainuiomata: Council accidentally dumps toxic sludge from Lower Hutt's Waiwhetu Stream, one of New Zealand's most polluted waterways. (8 December, Dominion Post/Stuff).

Porirua: Hearty lunches for growing minds. Glenvale school pupils, winners of a national award for their healthy eating ways, grow their own vegetables at school and junk food is banned. (5 December, Stuff).

Ruahine Range: Stoat trappers find a "lost tribe" of kiwi. A group of 29 previously undetected North Island brown kiwi were heard "singing, screeching and growling" among the red beech and red cedar on a perfectly still, quiet evening last month. (7 December, Dominion Post/Stuff).

Hawera: Kupe gas starts flowing. 23 years after discovery. (4 December, NBR).

Gisborne: Moko the dolphin 'no sexual predator'. (9 December, Dominion Post/ Stuff).

Kaipara Harbour: Todd takes 30% stake in tidal project. (4 December, NZ Herald).

Kaitaia: Student wins sustainability filmmaking award. (10 December, NZ Herald).

Antarctic: Kiwi scientist leaves his mark: Haskell Strait. (7 December, Stuff).

Warnings after children burnt by garden plant. (8 December, Dominion Post/Stuff).

Camera catches puriri moth emerging. The grub lives in a tree trunk burrow for five to six years, only to die 48 hours after emerging - as a spectacular moth with a wingspan of up to 15 centimetres. (9 December, Dominion Post/Stuff).

Tagging whitebait to help species' survival. (9 December, Stuff/Dominion Post).

Auckland: Kakariki breeding on Motutapu. The first time in 100 years. (3 December, DOC).

Re-linked awards, submissions, consultations etc:

• River warnings for toxic algae: assume all waterways may have Phormidium present and check for obvious signs before swimming or letting dogs off the lead. (ECan).
  
  
• Protect longfin eels from fishing. Sign the petition: here. Campaign supported by Manaaki Tuna (Massey University Tuna Research and Restoration group), Forest & Bird, Greenpeace, Environment and Conservation Organizations (ECO), and a growing number of  iwi groups. (source: Forest & Bird).

• Consultation: CCC Open Space Strategy for Christchurch and Banks Peninsula. How the Council plans to manage the provision of public open space for the next 30 years. The Draft Strategy is now out for consultation, and CCC is keen to hear communities’ views (due by 22 January). All the information can be found on the website: www.ccc. govt.nz/openspace. You can make a submission on the form available at all Service Centres, Libraries and Recreation centres, or online at: http://www.ccc.govt.nz/haveyoursay.
  

• Have your say: all current CCC consultations.
  
  
• Good farm stories. “There are great things going on and it’s time more of these good farm stories got told. Some farmers are proving that we can have a healthy farming sector and a healthy environment. (source: www.greens.org.nz).
  
  
• OURS on TV6: Emma Heke, creator of OURS dvd, a NZ nature documentary for young children, has made a television adaptation which will screen three times daily from 14 December 2009 to 18 April 2010 on TVNZ6 Freeview/Sky Digital 16. These will be 4 minute 'shorts' at 7.20am, 11.20am and 3.20pm. Visit www.oursdvd.co.nz for more details. An opportunity to get the message of conservation and sustainable living to ever more children.
  
  
• Nominations wanted: the Prime Minister's Science Teacher Prize - given in recognition of an outstanding teacher of Science in a New Zealand primary or secondary school. The prize is worth $150,000 - the recipient receives $50,000 & the recipient's school $100,000. Nominations close 4pm Friday, 18 December.
  More information: www.pmscienceprizes.org.nz.
  
  
• CC's cycling website www.seasonofcycling.co.nz.
  
  
• Lincoln Envirotown Trust 2010 native biodiversity calendar. $10.00 for a good cause. Produced jointly by LET & Lincoln University. Profits go to LET. Available from Lincoln township library, LET caravan (Sat. mornings), Lincoln University book shop and many other outlets in Lincoln or from Sue 03 329 5858, or sue.jarvis@orcon.net.nz.
  
  
• Sign on: There's no planet B. Sign On (More than 180,000 NZers so far). (www.signon.org.nz).

& from there

• Guardian's Copenhagen Climate Conference page: Everything you need to know - & the latest news. (7 - 18 December, The Guardian).
  
  
• Emissions targets 'not enough' - China. (9 December, Stuff/AP).
  
  
• Geneva: Climate change already driving migration: IOM. (8 December, Yahoo!).
  
  
• Copenhagen's blindspot: Agriculture - a huge source of emissions, but also a potential carbon sink. (7 December, The Ecologist).
  
  
• US: The most surprising results of global warming. (5 December, Yahoo!).
  
