Information release for local newspaper and email distribution

Embracing Sustainability in Upper Hutt

You have undoubtedly noticed that the price of petrol has risen over recent years and is likely to go higher. The rising price is a symptom of the world being at the peak of oil production and the continuing increase in demand.

We are moving to a time of oil shortage. Some predict that this will have taken effect by 2012: http://simontegg.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/a-view.pdf . The gap between production and demand for oil will have a profound effect on the way we conduct our lives over the coming years. Small countries like New Zealand could rapidly find it difficult to meet their oil needs.

It is time to consider how to respond to this threat. Responses can be at international, national, community and individual levels. A meeting is being held in Upper Hutt to inform people about some of the ways we, as a local community, can respond to the opportunity presented by this impending shortage of oil. How can the transition be made into a continuing era of wellbeing and social justice for all the citizens of Upper Hutt and the wider community. Those interested in participating in this initiative in Upper Hutt could form a group of people working together to implement the vision being developed worldwide by the Transition Towns movement.

Ideas are available through the Transition Towns website at www.transitiontowns.org.nz. A Transition Towns group for the Hutt Valley was recently formed, and that provided the impetus to hold a public meeting in Upper Hutt at 8pm, Monday 3 March at the Lighthouse Cinema, 8 Miro St, Upper Hutt. Attendance is free.

Some of the sustainability ideas include:

• Home gardens based on permaculture principles
• Community gardens
• Chickens !
• Edible trees (fruit and nuts) at home, parks, street verges, river banks
• Improved cycleways
• Home/farm water harvesting
• Zero waste

Many of these ideas are not new. However many more need to learn how to put them into practice: to connect up with people who have succeeded and give pointers on how to proceed. For instance, Paul Kennett in Lower Hutt has installed a couple of 1000 litre tanks that hold rainwater and made available for gardening and gray water use. Of course many of the ideas are known and currently practiced by those who lived during and soon after World War II.

The beauty of this sustainability approach is that it leads to a more community-based, satisfying and less frenetic lifestyle. This is the opportunity presented by oil depletion.

For more information come along to the public meeting to see the video on Transition Towns, hear some advocates speak, and discuss where to go from here. A contact is name, phone number, email address.