Envirocentre Hamilton

Coming up August

12th August 2008 11:04AM

Waikato Sustainability series being held at the University

An audio recording of the first lecture by Prof. Al Gillespie is available through the following link. Please continue to check this site for subsequent recordings of lectures on Sustainability. http://events.waikato.ac.nz/events/UniPR/2008/07/22#u5MIgkl6W5g3DIJ3vXfFqihX9

Response to the first three seminars has been extremely positive. Nearly 500 members of University staff and the wider community have attended so far and the rigorous Q + A sessions have been very popular! We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday to hear Mike Pratt discussing:

Sustainable enterprises: How can they do well by doing good?

TODAY'S FREE SEMINAR

Date: Tuesday 12 August
Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Venue: WEL Energy Academy of Performing Arts

Sustainable enterprises: How can they do well by doing good?

Sustainable Enterprise is about how enterprises can do well by doing good. Waikato Management School Professor Mike Pratt focuses on making the world a better place through enterprise, looking at 10 pioneering companies that have been founded on sustainability principles. A developed theory and practice of sustainable enterprise to assist other enterprisers will be presented.

A cash bar will operate from 6.30pm and tea and coffee will be provided after the session for those who would like to engage in further discussion.

Thursday 21 August 2008

Royal Society of New Zealand, Waikato Branch
The 2008 Charles Fleming Lecture
All welcome

"Science for Conservation"
Professor Mick Clout
University of Auckland.

Room S.1.02, Waikato University at 7.30 pm.
(Near the Library)

Invasive alien species now rank as one of the most serious threats to natural ecosystems and native species, worldwide. In isolated archipelagos such as New Zealand, invasive species may in fact be the most serious threat of all. This land was one of the last to be settled by humans and their associated cargo of invasive animals and plants, and we are still witnessing the impacts of consequent changes. Here, active conservation is necessary, involving direct intervention to aid the recovery of threatened species and to remove or reduce the threats of invasive species. This talk will use a series of examples, including research on kakapo, invasive mammals and island ecosystems to illustrate how ecological science can help with the practical business of conservation.

Mick Clout is Professor of Conservation Ecology at the University of Auckland, and served on the previous Biosecurity Council. He is also the founding Chair of the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group, through which he is involved in a wide range of international biosecurity initiatives to prevent, eradicate and manage invasive species. Before joining the University of Auckland in 1993, Mick Clout was Research Manager and Acting Director (Protected Species) at the Department of Conservation. From 1977-1989 he was a scientist with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research's Ecology Division at Nelson. Professor Clout is a vertebrate ecologist and has worked extensively on the behaviour and control of brushtail possums and the conservation biology of native birds that are threatened by introduced pests.

A campus map is available at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map.pdf. There is no charge for this event.

For further information: Paul Taylor, NIWA Hamilton, 8591 854 DDI, 0274950525 mob, p.taylor@niwa.co.nz

Friday 22 August 7.00 p.m.

An evening with Amos Brandeis

‘Ecotourism on Maungatautari'

The Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust cordially invites you to spend an evening with renowned Israeli ecologist, architect, and regional planner Amos Brandeis.

In 2006 Amos inspired us with his heartfelt presentation on the award winning restoration and peace project along the Alexander River - a project he is involved with. He described how Palestinian and Israeli communities had worked together to remove pollutants from the river and create parks, including a children's peace park, along the river banks.

Now, due to popular demand, we have invited Amos to give us his perspective on ecotourism on Maungatautari. This is a timely topic for the Trust as throughout August we are seeking feedback from the community on their views and preferences on future developments on the mountain.

Please bring your friends, mix and mingle with other Maungatautari supporters and be inspired!

Where: Seminar Room, Cambridge Community Centre, 22A Taylor Street, Cambridge

Please RSVP by 18 August to Linley O'Neill at the Trust office on (07) 823 9256 or email mail@maungatrust.org

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/coming-up/

Retrofit workshop this saturday

7th August 2008 12:03PM

Please forward this to anyone you know who may be interested

There are still spaces left for the second series of Sustainable Urban Design Workshops for 2008 which kicks off this Saturday 9th August.

