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What if we could turn unrecyclable plastics and other waste into beautiful and functional homewares?

Matthew O'Hagan, 23 and Courtney Naismith, 24, are Victoria University of Wellington students who are trying to do just that.

Their two-person research and design studio, The Utilize Project, has turned discarded coffee stirrers into chandeliers, soft plastics into woven-look baskets, and fishing gear into chairs, all using 3D printers.

"I realised the polystyrene coffee stirrers had a beautiful quality when light passed through them, so we thought they should be lighting installations," Naismith said.

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"We were inspired by plastic waste. We had some experience with 3D printing, and we thought it'd be cool to bring a relatively new manufacturing method to a very old problem," said O'Hagan.

Their industrial design masters project attempts to solve the problem of local plastic recycling. New Zealand is heavily-reliant on developing nations taking our rubbish, and the Wellington pair say that won't do.

But 3D printers typically work with "virgin" plastic, and while a handful overseas outfits have played around with using recycled materials, no one has really made an instruction manual. That meant O'Hagan and Naismith were using good old-fashioned trial and error.

They each partnered with industries - Naismith chose Air New Zealand/aviation, Te Puia/tourism and the Māori Arts and Crafts Institute/universities, and O'Hagan chose Sanford/fishing.

They collected waste, sorted and cleaned it by hand, then used an oven to melt it down. The plastics were fed into a shredder and granulated - almost like the machinery equivalent of a cheese grater.

Then, they were poured into an extruding machine, which generates a consistent spool of 3D printing filament. After that filament is made, 3D printers can print it into objects.

Each waste material had to be approached individually because they melted and reacted to the printer differently.

They also had to figure out what kind of objects they could be turned into that would make sense, as well as look good.

"We looked at the easiest and best way we could print with the material's characteristics," Naismith said.

She also wanted to see if plastic and organic materials could be blended together. The woven-look baskets she makes are actually a combination of soft plastics (from Air NZ) and flax (from the institute).

"There was zero information on how to use soft plastics, or anything organic like flax, in a printer," she said.

"We did a huge range of test prints to understand what was working."

New Zealand does have a soft plastics recycling scheme, but at times it has struggled to process all the material it collects in New Zealand.

In general, soft plastics have limited value, unlike glass bottles or aluminium, so no one wants them. At one point, we started putting hundreds of tonnes of them in storage, where they went mouldy. Yikes.

A handful of companies make products from recycled soft plastics locally, such as Future Post which turns soft plastics into fence posts,

"The pandemic has really highlighted the value of local production," said O'Hagan.

"We should apply that mentality to our waste, and to upcycling too. Fence posts are a great idea, but we wondered if we could make things of high value that people will treasure and keep in their homes...from trash."

How do you make plastic pretty? Especially in an era when we've fallen in love with natural and sustainable materials like timber, metal and glass.

"It's tricky," Naismith said. However, people who've seen the baskets really admired that they had a natural element, and no one could really believe the lights are rubbish.

Making a single object might take a few hours, up to a full day. One layer of the chandelier took 9 hours to print, compared to the smaller pendant lights, which only take one.

O'Hagan developed a plastic chair made from fishing gear found in the waterways.

"The biggest surprise was how many types of waste we could use - soft plastics, organics, polypropylenes, and polyethylenes - we kind of questioned, why isn't everyone doing this?" said O'Hagan. "Why isn't this being done?"

Their hope is to create a roadmap for upcycling common New Zealand waste materials into the mainstream.

The first step is bringing 3D-printed homewares to market, and the couple, who were runners-up for the James Dyson award, are hoping they can bring home some prize money from the international stage.

"It would be great if people could have interiors that mirror their values about how waste should be re-used, rather than discarded," said O'Hagan.

James Dyson Award challenges inventive and entrepreneurial undergraduates and recent graduates of engineering and design to 'design something that solves a problem'. The national winner and runners-up will progress to the international stage where a Top 20 will be selected by a panel of Dyson engineers.

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Students 3D print hard-to-recycle plastics into beautiful homewares

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What if we could turn unrecyclable plastics and other waste into beautiful and functional homewares? Matthew O'Hagan, 23 and Courtney Naismith, 24, are Victoria University of Wellington students who are trying to do just that. Their two-person research and design studio, The Utilize Project, has turned discarded coffee stirrers into chandeliers, soft plastics into woven-look baskets, and fishing gear into chairs, all using 3D printers.

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A new way of eliminating the chance of getting recyclable materials into landfills is about to be launched in New Zealand that will substantially help our environment while educating people on how to recycle.

Hamilton-based startup ARCUBED has created a unique product called OneBin that detects and separates waste from recyclables at the point of disposal. The bin is equipped with embedded AI (Artificial Intelligence) to collect and automatically separate rubbish from recycling.

When you approach the bin, the entry flap opens and users place waste into the bin. Sensors inside the bin detect the item using machine learning algorithms. When the item is identified, the bin drops the item into the appropriate bins - either general waste, or the designated recycling streams.

Those depositing waste can see what the bin classes as recycling and why, thus educating people while avoiding the human error of depositing rubbish into a recycling bin.

OneBin aims to reduce the contamination of recycling streams and the total amount of recyclable material going to landfill.

In New Zealand, more than 2.5 million tonnes of rubbish are sent to landfill annually - 75 percent of which could be prevented by better resource recovery systems and waste management practices.

It's early days for the startup, which was created last year by five engineers working in their spare time. ARCUBED is currently under development in Hamilton, undergoing tests and preparing for a trial.

"We want ARCUBED to fundamentally address the unsolved recycling issue through a tech-based solution," ARCUBED co-founder Mostafa Seifan says. "We are promoting effective recycling but we are also supporting the business to meet sustainability goals and reaching zero emissions in our carbon footprint."

"Our product educates people to not rely on "wish-cycling", which is a consequence of confusion around recycling."

Despite being engineers and knowing their product, running a startup was a learning curve, ARCUBED co-founder Ali Alqassab says. In hindsight, they would have raised more capital to progress the business faster.

The entrepreneurs add that organisations like Akina and Callaghan Innovation provided assistance in understanding and fine tuning their business, with success being determined on the number of bins rolled out next year.

The startup has been predominantly self-funded, but the directors are currently raising capital to enable OneBin to be released to the market and are working to launch the bins in different locations early next year. ARCUBED have been working with the Akina Foundation as an Akina Impact Investment Readiness Programme recipient, getting startup advice and assistance on raising capital.

"Our current focus is on the development of the product. We want to do more trials and are looking to raise capital to accelerate our growth and bring our product to market sooner," Alqassab said.

His advice to others wishing to start up a business is simple. "Talk to prospective customers,focus on their needs and their problems, find a solution and work out how to implement it."
Story created in partnership with Soda Inc.
Innovation Nation is a series celebrating stories of innovation and entrepreneurship from around New Zealand.

Innovation Nation proudly supported by:

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ARCUBED's educational OneBin to automatically sort rubbish and recycling - NZ Entrepreneur Magazine

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A new way of eliminating the chance of getting recyclable materials into landfills is about to be launched in New Zealand that will substantially help our environment while educating people on how to recycle. Hamilton-based startup ARCUBED has created a unique product called OneBin that detects and separates waste from recyclables at the point of disposal.

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Tiny insects key to solving big problems - The University of Auckland

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Biological Sciences alumnus Neil Birrell’s discusses his start-up Hexacycle and his PhD research exploring insects as food.

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Matauranga Maori insights supercharge predator trapping

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Matauranga Maori insights supercharge predator trapping

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Tame Malcolm has always been captivated by te ngahere - the forest. As a kid, his whānau would share knowledge about the bush, and he would keenly soak it all up.

"Any chance to go out with uncles or aunties, my parents, to go bush or anything like that, I jumped at the opportunity," he says.

"None of them thought they were teaching, they'd just sort of tell you their life and their experiences and there's so much kura huna [important knowledge] in their kōrero, so many hidden treasures."

Now, Malcolm advocates using customary Māori methods to get rid of pests and is the operations manager at Te Tira Whakamātaki - a not-for-profit Māori biodiversity network.

He's also doing a PhD that investigates what pest management would look like if it were designed and implemented from a te ao Māori perspective.

Much of his research is informed by traditional narratives, kōrero from tūpuna, from kaumātua, he says.

"These people walking around, they are [a] living thesis, they are basically PhDs, they're doctors and professors without any title."

Part of his research is looking at what kawa and tikanga could govern pest management and, as we look to achieve Predator Free 2050, the need for new tech like gene editing and toxins.

Te Tira Whakamātaki has adopted traditional kai harvesting practices into possum control.

"All we were doing is rather than trapping by the book so to speak, or standard operating procedure, we were using traditional methods to catch birds, to catch possums.

"In February we were trapping trees where the cicadas were coming out of their shells, knowing that our tūpuna would trap those because the rats would eat the cicadas, so we're putting our possum traps in those locations."

Each month, a different tikanga was followed. As a result there was a two percent increase in trappings, Malcolm says.

