By Waveney Warth Ngāti Pāoa recently placed scallops, mussels, crayfish and pāua around Waikehe Island under a two year rāhui. Photo credit: Rachel Mataira / Our Auckland Long read: 10mins. "Appraisal of New Zealand fisheries" plus bonus content at end "ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BUYING FISH IN NEW ZEALAND" Seafood New Zealand and our Ministry for Primary Industries tell us that we have a sustainable fishery, but many hapu, marine scientists and ANYONE trying to catch fish without commercial fishing equipment say it’s getting harder and harder to catch and eat fish, crays, and shellfish around the coast of Aotearoa. Tim and I explore who’s right and how to make sure the fish you eat is not leading to the extinction of Maui’s dolphins (or killing our unique seabirds or trawling through and destroying the seafloor ecosystem) in the Feb 2021 ‘Sustainable Fishing’ episode of How to Save the World podcast, available here: xxxxx
In researching for the episode I came across a lot of rich information, and had the privilege of interviewing Geoff Keey Forest & Bird’s chief Strategic Fisheries Adviser; Te Atarangi Sayers representing the hapu led Motiti Rohe Moana Trust; and reform advocate, Barry Torkington, Fishery Policy Advisor for LegaSea (NZ Sport Fishing Council) and former director of the commercial Leigh Fishery. The focus of the podcast itself was to, as broadly and succinctly as possible, highlight issues and then to really focus on (as always!) what listeners can do. Which for this topic is “what can we do best support Aotearoa’s marine environment through to a future where our fish stocks are not in decline; where species never become ‘functionally extinct’; where the ecosystem of the ocean seafloor isn’t legally and routinely destroyed through bottom trawling and dredging; and where we only ever take and eat what we want - not also accidental dolphins and seabirds and tonnes of other fish we call ‘bycatch’ because we don’t like to eat them” This blog focuses on the political context: what the status quo is, on what the issues are, who the players are and what legislative changes would be great to see. I’ve also thrown in the basic take home messages from the podcast so you have it all in one. Excuse the bullet points!! We're all busy. Call it an intravenous information injection. The Quota Management System (QMS)
LegaSea & The Price of Fish LegaSea NZ is the communications arm of the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council. Find them here: www.legasea.co.nz. They are vocal advocates for fishing reform for many reason - not the least being that the status quo is making it really hard for recreational and small scale commercial fishers (one man bands / one woman choirs) to catch fish like we used to, (Near the shore, e.g. dingy or off the wharf, and without state of the art fish tracking equipment). They made a documentary a couple of years ago called ‘The Price of Fish,’ which I recommend watching. I reference it in the podcast and also through this blog as PoF. Watch it for free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIQNDYoymMU. The documentary was so good it has already led to a bit of a shake up at MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) with some tangible improvements. LegaSea have manifesto for inshore fisheries reform which focuses on getting large scale commercial fisheries out of the inshore zone; ntroduce a minimum unfished biomass of 50%; Ditching the quota and replacing with time limited licenses. Find the Manifesto here: https://legasea.co.nz/about-us/what-is-legasea/manifesto/. And if you’re sold, sigh the Rescue Fish Petition (which is in support of the changes) here: https://rescuefish.co.nz/ Seafood New Zealand Seafood New Zealand is the commercial fishing representative body. Their website is full of interesting facts and they also have very engaging looking factsheets for school kids but…. but I contend that these guys are really just good at the art of presenting information in a way that makes it sound good … here are a few examples. Seafood New Zealand state that, https://www.seafoodnewzealand.org.nz/industry/key-facts:
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) The Ministry for Primary Industries has a conflicted mandate:
LegaSea(& Barry Torkington interview) point out the following:
Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge I would be remiss not to mention Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge from MBIE (Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment), check their website out here: https://www.sustainableseaschallenge.co.nz/ And their origins with MBIE here: https://www.mbie.govt.nz/science-and-technology/science-and-innovation/funding-information-and-opportunities/investment-funds/national-science-challenges/the-11-challenges/sustainable-seas/ Est 2014 with $70 million in funding over 10 years. 220+ researchers are involved from 36 organisations across Aotearoa. It is one of 11 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment-funded Challenges aimed at taking a more strategic approach to science investment. They are proponents of Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM). Where its the Eco System that’s managed - not just the fish. They say: ‘everything is connected; intergenerational; tailored for local values; based on science and mātauranga Māori. Hooray! Sound great…but they do come under criticism from experts who feel the forest is lost for trees. Eco Systems are notoriously complex, it will take years more research to try and untangle how pulling one lever here effects another variable there. If we genuinely were confused as to why there are less fish in the ocean and less shell fish on our shores then yes! Let’s do nothing while we research… But it really doesn’t seem that is the situation we find ourselves in. Other experts worry that they aren’t seeing clarity, so far, in what can and can’t be done. Forest and Bird advocate Geoff Keey is warns that understanding complexity must be balanced by the need for robust laws that can’t be cleverly side stepped. Their “10 things you should know” report (https://www.sustainableseaschallenge.co.nz/news-and-events/news/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-ocean-this-summer/) highlights that its all very complex and we need lots of research; and that plastic pollution and sediment and lots and lots of things create problems. Totally agree and good on them for pointing it out, but personally it is disappointing, and maybe even alarming?, that the issue aren’t framed around the easy wins: we KNOW we are taking too much (in terms of OCEAN management best practice) and we KNOW that common commercial fishing methods result in bycatch of endangered seabirds, marine mammals and destruction of marine habitat through the routine practices of dredging and bottom trawling. So my vote would be more for the voice of hapu around the country, Forest and Bird and LegaSea saying lets not take what is an urgent and essentially basic thing (like 1% of Crayfish left in the Hauraki Gulf) and turn it into something so complicated we can’t work out what to do. Ministry for the Environment; Along similar lines is the MfE Marine Environment 2019 study: https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/marine/our-marine-environment-2019-summary. Its a great document, full of sad statistics about the general decline of all things marine, but I didn’t come away with any sense that that we need to urgently change the way we let people fish in Aotearoa’s waters. Hapu voices Motiti Rohe Moana Trust I spoke with Motiti Rohe Moana Trust representative Te Atarangi Sayers who has been involved for a long time in trying to protect his hapu’s customary fishing grounds and wahi tapu sites, mahi that continues on from kaumātua right back to the 1950s and earlier. The hapu are situated in and around Tauranga. When the Rena (big cargo ship) went to ground in 2011 on a reef that is part of the rohe’s customary fishing grounds the end result was the Motiti Rohe Moana Trust taking the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to court (more than once) and out of that came a series of decisions, which in a nutshell, sets