RETROFIT WORKSHOP

Venue - WINTEC

With Hamilton already having a large stock of houses, this workshop looks into incorporating sustainable building techniques and application into an existing home to make it a healthier and warmer home, and cheaper to run.

To register for this workshop please contact the Hamilton Environment Centre now on 839 4452 to secure your place. Please pass this on to anyone who you feel would be interested.

SUD workshops are brought to you by a collaborative effort between various agencies with the aim of contributing towards a sustainable future for Hamilton through exploring designs that improve comfort and health, reduce natural resource consumption and save money.

Upcoming Workshops Include:

Sept 13 - Water Efficiency Workshop

Oct 11 - Solar/Wind/PV Workshop

Nov 8 & 9 - Home Eco-Design Workshop

Registrations are also being taken for these through the Hamilton Environment Centre.
Price - $25 - you will need to bring ID ie. Drivers Licence
Visit www.hamilton.co.nz/sud for more information.

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/retrofit-workshop-this-saturday/

The Greenspace Address correction

5th August 2008 3:09PM

The correct address for Green Drinks at The Greenspace is 60 Te Aroha St, Hamilton

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/the-greenspace-address-correction/

Maungatautari consultation

5th August 2008 2:41PM

MAUNGATAUTARI WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!

The Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust is seeking community input into its long term planning and funding strategy through community consultation during August.

We'd like feedback on how the community sees the project in the future - as an eco experience with tree top walks, an information centre, the chance to see the wildlife up close, or, as a more natural experience without the tourism frills.

This input will help determine which funding avenues the Trust explores over the next five years.

Maungatautari is the largest multi-species pest proof fenced area in New Zealand. Takahe, kiwi, kaka and kokopu have already been reintroduced to the two pest free enclosures.

Maungatautari is considered the most significant conservation opportunity for kokako, stitchbird, and North Island saddleback, and an essential protected refuge for a wide range of other wildlife, for example the pair of South Island takahe already released onto the mountain.

Join our consultation road show at the following halls in early August. If you can't make it to one of these halls please call into the office in Cambridge for a form (64 Alpha Street, the back half of the Vosper Law building), or download one off the website www.maungatrust.org during the month of August.

We value your feedback!

Tues 12 August Putaruru (Bridge Club Rooms) Overdale Street, Putaruru (opposite library) 10am -1pm
Tues 12 August Hora Hora Hall Maungatautari Road, RD 2, Cambridge 3pm-6pm
Wed 13 August Roto-o-rangi Hall Kairangi Road, RD 3, Cambridge 10am-1pm
Wed 13 August Pukeatua Hall Arapuni Road, Pukeatua 2pm-6pm
Thurs 14 August Environment Centre 25 Ward Street, Hamilton 3pm-6pm
Fri 15 August MEIT Office 64 Alpha Street, Cambridge 10am-4pm
Sat 16 August Te Awamutu Council Chambers 101 Bank Street, Te Awamutu 10am-1pm

Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust
64 Alpha Street
P.O. Box 476
Cambridge, New Zealand
Ph: 07 823 7455
Fax: 07 823 7456

Website: www.maungatrust.org

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/maungatautari-consultation/

Events 4 August

4th August 2008 4:25PM

Green Drinks this Thursday at the Greenspace
5.30 30 Te Aroha St

Saturday - August 9th
First of the series of Sustainable Urban Design 2008 Workshops - Retrofit Workshop

Contact the Environment Centre to register for these workshops 839 4452 or email envirocentre #at# paradise.net.nz
With Hamilton already having a large stock of houses, this workshop looks into incorporating sustainable building techniques and application into an existing home to make it a healthier and warmer home, and cheaper to run.

