Last week Mike invited Nina from Generation Zero and Alex from WWF in to B-Side Stories to tell us why they’re joining forces in the build up to the People’s Climate March on Saturday 28th November.
Listen to the interview below:
Daniel Kinne is a coffee farmer from the highlands of Papua New Guinea. He is also a founding member and the chairman, of the Highland Organic Agricultural Cooperative (HOAC) which includes 2600 farmers.
He is here to celebrate Fair Trade Fortnight, through and to share his stories on the impact we have on communities like his, when we buy Fair trade.
But what fascinates me, is that this man manages to get the 2600 farmers of this collective to make a decision together on how to spend the premiums ($ from their sales) for their community . Is he learning from us or are we learning from him?
Daniels coffee can be drunk at Kokako, available at Common Sense Organics and Esquires.
Wellington was the first Fair Trade City in New Zealand.
In 2013 New Zealanders spent $69.3 Million dollars on Fair Trade goods.
Ben Dowdle is an amazing young 20 year old who has been at the front line of the campaign since he was 16.
I got to talk to Ben at the last week and it was news to me that even if we are buying anything with vegetable oil there is no guarantee that this is not Palm Oil. AAARgh so my family is still unknowingly contributing to rain forest deforestation.
In this interview Ben’s talks about the problem and the solution, mandatory labelling of palm oil, that he has been campaigning for across New Zealand and every state of Australia. It is interesting that most of the rest of the western world has taken this up and of course sustainable Palm Oil plantations are the result.
So please take the time to support Ben and sign below asking minister Jo Goodhew to make it a priority to stand up for to get mandatory labelling for Palm Oil so that you can choose what is in your food. http://unmaskpalmoil.com/take-action-new-zealand/
Or you can go the by May 22nd, where they have a card you can sign, up by the Sumatran tigers, who are already at great risk while the deforestation for Palm oil continues.
Press Release from below,
Wellington Zoo is proud to support the Unmask Palm Oil campaign by asking government representatives in New Zealand and Australia to demand clear labelling of vegetable oil on all food products.
Palm oil is estimated to be in about half of all products available in supermarkets, but most are labelled as ‘vegetable oil’. Mandatory labelling will allow consumers to make informed choices about the products they buy.
The wild homes of critically endangered species, like Sumatran Tigers, are at risk from deforestation, as large areas of their habitat are cleared to make way for large palm oil plantations in South East Asia.
However, palm oil can be produced without deforestation. Wellington Zoo and Unmask Palm Oil support the use of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO), which certifies palm oil plantations to ensure they are deforestation free. While boycotting all palm oil may seem like the obvious solution, we believe a boycott will only shift the problem to other parts of the world and onto oils which are less productive than palm oil, therefore requiring more land.
A consumer wanting to make the switch from conventional palm oil in order to demand Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) will soon discover that Australasian labelling laws make it nearly impossible to make this simple ethical choice.
Mandatory labelling will help us to choose sustainable palm oil – and, in turn, help Sumatran Tigers and countless other animals that rely on these wild habitats to survive.
If you’d like to choose what’s in your food, come to Wellington Zoo this autumn. We have a community action station in the Asia Precinct until 22 May, where you can send a postcard to Minister Jo Goodhew, asking her to vote ‘yes’ to clear labelling of vegetable oil on products.
Would you consider moving your business goods by bike, using biogas produced by some of the 1 tonne of coffee grinds only 30 of our cafes go through in a week OR taking your friends on a tour of Wellington on an effortless E-bike? Well these are the kinds of ideas that were explored and some kicked into businesses from the Smart Energy Challenge earlier this month.
In these interviews we talk to Russell Silverwood from No Car Cargo, Charlie Hanna and Rory Wagner from CoffeeCo, Ryan O’ O’Connell and Sofia Robinson from about where they are at with their city changing, energy reducing ventures.
And just so you know we are not joking; http://www.bio-bean.com
and http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/waste-coffee-grounds-fuel-london
Ryan and Sofia have a pledge me campaign going where you can pre-invest in the E bike experience. help them out to kick start the face of Wellington.
Have you ever wondered how you’d cope if you didn’t own a car? Me too! So in this interview we found four Wellington and Lower Hutt families who, by choice, are car free or nearly car free.
They talk about why, the challenges, tips, and some unexpected benefits of not owning or using their cars.
Many thanks to those who contributed to this interview.
Aaron Packard is one of those guys that gives you faith that the world will be an ok in the future. With Global Divestment Day about to hit this Sat Feb 14th, Aaron gives us an understanding of what it’s all about and also talks about his work at as Oceania’s Region Coordinator which oversees all of 350’s operations across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. And he also founded right here in his home town of Wellington. Wow.
For more on Aarons work with 350.org checkout
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-packard/four-ways-the-pacific-cli_b_6112078.html
It is so exciting to meet bright young Wellington women such as , who is one of the crew leading the 2nd round of the Smart Energy Challenge, that just kicked off last week. The project won a award for last years efforts, in which one of the three successful projects saw crowd fund PV panels onto the Aro Valley Community Hall as part of these citizen led solutions for climate change.
To find out more about how to be involved in the challenge, what makes Gina so motivated and pretty keen on Wellington listen in. But if you’ve got any budding ideas get them in by Feb15th.
more info here http://www.smartenergychallenge.org.nz/