precidents for Tangata whenua Kaitiaki and other community members and the 'local environmental conditions' to inform decision making across the legislative landscape. It effects many things including the application of the Resource Management Act. Learn more here: http://www.nzlii.org/cgi-bin/sinodisp/nz/cases/NZEnvC/2018/67.html?query=Mrmt https://rmla.org.nz/2020/04/21/the-motiti-decision-implications-for-coastal-management/ or this is an older article here: https://rmla.org.nz/2016/12/14/motiti-rohe-moana-trust-v-bay-of-plenty-regional-council-2016-nzenvc-240/ When I asked Te Atarangi what the best way to ensure the fish on your table was sustainable he didn’t hesitate: The best fish is the one you have the relationship with. The more time you spend the more you understand the lifeforce. He added that the purpose of ‘fishing’ is to share a relationship with the life force for our well being, we need to restore Maturanga values – whakapapa associated with places and space’. Ngāti Pāoa Rāhui As a response to the degradation of Tīkapa Moana (Hauraki Gulf), Ngāti Pāoa recently placed scallops, mussels, crayfish and pāua under a rāhui which covers the entirety of Waiheke Island and lasts for (at least) two years. Read more here: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/news/2021/02/waiheke-local-board-gives-support-for-rahui-to-protect-the-island-s-kaimoana/ and here: Recreational Fishers rally to provide support here: https://legasea.co.nz/2021/01/30/recreational-fishers-rallying-support-for-waiheke-rahui/ Coromandel hapu conglomeration rahui Recently a conglomeration of hapu put a rahui on collecting scollops on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsular. “They were getting smaller and smaller” says one representative, “The rahui was put in place to prevent the scollops collapsing because the government wasn’t doing anything” . LegaSea spokesperson, Sam Woolford, adds their support for the rahui: “Commercial catch limits have remained high while actual harvest declines. This is a failure of the Quota Management System. Mismanagement of scallops has seen the commercial fleet dwindle from a peak of 23 boats, down to four this season… While the Quota Management System is failing Kiwis, it’s motivating to see that the local community rallying together and taking control to ensure their scallop beds are not wiped out like we have already seen in the Marlborough Sounds, Tasman and Golden Bays, and the Kaipara Harbour.” In Coromandel, fishery companies are legally allowed to dredge 50-tonnes of scallops yearly. For the 2019-2020 season, however, they only caught 13 tonnes (26%) of their total allowable commercial catch, due to scallop population decline. There have been years of harvests being unconstrained (in that they can’t reach the total catch limit they are allowed to legally take) and dredging (which is dragging a metal cage along the ocean sea floor which destroys the marine floor habitat). So far, evidence of this decline is anecdotal, but it points to decimated populations of scallops, crabs, crustaceans, other shellfish and sea life that inhabit the seafloor::
Forest & Bird: Ocean landing page: https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/oceans. Forest and BIrd are focused on the by catch issue. Here’s the campaign: https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/campaigns/zero-bycatch I asked if they had alternative system “with a name” like we have the ‘Quota Management System’ or proponents of the ‘Eco Based Management System’ or the ‘Manifesto’ for reform from LegaSea. Geoff Keey said the that most succinct proposition of the issues and the changes that are needed is in the briefing for incoming ministers. Which can be found here. https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/sites/default/files/2021-02/Forest%20%26%20Bird%20Briefing%20to%20the%20Incoming%20Government%202021.pdf Best Fish Guide Best Fish Guide is Forest and Birds consumer guide to selecting the least harmful fish. This is an absolute must for anyone trying to navigate this tricky space: , http://bestfishguide.org.nz/ ‘Marine Stewardship Council’ blue tick The MSC is an international certifier of sustainable fisheries. It was Unilever’s idea to help certify their own fish products. They approached the World Wild Life FOundation (WWF) and they have been a partner from the start. Find them here: https://www.msc.org/ However, big warning sign, WWF can only advise. Sometimes they advise against certifying but they do it anyway. They cay on their website that they do not always stand by the blue tick. - which really makes it meaningless for any consumer trying to navigate: https://www.wwf.org.nz/what_we_do/marine/sustainable_fisheries/marine_stewardship_council/ HERE ENDTH THE LESSON! So that’s the little run down on what I recently learnt about what turns out to be quite a loaded, contested space, where not all is what it seems. The information following from this point onward is a cut and paste of what I said in the podcast for those of you who didn’t catch it. Global
New Zealand has four main issues - reflective of global patterns:
Different sectors have a different take on what the main causes of these problems are:
Fishing techniques
Amend the Fisheries Act:
Let’s do what we can that we know will make an enormous, immediate difference CONSUMER SOLUTIONS What’s the best way to get a sustainably caught fish on the table?
The best I can do is this suggestion from Barry Torkington, Fishery Policy Advisor:
Next best - is my "Ultimate guide to buying fish" - which is a pretty comprehensive guide to avoid putting unsustainably caught fish on the table…
“in a good way would be not with nets, or trawling” e.g. longline or pots. What else can you do?
And don’t forget to help out by signing these two petitions:
0 Comments
By Waveney Warth Raglan has plenty to boast about. Photo credit: Raglan Shuttle My mates in Raglan (Whaingaroa) are totally convinced I should move there. It's the best place in Aotearoa they say, world class surf, stunning scenery... very drinkable coffee, and a ready-made connected community of people who care - although its worth noting that when the surf's up those same locals have quite the feisty side. Last year Rick Thorpe, one of my Raglan zero-waste-community-enterprise brothers, decided that Tim and I needed to do a road trip to visit the town an tell its remarkable sustainability story, 'there's an insane amount going on here, it's mean.' A road trip?? Aren't we just two happy little audiophiles in our Auckland studio? Then another friend who has a mint permaculture farm just out of Whaingaroa invited us to stay and that was that. I imagined we'd cruise down, do two or three interviews and then kick back and enjoy some combo involving local organic food, beer, surf and panoramic views. I don't know if he planned it, but after we were hooked in, Rick emailed me every few days with more projects and more people that we absolutely had to include - 'These guys are world leaders' 'These guys were doing it before it even had a name' 'These guys have mobilised half the town'. Before I knew it we had nine interviewees. Which quickly became two episodes and three days / two nights away. So Tim and I hit the road and met lots of apparently ordinary people doing some 'hang on what now?!' incredible things. At How to Save the World we only want to share pathways to sustainability that you can achieve. Usually that means focusing on lifestyle choice, buying power and citizen advocacy. What's happening in Whaingaroa is something else entirely, but just as achievable. Its little groups of people moulding their local environment - away from the standard ensemble of energy and food shipped in; waste shipped out; waterways degrading and native species struggling (i.e. your tangible local example of our global climate-changing-extinction-causing tricky situation). The projects we investigated, some twenty years old, others brand new, are actually heaving the town’s entire infrastructure and physical environment toward a regenerative thriving circular economy. What we found out is best listened to straight from the people's mouths who are involved but a couple of themes are worth noting here.