AUGUST 10 SUNDAY Forest and Bird trip
MORGAN RESERVE, MARATOTO MINE

Average
Meet at F&B's Morgan Reserve at 10.00 am. To find Morgan Reserve, turn left at the old Waikino Railway Station and travel along Waitekauri Rd 2.8 km to the sign posted Reserve. After a brief look at the Reserve the plan is to drive on up the valley to the site of the now closed Golden Cross gold mine. At the end of the road is a public car park. From here we will walk up to the head of the valley and look down into the Maratoto valley.
Bill Fairweather 07 825 0563

Wednesday 13th August
Funding workshop for community groups 9.30 - 12.30
Chartwell Room, Hamilton Gardens
for more information or to register, please phone 838 1583 or email anne #at# ssw.org.nz

Wednesday 13th August
Free IT Computer workshop for Community Groups.
A free informative course for people wanting to know more about computer's, back ups, anti virus, fire walls, the internet, file management, RAM, passwords, emailing and trouble shooting.

3-6.30pm Hamilton
Nibbles and drinks provided

15 places only available. Bookings essential.
Contact Sally Ridley sally@communitywaikato.org.nz

Wednesday 13th August
Sustainable Living course starting. 7-9 at Wintec
This will run for 7 weeks. Practical, hands on course.
Contact Katherine at the Environment Centre 839 4452, there are a few places left.

Can you help?

The 2008 National Pollination Survey is underway. The purpose of the survey is to measure the health of bird-plant mutualisms throughout New Zealand. We are using the pollination service for tree fuchsia as an indicator of the health and wellbeing of our native ecosystems. This is
part of ongoing research jointly run by Landcare Research, Department of Conservation and University of Canterbury.

We need your assistance. We need people to complete the survey from locations all over New Zealand this spring and summer. Please help by completing the survey for a tree fuchsia population near you.

A major issue we had last year (2007) was people not taking part in the survey because they couldn't find enough fuchsia trees. Any area, with even a few tree fuchsia plants can be surveyed. Even if there are only 2 or 3 trees near you the data you collect is valuable.

For more information and the survey forms visit:
http://www.biol.canterbury.ac.nz/pollination_survey/

While there you can also check out the 2007 survey results.

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/events-4-august-62/

movie this evening and IT workshop

1st August 2008 4:14PM

Rather late notice I know, sorry, and it will be back in the ReelEarth film festival in a couple of months. . . .

Movie: One Man, One Cow, One Planet
Where: Waikato Migrant Resource Centre
When: Friday 1 August, 7pm (56 mins playing time)

This is a film about a farming revolution in India. Since 1993, 150,000 Indian small farmers have been driven to suicide as corporate dominance and elite globalisation tightens its hold on their means for independent livelihood. This film takes us into the heart of the world's most important renaissance - something that few of us are aware is even happening. Hoes rather than swords are at the frontline of a battle for agricultural control that is being fought over Indian soil. Its outcome could well determine the future of the entire earth. Using biodynamic-organic methods, farmers of India are reclaiming their lands and livelihood. At the same time they're exposing the corporate mantra of infinite growth in a finite world for the environmental and human disaster that it really is.

This is a New Zealand made movie with a number of awards to its name:
Best non-broadcast film - Jackson Hold Wildlife Film Festival 2007
Katherine Knight Award EarthVision International Environmental Film Festival 2008;
Official Selection at Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival 2008, Greendance Film Festival 2008, South Asian International Film Festival 2007, Thin Line Film Festival 2007.

We will provide a light supper and a chance to discuss some of the issues raised in the movie afterwards, if you want to stay. Please call 853 2192 to reserve a seat

Free IT Computer workshop for Community Groups.

A free informative course for people wanting to know more about computers, back ups, anti virus, fire walls, the internet, file management, RAM, passwords, emailing and trouble shooting.

13th August 3-6.30pm
Hamilton

Nibbles and drinks provided

15 places available. Bookings essential.

