PRESS RELEASE:

A multinational waste giant will face a Waiheke-style welcome when it turns up for its first day managing the islands multi-million dollar waste stream today.

TransPacific Industries will be greeted by a picket of islanders of all ages furious the company has displaced community-owned Clean Stream Waiheke Ltd, a 10-year success story in recycling and other aspects of community waste management.

Auckland Citys recent decision to award TPI the 10-year, $23m contract has brought howls of fury from islanders who are hoping to challenge the decision in court.

As well, they plan to make TPIs first day on the job one to remember with a colourful picket.

Organiser Rien Achterberg said islanders from all walks of life were upset by the loss of their community-based rubbish system and were expected to turn out to make their feelings known.

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What do we do for a living. Seth Godin argues, that we set out to change things. We try to make big permanent change. We find things that need improving and we try to change them.

This video of Seth speaking at Ted Talks, we are at a moment in time when the way ideas are created, spread and implemented. It started with the factory idea. That given enough muscle and a big enough factory you could change the world. Then it went to the TV idea, that says if you can get enough airtime, have a big enough mouthpiece you could effect big change. Now we are in this new model which is about leadership. Now the way we make change is by leading, and leaders evolve by leading.

Tribes are about leading and connecting people and ideas. Thanks to the internet and mass media, tribes are everywhere. Now we have silos of interest, and we can find each other.

Its tribes, not money, not factories, not TV, that can change the world. We connect to each other, make more connections, who make more connections, and that is how a movement grows.

Every now and then, someone stands up and says, this one’s important, we need to organise, and then does it. This is how it begins.

Colin Campbell has retired from public speaking. Fair enough, he’s paid his dues. With his background as a Geologist oil prospector to a Peak Oil awareness raising public speaker, he has done more than most to tell people what we all ought to know by now – the oil age is coming to an end.

In this, one of his last talks, he gives a beautiful concise summary of how we arrived at where we are today, pulling together the threads of human energy, external sources of energy, humans as hunter gatherers moving to farmers and traders, and how the current economic situation is tied to the drop in oil availability to maintain the growth economy.

It’s only a ten minute talk. If you are curious, or needing an update on these big picture issues, this is a good one. Thanks to Rob Hopkins for alerting me.

Do I have a treat for you!

“Home” – the film
At the Waiheke THEATRE at Artworks, Oneroa
Friday and Saturday (June 26th, 27th) 7:30pm

“Home” offers the most stunning cinematography I have ever seen. (see reviews below). Come on a journey through 4 billion years of your evolution, via a visual feast of magnificent proportions. After the 90 minute film the Theatre’s cafe will be open for refreshments if you want to stay a while.

“Home” was released to the public in a most unusual way. On World Environment Day (June 5th) it launched in 50 countries and was put onto the internet for free viewing. You can watch the whole documentary online via the official movie site on youtube (but make no mistake – the imagery when viewed on the big screen is beyond compare with a computer screeen of any size).

Yann Arthus-Bertrand the photographer behind the film offers these words:

“We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, to avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate. The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being. For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film. HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.” – Yann Arthus-Bertrand, GoodPlanet President

People who have watched this film has been effulgent in their praise. This following appeared on www.yeeeeee.com – a showcase of designers, photographers and artists.

“With the goal to share a new perspective on the need for sustainability, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an original journey around the planet. Contemplating its beauty through the eyes of the filmmaker, we learn about the treasures Earth offers and marks we leave behind.

The film is a travel notebook, showing landscapes captured from above. Looking down from the sky, we follow water currents, roads and biodiverse communities across boarders and cultures to embrace a complex situation in one, emotion-filled glance. Home invites us to stop for a moment, take a hard look, and consider our impact.

Conceived through a meeting of minds of three men, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Luc Besson and François-Henri Pinault, Home’s objective is to inspire global action by raising awareness of our shared responsibility for the planet and all of its inhabitants.”

I hope you will join me at the Theatre (not Cinema) on Friday June 26th or Saturday June 27th.

Here is Rob Hopkin’s blog post from today, referring to the interview Chris Laidlaw did on Sunday with Rob, myself and Gabrielle Young…

Transition on ‘The Sunday Group’, Radio NZ. Sunday 7th June 09

For those of you who have been following the spread of Transition in New Zealand, you might find this interesting. Last week I took part in a discussion about Transition on Radio New Zealand, along with James Samuel (who has done so much to catalyse Transition there) and Gabrielle Young (of Transition Waiheke). The discussion looked at Transition in the NZ context and was, I think, rather interesting. You can listen to the piece here.

While the city council want to close down our local waste management system the locals are being innovative.

Essentially the rubbish which goes into producing this material is of the lowest grade imaginable – think dirty old coffee cups, meat trays, tanalised timber, chip packets and juice and milk cartons! If you would like more information, download this PDF of an article published in the NZ Listener.

Enough already! The madness of even suggesting that an exemplary community-owned waste management system be replaced by the dubious services of a failing multi national corporation in these challenging times is absurd to put it mildly. To that the Auckland city council add the insult of using taxpayer funded lawyers to fight the community who dares to point out that the current system is diverting more waste from landfill than almost any other town in the country, while creating jobs and high value recyclables. How desperately they seem to be defending their position. I smell a rat.

Watch this 2 min video and see what you think.

The Visy Mountain – For action: Go to www.waihekedoesitbetter.org.nz from Scott Ewing on Vimeo.

I love this little community – what a feisty bunch of people, with a willingness to put out when the need arises. I am only sad that such energy is not going into new and regenerative projects and that so many good people on this island are being required to spend so much of their own unpaid time fighting the insanity of such proposals as the council are making.

If a picture tells a thousand words, then you can make up your own to this slide show, which I put together for the Agencies for Nutrition and Action Conference…

A huge thank you to Claire, who sent me an email to say she had read my diary and had a whole lot of seedlings I could have. She was moving house and I could help myself from her garden. I did! And without her help I would have very little to report on the gardening front.

Suddenly my garden was looking a bit more established.
The seeds I put in a couple of weeks ago are popping up now..


Find more videos like this on Ooooby

It’s still incredibly humble and at it’s present size isn’t going to contribute much to our family’s needs. Sometimes I think I should just drop all attention to everything else, and focus on my garden and grow masses of food. The only problem with that strategy is that I realised a long time ago, that if my neighbors don’t have food security then neither do I. It behooves me to help ensure my neighbors have access to an abundance of food too. So it feels great to be committing to educating myself… Yesterday I did day one of the 14 day Permaculture Design Course, which Bryan Innes and Jo Pearsal have come to Waiheke to teach. After 32 years (since I first heard about Permaculture) it’s great to be diving into it.

It’s the energy and commitment to doing the right thing, that makes me proud to be part of this community.

Keep Your Wheelie Bins In Auckland Central from Scott Ewing on Vimeo.

For the full story of the madness that has required us to take a stand on this issue, visit www.waihekedoesitbetter.org.nz