"So, all of a sudden we see that actually our mātauranga can supercharge our pest control efforts, especially if we're wanting to achieve something like Predator Free 2050, eradicating possum, stoats and rats by 2050."

Malcolm believes exploring new technologies like gene editing will be key to achieving a predator free New Zealand.

One such technology is CRISPR/Cas9, discovered in 2016.

He says while editing for predator control is still a long way off, the technology allows for editing that would support eradication.

"If they change the possum's DNA, so that the possum only produces male or female [offspring] and makes it dominant, every generation after that will be female, let's say. If you give it enough cycles, enough generations, you're left with just females and then it breeds itself out," he says.

"People say stuff like that is against our kawa, against whakapapa. Rangi Matamua makes a good point, he says if they believe in whakapapa, surely they must believe in Māui and Māui was able to change his DNA to turn into a kererū, tuna...so where does the conversation go after that?"

Te Arawa descend from Pūhaorangi, a celestial being, he says. "So that DNA was mixed with Te Kuraimonoa from Earth and so, gene mixing there."

While Malcolm personally advocates for gene editing, he can only speak to the knowledge within Te Arawa, he says.

"I'm keen to make an informed decision based on as much knowledge as possible."

It's a conversation that needs to be led by Māori if it's for Māori, he says.

"It helps having the conversation in safe spaces. A lot of the Māori communities I work with, when they're keen to talk about it I can share my views, my beliefs about it and they can share theirs. What no one likes is being told what to think or how to think."

Malcolm wants to see the work of his whānau, like that with rākau, being used more widely.

"We've shown that it supercharges control efforts. And this is just me and my cuzzies sort of having a crack at it, roping in my dad to go check some traps or to help me out where I can, my mum getting involved and so here's us doing this as a whānau as part of my research but if we can supercharge or explore this across the country, no doubt it will add to the growing efforts to achieve Predator Free 2050."

There's an innate willingness of Māori to protect their whenua, he says.

"A think a lot of it is, just where do they start. In the big scheme of things you have iwi, hapū, whānau, even marae prioritizing health, wellbeing and all the other environmental issues. Sometimes pest management can be lower down on the list but the majority of the Māori economy is founded on biosecurity, on pest management.

"Without our lands we have no economy, we have no resources to help our people so that's where I encourage Māori communities, iwi right through to people on the ground - we've got to protect our whenua."

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Tame Malcolm: using indigenous methods to fight pests

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Tame Malcolm has always been captivated by te ngahere - the forest. As a kid, his whānau would share knowledge about the bush, and he would keenly soak it all up. "Any chance to go out with uncles or aunties, my parents, to go bush or anything like that, I jumped at the opportunity," he says.

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t first glance it did not look very different from the other light aircraft dotted around Exeter airport's runway, a chunky extra compartment bolted to the bottom of the fuselage the only hint that there was more to it than met the eye.

But the plane took off a little more steeply than might have been expected and, as it circled the airport before heading towards the moors of Devon and the coast of Cornwall, it was noticeably quieter than the norm.

This was the maiden test flight in England of the Electric EEL, a hybrid electric plane, the like of which may soon be coming to airfields across the world.

The plane has been built by California company Ampaire, which believes hybrid and - eventually - completely electric planes may be used for short trips. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

"I'm impressed," said Chris Davey, deputy airfield operations duty manager, as he watched the plane sail away into the blue sky. "Its climb rate was good and it's a lot quieter than a conventional plane. I guess it's the future."

Thirty-six minutes later, the plane touched down 80 miles away at Cornwall Airport Newquay.

It did not go as fast as the jet planes he has flown and nowhere near as high as the spacecraft he has worked on but test pilot Elliot Seguin, a relaxed Californian who flies with the figure of a guitar player on top of the instrument control panel, was clearly enjoying himself. "Oh boy, I like this plane," he said.

Electric EEL is an adapted six-seat Cessna. There is a conventional combustion engine in the back of the plane that drives the rear propeller.

But that chunky compartment under the cabin holds six batteries - originally built for motorcycles - that power the front propeller.

The replacement of one conventional engine with the batteries makes the plane lighter - hence the steeper climb - but also, the makers argue, quieter, cheaper, greener.

Seguin said it flew very much like a conventional Cessna. "That means we can really focus on the electrical systems. We've got Teslas on the road, cellphones in our pockets that show this battery stuff is here. We've got to see if we can put batteries in an airframe and make it work."

The plane was tested in California and Hawaii before being shipped from the Port of Long Beach to the UK. Seguin tested it in Orkney before flying down to Exeter for a champagne launch in front of two UK government ministers, aviation minister Robert Courts and the business and energy minister Lord Callanan.

It is very much a work in progress. The batteries are only used to help get the plane airborne. "We could get half an hour of juice out of them but the batteries wouldn't be happy with that," said Seguin.

The plane has been built by California company Ampaire, which believes hybrid, and eventually, completely electric planes may, in the not too distant future, be used for short hops - for example from Exeter to the Isles of Scilly.

Susan Ying, Ampaire's senior vice-president, said she believed that as well as being good for the environment, hybrid planes will cut the cost of flying.

She said the cost of the hop from Exeter to Newquay in Electric EEL was 30% cheaper than in a conventional light aircraft. "And batteries are coming down in price all the time," she said.

There are issues to tackle. Ampaire is working on improved batteries and better ways of charging. There are also doubters.

Test pilot Elliot Seguin with the electric plane before taking off for the debut flight. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

Friends of the Earth campaigner Jenny Bates said innovation that resulted in cleaner aircraft was needed. But she added: "We won't defeat the climate crisis by hoping for greener solutions tomorrow - we need real action today.

" Ministers can do much more to make sure the aviation industry plays its part in meeting our climate targets, an immediate place to start is to halt airport expansion and introduce a frequent flyers levy."

Aviation is widely recognised as one of the most carbon-intensive forms of transport and one of the most difficult to decarbonise.

The Electric EEL project is being backed by the Future Flight Challenge, set up in 2019 and backed with public and industry money to support the development of novel aircraft such as freight-carrying drones - and hybrid regional aircraft.

Callanan said it was fitting that the launch took place in the south-west of England, in what he called the "cradle" of the aerospace industry.

The aircraft pioneer John Stringfellow invented the "aerial steam carriage", an early flying machine, up the road in Chard while Filton in south Gloucestershire is the British spiritual home of Concorde.

"It's hugely exciting," he said. "It's a contribution to decarbonising aviation. Nobody pretends we are going to be flying over the Atlantic in battery-powered planes any time soon.

"But for short journeys between regional airports, this is hugely exciting technology. This is one more significant milestone."

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'Decarbonising aviation': the Electric EEL could be the future of flying

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t first glance it did not look very different from the other light aircraft dotted around Exeter airport's runway, a chunky extra compartment bolted to the bottom of the fuselage the only hint that there was more to it than met the eye.

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Connecting urban parks: reforesting maunga in tamaki makaurau

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Connecting urban parks: reforesting maunga in tamaki makaurau

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Significance of Tūpuna Maunga

Auckland's Tūpuna Maunga (ancestral mountains) hold a paramount place in the historical, spiritual, ancestral and cultural identity of the 13 iwi and hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau (the mana whenua tribes of Auckland).

The maunga are at the heart of Auckland's identity and represent a celebration of our Māori identity as the city's point of difference in the world.

Aucklanders and visitors to the city know of the historical occupation of the Tūpuna Maunga by Māori, or they will experience, or may recognise, the terraced areas and other archaeological features. However, the fundamental significance of these treasured places is often not fully realised.

The continuous relationships of Mana Whenua with the Tūpuna Maunga express unbroken, living connections across the oceans and time.

This is underpinned by the fundamental Polynesian ethos of kinship with the physical, spiritual and human worlds.

History of Tūpuna Maunga

Māori settlement of Aotearoa was the final iteration of over 3,000 years of a distinct Polynesian cultural tradition, based on maritime migration to, and adaptation of, hundreds of islands. Māori settlement of Aotearoa was the extreme extent of more than 30,000 years of Pacific expansion through migration.

Over time, as Māori society developed in Aotearoa - the last temperate habitable landmass on Earth - Tāmaki Makaurau emerged as a singular centre.

The Tūpuna Maunga were developed into the most extensive network of monumental and defendable settlements in Polynesia, supported by expansive areas of volcanic soils suitable for agriculture.

Combined with a highly strategic maritime location, this made Tāmaki Makaurau an unparalleled centre of Māori social organisation - and the most active nexus of complex inter-tribal relationships and connections, transit and trade in Māori society.

The Tūpuna Maunga are revered by mana whenua as the creations of Mataaho (the guardian of the Earth's secrets) and Ruaumoko (the god of earthquakes and volcanoes). They were significant areas of settlement, of agriculture, of battles, of marriages, of birth and burial.

The Tūpuna Maunga are places to be honoured, respected and protected for those who have gone before and for the many generations to come.

Tūpuna Maunga returned to mana whenua

2014 saw the landmark Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Deed passed into law.