Eva Rickard, change maker, "Don't wait for permission to do something about it." Photo credit: NZ History We share stories from: Raglan Naturally, www.raglannaturally.co.nz. Episode 1 The community led town plan that was 20 years in the making and recently adopted by the Waikato District Council as the town’s official long term plan. The plan galvanises efforts to redesign everything from waste water treatment (must be processed through a living wetland); rubbish (must be eliminated or minimised and used to create a circular economy) and even energy (currently exploring local generation opportunities). All of which are firsts (or first equals in timing or scale) in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Interview with Gabrielle Parson, Raglan Naturally coordinator and Raglan Community Board member. Xtreme Zero Waste, www.xtremezerowaste.org.nz Episode 1 The community owned resource recovery centre that prevents 75-80% of Raglan’s “rubbish” (read “resources”) from going to landfill. Only one in seven members of the public come here to drop off waste; everyone else comes here (instead of the warehouse, or Mitre 10) to shop. The centre is the second largest employer in the area, injecting 1.6 million in wages into this small local economy of 5000 people. Interview with Rick Thorpe Xtreme cofounder and Innovations Manager. To get ideas and support for your town check out Aotearoa’s Zero Waste Network, www.zerowaste.co.nz, Waveney at Xtreme Zero Waste, Raglan's resource recovery centre. Photo credit: Tim Batt. ![]() Raglan Community Energy Episode 1 A community enterprise that has Whaingaroa on its way to be Aotearoa’s first energy independent town. The partnership with WEL energy, www.wel.co.nz/sustainability/community-initiatives, plans to generate 4-5 Megawatts of solar energy from a community owned 5 hectare solar farm. The profits from the sale of power will go fund community projects with a social or environmental benefit and enable free or discounted power to those who need it. This is in addition to Raglan Local Energy, www.raglanlocalenergy.co.nz which is already putting solar panels on roof tops in town. Interview incorporated above... two birds with one stone, Rick is a coordinator of ‘Raglan Local Energy’ To get ideas and support for your town check out Aotearoa’s Community Energy Network, www.communityenergy.org.nz. Whaingaroa Harbour Care, www.harbourcare.co.nz Episode 1 In 1995, Whaingaroa Harbour had the worst recreational catch rate of any harbour in NZ taking on average 18 hours just to catch one fish. Two million trees later, the harbour is one of the best in New Zealand and it’s now possible to catch your fish quota within 1 hour! The project has had one of the most successful engagement rates with farmers and fishers in the country. Interview with Fiona Edwards, Whaingaroa Harbour Care Project manager Kari-oi Maunga ki te Moana, www.karioiproject.co.nz Episode 1 A community led epic trapping project to provide a safe habitat for grey faced petrels and other New Zealand sea birds tracking toward extinction. People said it couldn’t be done, but this group of 350 volunteers check 2048 traps every two weeks, and are transforming Kari-oi Maunga in a remarkable way. Interview with Kristel van Houte, Kari-oi Maunga ki te Moana Project Manager. If you are inspired to make a difference in your local community, on land or sea, you could start by checking in with your local Forest and Bird group, www.forestandbird.org.nz/branches or learning more about Aotearoa’s predator free movement here: www.pf2050.co.nz/the-predator-free-movement. Raglan / Whaingaroa nestled between Whaingaroa Harbour and Kari-oi Maunga. Photo credit: Waikato District Council Local food resilience Episode 2 Growing and eating local food is arguably one of the most important things we can do to secure a regenerative future, and Whaingaroa / Raglan boasts an impressive cluster of local projects including a government sponsored project exploring national options for food resilience project; a seed saving project to save locally loved seeds from the area; ‘crop swap’ a public event, held regularly, for anyone to share their homegrown surplus food; and an extraordinary group collecting food waste from each and every Raglan home to create a high grade compost (that can be used to grow more local food!) Interview with Liz Stanway, Whaingaroa Environment Centre committee member and Organics Team Leader at Xtreme Zero Waste.
Raglan locals enjoy Crop Swap, a free exchange of homegrown surplus. Photo credit: Raglan Chronicle Hang on wait! Why is growing and eating local food arguably one of the most important things we can do to secure a regenerative future?? Well there are more reasons than you can point a stick at. Here's five.
Marae celebrates joining the Para Kore programme. Photo credit: Te Ao Māori News Para Kore , www.parakore.maori.nz Episode 2 Para Kore means Zero Waste in te reo. It is also a for Maori by Maori programme that came out of Whaingaroa / Raglan in 2009 and now has national impact. It’s goal is to support all marae to be working toward zero waste by 2025. Incredibly 449 marae have joined and over 500 tonnes of waste that would have gone to landfill has been completely avoided. The Para Kore programme works with marae to increase the reuse, recycling and composting of materials thereby helping to reduce the extraction of natural resources and raw materials from Papatūānuku. Interview with Jacqui Forbes, Para Kore cofounder and General Manager. A household’s role in creating a sustainable region Episode 2 Our hosts during our Raglan stay were Clare and David Whimmer, a household of adept permaculturalists living 20 mins out of town. They kindly agreed to let us interview them as we were blown away by how they lived and inspired to see a tangible example of people living in and enjoying a thriving, sustainable region... and oh my the food was good. (From left) Waveney, two lovely wwoofers, David, Clare and Tim all enjoying an off the farm dinner and would-be-award-winning home brew beer. Photo Credit: Matthew Luxon To all those who took the time to talk with us, and who are giving everything they've got to create better outcomes for tomorrow, Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. By Guest Blogger Alex, Auckland, NZ. Image: Alex (human) with Pippi (tabby cat) and Bodhi (black cat) Here is my scintillating Kitty litter saga!