  
• US: A few nuggets of positivity: as Copenhagen kicks off, a good news roundup. David Roberts. (8 December, Treehugger).
  
  
• US: Why we find it so hard to act against climate change. The targets are challenging, but they are achievable with existing technologies, and there would be plentiful profits and employment available for those who took up the challenge. So why has so little happened? (1 December, Yes! magazine).
  
  
• UK/Italy: What it looks like when a local authority really gets transition: The Monteveglio story. (4 December, Transition Culture).
  
  
• UK: The positive side of the recession. Three businesses that are thriving. (26 November, Telegraph.co.uk).
  
  
• EU: Nitrous oxide concerns cloud future of biofuels. The greenhouse gases emitted in making biofuel may well negate most of the carbon dioxide savings made by replacing fossil fuels. (8 December, The Guardian).
  
  
• UK: Huge price increases for GM seed. In the 25 years from 1975 to 2000, non-GM soybean seed prices rose a modest 63%. Since 2000, as GM soybeans came to dominate the market, the price rose by a massive 230%. (3 December, Soil Association).
  
  
• UK: Food sustainability: Modified opinions. Debate on GMOs at the illustrious Royal Society of Chemistry HQ. A win on points for sceptics? (4 December, The Guardian).
  
  
• Uganda study: Nature tourism doesn't always help. Ecotourists who want to help boost the environment with their travel dollars may be best off backpacking. (3 December, Discovery News).
  
  
• US: The moral call of the wild. Study suggests time spent in nature changes our values. (1 December, Scientific American).
  
  
• Australia: Aussies give DNA to link deep ancestry: More than 25,000 Australians have volunteered their DNA as part of an international project to trace their "deep ancestry" back to Africa. (4 December, The Age).
  
  
• Scotland: New cremation process turns people into liquid fertiliser. 200 gallons a stiff. (7 December, mother nature network).
  
  
• UK: How many cyclists does it take to power a hair-dryer? 24 hours in a house powered by 80 cyclists on bikes adapted to generate electricity. (3 December, The Daily Mail).
  
  
• Antarctica: Ship controls planned for Antarctica - growing threat of human and environmental disasters posed by exploding numbers of tourists. (10 December, NZ Herald).
  

Technology:

• Superturbine: taking wind power to new heights. (3 December, Power & Energy).
  
  
• UK: New drive to harness wave power: Prototypes in the Orkneys. (9 December, BBC).
  
  
• India: Tata, producer of the world’s cheapest car, to introduce hybrid version of Nana. (2 December, gas2.0).
  
  
• US: New bioplastic material absorbs carbon dioxide. (8 December, Cleantechnica).
  
  
• Bolivia: Has enough lithium for 4.8 billion electric cars. (8 December, Treehugger).
  
  
• US: Breakthrough? Ordinary paper + ink + nanotubes = battery. (8 December, Treehugger).
  
  
• Holland: First fuel cell boat cruises Amsterdam's canals. (9 December, Reuters).

Natural world:

• Hubble sees most distant galaxies - to within 1 billion years of the Big Bang. (8 December, BBC).
  
  
• Germany: Ancient burial site shows evidence of mass cannibalism. (8 December, Daily Mail).
  
  
• UK: Testosterone prompts fair play, not agression. (8 December, Reuters).
  
  
• US: Attack of the giant Asian carp threatens to cost US economy billions. (4 December, Times Online).
  
  
• UK: Feeding birds 'changes evolution'. (3 December, BBC).
  
  
• UK: Attack of the killer tomatoes. Botanists at Kew discover the plant is carnivorous. (5 December, The Independent).
  
  
• south of Australia: Giant iceberg spotted - been drifting 10 years, still 19 km long & twice the size of Hong Kong. (10 December, Yahoo! News).
  
  
  
  

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?

Use the links below to:

• forward ecoNet address to others you think may like to receive it - it's free
  
• become a subscriber
  
• send us information for the weekly diary.
• contact us

• Meurky Walk: Guided botanical tour:

  Saltmarsh & coastal vegetation, wetlands & restoration plantings: South New Brighton & lower Avon river to Cockayne Reserve; to Lake Kate Sheppard; along Corsers Stream to southern border of Travis wetland.
  Guide: Colin Meurk, botanist, Landcare Research/Manaaki Whenua.
  When: 9.00 - c 2.00 pm Saturday, 12 Dec.
  Where: Meet corner Estuary Rd & Ebbtide St, ie where Estuary Rd (the main western road down through South Brighton) meets the Avon-Heathcote Estuary.
  Bring: lunch, drink, sturdy footwear, all weather clothing, hat, sunscreen maybe, money for shutttlebus return to start.
  Contact: Anna-Marie: reesey@xtra.co.nz.
  
