Kazel's blog

I love watching the murals develop around Opotiki.  They are gorgeous, and create a feeling of powerful community pride.  The newest one on the wall of the college pool has a theme of education from 100 years ago to 50 years into the future.

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In November a friend went to the Eco show and found out about Transition Towns.  I had just missed out on getting on our local council.  We were looking for ways to raise my profile, so I agreed to hold a public meeting and introduce a slideshow on Transition Towns.  At that time I was also Co-convenor for our local Green Party branch. » Read more

How secure is Opotiki’s electricity supply? » Read more

When I first watched Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”, my ears pricked up when he talked about actions we could do to personally combat climate change.  I was all fired up to do whatever it took to prevent the polar ice caps from melting, to save the polar bears, to turn back the rising tides.  He mentioned changing to energy efficient lightbulbs, and lobbying government. » Read more

In 2001 Rob Hopkins began teaching a Practical Sustainablity course in Ireland, based on the principles of Permaculture.   More than just an organic gardening technique, it encompasses a whole way of thinking about the world and how we use it.  The foundations are Earth care, people care, an » Read more

Growing conventional crops in the same place year after year has been described as mining the soil for minerals.  Layers of topsoil blow away each year after tilling and are never replaced, leading eventually to dust-bowls where only gorse can make a living. » Read more

I recently got my 50 council rubbish bags delivered, so tried to shove them in the drawer, but there was no room.  I still have all of last year’s ones, and some from 2006. » Read more

One of the first things the Opotiki Transition Town group did after our first public meeting in November was to establish our own regular Green Drinks.  We’ve been meeting and welcoming new people to join the korero ever since. » Read more

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Garden Makeovers.

It may be that the best way to create food security in Opotiki is to encourage local growing.  After all, if we are going to establish a local market-place, we’d better have something to trade!    » Read more