Making commutes more ecofriendly
Claudia Grave wants us to address climate change from the passenger seat.
For Shaun Markham, who lives with cerebral palsy, it was gaining his driver’s licence.
For Ted GreensmithWest, it was ‘‘living a happy, successful
Harvey Milk — one of the first openlygay people elected to public office — but didn’t think his Catholic school would be tolerant enough to understand his choice.
‘‘But today, I proudly say that I am one of Harvey Milk’s children and to any young LGBTQ kid growing up in Dunedin, always remember: you are loved enough, you are worthy enough, you are enough.’’
Despite the tough housing market, 20 members of the group have bought their own homes or investment properties and another seven plan to in the next few years.
One lived at home while he studied, allowing him to save and invest. Another has flatmates to help pay her mortgage and a third said she bought her first house after ‘‘hunkering down’’ for a year, treating herself to an ‘‘oven pizza and a cream bun on a Friday night’’.
For others, home ownership was only a pipe dream. Policy adviser Kieran Ireland is ‘‘saving up, holding on to a deposit and waiting to see what prices do’’ while musician Reuben Gray felt the housing market was so
‘‘crazy’’ his generation could only partake with countless hours of work or a financial partner.
An increasingly difficult housing market and a desire to travel in the postCovid era means Holly Cadzow, a doctor in Melbourne, has decided for now to invest in her ‘‘education and memories’’.
Asked to name the most important thing in their lives, some in the group said their health, their faith and their pets. However, Emma Scanlan — like the vast majority — mentioned the people around her.
‘‘The Covid pandemic has made me appreciate how important it is to have a good time with your friends and family and do things that make you happy outside of study and work,’’ she said.
Class act
The
Claudia Grave is on a mission to reduce the number of cars on our roads.
Claudia Grave once stood in the pouring rain outside Wellington’s Mt Victoria tunnel, counting the number of empty seats in passing vehicles.
About 1.4 million Kiwis drive to work each day, and most of them travel alone.
Grave’s company, Hitch, is trying to change that with software to help businesses measure, report and reduce commutingrelated carbon emissions, and an app that makes carpooling more convenient.
Its goal is a cleaner, greener society with fewer cars on the road and healthier, more connected communities.
Head girl at St Hilda’s Collegiate in 2012, Grave was also awarded an Otago Daily Times Class Act award for her leadership skills and achievements in rowing. After gaining commerce and applied science degrees, she worked as a management consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Wellington, where she met business partner Todd Foster.
Both wanted to have an impact on climate change over and above what they were doing in their day jobs and personal lives, so started ‘‘bouncing ideas around’’ before and after work.
Having narrowed their focus to commuting, they researched the issue in all sorts of ways, including standing outside the Mt Victoria tunnel, and hitchhiking from the suburbs into the city.
After being accepted into a business accelerator programme in June last year, they were able to work on the platform fulltime. More recently, they were recognised in the Inspiring Stories Impact Awards, which celebrate young New Zealanders making a difference.
While sustainability is becoming more important for workplaces, many of them don’t know how their people get to work, how they feel about their commute and if they are ready to change, Grave says.
Others find gathering commutingrelated data a painful, timeconsuming exercise, so leave it out of their annual carbon accounting process.
Data gained from the app and employee surveys make this reporting easier and help determine which ‘‘reduction