Lower Hutt

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Comment by Guy on May 26, 2011 at 6:40pm

And never mind any fancy ideas, enforcing simple rules and regulations, or not being able to, seems to be the crux of the matter. The almighty dollar at the expense of water quality.... and common sense, plus caring for the environment, and others downstream. A thought provoking evening, and great to meet those involved.

Comment by Guy on May 25, 2011 at 12:54pm

Re River Doc Movie Last night.

What an awsome forum!

Very interesting debate and discussion! And perhaps surprisingly “civilised” too on all sides given the potentially high emotions of the subject and background to the story. Also great to see local body representives fromt up and respond to a variety of questions and issues.

While I won't debate the debate, here is some input, the guts of which I have also emailed to participants I had email for.

 

As I mentioned to some, I work at a local education institute, and while this is in a technical support role, I also make it my duty to reach out in various ways on the behalf of our students and staff, our projects, and community at large, to various groups, entities and individuals, due to my interests in many wide areas, particularly around resilience, water quality, social issues, transport, sustainability, alternative fuels, and local economics.

We have had a conceptual student project running here for the last two years around effluent control, bio-fuel and solutions for farmers, local bodies, and industry,  that we would really like to see move beyond the “hypothetical” stage eventually. 

It’s a very complex issue finding and creating working solutions that various groups could engage with, naturally economic benefits being the crucial bottom line. But what we’re hoping to help develop are solutions that do provide the economic incentive, but also create environmental benefits, in effect, a carrot, and a carrot!

A common thread of understanding between partners is required at various levels, but what I have found very useful is a description that encapsulates all possible aspects and existing ideas for cooperation and efficiency into one nice simple statement, and this is “Ecological Symbiosis”. There are various subsets of this concept, one very important one of which is Industrial Symbiosis.

It’s not really a “new” idea, efficiency, and recycling waste, energy and materials have probably been core to our activities since rocks were banged together to make tools, but over the last decade it seems, advances have been made to have a coherent approach and common understanding around integrating business, industrial and environmental activities more closely together to share input and output streams. 

With the right mind-set and approach, these principles have the potential to meld together industrial and horticultural activities with environmental resources in a sustainable manner, with long-term sustainability being the key issue of concern in the broad picture, as evidenced by discussions last night.

 

Here are a number of links that describe the idea well;

 http://www.eoearth.org/article/Industrial_symbiosis

 Other references and examples of interest;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_symbiosis

http://www.celsias.co.nz/resource/one-companies-waste-another-compa...

http://www.sift.net.nz/Blog/tag/diverting-waste-from-landfill/

http://www.priorityone.co.nz/vdb/document/34

http://www.nisp.org.uk/

http://www.tees.ac.uk/docs/DocRepo/Clemance/IndustrialSymbiosis.pdf

http://bioconversion.blogspot.com/2007/04/industrial-symbiosis-crea...

Some of the questions faced after reading this material revolve around engaging stakeholders, and how to translate ideas for cooperation into practical projects and solutions.  

Ideas need champions, and unless industry groups such as federated farmers are on board, and see potential for wins-wins and actually get excited about possibilities that could work, it’s a very uphill battle to engage those at the coal-face.

Solutions also need to be driven from the bottom, where peers network the benefits of particular ideas. These people also can become champions, because it’s talk at stock auctions, farmers forums, over the fence (friendly!) discussions etc, and clear visual demonstration of practical solutions, that eventually drive opportunities for change, in a very often (mostly?) conservative and bottom-line driven community 

So this is my thought, find the means of creating widespread benefits, and while various groups can focus on the returns of interest, environmental and sustainability  benefits can drop out as a *natural* consequence, without angst and drama.

Hearing mention of draft documents for farming practice and water quality also raised another interest and concern, which is around fragmentation of resources and information.

 Of course I have no idea how inclusive and far-reaching the consultative processes are, but I am aware of other local bodies in the country who have extremely well represented and complete codes of practice and recommendations for stakeholders, so wonder if these are being made full use of to assist the effort.

 Here are some links that I’m aware of and have found in the course of my own investigations. I hope they are useful if not referenced before, and if already well-used, then we share some common knowledge and understanding.

 http://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/forfarmers/

The dairy manual is of particular interest for point source control of run-off.

 http://www.trc.govt.nz/farmers-guide-to-the-regional-plans/

 I’m also aware of urban wetlands work by GWRC, and this seems to have potential too as a translatable model for certain circumstances.

Look forward to remaining in contact, and seeing where we may be of help or assistance to each other, and to those involved.

Kind Regards,

Guy

Comment by Chelsea Matilda Robinson on September 9, 2010 at 11:16pm

Awakening The Dreamer: Changing The Dream of the Modern World
A globally recognised symposium for anyone with or without their eyes open to the Earth community. Attendees will engage with concepts such as climate change, inequality, consumerism and ecological harmony in order to awaken to the interconnectedness of our morden society. A must see for anyone keen to contribute to bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling human presence on this planet. The length of this event illustrates the experiencial nature of the symposium. This event counts for VILP and Vic Plus points.
1:30pm-5:30pm, Meeting Room Three, Kelburn Campus, 14th September
Tea and snacks provided at half time.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155690244442612&ref=ts

Comment by Lynette White on March 18, 2009 at 5:36pm

Thanks to who ever organised the meeting last night- the video was great and very thought provoking