When I got my two cats, Pippi and Bodhi, I chose So Phresh Clumping Litter with Activated Charcoal because I thought it was an eco-friendly option. You can buy it in bulk from Animates (so no plastic bags), and the info says: “100% Natural. Made from clay and charcoal, no added chemicals.” I thought- clay- well that’s just dirt isn’t it? Totally natural! It must be eco-friendly! It also seemed relatively cheap compared to other litter products at the pet store. I started putting the used litter into my compost bin, but then got advice that cat poo can be very toxic and should not be used to make compost that might end up in a food garden. Also- the cats generated a lot of used cat litter and the stuff was beginning to fill up my bin, and not show any sign of breaking down into compost. It looked more like it was turning into concrete. I don’t have my own garden here as I share a yard with other flats, and also I rent- and so I couldn’t bury the used litter here. I even asked a friend if I could bury the waste out on their rural property - far away from food gardens out in the bush, which we did once. Then Covid hit and I had to manage the waste here at my place by myself. I then – feeling very guilty- started putting the bags in my general rubbish bin that goes to land fill. I have felt awful about this but couldn’t work out what else to do. In a landfill clay-based litter, tied up in a little plastic bag is not biodegradable. Whilst in lockdown I started to investigate what Clay-based litter is and where it actually comes from. I was shocked to discover that it is not actually eco-friendly at all. There are a few websites that explain this including:
Basically, Clay-based litter is made from raw bentonite clay that is strip-mined in places like Wyoming and Brazil. It takes a lot of energy to mine, and then treat, not to mention package and ship to our stores in NZ. Strip mining also causes environmental devastation. To add insult to injury, there is a lot of information to suggest that Clay-based litter can contain silica dust which is a carcinogen. This type of litter has also linked with digestive problems in cats when they clean themselves, and also asthma and respiratory issues in humans and pets due to the dust. I don’t know where and how SoPhresh manufactures their Clay-based cat litter. It’s very hard to track the whakapapa of the product through google searches. I am not happy with this lack of transparency. So- the stuff that I thought was a sensible ecologically-aware choice has turned out to be not only environmentally catastrophic all the way from manufacture to disposal, but also possible actually harmful to the health of both me and my pets. Epic fail. I started to look for a cat litter alternative that was more ecologically sound, but also effective to use… and also cheap. I wanted something that would ideally limit the smell, and allow me to scoop out the poo and wee. I tried a few options until I came across a website that suggested the use of wood pellets- the kind that people use to light fires. I tried them with my cats- and am (currently!) totally sold on them as an excellent eco cat litter. I found Azwood Energy Eco Pellets: https://www.azwood.co.nz/, and also Nature’s Flame wood pellet fuel: https://www.naturesflame.co.nz/shop/Wood+Pellet+Fuel.html Here is why I like wood pellets for kitty litter:
The only downsides:
![]() This holiday season, we're trying to be conscious of not buying plastic-y, non-Earth friendly gifts for people that they may not even like! So we've got 10 suggestions for sustainable gifts for everyone you will be gift-giving to this year. 1) Christmas Crackers from KidsCan They’re only $2.50 each from Countdown, Harvey Norman, The Coffee Club and other retailers. Inside you’ll find a party hat, cheesy joke and the chance to win a spa pool, trampolines, toys, and sweet treats instead of a plastic toy everyone throws in the bin. Even better, DIY crackers – You can buy the "Bang" from spotlight, rescue the rest. At Creative Junk in Christchurch (who also do gift vouchers) you can buy a big bag of craft supplies for $10. North Shore Recycling Centre in Auckland is also incredible value. OR if you just want to buy ready made sustainable christmas crackers you can't go past Hopper in Wellington, available online. 2) Ethical, natural cosmetics and skincare from Go Native NZ Go Native are a premium online seller/supplier of natural, organic and ethical skincare ingredients. Over the almost 20 years the business has been around, they’ve developed a global network of suppliers of essential, carrier and fragrance oils, cosmetic butters, waxes, raw materials, ready-to-go bases, and more. The ingredients must be ethically sourced and where possible they buy direct from the growers, so they can establish a relationship with them. You can buy raw ingredients, made products OR Make Kits which are a really fun gift. 3) Nectar Feeder A fantastic way to support native birdlife and easy to make yourself (or buy one). Forest and Bird have a great guide on the basics of bird feeding and how to make an upside down bottle feeder. The feeders take a sugar water solution that is easy to make and can help birds get through hungry seasons. To make a feeder, take a one-litre milk bottle and attach the lid to a shallow dish or jar lid. Fill the milk bottle with sugar water and make a few small holes about 0.5cm from the bottom of the bottle. Screw it into the lid and turn the dish upside down. Sugar solution will come out of the bottle and fill the dish to the height of the holes. Banks Peninsular Conservation Trust pamphlet (warning: PDF) on care and concerns. Buy ready-made for about $60 delivered to your door. 4) A Bee House It’s crucial we start looking after our pollinators and a the most effective in the bee family are solitary bees, which need housing while doing their job all day. The ready-made houses start from $30. You can even make these with recycled materials, using a waterproof container (1.5L fizzy drink bottle), wool, air drying clay, string, holy tubes such as bamboo. Video instructions are here and here. Also if you receive a gift like this and really want to learn more, get to the Big Buzz Festival festival, 14 Feb, Matakana. 5) String Art Kit They’re back in fashion and a beautiful way to provide art and stress relief to someone you care about. All you need is a backing board, nails, wool or string and an image. You tack nails in and provide string. Any wooden backing board (renovation off cuts, flatish drift wood, chopping board) will do and any string or wool that isn’t too fluffy will work. Check TradeMe and secondhand craft stores to source what you'll need. Reverse image tree is here and a feather template is here. 6) Sustainable Coastlines Merch We love Sustainable Coastlines and you can support their cause AND share their brand. They’ve got jandals made from recovered plastic from the ocean that are 100% recyclable (but very strong and hard wearing - $30), water bottles and t-shirts all available here. 7) Inoculated Mushroom Log Admittedly, a bit of a weird one but for the right person – a fantastic gift! You can grow your own NZ native Oyster and Shitake mushrooms by using dowel plugs and use own log, see here for instructions. Takes six months to a year for the spores to take, then lasts for years. Note –you can only use a log from a deciduous (hard wood) tree. The log needs a shady spot, damper the better. Great video (apart from USA imperial measurements) is here. SporeShift NZ have what you need here. 8) Donations informed by Givewell
