Businesses to share environmental wins

A week of climate-focused events in Marlborough is to open up the conversation on climate change and encourage businesses to take action.

Climate Action Week (February 13 to 17) will be the first event of its kind in Blenheim, offering five days of hands-on experiences, said event organiser Catherine van der Meulen.

‘‘On Monday, with Yealands, people will be on site, [to] physically pick up soil, potentially plant trees in the wetlands and really get involved in what they are doing.

‘‘They will learn about why biodiversity is so important and learn about all of those different elements with a very hands-on tangible look, feel, smell, experiential of doing.’’

The visits would be followed by workshops where people could take away ideas that could apply to their businesses, she said.

There would be five on-site immersion experiences, hosted by Elemental Distillers, Sanford, Yealands, One Forty One Kaituna Saw Mill and Dog Point.

Van der Meulen, director of Entrepreneurial Women with Purpose, said the Climate Action Week was prompted by environmentalist Rob Hopkins’ book, From what is to what if?

British permaculturist, Hopkins moved to the small market town of Totnes in Devon in 2015 where he co-founded the world’s first Transition Town.

Transition Towns were communities of all shapes and sizes which focused on sharing skills and getting stuck in to live more sustainably.

They were about streets, neighbourhoods and suburbs striving to be less reliant on energy and to be more selfsustaining.

‘‘He is describing how they have been able to heat their home, what it is made out of, the solar panels. He takes the kids to school, they drive there on cycle networks in their city. They cycle past edible gardens and edible bus stops, there are wildlife corridors.

They have a community-owned bakery and brewery.

‘‘I knew that there was something in this that was going to apply to all the projects that I was working on,’’ said van der Meulen, who has read the book twice already.

Van der Meulen presented the awareness, education and action week at a Business Trust Marlborough Biz Break in November.

Climate Karanga member Budyong Hill said he was pleased to see the initiative as it was urgent to take action.

‘‘The recent floods have been a really good wake-up call. You can talk about it [climate change], people can know the facts, but until it hits home with reality, it’s easy just to ignore it, and move on.

‘‘I don’t blame people, everyone is so busy in their lives, but we haven’t got the luxury any more of ignoring [this].

‘‘If you talk to someone from the council five years ago, they would have said maybe in the next 20 or 30 years, we might have to think about whether we can keep the Kenepuru Road open.

‘‘Now, we have had two years in a row and everyone’s going: ‘Oh, can we keep the Kenepuru

Road open?’ That’s how quick it can come to us, not 20 or 30 years, but two or three.

‘‘So that’s the sort of challenges we have to face. We’ve got to think more about our resilience,’’ Hill said.

Also in the audience at the Biz Break, professional bra consultant Kamni Raju-Russell said Totnes reminded her of growing up in Tonga.

‘‘When we initially moved to Tonga in the 80s, they still had the horse carts coming into town. Now if you go into town, traffic is bumper to bumper, for an island, it is just overpopulated with cars.

‘‘The reality is we live in this world, and for us to change back to that would need a massive cultural shift. And also, there’s economics [at] play too.

‘‘In my opinion, massive changes like that are initiated by one person, and then it has that ripple effect,’’ Raju-Russell said.

Merekara wines owner Jaco van Hensbergen, from the Netherlands, said it was important to take action, especially in the wine industry.

‘‘We don’t own our land, so we work as organic as possible but if it was my land I would be definitely biodynamic, because that is really the future ... self-contained, everything on your land, with fruit trees, with animals ... and I think that’s best for everyone.

‘‘It is important to understand in what direction we are going. The better we do, as human beings, the better it will be for the future, of course.’’

Professional bra consultant Kamni Raju-Russell (C) with Climate Karanga member Budyong Hill (L) and Merekara Wines owner Jaco van Hensbergen after a Biz Break meeting to discuss climate change.