As part of this Treaty of Waitangi settlement, 14 Tūpuna Maunga were returned to the 13 mana whenua iwi and hapū of Auckland, marking an important milestone in the restoration of these iconic taonga (treasures).

The 14 Tūpuna Maunga are:

Matukutūruru / Wiri Mountain

Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill

Maungarei / Mount Wellington

Maungawhau / Mount Eden

Maungauika / North Head

Ōwairaka / Te Ahi-kā-a-Rakataura / Mount Albert

Ōhinerau / Mount Hobson

Ōhuiarangi / Pigeon Mountain

Ōtāhuhu / Mount Richmond

Pukewīwī / Puketāpapa / Mount Roskill

Rarotonga / Mount Smart

Te Kōpuke / Tītīkōpuke / Mount St John

Takarunga / Mount Victoria

Te Tātua a Riukiuta / Big King.

Māngere Mountain and the Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill northern land ownership remains with the Crown but are administered through the Maunga Authority for the purposes of the Reserves Act 1977.

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Auckland's Tūpuna Maunga (ancestral mountains) hold a paramount place in the historical, spiritual, ancestral and cultural identity of the 13 iwi and hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau (the mana whenua tribes of Auckland). The maunga are at the heart of Auckland's identity and represent a celebration of our Māori identity as the city's point of difference in the world.

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open source innovation: developing sound lures for luring predators

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open source innovation: developing sound lures for luring predators

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Early New Zealand was noisy. Cook and his crew experienced a 'cacophony of sound' on their first voyage. It's that loud, raucous, exuberance which Banks Peninsula engineer and inventor Grant Ryan is aiming to restore through an open source technology project he has initiated.

"There are two key defining features about the Cacophony Project that make it complementary to other predator eradication initiatives," Grant explains. "The first key thing is that it's open source. That's how a lot of innovative technology gets developed - Wikipedia for example. Tools are developed which can then be used and improved. We can start the thinking, but we can't solve everything by ourselves. Open source is a way the whole tech community can pitch in."

The Cacophonometer-2 smart phone setup for recording bird calls. Image credit: Cacophony Project.

Grant contacted David Lane, President of the NZ Open Source Society, early in the project's development to ensure that Cacophony is a 'best practice' open source project.

The second key feature of Cacophony is a phenomenon well-known in the tech community but perhaps not so well understood by the wider public. It's known as Moore's Law.

"Using cameras, artificial intelligence, digital sound technology - it seems like it will be expensive. But Moore's Law says that digital technology becomes ½ the price or twice as good every 18 months. So if you can build the ultimate device it will just keep getting better and cheaper."

Grant and the Cacophony open source team are aiming high. They're developing an artificial intelligence device that will identify a predator, lure the target and kill it - and work for every predator, every time - a 100% kill rate!

"We've done an analysis on Predator Free 2050 and we think it's crazy!" says Grant. "We should be able to do this by 2040 or earlier!"

Grant's basing that assertion on Moore's Law.

"If something costs $20,000 now, even if the technology improves at half the rate that it has historically, we'll still get there much earlier than 2050. Take a little computer with four processors - 12 years ago that was 'military strength' technology. Now you can get one for $40."

It's easy to assume that technology solutions are too expensive - and they can be - but only initially, when you've got Moore's Law on your side.

"Technology solutions will make traps thousands of times better than they are now, so you'll not have to have them in an area all the time. The technology is there for a couple of weeks, does the job (100%), then moves elsewhere."

Checking out what happens at various conventional traps. A dual camera system is protected from the weather in the green plastic container. Image credit: Cacophony Project.

The team at Cacophony have put cameras in front of existing traps to see what happens.

"They work as little as 1% of the time," says Grant. "Of 100 possums, maybe one is caught in the trap. Most walk by. Some poke their head in. Occasionally a trap goes off. Occasionally the possum dies."

The current use of food lures is also an issue - its species-specific (peanut butter for rats, rabbit meat for stoats). The food goes off or it gets eaten and the trap then sits idle. It's essentially the same pest-catching methodology we've been using for centuries. As an inventor and engineer, Grant says there's got to be a better, state of the art way of getting rid of predators. He thinks sound lures will be part of that solution.

"All predators have 'social noises'," says Grant. "They 'talk' to each other and its species-specific."

The idea is to come up with a trap system that can play sounds to lure predators in then use artificial intelligence to digitally identify what the predator is (and ensure it is a non-target species), then kill it, probably with a squirt of poison which it licks off its fur.

"A sound lure works over 10 times the distance that a scent lure does (only 3-5 metres). That means a sound lure is effective over 10×10=100 times the area. What's more the same trap can be used for all predators and there's no need to rebuild it as the technology improves. As soon as you get better processes you can update it."

Another advantage of using social sound lures is that they also target the very last, hardest to get predators. A food lure doesn't work for this hard core. Their rivals are dead - they have plenty of food. With numbers so low, however, it's even harder than usual to find a mate. Cue the social lure... Even if the sound lure only targets one sex of a particular species, it still solves the problem. By killing 100% of females (or males), the remaining sex are unable to breed.

So how do you give a trap system 'artificial intelligence'?

It's all about pattern recognition.

"We're recording videos of all predators then we run the footage through an algorithm (a sequence of automatic computer actions/calculations). Then we show the system a new video and it should be able to identify it," Grant explains. "Then you recalibrate."

Each time you go through the process, the artificial intelligence algorithm is being systematically improved and refined.

Inside the 2016 version of the predator detector which has both infra-red and thermal cameras. Image credit: Cacophony Project.

The engineer's approach to invention is often different from that taken by scientists, Grant reckons.

"Scientists start by trying to find out 'why' something is, then work out how to make use of it," he says. "Engineers work out how to do something, then they (or the scientists) work out why it works later. Engineers invented the bicycle, but scientists are still discussing the details of why bikes work," he says.

Using the 'engineer's approach', Cacophony Project's goal is to come up with a technological solution that is 100% effective - then Moores law will help make it cheaper.

"I've got a lot of respect for predators, having watched them," says Grant. "They're not stupid. We have to evolve and adapt faster than them. And there's a massive Information Technology toolkit are there that hasn't been systematically applied to this problem yet," he adds.

Open source is about teamwork and a goal shared by a team who may never even meet each other.

"It's a fun project that's building momentum as more people start to contribute," Grant says. "One of the cool things about hard core tech people who code is that they like to contribute to shared projects. We have a core little team and they then coordinate others who are chipping in for free."

So what's the appeal of this particular project?

"Becoming predator free is one New Zealand's problem that really is internationally significant - we have one of the worst rates of species loss and a large proportion are still in decline," says Grant. "As an inventor there's lots I could be working on - but this is by far my main priority. Open source is a way that we can almost certainly make significant chunks of New Zealand predator free way before 2040 even! We don't require breakthrough knowledge. We can plug into things that already out there and systematically test lots of things."

It sounds like that noisy dawn chorus - Cook's cacophony of sound - may be a little bit closer than we think. So exactly how noisy was it back in when the Endeavour was exploring our coastline? This is what Cook's botanist, Joseph Banks wrote in his journal on 17 January 1770, when the ship was anchored in Queen Charlotte Sound:
This morn I was awakd by the singing of the birds ashore from whence we are distant not a quarter of a mile, the numbers of them were certainly very great who seemd to strain their throats with emulation perhaps; their voices were certainly the most melodious wild musick I have ever heard, almost imitating small bells but with the most tuneable silver sound imaginable to which maybe the distance was no small addition. On enquiring of our people I was told that they have had observd them ever since we have been here, and that they begin to sing at about 1 or 2 in the morn and continue till sunrise, after which they are silent all day like our nightingales.
Who knows, once predators are dealt with and the birdsong returns, future generations may have no further need for setting their alarm in the morning. Perhaps we'll become a nation of very early risers...

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Open Source is key to bringing back the cacophony

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"There are two key defining features about the Cacophony Project that make it complementary to other predator eradication initiatives," Grant explains. "The first key thing is that it's open source. That's how a lot of innovative technology gets developed - Wikipedia for example. Tools are developed which can then be used and improved.

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We develop and scale technologies to rid the oceans of plastic

Our cleaning technologies are deployed around the world as we conduct the largest cleanup in history. For over ten years, The Ocean Cleanup has been researching, extracting, and monitoring plastic pollution in oceans and rivers globally - with millions of kilograms removed to date.

A planet-sized problem

Trillions of pieces of plastic pollute our oceans today, and the problem is worsening. This plastic has a devastating impact on marine wildlife and ecosystems. Plastics can persist for many decades, continuously degrading into microplastics. These can be ingested by wildlife and later enter the human food chain. Plastic pollution is a global crisis requiring urgent action.

We aim to clean up 90% of floating ocean plastic pollution

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization developing and scaling technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. To achieve this objective, we use a dual strategy: intercepting plastic in rivers to cut the inflow of pollution, and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean and won't go away by itself. When the oceans are clean, we can put ourselves out of business.