If you’re giving in the name of someone, GiveWell is a nonprofit dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities and publishing the full details of their analysis to help donors decide where to give to produce the greatest impact for those in need. Rather than try to rate as many charities as possible, Givewell focus on the few charities that stand out most and assess them using a rigorous criterion. They’re also extremely accountable and transparent (and free to use). 9) Ticket to a Show There’s few things more sustainable than a live show (especially comedy; Just a person, a microphone and a stage). Why not give the gift of an experience this holiday season. It has the added benefit of supporting your local musicians, comedians, threatre-makers and other artists and you could introduce the recipient to something they never would have taken a chance on themselves if they were paying! 10) Cooking Someone A Vegan Dinner Speaking of introducing people to a new experience, cooking someone a vegan, vegetarian or sustainable meal can be a great way to break some myths in their head about more eco-friendly food options lacking taste or punch. These days, people are time poor and we’re missing out on connection with each other more than ever, so hosting someone round at yours for a delicious meal could easily be the significant gift they receive in the season (plus – it doesn’t have to cost you the Earth). Bonus: Here’s some eco-friendly tips for decorating these holidays. By Waveney Warth How to Save the World visits sustainable apartment dweller to record episode. Beautifully UrbanApartment living is a very new cultural idea in Aotearoa. What we know is growing up with space for kids to run around and private backyards. But as house prices climb, and lives get busier, there is a new generation of urban kiwi's beginning to embrace a totally different way life - with totally different pros and cons - not just for lifestyle choice but also for sustainability outcomes. It's interesting that while in theory a big backyard means the opportunity grow most of your own food (e.g. Urban Garden Research Project) in reality most of us are (or feel) too busy make the most of the space. Choosing to have land in a city, if its not integrated into a sustainable lifestyle (growing regeneratively, working & playing local etc), can actually be a pretty unsustainable model. Its funny that on the one hand people living in apartments can sometimes view their situation as a barrier to sustainability and then on the other hand you have people like Chloe Swarbrick and the low carbon team at Auckland Council in favour of doubling down on apartments and urban intensification in order to prevent urban sprawl. What's the problem with urban sprawl? gee - perhaps go back and read blog 1 (Wait!? Why are we here?). This generation needs to stop the creep into wild spaces and treat the arable farmland around cities like the taonga that it is. These two images contrast the path we have been on with a vision of the very best of how apartment living could help save the world:
The pro's and con's of apartment living in NZApartments have another advantage over the traditional free standing New Zealand house: energy use. The embedded energy in an apartment block with 1000 homes is a lot less than 1000 new freestanding homes. Even if they were the same size homes. But often apartments are actually smaller as well which amplifies the effect. Then add to that the daily energy use in an apartment. When visited Otahuhu apartment dweller Anglea Lees to interview her for the first in a series on different Green Living lifestyles, I was really impressed when she said that she has never used the heater. Not even on the coldest winter days. Usually, in a free standing house, heat leaks out of the house and thats that. In an apartment block, heat leaks out of your ceiling or walls and where can it go? It leaks into your neighbours floor and walls, and happily, theirs leaks into yours. Matthew and I lived in an apartment when we first moved to Auckland and we loved it! In the end I missed the actual 'earth' - but I did love the light and air, the view, the warmth and the location. We were downtown and didn't need a car, we could walk or catch a bus everywhere and occasionally used City Hop, a car sharing service. When apartment dwellers are supported by local farmers markets, bulk food stores and other sustainable consumption options there really is some sustainability magic that can happen. Aside from sustainability, if you are thinking about whether or not to jump into apartment living Angela also highlighted the lifestyle bonuses:
In addition, I observed a massive difference in free time when we were unshackled from the quarter acre with weatherboard house (never again). House and grounds take a huge amount to maintain, we even found it demanding with two adults and no kids. But there are also obvious downsides, and this is actually why we decided to do this episode, I've heard people, so many times, say that they can't compost, garden, buy bulk etc because they don't have space (or because they rent). So we went on the hunt to see if we could find someone who had figured out how to work around the constraints and that's how we found Angela. Angela (left) and Waveney, at Angela's apartment Angela lives in a 60m2 apartment in Otahuhu, Auckland, with two flatmates and two cats. It’s a sunny spot with a sweeping view of the Auckland isthmus, maunga and city. Angela, who works from home and keeps very busy with part time study as well, made a conscious decision to buy something small and central. Angela’s story highlights how apartment dwellers can be part of the solution. She embraces local shopping options, transport hubs, and vertical balcony gardening. But the thing I was most excited about was her solution to food waste: a bokashi bucket to collect scraps, which takes about 3 months to fill up before it needs emptying and which she then empties via Sharewaste. A free online platform that connects local gardeners who want food waste with people who want to give it away. This is fantastic because its scaleable and anyone can do it. If you don't have a service like Sharewaste in your area you should be able to find a community garden or friend who wants it. Bokashi solids and liquid are incredibly valuable in garden and farm ecosystems and when that is understood there should be a calamitous grab to be the first in to get it. (E.g. one litre can create 7.5 tons of organic Bokashi compost, rich in beneficial microbes). Angela is an inspiring subject! She also somehow finds the time to make her own yogurt, kombucha, sourdough and mend and upholster! Check out the episode here. The only pest this garden needs protection from!
BY Waveney WarthIs your bank doing all that it can to make a difference for good? Banks are one of the most powerful ‘future creators’ in modern society. More or less they get to choose who they invest their millions (and billions) in, empowering some and squeezing others. They can also affect climate through their operational footprints and have significant opportunity to give back to communities through grants and other charitable activities.
How to Save the World podcast decided to delve into finding New Zealand’s most sustainable bank. So I rolled my sleeves up and spoke with financial experts from across the sector to devise a five point criteria and weighting system for assessment and then researched and contacted each bank to see how they performed in each category. Special thanks to Professor David Tripe, (Professor of Banking at Massey University); Barry Coates, (Mindful Money CEO); John Berry, (CareSaver CEO); CEOs and Heads of Sustainability within the banking sector that were happy to speak with me; and to the people seeking finance who shared their stories. The five criteria are: Internal sustainability Looking at the carbon footprint of the operations inside the big five banks including things like electric vehicle take-up in their fleet (shout out Westpac), getting 5 and even 6 Green star buildings (that’s Kiwibank]) sorting out green business procurement (ANZ and Westpac is using Fwd.) and ASB, Westpac and BNZ all getting Toitū Envirocare[https://www.toitu.co.nz/] certification, for being carbon zero (well ASB & Westpac) or enviro mark gold (BNZ - making a start). Corporate Responsibility Looking at the social and environmental activity of the banks, how they treat their employers and what they’re doing for the wider communities they’re a part of. Including BNZ’s support of Kauri 2020 Trust and Westpac’s CoGo Partnership – a cool organisation making ethical living clearer and easier. Investment and Lending Portfolios Looking into where the bank’s are putting their money. Which banks still ‘fuel’ climate change by providing oil companies with capital? To check on your bank:
Eco-literacy of lenders As our society seeks to transition to a circular-low-carbon-economy, new enterprises with different profit and risk models are emerging, (examples include social enterprise, community enterprise, iwi enterprise, co-ownership, micro-finance, regenerative farming, organic farming, permaculture design and alternative housing solutions like homes without land, prefabs, and co-housing). We spoke with people from these sectors and asked them to share their experiences in seeking finance. In short, the experiences are frustrating. Banks can only lend to what they know and no one seems to yet have a frame of reference for loan seekers who may for example, be actively trying to reduce productivity or mitigate risk through community involvement. This doesn’t mean positive discrimination! It means banks knowing how to assess risk accurately in these new contexts. And although it may take a while to trickle through, Sean Barnes director of Fwd: says ``there is a great deal of interest from banks wanting to be better involved”. Ownership. Several of the experts I spoke with pointed out that it's important who owns a bank. While things are never clear cut, a locally owned bank in such a small country is forced to be more transparent and is able to be more responsive. Banks that are listed and accountable to shareholders have an obligation, above anything else to do all it legally can to maximise profit. Offshore owned and locally owned banks suck or circulate profits through our communities in very different ways. SPOILER ALERT: If you are planning on listening to the show to find out who we 'awarded' the most sustainable bank mantle to then don't read on.... IN SUMMARY all of the banks are doing some great things, I spoke with so many passionate people and the big banks in particular are supporting some great outcomes in the charity sector and leading the way with operational sustainability. I thought picking a winner might be really hard, but actually, each independant financial expert I asked, if they felt like they could make call agreed. If we asked the UN what they were doing to further sustainability would we expect them to talk about their office recycling programme? NO UN has power. Banks have power (arguably more power that the UN?!? - I don't know but its a lot of power). Transformational power. We have judge a bank on what it is doing with its true power - its power to shape our future by who it lends to. It also helps to be locally owned and the co-operatives are such a great business model I feel like the title is there for taking...BUT SBS, TBS and Co-Operative Bank haven't really jumped in there. A great example of what they could be is in Bank of Australia and Triodos Bank (UK). They have claimed the sustainability space and have been going gang busters ever since. May be next year you guys! The winner of the How to Save the World most sustainable New Zealand bank is …Kiwibank. The bank is New Zealand owned, and even though its not a cooperative, (because its owned by the government) it is really owned by all of us. Essentially Kiwibank won because like a lot of the other banks they tick a lot of awesome boxes but in addition they have one of the strongest no lend policies for Fossil Fuels in the world. And THAT is fantastic! Something to be so proud of! And Kiwibank is doing some great stuff in the community too. Well done Kiwibank! THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to this episode, all of the banks; all of the independent organisations from the financial sector; and all of the varied representatives from the sustainability sector: The banks
Sustainability experts and enterprises
By Waveney WarthThe task of humans in the 21st Century is to shift the momentum of 50,000 years of human history from growth to balance |
Photo credit: Parnell Gallery, Auckland NZ. | The last blog, “Wait, Why are we here?" fascinating as I found it, left us hanging as it offered a summary of our situation – without attempting a prognosis. To recap, our situation, (underlying whatever sort of eco problem you’d like to highlight) is that we are catastrophically too dominant on the planet. Therefore, the task of humans in the 21st Century is to shift the momentum of 50,000 years of human history from growth to balance. |
So what now? If that is what we have to achieve, are we screwed or not? This is the topic of this blog and the conversation Tim and I dig into the second half of the How to Save the World episode, "Why are we here?"
Can we switch from growth to balance?
If changing the momentum of human history is possible, it doesn't sound easy. It goes against all our biological drivers; its beyond the mandate of government legislation for sure, and it doesn't sound like the kind of task well suited to technology (in kind of the same way we wouldn't expect technology to save our marriages).
Albert Einstein famously said “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. To turn the ship before we hit the iceberg, we have to pull one out of the box. But how can we have different thinking when all our ideas on how we might think differently are from the brains stuck in the old operating system?
What about the collective power of small action? Well, yes, but if we start biking or buying local without understanding the ultimate goal it’s like setting off to summit Everest thinking that you are jumping out the car to quickly stretch your legs. If that happens you’d be perilously under prepared – and you’d whine a lot.
Our goal goes against the momentum of life on earth to grow whenever possible: to self-limit our species in order to protect our long term survival. Some would say it can’t be done….others would say, ...oh for goodness sake?! Really?!
Albert Einstein famously said “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. To turn the ship before we hit the iceberg, we have to pull one out of the box. But how can we have different thinking when all our ideas on how we might think differently are from the brains stuck in the old operating system?
What about the collective power of small action? Well, yes, but if we start biking or buying local without understanding the ultimate goal it’s like setting off to summit Everest thinking that you are jumping out the car to quickly stretch your legs. If that happens you’d be perilously under prepared – and you’d whine a lot.
Our goal goes against the momentum of life on earth to grow whenever possible: to self-limit our species in order to protect our long term survival. Some would say it can’t be done….others would say, ...oh for goodness sake?! Really?!
SO big I missed it
Ever failed to see something because it was too big? Like not being able to see to the back of the fridge because of all the clutter, and then realising the thing you are after IS right in front of your face. Well…this is kind of the same. We actually have hundreds of longitudinal case studies, many spanning centuries, of entire civilisations that have already cracked this. If this comes as a surprise, it might be because, you, like me, come from a western cultural perspective and when you came across the “data” you didn’t see it for what it was.
Globally we actually have thousands of examples of societies that have already successfully made the transition to "self-limitation" hundreds or thousands of years ago when they faced the same issues (that humanity now faces on global scale) on regional or continental scales. That’s why locally here in Aotearoa te Ao Māori - the Māori world view is so important to our survival. Te Ao Māori, is one example of many, of humans having successfully 'curved their enthusiasm' to avoid collapse and voluntarily live in balance with the world so that it can continue to sustain us. (Yet we Pākehā can get the wrong end of the stick ay and sometimes think we are ones that have figured it all out.)

Another stand out is the Pachamama Alliance, started by Amazon indigenous communities under threat. They needed the help of wealthy savvy westerners to save their communities from bulldozers but they knew right from the start that they could gift something just as valuable in return, so they started the Alliance, which has been epically successful, to share their world view. They say, “With roots deep in the Amazon rainforest, our programs integrate indigenous wisdom with modern knowledge to support personal, and collective, transformation that is the catalyst to bringing forth an environmentally sustainable… planet.”. They have courses and all sorts of online resources and opportunites, get involved here, www.pachamama.org

This isn’t about idealising. Not all indigenous societies find balance. Which is soooooo fascinating. There are two categories of societies that didn’t (or haven’t so far): The first category is “Societies-that-collapsed” and literally haven’t survived to tell the tale; and second category is our own society, which is now global as it continues to grow and consume. Jarred Diamond in his classic book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed contends that our future is either “transition to balance” or collapse. That’s it.
Its’ a great read for anyone wanting to learn more about the well-trodden pathways to successfully avoiding collapse.
Idealism v realism
Far from utopian idealism, curbing ourselves is actually part of being human; a cornerstone of our success as a species. It’s basically how we always get what we want. Toddlers snatch. Grown-ups share.