Contact Sally Ridley sally@communitywaikato.org.nz

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/move-this-evening-and-workshop/

Film Festival coming up at Rialto

24th July 2008 4:18PM

2008 New Zealand International Film Festivals taking place in 16 cities across New Zealand. The festival runs in Hamilton between August 14th and 31st at Rialto Cinemas

We have some fantastic films this year, with a particularly strong field of films about sustainable living, eco-communities and environmental issues. The films are:

Films about Sustainable Building, Eco-Communities and the Environment

Garbage Warrior

Sunday 31 August, 11.30 am

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

Friday 29 August, 11.30 am

Sunday 31 August, 3.45 pm

Sharkwater

Saturday 23 August, 1.45 pm

Sunday 24 August, 1.45 pm

Up the Yangtze

Wednesday 20 August, 6.15 pm

Thursday 21 August, 11.30 am

Other films of interest:

Let's Say...

Tuesday 26 August, 6.15 pm

The Wave

Sunday 24 August, 8.00 pm
Monday 25 August, 8.15 pm

The Hollow Men

Friday 22 August, 6.00 pm
Saturday 23 August, 1.00 pm

Trouble Is My Business

Sunday 17 August, 3.45 pm

Frozen River

Friday 22 August, 1.30 pm
Saturday 23 August, 3.45 pm

It's a Free World...

Saturday 30 August, 6.00 pm

The Visitor

Sunday 31 August, 5.45 pm

All films are screening in Rialto Cinemas.

Further information about each film is provided below, and detailed overviews and some trailers can also be found on our website ( www.nzff.co.nz - once on the homepage, select your region to browse films on at the Festival in your home town).

Brief Overview of each film

1. Garbage Warrior

A film about environmentally sustainable housing, and community-owned projects. Building out of materials like beer cans, car tires and plastic water bottles as well as rammed earth, architect Michael Reynolds' houses rely upon only the earth's natural resources to heat, cool, water and power them. The film also shows Reynolds and his team's work in building new housing and reconstruction projects in tsunami and earthquake struck parts of South Asia and Mexico.

2. Pete Seeger; The Power Of Song

This rousing, affectionate biographical portrait of singer/activist Pete Seeger, now in his late 80s, is also an overview of 20th-century American folk music as a form of protest for civil rights and environmental movements across the US. In the 60s Seeger turned "We Shall Overcome" into the anthem of the civil rights movement. He was kept off American television for 17 years on account of his left-leaning views, but never lost his audience.

3. Sharkwater

Underwater videographer, eco-warrior and hunk, Rob Stewart is passionate about sharks. Years in the making, his spectacular film puts us within snorkels' length of the ocean's unjustly demonised predators, then plumbs the depths of the multi billion-dollar shark-fin trade to show how over-harvesting sharks destroys the food chain and puts the world's ecosystems at risk. "This beautiful and urgent eco-doc takes a bite out of the shark mythology made indelible by Jaws. Sharkwater argues that these ancient creatures are as friendly as dolphins, and relatively safe."

4. Up the Yangtze

This documentary observes life on the soon-to-be-flooded banks of the Yangtze from aboard a cruise ship taking English-speaking tourists up the river. We meet a handful of the people whose lives are being the most deeply affected, and we become especially well-acquainted with two of the ship's young restaurant workers: a woman from a dirt-poor family whose shack close to the river will very soon be drowned, and the brash son of a middle-class family. Their very different responses to westernisation are subtly shaded and speak volumes about the price of China's headlong rush into the future.

Social Interest films

5. Let's Say

What do kids think their parents do at work? This film asks kids from different areas of France and different ethnic backgrounds to act out their parents' work days. First asked to rank various professions in order of importance, the children are then invited individually to describe their parents' jobs. These include farmers, doctors, policemen and circus performers. Finally, provided with simple costumes and sets, they create skits based on those occupations. Some of the views expressed are whimsical, others show surprising sophistication. The farmers' children, for example, would be much more competent at delivering a calf than 90% of their elders.

6. The Wave

A high school teacher's unusual experiment to show his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when the movement takes on a life of its own. Within a few days, what began with harmless notions like discipline and community builds into a real movement: THE WAVE. When the students start ostracizing and threatening others the teacher decides to stop the experiment. But it's too late. THE WAVE is out of control...

