Kazel's blog

Last week my husband got a phone call from a company that claimed to be visiting homes to give free advice on improving ventilation and air-flow.  The spiel was slick, and hubby thought it was some government agency improving the health of people’s homes.  When the adviser arrived, he turned out to be a salesman.  No matter what the airflow of your home is like, you can be sure that the solution suggested will be the same – install this amazing ventilation system.  » Read more

A friend of mine has pledged to do away with all products using palm oil.  She is deeply concerned about the plight of the orang-utans and with two small children she wants to be able to tell them that she cared enough to do something to prevent the destruction of their habitat. » Read more

Environment and conservation loving people around NZ would have to be excused if they seem a bit giddy with their recent success.  It’s not that the achievement was particularly groundbreaking or even radically effective – it’s just that we’re not really used to getting what we ask for – or even what we demand. » Read more

“How can we teach young people to contribute positively to their communities?”  This was the question that lead to the launch of Zespri’s Youthbank initiative seven years ago.  The answer was to grow a culture of giving by providing high schools with $2000 each which senior students would then allocate to groups who applied for the funding. 

This year 57 organisations and support groups in the Eastern Bay of Plenty were recipients of the funds, all of which support youth projects in our community. » Read more

In December United Nations Environment ministers and officials will meet at the Climate Change summit in Copenhagen to negotiate an agreement. Each country will put forward their offer of reductions to their current greenhouse gas emissions they are willing to make.

Reducing CO2 emissions is not an easy thing to do. We were part of the Kyoto protocol that bound our country to reduce its CO2 levels to where they were in 1990. We have failed to do that and instead have increased by 24%. » Read more

This article is aimed at a business model of facilitating change - but the messages about mananging transitions really hit home to me.

If you ever feel overwhelmed, undersupported, frustrated or wonder why other people don't share your drive for this transition stuff, then the article can really help.

We are all involved in a massive transition - I think it's important to understand the fundamentals of what this means in terms of getting other people to support it and feel comfortable with it.

Cheers

Kazel

At the recent Youth Jam camp for Eastern Bay of Plenty the teachers were able to connect and support each other, sharing ideas and resources.

I have put them all together on a new enviro-teachers wiki.  If you are a teacher then check it out here:

http://enviroteachers.wikispaces.com/

Cheers,

Kazel

A few weekends ago I had the enormous pleasure of taking a car-load of college students to a camp in Rotorua.  Organised by Environment Bay of Plenty and Enviro-schools it was for college students involved in environmental groups.

To prepare for the trip students fundraised by selling fair-trade organic chocolate and created a display of their first environmental action – labeling the colour coded bins around the school to make recycling easier. » Read more

Chocolate is one of those decadent delights that seems universal in its ability to provide pleasure.  Maybe that is why chocolate one of the main examples used to highlight the inequalities in our current systems of trade.  Chocolate’s sweet taste is opposite of its impact in the lives of most of the people involved cocoa farming. » Read more

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Eastbay Timebank launch in Whakatane.  It was during the weekend of rain when the Waiotahi river broke its banks and flooded farmland.  As we drove to Whakatane in the morning I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to get back again.

Despite the uninviting weather, the turnout to the event was positive, and coordinator Kristy Robinson expressed her delight that the launch goal of getting sixty members to sign on had been achieved.  » Read more