Eco Show

[rosebee]

Hi all - I'm going to the Eco Show in Taupo tomorrow and will be listening to speakers from around NZ and the world talk about various ecological issues and sustainability. Also hope to attend some of the workshops -
www.ecoshow.co.nz/Eco+Forum/Eco+forum+Programme.html
I'm looking forward to the talks about permaculture, I find it a really interesting topic.
Back on Monday evening so will update on how it went next week!

[braided-rug]

I like reading all the topics.

Imagine my surprise the other day when driving down our street to see a sign advertising a new community garden. If we were staying here I would be tempted to use it. I am hoping in community gardens you get water, or do you have to pay for yourself. Perhaps I will start another thread as I intended.

Have a great weekend rosebee.

[rosebee]

Finally I've had a chance to finish my report from the Eco Show - here it is:

The Eco Show was GREAT! I learnt a lot from it. These are the presentations I attended and where to find more info about these topics if you're interested.

Permaculture - Rainbow Valley Farm - the couple who started this permaculture farm talked about how they went from gorse-covered land to an almost self-sufficient permaculture landscape - they are still experimenting with things like growing rice and different fruits - www.rainbowvalleyfarm.co.nz/
Joe Polaischer also talked about if we end up with the supply of oil running out very soon we are going to have to work together in our local communities and it will be hard work, but we will have to find ways to make it FUN hard work!

Ethical Finance - this was a talk by a guy from a finance company who only invest in "green" or ethical businesses, such as organic skin care, hybrid cars, veggie oil suppliers (to use in cars) and heritage seed suppliers. Find out more: www.prometheus.co.nz/noflash/index.html

Permaculture in NZ - this was an overview of permaculture principles - the guy presenting this was a bit rushed (only an hour!) so if you didn't already have a basic knowledge you would have been lost. I think he touched on some important aspects though - this website shows (you will need to scroll down the page a bit) the permaculture "flower" -
www.holmgren.com.au/html/About/aboutpermaculture.html
(as you can see permaculture can be applied to everything!)

Living Economies - I have kept in touch with the woman who did this talk as I would like her to come and talk at a workshop for my organisation. The talk outlined the problem (debt-based money systems, which causes unsustainable economic growth) and the solutions (different types of currencies and money systems within communities, regions, countries)
- more info on this here: www.le.org.nz

Dicey Quartet - these guys were funny! They did little skits - like the difference between a bartering system and a debt-based system.

Transition Towns workshop – these are towns preparing for a different way of life. Totnes in the UK started the network and it is growing daily. A Transition Town is where we don’t have to rely on petrol/gas to get around or get goods/food delivered to us. We won’t have to rely on food shipped from thousands of miles away because we will have community gardens and farmer’s markets and grow a lot of our own food. We won’t drive gas-guzzling cars, rather we will have electric plug-in cars, plenty of public transport, and bicycles. Richard Heinberg was one of the speakers and is an expert on all the repercussions of “peak oil” and the positive solutions. All the participants were asked to get into groups and discuss issues around these solutions. I joined the “how do we raise awareness?” group – so we worked out the best thing was just talking about Transition Towns to everyone we know, and helping people to learn about the solutions to a lifestyle without oil. www.transitiontowns.org/

[braided-rug]

I still haven't looked at your links, but I will because I know they will be interesting. Thanks rosebee for posting on the ecoshow.

[violet]

Thanks for the great report, rosebee (even though I'm late reading it) - I didn't realise that a formal body existed to encourage local community living. It really is wonderful to hear about these initiatives - gives me hope for the future.

[braided-rug]

The first link has a blog:

www.rainbowvalleyfarm.blogspot.com/