7. The Hollow Men

The "stolen" insider emails that informed Nicky Hager's best-selling account of National's 2004 election campaign return in Alister Barry's (Someone Else's Country) new film - just in time to caution us against campaigning politicians in 2008. Whatever your political leanings, this makes for essential viewing.

8. Frozen River

First-time director Courtney Hunt took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at this year's Sundance Festival for her nerve-wracking thriller. The finely etched anti-heroines are two matter-of-fact, desperate women who traffic illegal immigrants across the frozen St. Lawrence River into the US. One woman's white, the other Native American and they have more in common than their ingrained mutual distrust will allow them to admit. The precariousness of their hard lives, bringing up young families without support, is sharply observed and compellingly played out in the mounting danger of their nightly excursions over thawing ice.

9. Trouble is My Business

Assistant Principal Mr Peach of Aorere College battles to keep his students in school and out of trouble. Aorere College is situated in the heart of Mangere. The school struggles to cope with widespread social issues inherent in the local community and has a history of street gangs within the school, high levels of truancy and low academic achievement. In an environment where the morale of both the students and teachers is at an all time low, Mr Peach single-handedly persists in his belief in the kids and their right to an education. He fights to keep them in school through a mixture of tough discipline, street knowledge, negotiation, support and encouragement - whatever it takes. As a life-long inhabitant of the area, Mr Peach has a profound empathy for the kids and an understanding of the complexity of their problems. Armed with this insight and convinced that his students have potential, Mr Peach adopts unconventional methods to reach out to the students and their families.

10. It's a Free World

Veteran masters of social realism Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty (My Name Is Joe, The Wind that Shakes the Barley) return with one of their most involving character-centred dramas. Angie is a feisty East Ender, a solo mum who loses her job in a recruitment agency and sets up an agency of her own, placing semi-legal immigrants. A sexy blonde dynamo on a motorbike, she strikes deals and dishes out jobs to Polish, Ukrainian and Chilean workers for construction sites and clothing factories.The deeper she gets into this dodgy business, the more she is determined to prove her mettle, defying her old unionist dad, her nervous business partner, and her own generous nature. Loach and Laverty dramatise the human price of free market enterprise with every risk she takes and every choice she makes.

11. The Visitor

A shy, disillusioned Economics professor returns to his New York apartment to find it occupied by a couple of illegal immigrants. Convivial Tarek is a talented drummer who encourages Walter out of his protective shell, while his girlfriend Zainab carries the burden of their perilous citizenship status. Each learns something new, but just when you have this film pinned, it takes off in an unexpectedly dramatic and moving direction.

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/film-festival-coming-up-at-rialto/

Endosulfan submission and ERMA meeting 30 July

23rd July 2008 2:06PM

WRITE TO THE MINISTER
PLEASE HELP TO GET RID OF THE HIGHLY TOXIC INSECTICIDE ENDOSULFAN, WHICH HAS BEEN BANNED IN 55 COUNTRIES.
ERMA is currently reassessing New Zealand's use of the highly toxic and persistent insecticide endosulfan - and incredibly, they are proposing to allow its continued use on our fruit and vegetables and on sports fields, bowling greens, parks and airports.

Endosulfan is one of the worst pesticides still used in New Zealand, in terms of its toxicity, chronic effects and environmental pollution. It is an old-style organochlorine related to DDT, which is why 55 countries have already banned it. We urge you to take a moment and write/email the Minister for the Environment, Trevor Mallard, asking him to overturn ERMA's proposed decision and ban this controversial insecticide.
The Minister has the powers to do this under section 68 of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act which allow him to "call in the application" if the decision will have significant economic, environmental, international or health effects. ERMA's decision will have all of those.