  

• Free home composting workshop; Also, The summer garden & planning for autumn.

  When: 10.00 - 12.00 pm Saturday, 12 Dec.
  Where: Strickland Street Community gardens
  More here: www.sscommunitygardens.net.nz.
  
  

• Rolleston Envirotown Market:

  Vegetables, fruit, watercress, herbs, free range eggs, free range pork, Limousin beef, smoked salmon, plants, cards, crafts ... much more.
  When: 10.00 - 1.00 pm Sun., 13 December. Where: Rolleston Square, Rolleston.
  Contact/more info: ph 347 8240 or tonicermu@gmail.com.
  
  

• Exhibition closing function: "He awa reo - river talk: art celebrating our rivers" by artists for Save Our Water.

  Speakers: Russel Norman MP, Greens co-leader; Murray Rodgers, Water Rights Trust, author of Canterbury's Wicked Water.
  Musicians: Malcolm McNeill and Rima Te Wiata.
  When: 2.00 - 4.00 -pm Saturday, 12 Dec.
  Where: COCA, 66 Gloucester St.,
  Entry by donation. All welcome.
  Sponsors: Malvern Hills Protection Society, Alpine Jets.
  
  

• Vigil: for a real deal on climate change.

  Supporting the world wide call for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty from Copenhagen Climate Summit.
  When: 5.00 - 10.00 pm Saturday, 12 December.
  Where: outside the cathedral, Cathedral Square.
  Bring: candles, warm clothes, 350 banners, drinks and snacks, seat, etc.
  Background info: Here (www.350.org); & here (www.avaaz.org).
  
  

• Public lecture: Cracking the Einstein Code.
  

  "Einstein’s mathematical code—represented by six interlocking equations—was one of the most difficult to crack in all of science. Until a twenty-nine-year-old Cambridge graduate solved the great riddle in 1963. Roy Kerr’s solution emerged coincidentally with the discovery of black holes that same year... Today more than 300 million supermassive black holes are suspected of anchoring their host galaxies across the cosmos, and the Kerr solution is what astronomers and astrophysicists use to describe much of their behavior."
  Speaker: Emeritus Professor Roy Kerr, University of Canterbury; Adjunct Professor, International Centre for Relativistic Astrophysics, Italy.
  When: 7.30 pm Wednesday, 16 December.
  Where: C3 Central lecture theatre, University of Canterbury.
  In association with: 5th Australasian conference on general relativity and gravitation: The sun, the stars, the universe & general relativity.
  Background info on Roy Kerr: here(www.timeshighereducation.co.uk), also here (wikipedia).
  More info/contact: Here.
  
  

• Wellington event: Camp for climate action: Team up, get trained, take action.

  Seeks to address the real causes of climate change & build a people's movement that can and will stop disastrous climate change.
  When: 16 - 21 December, 2009.
  Where: Wellington.
  More info/contact: www.climatecamp.org.nz.
  
  

• Wanted: collectors for SAFE Appeal for Animals.

  SAFE is looking for over 300 collectors in Christchurch.
  Everyone who registers to collect goes in the draw for a $500 cruelty
  free hamper.
  When: Friday 18 & Saturday 19 December.
  More info/contact:
  http://safe.org.nz/Street-Appeal/
  
  

• Work day: Quail Island Restoration Trust.

  When: Sunday, 20 December.
  (Ferry leaves Lyttelton 9.20 am and returns 3.30 pm).
  Booking essential.
  Contact: Ian McLennan ph 384 5338 or id.mclennan@xtra.co.nz.
  Background info: www.quailisland.org.nz
  
  

• EARTHWISE, Plains FM 96.9

  Each Monday & Wednesday at 9.00 pm.
  Conservation, environment and peace with justice.
  This week: Green MP Kevin
  Hague on Kauri 'rot', the fungus-like pathogen that threatens kauri. Also: Why Obama's inauguration, one year ago, meant so much to
  African-American Dr Vernon Andrews.
  Subsequently:
  -Mon 21 & Wed 23, Dec: Trish Murray, Christian World Sevice: the latest from Gaza. (Trish has just returned from there).
  
  - 9.00 pm Monday only, 18 January. Rowan Taylor on the Great Ape Project. (Repeat).
  
  - 9.00 pm Monday, 25 January.
  Jocelyn Papprill: Education for Sustainability. (Repeat).
  Presenters: Martin and Lois Griffiths.
  NB: Listen again to Earthwise programmes on archive.
  

