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With the UN reporting that we have 12 years left to reduce carbon emissions and save our planet, it is great that governments and city councils around the world are declaring a climate emergency. Christchurch City Council and ECAN are deciding whether to do the same here. Reducing carbon emissions requires action from all of us – government, businesses and individuals. So here’s a quick guide on what you can do…   Ride Your Bike Is it a coincidence that Denmark is consistently ranked in the top 3 happiest countries and also has one of the highest per capita rates...

We keep hearing that 8 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the ocean every year, but how exactly does it get there? If I’m a tidy Kiwi who doesn’t litter, where is the mounting plastic debris coming from and is there anything I can do about it? Plastic is lightweight and cheap, making it dangerously impactful on the  environment. Think of a plastic bag and how much it resembles a parachute when it gets caught in the wind. Even if we don’t purposefully litter, we often unintentionally cause plastic to end up in the ocean. Here are some...

As New Zealanders we collectively loved the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme. We dropped off our plastics at the supermarket to be collected for recycling but too many people took too much waste and we overwhelmed the Australian recycler to the point that they turned NZ’s soft plastics away. A New Zealand based recycler was announced and then the scheme was abruptly put on hold.  Recycling soft plastics seemed like a silver bullet – we could eat the same packaged foods without feeling guilty about creating landfill waste, or ocean plastic pollution. But the problem with recycling being proposed and sold as a solution is that...

“If you have children or care about the world at all then you have to make a change now, not in 5 or 10 years, we have to stop using plastic now.” (Sarah Uhl, Okere Falls Store) Okere Falls Store can be found on State Highway 33, a scenic 20 minute drive from Rotorua. This unique venue offers a fantastic menu of delicious food 7 days a week but also hosts a gourmet store where you will not only find local, organic produce and European epicurean treats but also a range of reusable, waste reducing, eco products. This summer Sarah...