Well I"m back on Blogger since it appears that Greenpress disappeared off the face of the internet and my blog there went with it. Hi Ho!
I live in Christchurch, New Zealand where we experienced an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale. It disrupted life quite considerably and continues to do so for many people who suffered extensive damage to the houses and in some cases to their land.
What has been most interesting to me is the observation that while our Civil Defence guys and girls pretty much had things sorted in the immediate aftermath of the quake, the phase known as recovery has been much less smooth sailing.
Recovery is much longer term. People move from being grateful for being alive to being angry that life is not returning to normal as quickly as they had hoped. The aftershocks continue (we're still getting them 3 months on although they are much less frequent now than they have been). Social Services are bracing for a particularly bad Christmas from a domestic violence point of view because men particularly find it difficult to cope with the uncertainty and lack of "control" involved in the earthquake and it effects. streets remain closed, sewers remaing damaged because the amount of repair work is just massive and the limiting factor is equipment and manpower.
Insurance companies are reeling with the extra work, Councils are trying to make decisions quickly but they need to grapple with a lot of questions that needs input from scientists, engineers and so forth.
Despite all this some great things are happening. Community groups are taking things into their own hands. One of the most interesting things that has been the development of initiatives aimed at filling in the gaps left by demolished buildings. Check out Gapfiller and Greening the Rubble for examples. For most, this is to avoid the default turning of these areas into carparks which then contribute to traffic congestion and the development of an ugly and unattractive City.
May these kinds of community activity continue and from the rubble we may get a range of new intiatives and ways of living.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Community Gardening
I recently started working at a community garden in Christchurch - the Strickland Street or Spreydon Garden. It is an interesting place and I"m meeting some very interesting people with an interest in green issues in a very practical grass roots sort of way.
The garden has a spectacular composting system and takes in kitchen waste from a number of nearby households as well as composting everything that comes from the garden (weeds, prunings etc). I've been learning about the art of teaching people about composting (which like every other form of teaching I've had anything to do with involved a lot of learning). I've also become the promotions person which is a slightly novel experience for one with my background!
I suppose what I'm concluding from all this that the whole idea of social learning and on reflecting on action is as useful gardening and composting as it is in lots of other places. No compost heap or garden is ever the same and on top of that everyone who gardens has learned a great deal through their own experimentation and assessment of success or failure.
This means that actually it is feasible to learn something from everyone who has every tried to plant and grow something and that good gardeners have to be good at reflecting on their efforts because the environment in which they garden is continually throwing new issues and problems their way.
The garden has a spectacular composting system and takes in kitchen waste from a number of nearby households as well as composting everything that comes from the garden (weeds, prunings etc). I've been learning about the art of teaching people about composting (which like every other form of teaching I've had anything to do with involved a lot of learning). I've also become the promotions person which is a slightly novel experience for one with my background!
I suppose what I'm concluding from all this that the whole idea of social learning and on reflecting on action is as useful gardening and composting as it is in lots of other places. No compost heap or garden is ever the same and on top of that everyone who gardens has learned a great deal through their own experimentation and assessment of success or failure.
This means that actually it is feasible to learn something from everyone who has every tried to plant and grow something and that good gardeners have to be good at reflecting on their efforts because the environment in which they garden is continually throwing new issues and problems their way.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Planning, public participation & learning humility!
I've been presenting submissions at planning hearings this week and last. Yesterday I took a different approach and presented very little so that we could get into questions and discussion. I'm very glad I did because I learned a lot all in quite a short space of time and want to reflect on that.
I'm intrigued at how the system we have here in New Zealand sets submitters up to feel powerless. I sent in my written submission. Then I received feedback that indicated that everything I said was rejected. Unfortunately, this made me feel that it was "me against them" and that I needed to convince and persuade. However if I had done that I would have missed the mark completely and learned nothing.
I had talked about my feelings prior to going into the hearing which was very useful because I had determined that I should go into the hearing with compassion, and to learn, or as another friend, Lucy Baragwanath put it, with humility - the assumption that I didn't know it all (which I already knew!). This worked well, although I found it a bit scary because I was worried that I would look like a fool when the conversation went outside my level of knowledge.
What I learned was a lot more about what the committee could and could not change and just how limited their power is in the system. It also left me thinking that any significant change is impossible once a plan is drafted because of the way various plans and strategies articulate.
The bulk of the work of an advocacy group needs to be done before the plan is put out for submissions.
