by frog
After Motueka we hopped over the Takaka hill to the Bay basking in the glorious weather they always seem to have. The street stall at the Village Green couldn’t have been more different from the city. No-one seemed to be in a hurrry. Most people stopped to talk, leaning on their bicycles. Yes, their cars are old and probably quite dirty – we didn’t see any hybrids except ours – but they use them so little it’s not a big issue. They knew about climate change and couldn’t see why people needed a pocket guide to tell them how to save energy as they were dong all those things already. We were welcomed, hugged and thoroughly spoiled with a big box of local produce.Thanks to the “bag ladies” who’ve been running a campaign for some time now, Collingwood is the first town in the world to be 100% plastic shopping bag free, and has inspired San Francisco to try to follow suit. That led to a great fundraising idea in Takaka – an auction of hand decorated calico shopping bags – pictured. Decorated with shells, leaves and flax and painted with fruit, flowers, birds, dolphins, mermaids and slogans, they were made by whole families including artists as young as two. I’ve snapped up three chrissie presents for people who will appreciate an alternative to the ugly, petroleum based landfill polluters. Some people had so loved making them that they bid for their own handiwork back again.I also had the chance to help paint a community mural at Collingwood which celebrates snapshots of the town’s past (did you know it was once intended to be the capital of NZ?) and has involved youth and artists in a long running collaborative effort. Opposition to our message, to the extent there was any, came from the other end of the spectrum from usual. Instead of climate deniers there were those who doubted the bureaucracy of government could ever change and saw the only hope being community action. There’s a local biofuels group and a straw bale building project in Golden Bay. Motueka has a group planning a sustainable village and is further developng a car pooling scheme. Marlborough has a business group planning to make Marlborough carbon neutral, following in the footsteps of Grove Mill.
It’s all happening out there – it’s the cities and government departments that have to catch up.
Off to Nelson now. Then Russel takes over and takes on the West Coast and the mining industry. I hope he gets the same rapturous reception there that we did in the Bay!
Published in Environment & Resource Management by frog on Mon, April 23rd, 2007
Tags: environment
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Jeanette writes:
“The street stall at the Village Green couldn’t have been more different from the city …”
I know just what Jeanette is saying in that sentence!
This gentle “back to the future” thread is a timely “wake up” call for me.
On frogblog we urgently need to take the focus away from the beligerant repetition, mindless putdowns and smart remarks of our recent visitors; to reclaim our (previous) inclusive, cooperative and forward thinking discussions … Then, maybe, the Greens and Green supporters and other like minded (and like behaving) people will come back!
These guys don’t want to join us. We have given them the benefit of the doubt, and they have given adequate proof that they are here to insult, deride and “score points” … OVER and OVER and OVER again!
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What a beautiful mural. That has brightened up my day.
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>>reclaim our (previous) inclusive, cooperative and forward thinking >>discussions … Then, maybe, the Greens and Green supporters and other >>like minded (and like behaving) people will come back!
At the risk of scoring points, you might want to think a little harder about that paragraph
The About page is also quite informative.
Nice mural, BTW….
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is golden bay/nelson still ‘disturbingly’ white..?
i was quite nervous last time i was there..
it felt kinda whitebread/’stepford wives’..
(white-flight..indeed..!..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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>>is golden bay/nelson still ‘disturbingly’ white..?
Yes. Also full of hippies
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I agree with eredwen I would like to read sensible discussion that is relevent to the above topics.
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ok drak…off you go then..!..
you kick it off..
no-one is stopping you..
you ’sensible discussion’ as much as you like..eh..?
c’mon..!
don’t just sit on the sideline..disdainfully ’sniffing’..drak..?
hit us with yr ‘pears of wisdom’..eh..?
(so precious/sensitive..yet he/she chose the moniker of a fierce blood-sucking vampire to lurk behind..?
come on down..!..doc..!..)
phil(whoar.co.nz
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Eredwen
There are two things happening here though, that would not happen if our “Liberals in Learning” and others were not here. One is that we would not be challenged to think about how our answers work with respect to the questions they ask, and the other is they would not be seeing cogent answers to some of their more preposterous ideologically motivated statements and questions. Sometimes it does no immediate good, and that’s clear enough… but they are at least, “engaged” and they are getting answers that will ultimately affect their world-view somewhat.
Many of them seem to be recognizing only now that Green is not the same as Labour, but it seems to me that they ARE picking up on that critical difference.
respectfully
BJ
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and on the subject of interesting converations going on in unusual places..
rightwing blog sir humphries is engaging in a discussion on how to solve our over-escalating housing unaffordability..
and those..who going on their comments/appearances to date..would have to be described as rabid-righties..
seem to be in unison that..
1)..the current intergenerational housing-deprivation situation cannot be allowed to continue..
2)..that the market won’t do it..
and 3).. that a capital gains tax..of some sort..(they are wrangling about the details)..on properties other than the family home..
seems to be the way to go..
of course they approach the situation/problem from a different direction than most of us..
sniffing about the lack of a level-playing field..of property developers not having to pay tax on their profits..while any other business enterprse has to..
so..from different directions…reaching the same (policy/political) solution/destination..
go figure..!
eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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PeterExitsLeft Says:
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:25 pm
>>is golden bay/nelson still ‘disturbingly’ white..?
Yes. Also full of hippies
———————————-
Actually this area is recolonised by baby boomers, who on the whole are culture takers not culture makers. Also half of central/eastern Europe seems to have fled here. Have noticed a sudden upsurge in numbers of Indians, Thais, Chinese perusing the real estate too.
The resulting increases in housing/rents have had the effect of forcing out the ‘alternatives’, removing a goodly portion of what attracted the boomers there in the first place. The displaced moved to Karamea and down the west coast… but now that the west coast has had ‘progress’, the southward migration continues. Global warming would need to make honey outta dogs.. to render Southland as livable as the topend.
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