Inspired to be the LoraxSir Peter Blake Trust: Youth Enviroleaders’ Forum

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, it’s not going to get better. It’s not.” So says Charlotte Duda, in quoting from The Lorax by Dr Seuss.

Charlotte, from Wellington Girl’s College, MacKenzie Paton (Solway College), Sarah Wilson (St Catherine’s College) and Amal Abdullahi (Hutt Valley High School) represented the Wellington region at this year’s forum held in Auckland.

The week centred around students working on three types of projects – sustainable eco-tourism, sustainable business and stream quality and presenting their results to political, business and organisational leaders at the Auckland University Business School.

“This is one of those experiences that change your life. I remember when I was the shy little kid with no friends and now I actually want to put myself out there at any point possible and make a difference,” Charlotte says.

Charlotte chose the stream quality project, involving sampling a stream in urban Auckland.

“The experience was amazing as I began to understand the biological diversity of these streams. Any stream can easily be overlooked and not regarded as a living system but as a ‘puddle of water’. (continued on p2)

Wellington region’s environmental education update

June 2011

Term 2

Encore Awards, www.gw.govt.nz/encoreawards– Applications open 13 Jun 2011

Garden Bird Survey – 25 Jun-3 Jul (wk 9)

Attracting native animals to your school – teacher workshops– Kapiti, 30 Jun; Porirua, 12 Jul

Maori Language Week– 4-8 Jul (wk 10)

Hutt Valley High School Youth Enviro-Forum– 5 Jul (wk 10)

Outlook for Someday Sustainability Film Challenge – Workshop 29 Jul (Term 2/3 holidays)

Term 3

Enviroschools Introductory Workshop– Tues 23 Aug (wk 4)

Enviroschools Scrapbook Cover competition– Entries close 26 Aug (wk 4)

Conservation Week – including weed swaps– 10-16 Sept (wk 7)

World Car Free Day– 22 Sept (wk 8)

For more information about these events, and teacher cluster meetings, go to Important Dates on the Wellington page at www.enviroschools org.nz

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Wellington region students Sarah Wilson (left) and MacKenzie Paton

A tapestry of action for our native eelsWairarapa students are being inspired to take action for New Zealand’s native longfi n eel thanks to artist and educator Stephanie Bowman’s travelling tuna tapestry.

Stephanie fell in love with our longfi n ‘tuna’ when she fi rst visited here last year - their velvety bodies, graceful movements, and their incredible once in a lifetime journey back to Tonga to mate. She was also concerned about the extent to which NZ’s waterways had degraded, putting the longfi n tuna under huge pressure.

“I’m an artist and educator, what can I do to make a difference?” she asked. “How can I help return the mauri (life-force) to the wai (water) so that the longfi n tuna can once again prosper?”

Thus began the travelling tuna tapestry. Stephanie and her children created a head and tail of a tuna, and began travelling NZ, inviting schools and community groups to sew creatures from freshwater and sea ecology onto their own sections of the tapestry. Schools all over the Wairarapa have joined in, with parts of the tapestry coming from Opaki, Fernridge, Greytown, Dalefi eld, Lakeview, Kohanga Reo, St Patricks, Featherston School and Wairarapa College.

Stephanie’s stunningly illustrated book, Velvet and Elvis, is available on line at

www.bowmansart.com and will be published at the end of the year.

See Stephanie’s blog: www.savetheeels.wordpress.com

You can also sign the forest and bird petition to protect the longfi n eel at: www.forestandbird.org.nz

Inspired to the Lorax (from p1) “I am now intrigued to know the quality of the small streams in the hills of Karori, as I’ve never really thought about it before and I want to go and check it out as soon as I get back.”

She’s also keen to learn more about our endangered native eels. “It seems no one cares about the native endangered species as much as some of our birds. Is it because out of sight, out of mind?

“I wasn’t even aware that we had an endangered eel. I’m going to take my concern to the animal welfare club at Wellington Girls College and investigate other unrecognised native New Zealand species.

“These species are vital to all the aspects of New Zealand’s ecological balance. Being a self-confessed bio nerd, I don’t want to see any of these species go.

“Every task was action packed, challenging and so much fun,” says Mackenzie Paton. I was in the environmental tourism group for the week and travelled to Leigh Marine Reserve and Tawharanui Regional Park to learn all about the positive and negative effects of tourism.

“Giant snapper and dead frozen cats and stoats were only a few of the things we saw during our big fi eld trip. One of the key concepts we focused on is that sustainable tourism should not only have little or no impact on the environment but actively contribute and have a positive impact on the environment.

“What if tourists could come to our national parks, learn about our natural environment and plant a tree on the way out? What a way for people to have a connection with New Zealand – imagine fi nding your parent’s tree thirty, forty years later!

“I’m so excited to go forward with what I’ve learned. Hopefully I’ll keep in touch with all the awesome people I’ve met and go ahead with new enthusiasm.