The Ocean Cleanup is cleaning up floating plastics caught swirling in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a plastic accumulation zone with over 100,000,000 kilograms of plastic.

Learn more

To clean the oceans, we also need to stop new trash from flowing into them. By tackling 1000 rivers around the world, we can halt 80% of riverine pollution reaching our oceans.

Learn more

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The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. We aim to remove 90% of the floating plastic with the help of ocean cleanup systems and river interception technologies.

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The Ivanpah Solar Energy Facility is one of the largest solar thermal energy plants in the world. It is spread out over 14 square kilometres and can power 140,000 homes every year

Henry Do/Solent News/Shutterstock

RISING proudly from the dry bed of Ivanpah Lake, these solar power towers are surrounded by glinting seas of perfectly arranged panels. They are part of the Ivanpah Solar Energy Facility in the Mojave desert in southern California, one of the world's largest solar thermal energy plants.

The facility uses more than 170,000 devices called heliostats, each consisting of two mirrors that direct solar energy onto boilers found on the three centralised solar power towers. The boilers then use the sun's heat to produce steam that drives turbines to generate electricity.

Advertisement

Photographer Henry Do from Las Vegas, Nevada, who took this shot, thinks that the concept behind the plant is ingenious. "I love how massive the system is and the pattern of the mirrors seen from above and how they track the sun."

Spread out over 14 square kilometres, the facility can generate enough energy to power 140,000 homes every year. Due to the scale of plants like Ivanpah, solar energy is becoming cheaper and could play a role in helping renewables overtake fossil fuels as the world's preferred sources of electricity.

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Mega solar plant uses 170,000 mirrors to generate heat for electricity

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The Ivanpah Solar Energy Facility is one of the largest solar thermal energy plants in the world. It is spread out over 14 square kilometres and can power 140,000 homes every year RISING proudly from the dry bed of Ivanpah Lake, these solar power towers are surrounded by glinting seas of perfectly arranged panels.

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Critical Design NZ: recylced plastic homewares. source tables/chairs for the exhibit? Moose chair!

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Critical Design NZ: recylced plastic homewares. source tables/chairs for the exhibit? Moose chair!

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Explore our range of Critical Things - recycled plastic furniture, homewares, games and more, made right here in Auckland. They're uniquely beautiful and functional yet good for the planet and people too. With a sleek marble-look, they're durable, easy to clean and easy on the eye.

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100% recycled plastic furniture and homewares

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Explore our range of Critical Things - recycled plastic furniture, homewares, games and more, made right here in Auckland. They're uniquely beautiful and functional yet good for the planet and people too. With a sleek marble-look, they're durable, easy to clean and easy on the eye.

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The impact of one person: the story of 'Old Blue' and Don Merton.

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The impact of one person: the story of 'Old Blue' and Don Merton.

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Don Merton (1939-2011) was a passionate pioneer in the conservation of endangered birds. His work was recognised world-wide and for 30 years he worked with the kakapo recovery programme.

But there was another, even rarer bird that he and his team brought back from the very brink of extinction - the Chatham Island black robin. This is the story of Don Merton and a tiny black bird known as 'Old Blue'.

Don Merton made his first trip to the Chatham Islands in 1968 and saw black robins for the first time. The Chatham Island black robin is closely related to mainland New Zealand bush robins, but smaller and entirely black. They had been 'rediscovered' in 1938 in an expedition led by Sir Charles Fleming and, when Don and other wildlife officers visited in 1968, they estimated there were 30 birds left - all living on tiny, rugged, but predator-free Little Mangere Island.

Little Mangere Island is just off the western end of Mangere Island, about 4 km west of Pitt Island and is roughly 15 hectares in size. It has a flattish interior, surrounded by steep cliffs and has a tiny summit forest. Buffeted by ocean winds and wild weather, it was an inhospitable place for the world's last remaining black robin population.

Don Merton and others in the Wildlife Service (later to become the Department of Conservation) were already considering where and how they could safely transfer some breeding pairs to another, larger, predator-free island to help spread the risk in case of a catastrophic predator invasion, disease or weather event. But first they needed to learn more about black robins, to find out how best to safely transfer them.

So the Wildlife Service studied and 'practised' with our much more common mainland robins, discovered they were very tolerant of disturbances at the nest and practised transferring them short distances as they modified the design of their robin travel boxes.

Meanwhile, back on Little Mangere, black robin numbers were slowly but steadily declining. Don led an expedition back to the Chathams in 1972 and rowed his team across the short stretch of rough water between Mangere Island and Little Mangere in an old, battered 3-metre-long aluminium dinghy with a small hole in the bottom. A small fountain of sea water spouted out the hole and no-one on the dinghy had life-jackets, but luck was with them and they managed without serious mishap. The team caught and banded as many black robins as they could find - and estimated that there were now only 26 birds left.

The need to establish a new population was urgent - but where? Mangere Island was the closest but it was also small and the black robins would have to compete with tomtits for food. South East Island was much larger - but also had tits - and would a few black robins even be able to find one another in its much larger forest? And then there was the transfer itself. Like mainland robins, black robins are friendly and inquisitive so not too hard to find and catch. But the team then needed to get them safely down Little Mangere's precipitous cliffs. There was much they still needed to work out before a transfer could be attempted.

In January 1973, Don returned to the Chathams once more. Included in his team was an experienced climber who helped attach a specially made 5-metre ladder to the cliffs, along with fixed ropes to aid climbing. Access was now much easier, but reportedly still pretty scary.

The black robins were counted again, but the news was grim. Since they had last counted 26 birds a year earlier, there had been a severe winter and dry summer. Four of their nine banded birds had disappeared and the team could only assume the same proportion of unbanded birds had probably been lost as well. What's more, there were very few juvenile birds that summer. The total world population of black robins was somewhere between 17 and 19 birds. It was now the rarest bird in the world for which numbers were known.

For the next 3 years, Don Merton was fully involved in working to save kakapo. Others in the Wildlife Service continued to study and count black robins. In 1974 there were 12 adult birds, a year later just 11. Each year the number of chicks successfully raised, barely managed to replace the adults that were lost. The tiny forest on Little Mangere was also rapidly deteriorating due to salt and wind damage and blankets of Muehlenbeckia vines that enveloped and swamped the canopy.

Don Merton and others argued urgently for intervention. Don wanted to try moving some birds to adjacent Mangere Island. He was overruled. In the summer of 1975-1976 there were just 9 known black robins. Returning in winter 1976, the wildlife service team found 8.

In August 1976, while on Maud Island checking kakapo, Don Merton got an urgent call from his Wellington bosses. He was needed for a black robin transfer trip - happening in just a few weeks' time.

Finally it was all on for the black robins - and not a moment too soon. When they got to Little Mangere, the catching team could only find 7 black robins alive. Only two of them were females. One of them - named for her identifying band, was a female later to become famous as 'Old Blue'.

Initially, the team had been authorised to transfer just one breeding pair to Mangere Island, but with only two breeding pairs left in the world, the situation was desperate. They decided to risk moving the second breeding pair as well.

First they transferred an unpaired male. All went well. Next they caught the first of the breeding pairs. 'Old Blue' and her mate were placed in a carry box and carefully carried down the cliffs. It was a momentous journey - the first step in a world-first conservation intervention that would ultimately lead to 'Old Blue' saving her species from extinction.

Wild weather delayed the catching and transfer of the second breeding pair for a couple more days, but soon they too joined 'Old Blue', her mate and the single male, making 5 black robins on Mangere and two lone males still on Little Mangere. In the first breeding season on their new island home, the single male disappeared, but a female chick fledged. In March 1977, the two lone males on Little Mangere were also caught and carried across the water to their new home.

For the next few years, numbers stayed precariously low. In the summer of 1977 two chicks joined the population - but two adults had disappeared. Still 7 black robins. A large slip that winter destroyed a big area of bush, making life harder for the robins. In the summer of 1978-79 there were still only 7 birds in total - and the population was back to just two females. One of them was 'Old Blue'. By the end of that season there were just 5 black robins left alive - including a single breeding pair. The Chatham Island black robin was now, indisputably, the rarest bird in the world.

In 1980 the decision was finally made to manage the black robin population intensively. Moving the population to Mangere Island hadn't been enough to save them and they were on the very brink of extinction.

Don Merton now became significantly involved in the black robin programme, which aimed to produce as many chicks as possible. The team returned to Mangere Island to find there were now just 5 adult black robins, one fledgling and a nest with one chick and an egg.

The fledging belonged to 'Old Blue' and her new mate 'Yellow'. Now 9 years old, Old Blue had already survived nearly twice as long as the average robin. Old Blue's mate Old Yellow had hatched on Mangere Island in the summer of 1977-1978 and was her mate from the 1978-1979 breeding season onwards. He would go on to father all 6 of her surviving chicks.

The nest belonged to an unbanded female (later to be banded as 'Green') and the male 'White' (Old Blue's previous mate). Tragically, after a wet, stormy night, the team found Green's chick missing and her egg cold.