I say this to start out How to Save the World podcast’s Season 2 with well-founded hope, and offer a guiding star that’s simple…but not easy. I think that “simple but not easy” tension is where it’s at: On the one hand we need to know our goal isn’t complex and it’s not new territory. Because its obtainable and simple we have the hope to take a step and start out. On the other hand grasping the barriers is important because this gives us the tenacity we need to reach our destination. Regardless if you are on the left or the right, its not easy to understand how life without economic growth or profit maximisation works when its really all we know.
I say this to start out How to Save the World podcast’s Season 2 with well-founded hope, and offer a guiding star that’s simple…but not easy. I think that “simple but not easy” tension is where it’s at: On the one hand we need to know our goal isn’t complex and it’s not new territory. Because its obtainable and simple we have the hope to take a step and start out. On the other hand grasping the barriers is important because this gives us the tenacity we need to reach our destination. Regardless if you are on the left or the right, its not easy to understand how life without economic growth or profit maximisation works when its really all we know.

But back to to the bubbling positivity, lets not forget the permaculture saying "the problem is the solution." If we do succeed in shifting our momentum, the very things that got us into this (our two super powers: out of the ball park smart and oil) are the very same things that could get us out - especially the smart bit.
Charles Eisenstein, a really good, unique western thinker who is able to reframe the way we see things, puts it this way in his 2013 book The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible..
Charles Eisenstein, a really good, unique western thinker who is able to reframe the way we see things, puts it this way in his 2013 book The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible..
Every member of the ecosystem strengthens the whole, e.g. the top predator, when removed, has a massive harmful effect on the whole ecosystem. We can think of each contribution as a gift. We are no different, we have a gift that can make the ecosystem stronger and better...but we aren’t using our powers for good.
By waveney warth
Wait. What are we saving the world from? Its a timely question as Tim and I start Season 2 of How to Save the World podcast and launch a website, blog and Instagram account. There's a lot of running around going on, but how do we know we are barking up the right tree?
This blog is the first of a two part blog relating to the ‘Why are we here?’ How to Save the World episode. The epsiode asks the question "What is our actual problem?" Is it climate change? Our population? Our greedy nature? Our growth based economic system? This is the most important question in the world because once we really understand the issue we can recognise the solution. The answer also forms the basis (or not) for optimism, culpability and understanding our power. This in turn effects our response – which in my humble opinion will determine our fate.
This blog is the first of a two part blog relating to the ‘Why are we here?’ How to Save the World episode. The epsiode asks the question "What is our actual problem?" Is it climate change? Our population? Our greedy nature? Our growth based economic system? This is the most important question in the world because once we really understand the issue we can recognise the solution. The answer also forms the basis (or not) for optimism, culpability and understanding our power. This in turn effects our response – which in my humble opinion will determine our fate.
How do humans cause climate change?
Climate change isn't our underlying problem: it's a symptom of our underlying problem. So how do we cause climate change? Put in simplest terms: humans cause climate change because we are too dominant in the system.
In 2018 the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published a report which Darrin Qualman brings to life in his article 'Civilisation as asteroid.' The article quantifies our dominance on earth by weight.
In 2018 the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published a report which Darrin Qualman brings to life in his article 'Civilisation as asteroid.' The article quantifies our dominance on earth by weight.
Here are the highlights / lowlights:
- The weight of all the people and our livestock (cows, sheep, pigs, horses, dogs, chickens, goats, etc), is 97% of the biomass of land animals and birds on earth.
- The remaining wild land animals and birds, (elephants, mice, rats, kangaroos, lions, bats, bears, deer, wolves, seagulls, eagles) only weigh 3%.
- A specific example: the biomass of chickens is more than double the total mass of all other birds combined.
- Our dominance is squeezing out other life: We are well into the fastest extinction event in the past 65 million years – (when the asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs)
Why do humans rule the world?
Professor Nate Hagens of University of Minnesota specialises in explaining this very question. We dominate earth’s systems because we have, NOT ONE BUT, TWO SUPER POWERS (out of the ball park smart and oil) which we have used in the service of the basic primal forces of life, that is: To out compete; conserve our own energy and to multiply.
The good news is that we aren’t dickheads after all, humans are really just the same as all life. In the rare moments when other organisms find no resistance from their environments they act just the same (think viruses, weeds, kangaroos). Doing anything else would be weird. The 40, 000 plant species found in the Amazon aren’t sharing nicely. They are in forced equilibrium.
Here’s the lowdown on your superpowers… (referencing both the work of Darrin & Nate).
Super power #1: Smart
Super power #2: Oil.
Until we unlocked the energy in OIL things weren’t too nuts. The best overview I’ve seen of the impact of oil on our current situation is Professor Nate Hagens Reality 101 video series especially the Energy & Economy video, which explains:
The good news is that we aren’t dickheads after all, humans are really just the same as all life. In the rare moments when other organisms find no resistance from their environments they act just the same (think viruses, weeds, kangaroos). Doing anything else would be weird. The 40, 000 plant species found in the Amazon aren’t sharing nicely. They are in forced equilibrium.
Here’s the lowdown on your superpowers… (referencing both the work of Darrin & Nate).
Super power #1: Smart
- We are out of the ball park SMART…. we launch satellites.. the next best contender recognises the word “ball”.
- We were already outsmarting and killing anything we could see when we started wandering out of Africa.
- For 50,000 years the only thing that could keep us in check was bacteria & virus and the daily ration of energy from the sun.
Super power #2: Oil.
Until we unlocked the energy in OIL things weren’t too nuts. The best overview I’ve seen of the impact of oil on our current situation is Professor Nate Hagens Reality 101 video series especially the Energy & Economy video, which explains:
- One barrel of oil, (which currently costs a bit over 1 average human work day) allows us to do FOUR AND A HALF YEARS of equivalent human labour.
- OR: 1 barrel = 7045 human labourers (labouring for one day each).
- When oil was cheaper, which is what modern society has been built on, 1 barrel equalled almost 26,000 human labourers!
How does oil affect life on earth?
Oil is impacting life on earth in many ways, the first that comes to mind for most of us is climate change. But scroll back up to the three bar graph. Can you see something (apart from our dominance), that is enormously significant? Here’s a mountain bike analogy, hope it’s helpful!
How is it even possible to get 7 times over the natural carrying capacity of the earth? Was earth full of lazy mammals and birds that could have grown their populations but couldn’t be bothered? No. Earth was maxed out. Any mature stable eco-system is an insanely competitive environment because the general rule-of-thumb its millions of different inhabitants go by is “take every little bit of light and food you can get and multiple."
So how is it possible then? OIL IS WHY our population and our farm animals weigh 7 times what our earth is naturally be able to carry. Modern agriculture is the science of turning oil into food. It’s a marvel. Previously life has pretty much only had access to the daily total of energy from the sun. Oil unlocks sunlight from millions of years ago in a form more concentrated and therefore more powerful than today’s sunlight.
