Amelie Miller, age 8 years old of Waimairi School, has campaigned to raise awareness about the use of Palm Oil. Amelie was horrified to learn we may no longer have Orangutans and other species in the future due to deforestation for palm oil plantations. She learned 50% of the products in our supermarkets contain palm […]
Forests in and of Landscapes
At this public meeting run by SŌC in association with 350.org Di Lucas introduced us to on-farm shifts that are realistic and potential game- changers for farmers. Di and her team are designing solutions to fit within farm plans that make climate mitigation goals achievable within the farm gate. Her talk was filmed and the […]
Screening of 2040
In mid-November Sustainable Ōtautahi Christchurch had the opportunity to host a free screening of the film ‘2040: The Regeneration’. With support from the Christchurch City Council and Tūranga Library the film screening hosted over 100 attendees. Describing itself as ‘fact-based dreaming’, the film provided a positive vision of the future through exploration of solutions that […]
Rural Riparian Restoration (Waiau Uwha area)
In early October a SOC group gathered with others at John Faulkner’s dairy support block on the banks of the Waiau Uwha river to hear about and to see progress first hand toward his dream of establishing a nohoanga site on his property, and his ‘big idea’ of restoring the riparian margins of a significant […]
Protecting Our Rivers
Working Together to Save Our Precious River Ecosystems To restore our precious braided rivers we need to rid them of a range of weed species including Russell lupins, broom, gorse and briar. Please come to Arthur’s Pass to help a community weedbusting effort. Facebook event Saturday 9th — Tuesday 12th November 2019Working bees will run each […]
Forests in and of Landscapes – Mitigating climate change – what is appropriate and what is not, and yes, dairy can be okay!
7.30 18 October 2019WEA 59 Gloucester St Christchurch Di Lucas repeats a talk she gave to the Environmental Defense Society Conference in August Facebook event Integrate forests into our landscapes and make them resilient to climate change Regenerating indigenous forests Integrating carbon storage into farmscape planning Di Lucas, landscape architect, established Lucas Associates 40 years […]
Rewilding – Biodiversity restoring a Kinder Climate
These notes are from a “Restoring a Kind Climate” workshop held on the evening of 27 June 2019 at the Christchurch City Council building. The purpose of the workshop was to provide community input into the Climate Smart Strategy review 2019, in particular to suggest practical pathways for achieving climate change mitigation goals and targets […]
A Christchurch Conversation with Bill Reed
Tuesday 11 June, 6.00 – 7.30pm Turanga How do we create places where nature and people thrive together? In this free public event, Bill Reed introduces us to the practical concepts of regenerative development and design, to help us all create a deeper, more enduring and mutually beneficial relationship between people and place. Regenerative development […]
What’s up DOC? Biodiversity and Whitebait
For those who like to keep up with the latest news and articles from the NZ Department of Conservation the What’s up DOC? website is a space where this all comes together nicely. Review of Biodiversity Strategy Importantly, there is an article about the consultation DOC wishes to have with all New Zealanders, about a review of the Biodiversity […]
SUSTAINING OUR RIVERS – Weed-busting in Arthur’s Pass
SOC members were recently part of the team that worked for a week to weed out Lupins in Arthurs Pass. They may look pretty, but Russell lupins are seriously impacting our braided river birds such as the endangered wrybill and black fronted tern by taking over their open shingle breeding space and allowing predators hidden […]