When Don removed the cold egg, Green began working on a new nest. This evidence that black robins will re-nest if disturbed was a key piece of information as Don and the team formulated their plans for the next breeding season.

In the next few years a key part of saving the black robins was Don Merton's innovative technique of fostering eggs and chicks to other species. This allowed the black robins, helped out by duped foster-parents, to nest two or even three times in one season.

This daring technique was first tried out in the breeding season of 1981/1982 when the team returned to find just 5 black robins surviving: Old Blue and Old Yellow, Green and her mate White and the previous year's chick (from Blue and Yellow).

It was a nerve-wracking time of egg and chick juggling. Removing eggs and destroying the nests of the world's rarest bird - without actually knowing whether the robins would re-nest or whether the warbler foster parents would succeed in rearing robin chicks was a huge risk! If it hadn't worked, the team would have hastened the extinction of the species!

Thankfully it did work - although not without near disaster. Blue's chick, fostered by warblers was found dead at 11 days old. It was well-developed and well-fed, but the nest was fouled by droppings.

The team found that warblers could successfully incubate robin eggs and rear chicks for the first few days, but they couldn't raise them to fledgling age. The chicks needed to be returned to black robin nests - although the complicated juggling logistics meant that Blue and Yellow ended up successfully raising Green's chick that first season, while Green and White successfully raised Blue's two chicks. By summer's end, the black robin population was up to 8!

With the failure of warblers as long-term foster parents, tomtits on South East (Rangatira) Island were the foster parents of choice in the summer of 1981-82, with warblers on standby as a back-up to incubate eggs or raise robin chicks for the first few days only. It meant another step in the process as the eggs had to be transferred by boat to South East Island - meaning a longer time out of the nest for the eggs. Another innovation tried successfully that year was to remove Green's new nest from an insecure site and put it into a nest box at the same location. Green carried on nest-building, unperturbed.

That year three of Blue's chicks were successfully reared by tomtits on South East, then taken back to Mangere Island. Blue also successfully reared her last two eggs to fledgling. But it was not a good year for Green. Of her first two eggs, one didn't hatch and the other chick died at 2 days old. She laid again, but both these chicks died soon after hatching. Red mite infesting the nest were one possible cause.

Green nested a third time. One egg was infertile, but she hatched and reared one chick. Unfortunately it died later that summer as a fledgling. So by summer's end in 1982, the black robin population had increased to 12 birds - but all 5 chicks that year had Blue and Yellow as parents.

After she grew too old for breeding, Old Blue was controversially 'retired' to South East Island in 1983 in the hope that her longtime (but younger) mate Old Yellow might pair with Green (which would have added more genetic variation to the population) - but Yellow and Green had different ideas and Old Yellow chose one of his daughters instead.

Black robins live 4-5 years on average. Old Blue survived to reach 13 or 14 years of age, finally disappearing some time in 1983 or early 1984. While her time on South East Island was short, Don Merton was reportedly pleased she got to live out her retirement there. Apparently there had been a 'high-level proposal to take and preserve her as a stuffed speciman'.

Old Blue was seen on 30 November 1983, in pleasant, sunny bush and reportedly looking good. She was observed again on 13 December 1983, but never seen again.

In her geriatric years Old Blue and Old Yellow produced 6 chicks. Every black robin alive today is descended from those 6 birds. By 2013, 30 years after Old Blue's death, there were 250 of Old Blue's descendants living on Mangere and South East (Rangatira) Islands in the Chathams - showing that as long as one breeding pair remain, it's possible to bring a species back from the very brink of extinction. Because robin numbers dropped so low, however, the genetic diversity once present in the black robin species is forever lost.

Read more about Don Merton's work, including the black robins' story in Don Merton - the man who saved the black robin by Alison Balance (Reed Publishers).

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Remembering Don Merton and a bird called 'Old Blue'

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But there was another, even rarer bird that he and his team brought back from the very brink of extinction - the Chatham Island black robin. This is the story of Don Merton and a tiny black bird known as 'Old Blue'.

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alternative to polystyrene, packaging made from potato starch

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alternative to polystyrene, packaging made from potato starch

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HAVE YOUR PLATE AND EAT IT TOO
Can you remember every plastic-encased takeaway meal you ever purchased and threw away? Conventional packaging plastics such as polystyrene are oil-based, toxic and non-biodegradable, consuming valuable non-renewable resources during production and taking upwards of 50 years to break down. All those plastic cartons we all have tossed out after a fast food meal over the years have either been burned, releasing toxins into the air, or are still sitting in landfills where they will remain for years to come.

From convenience foods to plastic wrapped magazines; plastic bag-swamped grocery shops to shiny new phones and laptops swimming in boxes inside boxes inside boxes, it's fair to say that our cradle-to-grave addiction to packaging is getting out of hand. And yet, there is no denying our need for sensible packaging solutions to ensure the quality, health and safety of goods, to delay spoilage of perishables, and to brand and market our products effectively.

One eco-entrepreneur from Blenheim has a vision to solve this problem, developing and commercialising an environmentally conscious packaging solution using waste starch from the potato processing industry. It all began in the early 1990s, when aviation engineer Richard Williams attended his staff barbecue and was shocked by the mass of plastic plates and cutlery that were used and trashed. In 2000, after years of trial-and-error machinery design and construction, Potatopak began manufacturing plates, trays and bowls. Now Potatopak sells from its online store and lines participating New World supermarket shelves and smaller eco-stores with a range of potato starch plates, bowls, trays, takeaway punnets and packaging filler; as well as biodegradable cups, napkins, wooden cutlery and bags.

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS
On their journey from farm to dinner plate, potatoes are blasted with washed, scrubbed
then, at 120 kph, pushed through a tube fitted with knives to cut wedges, crisps or chips. The water, full of starch from the cut surfaces, is processed through a starch extractor. The result is clean filtered water to be reused by the potato processor, and dried potato starch to be used in the making of Potatopak products. Dried starch is processed in a high-speed pressure thermoforming machine that inserts the powdered starch onto moulds. The starch is then pressurised and 'cooked' into a rigid, durable shape. Potatopak products are biodegradable, non-toxic and even edible.

GUARANTEED NOT TO LAST
A cradle-to-cradle poster child, every step of Potatopaks product lifecycle is pro-environment:

By recycling the starch water, Potatopak reduces factory waste and prevents its disposal down drains or for use as pasture irrigation, a practice known to suffocate soil, kill pasture and harm animals that feed off it. Raw starch can also form sediment on river beds that doesn't break down.

During manufacture, Potatopak products produce no noxious fumes to the atmosphere, no toxic liquid waste and only a small amount of solid waste. A local pig farmer uses this solid waste to feed his pigs and any leftovers biodegrade in less than four weeks. Check out the video below to see pigs eating Potatopak plates!

After use, Potatopak products are 100% biodegradable and break down in a compost heap or worm farm within four weeks with no harmful chemicals leaching into the soil. Due to lower oxygen and lower moisture, Potatopak products will take longer to decompose in compressed landfill environments. Consumers are therefore encouraged to dispose of them in compost or worm farms.

Not only are Potatopak products made from waste, they alleviate waste by providing a viable alternative to petrochemical plastics and reducing levels of waste that reach landfill.

ONGOING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Potatopak products can be used to store or serve most foods. However, the products are currently not capable of holding raw meats or hot liquids, such as coffees and soups as these substances cause the starch to break down quickly.

Potatopak is undertaking research with scientists at Plant & Food Research to develop a food-safe, non-toxic and 100% biodegradable protective coating that will prevent breakdown of the starch. Significant progress has been made with the final hurdle being the commercial viability of the protective coating. If successful, Potatopaks technology has the potential to cause major upsets to industries such as takeaway coffee cups.

Furthermore, Potatopak is always exploring new uses for their products. Recent innovations include a possum bait station made out of potato starch, heat pump filters for HRV Home Reticulation and even wing mirrors for the world's first biodegradable racing car - a Formula 3 vehicle made entirely from recycled or renewable materials.

The small Kiwi company is a long way off putting garbage dumps out of business. But with ongoing R&D and more technological breakthroughs on the horizon, the product range has potential to become a competitive force in the takeaway packaging space.

Potatopak is a genuine eco-pioneer. Turning waste into a resource, reducing demand for petroleum-based packaging and alleviating pressure on landfills, the company represents a future of possibilities for today's businesses. In the coming decades, we look forward to seeing more imaginative businesses like Potatopak harnessing the opportunities presented by the green movement.

For more information visit www.potatoplates.com.

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HAVE YOUR PLATE AND EAT IT TOO Can you remember every plastic-encased takeaway meal you ever purchased and threw away? Conventional packaging plastics such as polystyrene are oil-based, toxic and non-biodegradable, consuming valuable non-renewable resources during production and taking upwards of 50 years to break down.

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We make cruiser skate boards from up-cycled wood. Great gift ideas for friends, family, Christmas, birthdays, going away, kiwi memorabilia, skate board collectors, special occasions.

