Wellington, 16th-21st December 2009

Aotearoa’s first ever Climate Camp seeks to address the real causes of climate change and build a people’s movement that can and will stop disastrous climate change.

Get your diary out and organise some time off work or school for an incredible combination of…

• Sustainable Living: the camp is an example of a sustainable temporary eco village using a horizontal organising structure. Yes – that means you make all the decisions at climate camp.
• Education: heaps of free workshops
• Direct Action: focusing on False Solutions to Climate Change
• Movement Building: the beginings of a peoples Climate Justice Movement in Aotearoa

Watch the film: Why you should come to climate camp (UK-focussed but a great introduction to what climate camps are all about)

More information on the Camp for Climate Action Aotearoa website

Community gardens are public spaces where people are free to plant vegetable and ornamental plants. There’s a great growth of community gardens in Wellington – and the beginnings of some community orchards.

New gardens

I’ve been a supporter of Innermost Gardens for a long time in their quest to find space. A small site in Newtown is happening now and a more substantial Council site is on the cards.

Some groups like Common Ground are working on other spaces such as the grounds of the Home of Compassion.  The Brooklyn Transition Towns movement has matched up willing gardeners with people who have gardens but not time or energy to garden.

The Sustainability Trust supported an online network to be created, the  Wellington Community Gardens Network on Wellington Community Net. Such connections abound in Wellington!

Operation Green Thumb has been successful for several years with public plots,  as have City Housing tenant groups.

Benefits of community gardens

Community gardens help people

• build communities
• save money on food
• get outdoors to soothe mind and body
• become more independent from the global food chain

Community hui

On May 25th 2009, Wellington City Council hosted a great hui of community garden groups – existing gardeners and wanna-bees. There was support from social agencies and Parks & Gardens staff too. If you missed the event or have a piece of Council land in mind, contact Celia to be kept in touch.

Not every spot is suitable – soil, existing ecology, neighbours, hazardous trees etc. all have to be considered.

We are committed to making the process easier and ending up with MORE food grown by the community, for the community!

For more information

Contact Celia Wade-Brown

Email: celia.wadebrown@greens.org.nz
phone: 04-938 6691
cellphone: 027 483 6691
Celia’s Councillor profile on the Wellington City Council website

Water is the single most important substance we need. It is vital for our health and well being and the region’s natural ecosystems depend on water resources.

Who manages water locally?

Greater Wellington Regional Council is responsible for sustainably managing the region’s water resources. The Regional Freshwater Plan sets out the rules for water allocation and managing water quality.

Greater Wellington makes bulk water supply available to Wellington City Council and the Hutt Valley through the Council trading organisation capacity.

Water storage

Last year there was a period when no rain fell for 4 weeks, and a relatively dry period lasted for over 3 months. GW recommended mandatory water restrictions on use. Luckily a major front moved in and broke the drought.

Wellington has relatively little storage and relies heavily on the run of flow of Hutt River. Hutt river levels went below the lower limit with stored water at Te Marua used for supply.

Population has been increasing at the rate of 3% per year and has led Council officers to make plans for new supply and water meters.

New supplies, or more efficient use

We need to question the call for new water supplies, in spite of shortfall last year. How will additional take off affect the ecology of our rivers? What green house emissions will result from new dams?

We can already do more, and better, with water already available.

Planners can look at better ways to harvest natural water sources, and utilise technologies and practices that promote efficient use and collection of rain water.

At the same time we must restore wetlands, natural water courses and floodplains.

Collection tanks

Wellington’s annual rainfall is around 1200mm/year – 4mm per day.
Water collection tanks can harvest this rain for our own use.

When we harvest rain water, we can reduce the water bill, demands placed on mains water supply, on wastewater and storm water systems, while still maintaining the option of using treated water for kitchen use.

With dual water systems, we can have the best of both options. Remember that we drink only 5 per cent of our highly refined drinking water, yet pay for the other 95 per cent to be treated to the highest drinking standards … We flush treated water down the toilet, we wash with it and do the laundry.

With rainwater collection tanks we are more resilient.

A major earthquake will disrupt water supplies for the whole region, and it will take months or years to restore water. Without your own supply, you will most likely need to leave the region while lengthy repairs are made to the supply system.

An average roof area will capture enough water for daily needs, and a 3500 litre tank will store enough for up to several weeks supply. A tank that size can be bought for $1200 to $3000, and those tanks can be made of recycled plastic! As well as extra security to you, there are considerable operating cost savings to Council, as well as savings of electricity and chemicals.

Water tanks will reduce the amount of storm water and overload in heavy downpours. Present operating costs are $28m/year, with the cost of electricity to pump water and chemicals to treat amount to about $4m.

Demonstrated benefits of rain water collection tanks

• reduced initial storm water surges
• improved water security with increased storage on site
• resilience following major earthquake with continued storage and ability to collect water
• long term cost benefits
• Awareness of water usage and in control of own supply
• Reduced chemical usage (bulk supply)
• Reduced electricity and GHE (bulk supply)

What other councils are doing

Kapiti District Council has made dual and waste water systems mandatory on new houses. Waitakere City Council subsidies rain water tanks up to $500 per unit (see also Massey University research on rain water collection).

What you can do

Greater Wellington is developing a regional water strategy at the moment, with water highlighted as one of the key issues in its proposed ten year plan (2009-19).

A new issue coming out of local government reform is how a Regional Water administrative structure could be developed with regional representation in partnership with local iwi.

Contact Fran Wilde or Paul Bruce for more information.

For more information

Contact Regional Councillor Paul Bruce
paul.bruce@greens.org.nz
phone: 04 9728699
cellphone:021 02719370