Transition Town Kaitaia

"A thriving community beyond the oil age"

Our mission is to

• Build community capacity to adapt
• Empower ourselves with information
• Achieve food security for all
• Communicate practical ideas and examples
• Organise for community resilience
• Network with existing groups

A BEACON for negotiating post-peak oil energy descent.

In response to the challenges of both peak oil and climate change, we aim to facilitate the process of relocalisation in the Kaitaia region.

Relocalisation has been defined as

....the process by which a region, town or even a neighbourhood frees itself from an overdependence on the global economy and invests its own resources to produce a significant portion of the goods, food and energy it consumes from its local endowment of financial, natural and human capital.

Our current activities include:

Giving an Hour

of Your Time Helping Someone

Earns an Hour of Someone's Time Helping You

To Join Now Click here: http://kaitaia.timebanks.org

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Find out how you can be part of the move to share our individual skills and make a stronger community.

• Monthly film and discussion evenings on the subjects of peak oil, sustainability, climate change, food security, permaculture, alternative currency and energy. Details of the up-coming movie can be found on the Steering Committee page.

• Monthly steering committee meetings (click on the link for the date and venue of our next meeting.)

• Radio coverage of Transition Town issues and events on KCRFM and Te Hiku Radio.

Our current projects include:

FOOD PROJECTS:

Community Gardens. Situated behind the Te Hauora O Te Hiku O Te Ika Building on Redan Road, Kaitaia. The gardens are a joint venture between Transition Town Kaitaia, Te Hauora O Te Hiku O Te Ika, The Far North Environment Centre and Te Oranga. Contact person: Rebecca Ranum Phone: 021 408 989.

Growing Rice Locally. A project is currently under way to assess the feasibility of growing varied types of rice in the Far North community. The group, led by a consultant who has, in the past, been involved with growing rice in Papua New Guinea, is currently sourcing rice seed from overseas and has suitable land available in the area. Crops requiring both dry and paddy-type growing mediums are being considered.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PROJECTS:

Investigation into the viability of making ethanol from raupo for running vehicles is currently underway. Contact person: John Kenderdine.

HEALTH PROJECTS;

Local medicines. This project is focused on development, promotion and education regarding rongoa or local, traditional medicines as an alternative to relying on the global pharmaceutical industry to maintain health. Contact people Anah and Cornelius van Dorp at The Herb Shack, 24 Puckey Avenue, Kaitaia. Ph: 09 408 3017. Email Anah@Herbshack.co.nz or Corn@Herbshack.co.nz

COMPLEMENTARY CURRENCY PROJECT.

The aim of this project is to strengthen the local economy through developing a range of currency options to complement the NZ dollar. These include a local paper currency, time banking, a barter and trade network published in "The Penny Pincher", and low interest community finance. Contact people: John Kenderdine, Rebecca Ranum.

Please contact us if you are interested in being involved in any of these projects. You are welcome to attend any of our events or meetings as advertised on this website.

Transition Towns Kaitaia
Steering Committee
Waste Group
Communications Group
Relationships Group
Health Group
Food Group
Energy Group
Alternative Currency Group

Any enquiries regarding Transition Towns Kaitaia can be addressed to Gary at garyasta<at>farmside.co.nz (replace <at> with @)

The local library has a reasonable list of relevant books, including "Alcohol can be a Gas" by David Blume. Link to the library catalogue by logging onto http://library.fndc.govt.nz/

Transition Town Kaitaia History

On World Environment Day June 5 2008 we held our first Transition event in Kaitaia.
The evening was a great success with about 35 people in attendance to watch
a short film on Peak Oil and to hear Nandor Tanchos give a talk about future scenarios.

Following Nandor, Richard Lee gave a presentation on Transition Towns. The meeting ended with a clear intent to investigate the TT model further.

On the 25th of June we held our 2nd meeting and had about 25 people show up. (Not a bad effort as it was a very cold and stormy evening). We watched Robert Newman's very funny "History of Oil" and then did some Open Space work on "where to from here".

By the end of the night a steering group had been formed and the beginnings of a carpool network had been devised.

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