Raumati South School’s sustainable garden took out the Judges’ and People’s Choice Awards in the Resourceful Living and Landscape Design competition at the Kapiti Sustainable Home and Garden Show. The school’s display had a constant fl ow of visitors with signifi cant interests in their keyhole garden concept and rain water collection systems.

Sustainable garden winners

Michael Stewart, Raumati South School

Charlotte Duda kayaking on Waitemata Harbour

Gardening tips from the MaramatakaKohikohia nga kaakano, whakarite te parekerekere, kia puawai nga hua.

Gather the seeds, prepare the seedbed carefully and you will be gifted an abundance of food.

At the time of writing (May) gardening using the Maramataka (Maori Lunar Calendar) put us in the 12th lunar month. In days gone by this was a time to store excess crops in preparation for winter. Harvesting of kumara would have been complete and people would be looking to Tane, keeper of the forest, to provide the primary source of food through kiore (Pacifi c rat) and birds. In modern times it’s the time for pickling, freezing and storing excess crops and then preparing the seedbeds for the upcoming season.

In Otaki, the early childhood centres share ideas, produce and knowledge of the maramataka through their Mara kai cluster. At this time of year the Otaki Mara Kai is:

preparing garlic beds with compost and seaweed•

harvesting and drying hue (gourd) to use as storage containers (replacing plastic ones) on • art tables

allowing crops to fl ower to attract bees and save the seeds•

digging holes for the heirloom fruit trees ordered from www.ediblegarden.co.nz•

using the Transition Towns weekly surplus stall to share harvests•

using kokihi (native coastal spinach) as much as possible in cooking (try it in lasagne, quiche • and scones!)

“Over the winter we will continue to grow spinach, silverbeet, kokihi and leeks for our soup pots. We will also be sewing green crops like mustard, lupin and alfalfa to replace nutrients in the soil ready for spring,” says Moko Morris from the Mara Kai Cluster.

For more on the Maramataka go to www.teara.govt.nz/en/maramataka-the-lunar-calendar.

Maru Maioha-Tapine-Miller from He iti na Motai harvesting otahua (eggplant)

Hue (gourd)

Pictured are Room 6 students from Douglas Park

School with the slap bands they received for getting

99% of the class ‘Eco-Moving’ to school for Movin’

March. What an achievement! “We like to bike,

scooter, walk and skateboard to DPS because it’s FUN

and safe,” say the students. “We learned driving to

school is not good for the environment or safe with

so many people around. It’s better to use another

form of travel.”

For Movin’ March, Greytown School

decorated their school’s front gate

to encourage students to walk, bike

or scooter to school as it’s better for

the environment. Greytown School is

proud to be an enviroschool, meaning

they are working towards making the

school as environmentally sustainable

as possible.

Movin’ Marchsuccesses

New faces As part of a partnership with DOC, Matt Barnett, a DOC Community Relations Ranger in the Kapiti Wellington Area, will now be facilitating some enviroschools in the Wellington region. Welcome Matt, it’s great to have you on the team.

Fi Gibson has also joined the Enviroschools team in Wellington with a focus on Early Childhood. Fi is a teacher at Victoria University Preschool and will facilitate other Victoria University early childhood centres who

want to be part of the Enviroschools Programme. Welcome Fi, we look forward to your insights into the early childhood sector.

Enviroschools scrapbook cover competitionHave your artwork on the cover of the 2011 Enviroschools Scrapbook.

Illustrate projects in your school that are good examples of this year’s theme: Earth to Earth.

Send your A4 portrait design to the Enviroschools Foundation in Hamilton by August the 26 and be in to win a $150 gift voucher and have your entry grace the cover of the scrapbook.

Find details on the Important Dates page of the Wellington section at www.enviroschools.org.nz

Enviroschools in the Wellington region is supported by:Greater Wellington Regional CouncilHutt City CouncilKapiti Coast District CouncilMasterton District CouncilPorirua City CouncilCarterton District CouncilMasterton Trust Lands TrustSouth Wairarapa District CouncilWellington City CouncilRimutaka Kindergarten AssociationDepartment of Conservation

How many birds can your students fi nd at home and at school? Why not encourage them to take part in the 2011 Garden Bird Survey between 25 June and 3 July. It is a simple bird-watching activity that involves students recording the birds they see in a one hour period.

The Landcare Research website www.landcareresearch.co.nz/ will have more information closer to the date of the survey, including a school activity page, bird identifi cation guides to help students learn to identify birds before the survey, and information on how to enter your results. Students can even go to What Bird www.whatbird.co.nz/ and learn the different birdsongs to help with identifi cation.

Garden bird survey Enviroschools news

Karyn BurgessEnviroschools Regional CoordinatorWellington regionGreater Wellington Regional Council021 133 2569karyn.burgess@gw.govt.nz

For more information about Te Kakano, please contact:

Richard RomijnTeam LeaderEnvironmental EducationGreater Wellington Regional Council04 830 4030richard.romijn@gw.govt.nz

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