Points to make in your submission:

* Endosulfan has caused birth defects, epilepsy, congenital intellectual impairment, cancer and devastating chronic suffering in thousands of people who have been exposed to it directly or by spray drift or contaminated water.
* At very low levels of exposure it can cause human breast cancer cells to grow and so is a real risk for breast cancer.
* It is a risk factor for Parkinsons Disease.
* It is persistent and bioaccumulative and it contaminates air, rain, snow, water, soil, and biota, including tree bark around the world - including the Arctic, Antarctica and Mt Everest. ERMA has also acknowledged that it probably contaminates our mountains such as Mt Taranaki, Mt Ruapehu etc, as a result of our use of this insecticide.
* It contaminates marine mammals such as whales and seals and levels are increasing.
* Because 60-70% of endosulfan evaporates after use, any use of it here will contribute to global contamination.
* It is ubiquitous in the human food chain and in human bodies.
* It is passed across the placenta to the unborn infant and in breast milk to the newborn.

ERMA's decision has not considered any of these points even though the information was available to them, so they cannot be relied on to make the right decision for New Zealand.

New Zealand's continued use of endosulfan is also deeply embarrassing internationally:

* The European Union has nominated it for a global ban under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
* Korea has twice now rejected New Zealand beef because of illegal residues of endosulfan, and we stand to lose our valuable exports markets from such contamination.
* 55 other countries are managing their agriculture and sports fields without endosulfan - why can't New Zealand?
* It is not possible to continue marketing New Zealand as clean, green, natural and pure when we are one of the few remaining countries to continue using this dirty pesticide that keeps on turning up in our food with monotonous regularity - 50% of tomatoes in the last Total Diet Survey contained endosulfan. Since then the New Zealand Food Safety Authority has found endosulfan residues on lettuce, courgettes and strawberries.
* New Zealand's failure to take responsibility for contributing to global pollution undermines all our claims to be a clean, green, sustainable nation.

ERMA's reassessment can be found at http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/search/registers.html?id=23290

More information on endosulfan can be found here

Please write now to the Minister - this is URGENT.

and put in a submissions to ERMA - closes on the 8th August

30th JULY - ERMA MEETING IN HAMILTON

Community and Environmental Group meeting - Discussion on the Environment

Plants and animals that are new to New Zealand, genetic modification, pesticides, explosives, and other hazardous chemicals - including cosmetics - all come under the umbrella of ERMA New Zealand, the agency responsible for the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act.

If you are interested in any of these areas, ERMA New Zealand is hosting another Community & Environmental Group meeting in Hamilton, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm on Wednesday 30 July, to hear the community's views, provide information, and discuss any issues around the regulation of hazardous substances and new organisms.

Anyone who wishes to attend the meeting is requested to contact Erin Maaskant at ERMA New Zealand for details of the venue.

Phone (04) 918 4826 or email erin.maaskant@ermanz.govt.nz

Lesley Meadows
Communications Manager
ERMA New Zealand
Tel +64 4 916 2426
DDI +64 4 918 4835
Mob +64 21 224 3304

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/erma-meeting/

NZAEE meeting on Thursday

22nd July 2008 5:13PM

A reminder about the Waikato NZAEE AGM this Thursday at 5.30 - 7pm at the Environment Centre in Ward St.

At 6pm we have an exciting guest speaker, Nelson Lebo, from the USA who has come to the Waikato to research for a PhD. He will be looking at how to use Permaculture ideas in secondary science education. Nelson is a teacher, organic farmer and environmental educator.

Everyone is welcome

After the speaker, we will hold a short AGM.

Hope to see you there.

Chris Eames
Dr Chris Eames
Centre for Science and Technology Education Research
University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, 3240, NZ
Ph (07) 8384357
Fax (07) 838 4272

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/nzaee-meeting-on-thursday/

Green Drinks August

18th July 2008 12:43PM

Thursday 7th August - please note, Thursday, not Friday this month

Hosted by The Greenspace, 60 Te Aroha St
5.30pm.

As usual, gold coin donation, BYOG, and if possible take a new person with you.

http://envirocentre.wordjot.com/posts/green-drinks-august/