I'm intrigued at how the system we have here in New Zealand sets submitters up to feel powerless. I sent in my written submission. Then I received feedback that indicated that everything I said was rejected. Unfortunately, this made me feel that it was "me against them" and that I needed to convince and persuade. However if I had done that I would have missed the mark completely and learned nothing.
I had talked about my feelings prior to going into the hearing which was very useful because I had determined that I should go into the hearing with compassion, and to learn, or as another friend, Lucy Baragwanath put it, with humility - the assumption that I didn't know it all (which I already knew!). This worked well, although I found it a bit scary because I was worried that I would look like a fool when the conversation went outside my level of knowledge.
What I learned was a lot more about what the committee could and could not change and just how limited their power is in the system. It also left me thinking that any significant change is impossible once a plan is drafted because of the way various plans and strategies articulate.
The bulk of the work of an advocacy group needs to be done before the plan is put out for submissions.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Time really does matter
I'm writing an article at the moment on communication and change. As I write I"m also composing a presentation to the Regional Land Transport committee here in Canterbury to try and convince them that they need to think differently about transport.
Anyway in doing all this, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there is no way we will be an adaptable resilient society if we keep trying to live at our current speed. Which makes me think that slowing people down is actually the task that we need to be working on if we are going to foster more sustainable practices.
I"m also reflecting on something I heard recently from a colleague who noted that the problem that we have is not so much too much consumption, but too much affluence (which then leads people to consume). So we need to work less (something that I have said in other posts) and earn less so that we consume less but also so that we have more time to reflect on what we are doing and to change. Change, particularly complex changes take time and effort but often not money or resources!
Of course I"m not implying that such a major shift as getting people to feel ok about less affluence is easy but perhaps the recession really is a blessing - its our opportunity to slow down and think. The question is how to make such a shift in a way that is fair.
:-)
Anyway in doing all this, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there is no way we will be an adaptable resilient society if we keep trying to live at our current speed. Which makes me think that slowing people down is actually the task that we need to be working on if we are going to foster more sustainable practices.
I"m also reflecting on something I heard recently from a colleague who noted that the problem that we have is not so much too much consumption, but too much affluence (which then leads people to consume). So we need to work less (something that I have said in other posts) and earn less so that we consume less but also so that we have more time to reflect on what we are doing and to change. Change, particularly complex changes take time and effort but often not money or resources!
Of course I"m not implying that such a major shift as getting people to feel ok about less affluence is easy but perhaps the recession really is a blessing - its our opportunity to slow down and think. The question is how to make such a shift in a way that is fair.
:-)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Earth Whisperers
I went to my first movie premiere last night. Earth Whisperers was a great documentary movie that caught the personalities of each of the people who talked about their passion - some aspect of the New Zealand Environment. This varied from healers through to organic gardeners to people who have saved large tracts of native bush or restored them. It is well worth a look if you get the opportunity. I must say it is nice to see an environmental movie that provides inspiration rather than documenting the problems we face. Each of these people have done what they did because of the problems that they see and have made a difference in very tangible ways.
Check out a wee excerpt here on YouTube
Check out a wee excerpt here on YouTube
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Transport and peak oil etc
I've been writing submissions this week focused mainly on tranport - and specifically on trying to get our local councils here in Canterbury to recognise the need for them to provide cycling and walking facilities.
For some reason they seem to have lost the plot on this one perhaps because of some misguided reaction to the economic downturn but their answers seems largely to focus on providing for more private cars or (and this is not quite so bad) for significant upgrades to our public transport system.
It worries me that organisations charged with looking after our environment and with thinking about the future can ignore the fact that they need to privilege active transport over private cars and that roading is a tremendously bad investment when we are heading into post peak oil and a growing recognition of the issues associated with climate change. Politics is a weird business.
Still there is hope, as this blogger points out - just a pity it is on the other side of the world!
For some reason they seem to have lost the plot on this one perhaps because of some misguided reaction to the economic downturn but their answers seems largely to focus on providing for more private cars or (and this is not quite so bad) for significant upgrades to our public transport system.
It worries me that organisations charged with looking after our environment and with thinking about the future can ignore the fact that they need to privilege active transport over private cars and that roading is a tremendously bad investment when we are heading into post peak oil and a growing recognition of the issues associated with climate change. Politics is a weird business.
Still there is hope, as this blogger points out - just a pity it is on the other side of the world!
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