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ZealaFoam®​

We understand the world has built a huge number of products from furniture to food packaging, around the use of polystyrene. Its light weight, strength, insulation properties and low cost make it an ideal material to use across a diverse range of applications.

However, for a number of reasons, the world is now seriously looking for alternatives to conventional plastics. An increasing number of jurisdictions globally, have regulated, restricted, taxed or outright banned, the use of polystyrene in many applications. In Europe an increasing number of countries have, or are in process of, introducing a tax on plastic products, if they don't contain recycled, reused, bio-based or biodegradable content. In the USA and China, a number of states / provinces have banned the use of certain polystyrene products. A number of governments and cities have also signed up to The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment (100% to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025) in Europe including Portugal, UK, Scotland, Catalonia, Copenhagen and France. It is worth noting that the signatories also include a number of very large multi-nationals. Another example of a similar initiative is the US Plastics Pact.

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We understand the world has built a huge number of products from furniture to food packaging, around the use of polystyrene. Its light weight, strength, insulation properties and low cost make it an ideal material to use across a diverse range of applications.

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Poditrap: intuitive solution for mustelid and rodent eradication

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Poditrap: intuitive solution for mustelid and rodent eradication

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"I never expected it to be where it is now," says it's inventor, Pouri Rakete-Stones. "It's evolved into this big monster project!"
Pouri is an engineer by trade. He spent 10 years as a fitter/welder, doing research and development work on machinery, before getting involved with Hawkes Bay kiwi conservation and outdoor education organisation ECOED in 2010.

Not only did engineering and conservation come together at that point, but that was when Pouri and his wife Wendy first worked with then-General Manager Al Bramley. Al is currently CEO of ZIP (Zero Invasive Predators). Pouri, Wendy and Al also worked together during the early development stage of the Poutiri Ao ō Tāne project, a sister project to Hawkes Bay's Cape to City. It was on this project that they started talking about what sort of trap they wanted to use for their 8000 hectares predator control programme...

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Home - PodiTRAP - The new intuitive way of trapping pests in NZ

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"I never expected it to be where it is now," says it's inventor, Pouri Rakete-Stones. "It's evolved into this big monster project!" Pouri is an engineer by trade. He spent 10 years as a fitter/welder, doing research and development work on machinery, before getting involved with Hawkes Bay kiwi conservation and outdoor education organisation ECOED in 2010.

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There's a fair dose of Kiwi can-do in research to develop a new long-life lure targeting rats, possums and mustelids. The research has borne fruit despite the interference of Covid lockdowns, and produced some unexpected bonus outcomes.

Boffa Miskell biosecurity consultant Dr Helen Blackie set out to develop a long-life lure that would increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of predator trapping. The outcome is a real "New Zealand Inc" product that is 100% natural, non-toxic and the only lure available with solid science and extensive field trial results behind it that prove it remains effective for months, even in extreme weather conditions. The lures are called PoaUku, which translates to 'clay lure'.

"Mould is a big issue with many of the lures currently available - a lot will go mouldy in a week or two, especially in the challenging environments we're working in. If you don't have to rebait the trap every couple of weeks, things are a whole lot more efficient, money and people-wise. We also found over three months the lures got significantly more attractive - the longer they were out, the more attractive they became to pests such as rats and ferrets," Helen says.

"We came up with a clear winner for rats, and then tested to see how long rats were attracted to it for. Over three months the lures got significantly more attractive - the longer they were out, the more rats liked them, and at every stage they were substantially more attractive than fresh peanut butter. At three months we got our best result. The same lure also works for possums.

"The other thing that's interesting for the rat stuff is we know that rats are repelled by strong scents. We always think about these things in a human way - if we can smell it then they will too, but the more subtle scents are what they're attracted to.

Identification of the best mustelid scent saw four different options trialled at "mustelid cafes" out in the bush.

"We did trials throughout New Zealand looking at which they chose first, which one they spent the most time investigating. We got this great footage of stoats and ferrets trying to eat the lure blocks and it was fascinating to watch the choices they made.

"Mustelids also had a clear preference for a certain lure, and ferrets had the highest interactions with it after more than three months in the field.

"We had the same thing with the ferrets that we observed with the rats - it continued to get more attractive over time for the ferrets and we had the best interactions with it at month three-plus. It was a flat-out winner for the ferrets - they went straight for our lure.

"Surprisingly, one of the mustelid trial scents was hugely popular with rats, as well as possums and hedgehogs. Mustelids liked it, but the rats were going nuts for it, and the other pests were highly attracted to it too, making it truly multi-species. This lure which we originally designed specifically for mustelids had over 1000 rat interactions - three-and-a-half times more than peanut butter did. In the real world where you're trying to catch pests, if you can catch three times as many, that's a big difference".

The result is an entirely natural, cost-effective product - despite difficulties posed by the Covid pandemic.

"We had to develop a cost-effective product but if the process is expensive, that doesn't work either and we didn't want to delve into that artificial scent realm either because animals can totally tell the difference. A rat's sense of smell is extraordinary compared to a human's, which is why they can be used to detect things like landmines.

"When we started this project, Covid wasn't even on the horizon. We were based in Auckland and effectively locked out of the field trials we were running throughout New Zealand. We had staff unable to travel or do fieldwork. Getting stuff in from overseas was really hard - we couldn't source raw ingredients, and they increased substantially in price or there were significant delays.

"We've ultimately done everything with New Zealand companies. We've had to do a whole lot more work working out how we're going to source things domestically, but if you can make a product in New Zealand from New Zealand suppliers and ingredients keeping it local is a far superior option at the moment, and good for those companies as well," Helen says.

The PoaUku lures are now commercially available via Connovation Ltd, initially in two scent options but with another multi-species lure on the horizon. Future work also involves customising the size and shape of the lures for more specific trap designs.

Read more about our Products to Projects work.

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Aotearoa's first entirely natural, cost effective long-life lure - Predator Free 2050 Limited

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Boffa Miskell biosecurity consultant Dr Helen Blackie set out to develop a long-life lure that would increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of predator trapping. The outcome is a real "New Zealand Inc" product that is 100% natural, non-toxic and the only lure available with solid science and extensive field trial results behind it that prove it remains effective for months, even in extreme weather conditions.

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New Zealand's vast pine plantations, the largest man-made forests in the world, are now in production. This entailed the erection of new sawmills and paper mills and the enlargement of existing ones. New Railways are under construction and new towns are being built to service the industries created by this planned harvest of timber.

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NFU footage: Early geothermal power in Wairakei

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NFU footage: Early geothermal power in Wairakei

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NFU footage: opening of Roxburgh hydroelectric dam

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NFU footage: opening of Roxburgh hydroelectric dam

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NFU footage: Electric motorbikes developed when war limited petrol supply in NZ

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NFU footage: Electric motorbikes developed when war limited petrol supply in NZ

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ELECTRIC CYCLES, DIGGING IN, WEEKEND WORK (1942)

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NFU footage: switching off power during the day to reduce consumption, 1945

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NFU footage: switching off power during the day to reduce consumption, 1945

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12 volt wind generator.
The unit consists of a long square wooden post on top of which is attached a large generator which, in turn, is attached to a tail vane (missing). The generator is fitted with a hub to which is attached the propeller, governor and brake drum. The blades are turned by the wind and these, in turn, rotate the generator which produces the electricity. This electricity is stored in batteries which can then be used to power radios, etc.

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12 volt wind generator. The unit consists of a long square wooden post on top of which is attached a large generator which, in turn, is attached to a tail vane (missing). The generator is fitted with a hub to which is attached the propeller, governor and brake drum.

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student commitmen helps decrease threat of moth plant

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student commitmen helps decrease threat of moth plant

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https://enviroschools.org.nz/creating-change/stories/student-commitment-helps-decrease-threat-of-moth-plants/

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Western Springs College waste reduction journey 

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Western Springs College waste reduction journey 

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Maker and role
Karen Walters, Interviewee
Frazer Dale, Interviewee
Debbie Brown, Interviewee
Lyndon Carr, Interviewee
Anonymous, Interviewee
Robyn Winks, Interviewee
Megan Wishart, Interviewee
Richard McGrath, Interviewee
Megan Wishart, Interviewer
Alola Robertson, Interviewer
See full details

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Recordings for 'Carless Daze' exhibition, 2008

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Maker and role Karen Walters, Interviewee Frazer Dale, Interviewee Debbie Brown, Interviewee Lyndon Carr, Interviewee Anonymous, Interviewee Robyn Winks, Interviewee Megan Wishart, Interviewee Richard McGrath, Interviewee Megan Wishart, Interviewer Alola Robertson, Interviewer See full details

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Living Buildings for a Living Future | Jason McLennan | TEDxBend

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Living Building Challenge: Tuhoe example

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Living Building Challenge: Tuhoe example

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Why Tūhoe built a living building (short version)

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In the bowels of the Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant, a team of engineers diligently grow small poo-eating organisms which will help pave the way to a greener future.