- If the total biomass of all land based animals and birds before human primacy weighed the equivalent of my MOUNTAIN BIKE then that’s the natural, stable, carrying capacity of the planet (in this geological epoch) – that’s the height of the first bar in the graph.
- Today, earth is now roughly supporting 7 MOUNTAIN BIKES.
- While wildlife has gone from one bike down to 20% (- the pedals?)
- …Humans have gone from weighing less that one spoke (in the first two bars in the graph the weight of humans is too small to appear) to weighing 2.5 mountain bikes.
- ….and livestock from zero to over 4 MOUNTAIN BIKES.
How is it even possible to get 7 times over the natural carrying capacity of the earth? Was earth full of lazy mammals and birds that could have grown their populations but couldn’t be bothered? No. Earth was maxed out. Any mature stable eco-system is an insanely competitive environment because the general rule-of-thumb its millions of different inhabitants go by is “take every little bit of light and food you can get and multiple."
So how is it possible then? OIL IS WHY our population and our farm animals weigh 7 times what our earth is naturally be able to carry. Modern agriculture is the science of turning oil into food. It’s a marvel. Previously life has pretty much only had access to the daily total of energy from the sun. Oil unlocks sunlight from millions of years ago in a form more concentrated and therefore more powerful than today’s sunlight.
Systems thinking V Reductionism
Mostly I think we don’t see the big picture because its just too big! But also because, if you are a western reader, you have a proud and powerful history of reductionism. Reductionism is an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to interactions of their simple parts, AKA science. Almost all academic study is reductionism. Very good reductionists are known experts in their given field. Reductionism, powerful though it is, is only a tool that works well in the right situations. It is not the right tool for the job if the job is understanding or predicting complex outcomes in systems.
Systems thinking, by contrast, focuses on connections and patterns and crucially – allows us to see emergence, (a great example of emergence: the human consciousness emerges from the sum of our cells). Nate Hagens, says “Society now is on the cusp of emergence. Not only in our collective impact but in human collective thinking and understanding about our situation” (quote from: Ecology and Systems video).
Here’s to ‘competent generalism,’
#lifegoal.
Systems thinking, by contrast, focuses on connections and patterns and crucially – allows us to see emergence, (a great example of emergence: the human consciousness emerges from the sum of our cells). Nate Hagens, says “Society now is on the cusp of emergence. Not only in our collective impact but in human collective thinking and understanding about our situation” (quote from: Ecology and Systems video).
Here’s to ‘competent generalism,’
#lifegoal.
THE UNDERLYING PROBLEM TO EVERYTHING...
In case you missed it, the underlying problem is that the smartest kid in the playground, who already had every single other kid and all her teachers under her thumb found a magic wand, which she used to make life better, but its all gone a bit Lord of the Flies. The usual checks and balances in the school playground ecosystem don't apply. The girl, let's call her Cherry Blossom, has inadvertently reduced the school's original inhabitants from 100 down to 20, but amazingly she hasn't noticed yet because she has duplicated herself 250 times and her magical unicorn horse 700 times and its all been so much fun. However, the Cherry's ARE noticing that the school, (which floats in space and has absolutely no other inputs or outputs), is not as pristine as it once was. Some of the Cherry's are trying to use the magic wand less and that's about it so far. And that's 2020.
We are completely dominating the earth, we have no competitors or natural restraints, and we are using this rare biological occurrence to do what any other organism would do in the same situation: Out compete; conserve our own energy and multiply.
Thanks
Thanks to the two exceptionally competent generalist featured in this blog, Professor Nate Hagens and Darrin Qualman.
NEXT BLOG covers off the “what now? are we screwed or not?” reaction you may have just had.
- Nate is a lecturer at the University of Minnesota and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
- Darrin Qualman is an author and commentator, check out his 2019 book, Civilization Critical: Energy, Food, Nature, and the Future,
NEXT BLOG covers off the “what now? are we screwed or not?” reaction you may have just had.
By Waveney Warth
If you want to connect with your power to make a difference you may have just found your happy place
Welcome to the new blog (and website) for How to Save the World podcast show. We are based in New Zealand, Tim’s in Auckland city, I’m in Matakana living rurally, (photo shows my farm at dawn). How to Save the World seeks to find environmentally stable pathways into our future. The blog will primarily delve into the topics we discuss in each podcast episode.
The How To Save The World Creed
Recently Tim and I were working on articulating what’s at the heart of what we do and accidently wrote a creed, (which looks like a helpful creed for the 21st Century too).
The How to Save the World Creed:
The How to Save the World Creed:
- We refuse to be paralysed by fear. We are humans and need to live full rich lives with joy and connection, and we can absolutely do this while improving the planet (in fact, those two things seem to be strongly linked!).
- We believe 90% of the population continually changing 1% of their behaviour has more impact than 1% changing 90%.
- We strongly believe that by everyone doing their part, we can change the trajectory of our planet’s future.
- We listen to the experts and the evidence to understand how we can most effectively chip away at the problem.
- We see the issues and solutions as vast but inter-connected. This means small changes can positively effect 1000s of little unrelated things, all over the world. Which means change can be SIMPLE.
- In short, we believe the most under-utilised power on the planet is the collective power of its human citizens and we are here to connect people with their power to make a difference.
- Oh! We believe that talking about sustainability can be engaging – even uplifting.
Connect with us

How to Save the World podcast
Instagram: HTSTWpod.
Facebook: HowToSaveTheWorld
Homebase: Little Empire Podcast Network. Check it & find other popular NZ podcasts
Need help finding the actual show?
Instagram: HTSTWpod.
Facebook: HowToSaveTheWorld
Homebase: Little Empire Podcast Network. Check it & find other popular NZ podcasts
Need help finding the actual show?
- - HowToSaveTheWorld.nz homepage
- - All smart phones come with podcast apps, including Spotify.

Tim Batt
timbatt.co.nz
(well done on having a single point of contact Tim, nice to work with a pro ;-) )
timbatt.co.nz
(well done on having a single point of contact Tim, nice to work with a pro ;-) )

Waveney Warth
Waveney Warth FB page.
Rubbish Free blog and website (one year zero waste challenge, Christchurch, 2008).
Rainbow Valley Farm FB page (permaculture restoration project and home).
Environmental consultancy work: Envision.nz.
Waveney Warth FB page.
Rubbish Free blog and website (one year zero waste challenge, Christchurch, 2008).
Rainbow Valley Farm FB page (permaculture restoration project and home).
Environmental consultancy work: Envision.nz.
AuthorS
Waveney and Tim co-founded and co-host the How to Save the World podcast show and blog.
Archives
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020