Coming up:

• Event: Enviroschools Summer Jam:

  80+ young people from around NZ (ages 15-25). Come & be a part of the sustainability movement - 5 days of inspiration, action, speakers, workshops, and chillaxing with like minded youth.
  When: 10 -15 January.
  Where: Living Springs, Lyttelton Harbour.
  More information/contact: Jen at Enviroschools Canterbury: Jen.rodgers@enviroschools.org.nz
  or 3746328 (Mon to Thurs).
  
  

• NZAEE Biennial Conference: Te Ahu Whakamua - Taking the next steps.

  When: 19 - 22 January 2010.
  Where: Hawkes Bay.
  More info/contact/registrations: here. (www.nzaeeconference2010.co.nz).
  NZAEE: NZ Association for Environmental Education.
  
  

• Waihopai spy base protest:

  When: January 22 - 24.
  Where: Waihopai, Blenheim.
  More info/register: www.converge.org.nz.
  Organised by: Anti-Bases Campaign.
  
  

• Otago: NZ Bioethics conference.

  Theme: Bioethical issues in the aftermath of great harm. Possible examples: social injustice, medical harm, war, colonization, environmental disaster.
  When: 29 - 31 January.
  More info: Here. (www.otago.ac.nz/bioethicsconference).
  
  
• Christchurch: CWEA's first term programme.
  
  

• University of Otago, School of Physical Education International Research Symposium:

  The Big Fat Truth symposium: What are we weighting for?
  When: 1 - 3 February, 2010.
  
  

• Symposium announcement & call for papers: The Politics of Antarctica.

  When: July, 2010.
  More info: here. (www.canterbury.ac.nz).
  Co-sponsor: Gateway Antarctica.
  

Reminders:

• Free home composting workshops:

  Hot composting of kitchen scraps & garden waste, Bokashi and worm farms. All methods demonstrated.
  1. Seven Oaks Education Centre, 35 Hassals Lane. 1.00 - 2.30 pm each Saturday.
  2. Lyttelton Community Garden, 54A Oxford Street, 10.30 – 12.00 pm each Saturday.
  More info/contact: Annmarie 021 190 4559 or 942 7190 (evenings).
  Supported by CCC.
  
  

• Gardening courses: starting a garden, seed saving, composting, pickling & preserving, etc.

  Where: Strickland Street Community Garden, 188 Strickland Street, Spreydon. 
  When: for times & dates see their website www.sscommunitygardens.net.nz.
  Further info/contact: 942 6630.
  Supported by CCC.
  
  

• Free bike trailer hire:

  Try out a bike trailer for a month for free. See how much fun and how easy it is to carry loads without a car. Groceries, ladders, fruit, kayaks, windsurfers, kite surfers, library books, bikes, musical instruments, pets,  tools, billboards, garage sale treasures, pinecones, white bait nets, firewood, etc.
  Contact: Steven Muir: steve@cycletrailers.co.nz or 365 8238.
  
  

• Exhibition: A-Z of Canterbury Birds – a photographic ornithological odyssey.

  We hear them, sometimes notice them, tend to take them for granted - even common backyard birds are fascinating when captured in detail through discerning lenses.
  Photographs by a group of Christchurch photographers.
  When: 24 November - 9 January. (Hours:  Monday - Saturday, 10.00 – 4.00 pm).
  Where:  Our City O-Tautahi, cnr Oxford Tce & Worcester Blvd.
  Free admission.
  
  

• Exhibition: Finding New Zealand – how maps show the exploration and development of New Zealand.

  18th & early 19th century maps of the whole of New Zealand show how early explorers ‘filled in the gaps’ and increased their accuracy after Cook’s 1772 chart; 19th century maps of Canterbury show the development and settlement of the Plains including early runs.
  Selected maps available for sale.
  When: 24 November - 9 January. (Hours: Monday - Saturday, 10.00 – 4.00 pm).
  Where: Our City O-Tautahi, cnr Oxford Tce & Worcester Blvd.
  Free admission.
  
  

• Exhibition: Contemporary Maori cloaks.

  Colour, texture and pattern.
  Craftsperson: Roka Ngarimu-Cameron.
  When: 21 November – 21 March.
  Where: Special Exhibition Hall, Canterbury museum.
  
  

• Event: Oxfam Trailwalker, 10 - 11 April 2010.

  Four people one goal: 100 km in 36 hours.
  More info & registration: here. (Oxfam Trailwalker NZ).
  Funds raised support Oxfam NZ's humanitarian, development and advocacy work to lift some of the world's poorest people out of poverty. Oxfam Trailwalker won Best Environmentally Sustainable Event at the 2009 Event Industry Awards.
  
  
  
  

• Give good gifts this Christmas: www.tradeaid.org.nz.
  
  
• Oxfam unwrapped.
  
  
• Save the children wishlist.
  
  
• cws.org.nz/gift catalogue, etc.