It's the first time anammox bugs have been farmed in New Zealand on such a scale, and the team behind the project are hoping the micro-organisms drastically reduce the energy needed during part of the wastewater treatment process.

Everything that goes down the loo and through the plant has to be treated in a multi-stage, energy-heavy process before it can be flushed out into the Manukau Harbour.

Anammox is short for anaerobic ammonium oxidation. The bugs known by this name remove nitrogen and ammonium from wastewater, using only a quarter to a third of the energy current processes need to do that.

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Once operating at full scale, anammox could save around 220 tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

But it hasn't been easy to get to this point.

Because of New Zealand's strict biosecurity laws, the team couldn't import the bugs, and instead had to find them within their own plant where they occur naturally in very small quantities.

After harvesting the few anammox they could, they were left with a small glass beaker's worth - about half a litre all up.

But to get the project running, they will need about 2 million litres of water with the bugs in it - they are sitting somewhere between 10,000-15,000 litres worth right now.

"Because everything's not known about it, you can't just go to a text book and there's a recipe in there saying, 'Add these herbs and spices and you'll be able to grow these things,'" said project lead Kevan Brian.

"You've got to develop some of this stuff yourself."

The bugs grow notoriously slowly, doubling in number every two weeks or so - a snail's pace when compared to other bacteria in the plant, which might have doubled in number by the time you finish this article.

But the mahi is worth it, as Watercare works towards reducing net emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and an eventual goal of energy neutrality.

Dr Lokesh Padhye, a senior lecturer at University of Auckland's school of engineering, said about 5 to 6 per cent of a developed nation's energy budget is used up by water and wastewater processes, so there was a lot to be gained from streamlining them.

Wastewater, he said, was an important area of research as it both used up energy, but had the potential to provide energy as well.

He said New Zealand's water sector could stand to "be more forward looking", but projects such as this showed it was slowly changing and adapting.

As for Brian, he said he and his team would continue their work and hoped once they had enough bugs they could see what other applications there might be for them.

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Homegrown poo-eating bugs that will make wastewater treatment greener

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In the bowels of the Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant, a team of engineers diligently grow small poo-eating organisms which will help pave the way to a greener future. It's the first time anammox bugs have been farmed in New Zealand on such a scale, and the team behind the project are hoping the micro-organisms drastically reduce the energy needed during part of the wastewater treatment process.

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There's a little creek running through suburban Auckland, a decent stride wide and water shin deep, that moonlights as one of the country's biggest drains.

Not so long ago, it was called Waititiko, 'water of the periwinkles;' now, it's a regular conduit for raw human sewage, and a living illustration of the city's complicated relationship with waste.

Unlike many waterways, Meola Creek, as it is more commonly known, is at its worst at its headwaters. The creek first appears on land somewhere north of Mount Eden, where it is almost immediately tainted with wastewater; one of the city's largest sewer outfalls, on the grounds of Plant & Food Research, pours a mixture of stormwater and wastewater into the top of the creek.

Meola vanishes underground from there. It was artificially piped a few decades ago, and resurfaces at a graffiti stained culvert a few hundred metres north. The shadow of where the creek once flowed is imprinted on the ground in a weedy, green corridor. The culvert is blocked by a solid metal grate which looks immovable, but when there's a storm, it is pushed upwards, horizontally, by the cascade of water.

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Every weekday afternoon, students from Mt Albert Grammar stream over a bridge into a small reserve a bit further along the creek. On a day earlier this summer, the creek, even from the bridge, has the faint smell of decay.

Many of the students pass one of several manholes, which, during a storm, can be lifted upwards by the flow of water, spilling water into the reserve. There are many of these manholes - they are technically known as engineered sewage overflow points - along the creek, and their purpose is to release the build-up of water pressure in the network. The result is a soupy mixture of stormwater and sewage spilling over the grass and into the trees, leaving tissues and tampons and condoms strewn in the leaves.

One of the manholes that spills wastewater is around 10m from a state house, which property records show was built in 2008, long after it was known that it would share a backyard with the occasional sewage overflow.

Every year, around two billion litres of this sewage-inflicted water ends up in the Waitematā Harbour. About half of that comes from the tiny Meola Creek.

There are more than 200 overflow points across Auckland, each of which has between two and 52 spills a year. The spills are most common along Meola, where they happen virtually every time it rains. Once the cocktail of water, sewage, and other debris enters the creek, it spills out onto the Meola Reef, a buried lava flow in the harbour, and drifts to the beaches dotting the nearby suburbs.

It is common to see these beaches stamped with health warnings after it rains, and this is why; raw sewage from the inner western suburbs is ushered into a creek, left for the harbour to handle.

Safeswim, the region's water quality monitoring programme, tracks 84 of the city's beaches; after heavy rain, as many as 50 can be considered to pose a risk to human health (on a sunny day early this month, fewer than 10 beaches had health warnings).

What makes Meola uniquely susceptible to overflows is the surrounding infrastructure.

Around 4 per cent of Auckland does not have a separated wastewater and stormwater network, a relic of early 20th century design. The pipes can handle the everyday demands of wastewater - the toilet flushes, the shower water - but when it rains, the influx of stormwater overloads the system. The pressure builds, and if the water is not released proactively, it risks flooding roads and businesses and houses with sewage-tainted water.

In the western isthmus, the philosophy is to get rid of this water as quickly as possible. Meola Creek is a testament to this idea; a gentle stream that would look perfectly natural in the countryside, a habitat for pukeko and tuna and whitebait, mangled along its length with heavily engineered outfalls, pipes and culverts.

Further downstream, Meola continues its slow sashay beneath the giant screens that catch rubbish and underneath pipes that spray stormwater into the creek. Throughout, it is fed by small, clear springs, pumping clean groundwater into the polluted creek.

These springs are what made Meola a good candidate for flushing the city's waste: "Most creeks get dirtier and dirtier as they go towards the sea," says Liz Walker of the St Lukes Environmental Protection Society, a community group dedicated to cleaning up the creek.

"What they did with Meola is say, 'great, it's filled with these springs and this groundwater, so let's just pour all of our s... down that creek because it will get diluted.'"

This may have worked when Auckland was smaller and less urbanised. Today, the sheer amount of water that bounces off the ground is too much to handle.

For people like Walker who live near the creek, the regular overflows have become untenable. Early in 2017, then local MP Jacinda Ardern posted a video on her Facebook page after meeting with Walker and her group. Ardern speaks to the camera in front of a sewage outfall behind the St Lukes mall, one of the single biggest contributors of sewage into Meola, and likely among the biggest overflow points in the country.

"It just demonstrates how ill-equipped we are for weather events when it comes to sewage management in Central Auckland and Mt Albert," she says in the video.

She proceeds further up the walkway, continuing to speak to the camera: "I can see, with my naked eye, right along this stream, condoms strewn around from when we've had heavy rain events," she says.

"We need to clean this up."

At the bottom of Meola Creek, where it dissolves into the Waitematā harbour, there's a dog park.

"I quite frequently get phone calls from members of the public that their dogs have got giardia," says Nick Vigar, manager of the Safeswim programme.

"Giardia can come from a number of sources in a rural context, but in an urban context, there's really only one source - human wastewater."

The health impacts of poor water quality are notoriously difficult to quantify. It can take up to 10 days for a waterborne illness to exhibit symptoms in humans, and even then, only a tiny minority will go to a doctor.

"We know when it comes from a human source, your chance of getting some sort of gastroenteritis, some bug, are that much higher," Vigar says.

"There's a whole lot of international evidence to that effect, but there's also a lot of anecdotal evidence, particularly around the [western isthmus], where we know the bulk of that water is coming from human overflows.

"I'm not in any doubt that the risk, particularly in beaches in those areas, is particularly high."

The severity of the pollution can be extreme, particularly during wet weather overflows. Testing of water in Meola Creek in 2011 showed E. coli levels of 2,400,000 cfu/100ml, more than 4000 times the guideline level. Around the same time, tests from one part of the creek in both wet and dry conditions contained Norovirus, which is highly contagious and potentially life-threatening.

A few years ago, Auckland changed the way it reported its water quality, which brought this long-ignored problem into the light.

Health warnings used to be issued after physical samples were tested, which could take up to 48 hours, by which point the pollution was likely gone. Those samples were regularly collected via helicopter, which were only able to fly in calm conditions, when the water was least likely to be polluted.

A 2016 review found this system had "consistently underestimated the frequency of contamination events".

That may have been an understatement: The review said over 22 years, just one contamination event had been noted at Red Beach, near Whangaparaoa. Newer testing in 2017 found four such contaminations at the beach in a single day.

A recent analysis estimated the previous method was recording around 4 per cent of contamination events. The new one - which is based on modelling, rather than retrospective testing - was recording between 67 and 86 per cent of contaminations.

It led to a sharp increase in the number of contamination events being reported; not necessarily because they were new, but because they were no longer being missed.

"I think it's been a bit of a shock for people," Vigar says.

"The beaches are no worse now than they were five years ago, but the difference is it's very visible to people now."

For an issue that took many decades to develop, the solution - or a major part of it, at least - is on the horizon. It is called the Central Interceptor, a massive pipe that will transport water from the western isthmus to the city's wastewater treatment plant in Mangere.

It will be a pipe big enough to drive through, which, at its deepest point, will go underneath the Manukau Harbour, at a depth of around 110m. Along its path will be smaller pipes that intercept overflows as they enter creeks such as Meola.

It is, on its face, an elegant solution. The council estimates the many dozens of overflows into Meola Creek will drop to just a handful, and other streams in the city will have no overflows at all. When it is completed (expected in 2028), not only will the contamination of inner city beaches sharply decline, it will happen almost overnight.

There was an old saying about Auckland - the Waitematā was its gateway, and the Manukau was its back door.

Jim Jackson grew up with this mentality. More than half a century ago, he would take an empty sugar bag down to the harbour near his childhood home in Onehunga and collect scallops. It would take around 30 minutes to fill the bag, he recalls. Today, there are no scallops at all.

The Manukau Harbour, south of the city, is the second-largest in the country, and triple the size of the Waitematā.

It is shallow - about 6m deep, on average - and contains vast, intertidal mud and sand flats. It is a valuable habitat for migratory birds, which feast on the shellfish along the flats. A recent paper said the Manukau was the "single most important harbour for migratory wading bird species in New Zealand," noting that around one quarter of the country's wading birds are in the harbour at any one time.

The Manukau has many of the same water quality issues as the Waitematā, plus a few more.

Every few years, the council assigns its waterways a letter grade between A and F based on overall health. In 2018, the Manukau was awarded an E grade, a reduction from its D grade in 2016. The central Waitematā, where the overflows from Meola end up, scored a C.

The Manukau scored particularly low on ecosystem health and water quality. Many of the monitored sites on the harbour breached numerous water quality and nutrient thresholds; the overall water quality of the harbour "remains poor", the review concluded.

"These things didn't take a year, or five years, to find out," Jackson, who is chairman of the Manukau Harbour Restoration Society, says.

"They were 50 years in the making."

The largest river in Auckland comes out of a tight collection of low-lying buildings near Mangere.

The Mangere wastewater treatment plant processes between 300m and 400m litres of water per day, which flows out of the plant at a rate faster than any natural river in Auckland. Wastewater is piped from around the city to the plant, where it undergoes a five step treatment process before it is discharged at high tide. It takes around 12 days for this waste to drift west out of the harbour, into the Tasman Sea.

The plant's owner, Watercare, says it is one of the 10 best facilities of its kind in the world; when it was built in 1960, its sprawling oxidation ponds - since removed - were the largest in the world.

During a large storm in 2016, the plant was processing around 12,000L of water per second, enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every four minutes. That was only two-thirds of its capacity, which it has never reached.

Despite the plant's impressive ability to treat waste to a high standard, some observers say it is holding the harbour back.

A major issue, they say, is that the treated wastewater is freshwater, while the harbour is saline. Because the freshwater from the plant is the biggest inflow into the harbour, it is likely changing its composition in a way damaging to some saltwater species. In a precarious ecosystem, even small changes can have an impact - if marine life is affected by the mixture of fresh and salt water, it could have a ripple effect up the food chain.

Another concern is what happens during heavy rain.

When demand is high, two of the plant's five treatment steps are bypassed, so water can be processed more quickly.

Watercare says this only happens around 0.8 per cent of the time, and the three step process is still full treatment (it calls its usual five step system "advanced treatment" - it says the three step process used during bypasses would be the default treatment level in other countries). But by not treating the water to the highest standard possible, there are concerns it may be adding nutrients to the already nutrient-rich harbour.

"What goes out during those [bypass] periods is a higher strength waste," says Gemma Tolich Allen, an independent wastewater biologist, who formerly worked at the plant and advises the Manukau Harbour Restoration Society.

"It is treated - it's not raw sewage in any sense - but it's not treated as fully as it would be on a dry day flow.

"Over the last 20 years, it has, to a great extent, negated the improvements we would have seen in the Manukau Harbour if all of the waste was treated inside the plant."

The Central Interceptor will be bringing up to two billion additional litres of overflow into the plant each year, which will be treated and end up in the harbour.

"[The interceptor] will protect the beaches on the Waitematā, very much so," Tolich Allen says. "It will be a huge improvement for them.

"Unfortunately, because of these high storm flows, they don't treat it fully and the level of nutrients going out on those occasions is higher than it should be. That will increase if the Central Interceptor is taking increased flows from the rest of Auckland."

By protecting beaches in the swanky suburbs of Herne Bay and Point Chevalier, is the city putting additional pressure on Manukau Harbour?

Watercare says it's not that simple. Although there will be additional waste going to the plant, Watercare's modelling suggests the load will increase less than 2 per cent, while it expects the number of bypass events to stay the same.

"When it comes to wet weather, we wouldn't see a difference because we can only put a maximum flow through the plant," says Watercare's network efficiency manager Anin Nama.

"What the Central Interceptor is designed to do is make sure we don't exceed the current throughput we do today."

He says one of the most important functions of the tunnel is storage. It will be able to hold around 200m litres of water, which can be slowly fed into the plant. When the tunnel overloads, there will be spills up the network, mostly where they already happen, around Meola Creek.

Those spills would be significantly less frequent, he says, happening at 10 locations, rather than the more than 200 they do today.

He adds that the interceptor is just one piece of the puzzle. Watercare will continue to separate the stormwater and wastewater networks in older parts of the city, as well as optimising its other treatment plants to spread the load.

"We're doing a toolbox of things - we're doing separation, we will be taking some flows to the treatment plant, we'll be looking at soakage as a method of separation," Nama says.

"The key thing we need to realise is there will be a substantial improvement in the environment as a result of the total works."

Even if the Central Interceptor doesn't add problems to the Manukau harbour, the status quo is seen by some as shameful.

"We are the poor cousins of the Waitematā and the Kaipara," Jim Jackson says.

"The water stinks, it's warmer than the surrounding environment. If you look at the outlet at the [treatment plant] it looks like Huka Falls when they let the water go. No one in Auckland really realises that.

"I don't think this harbour can accept more and more treated wastewater going in and damaging some of these important ecological areas."

He says the city, and even the country as a whole, has prospered on the back of the harbour. As the city expanded, accommodating more and more people without commensurate attention to the services needed to cope with that many people, it has been up to the harbour to absorb that neglect.

The Central Interceptor taps into those decades-old tensions; Manukau as the city's exit, not its entrance.

It's a tension deeply rooted in colonialism, dating back to the Crown's confiscation of Māori land around the harbour beginning in the 1860s, little of which was given back. While the city developed, its most pollution-heavy activities were reserved for Manukau.

Among those activities was the treatment plant itself, which took over much of the harbour with its oxidation ponds. To build the plant, the Oruarangi River, as well as another stream, was blocked off and access to the harbour became difficult. Creeks were buried, and paua and scallop beds were destroyed.

At the same time, the international airport was being built on the harbour's southern end, and industrial polluters were being allowed to discharge into the harbour. At one point there were dozens of polluters, including three meat works, three fertiliser factories, two wool scours, an abattoir, and a steel mill, as well as leachate from numerous rubbish dumps and run-off from the council's septic tank, all flowing into the Manukau Harbour.

The decades-long degradation of the harbour was particularly damaging for the Makaurau marae at Ihumātao. The wastewater plant was built adjacent to the marae, desecrating a valuable seafood resource while bringing an influx of midges and the stench of human sewage.

This, and other issues, were central to a major Treaty of Waitangi claim concerning the Manukau Harbour. The claim said in exchange for agreement to the wastewater plant, Makaurau marae was offered quick connection to the sewerage system, access to the harbour, and compensation of $8000.

As the claim noted, none of this happened; the marae was among the last communities in the city to be connected to the sewerage scheme, a process that took 30 years. Access to the harbour remained limited, and compensation was never paid.

"The claimants do not want compensation," the Waitangi Tribunal concluded. "They want things restored to what they were. Regrettably, that is unrealistic."

The Manukau Harbour has been on an upward trajectory, albeit a slow one. The oxidation ponds were removed in the early 2000s, freeing up that part of the harbour, and many of the industrial polluters are gone. The Oruarangi River flows again, albeit as a shadow of its former self.

Regular monitoring since 1987 shows the harbour's water quality has steadily improved, even though it remains low.

The solution to the city's wastewater problem may need to be more drastic than simply treating more water; it may require a rethink of the city's relationship with water as a whole.

"Really, everyone should be using water sensitive design," says Liz Walker, from the Meola Creek group.

"Cities like Sydney, Melbourne... People there use water sensitive design, people see it, love it, and start to use it. None of that is really happening here."

While she'll be happy to see Meola Creek finally cleaned up after nearly a century of pollution, Walker says she's worried it will be at the expense of the Manukau, and the root problem isn't beng fixed.

"It's a low energy, saline environment, and you're suddenly pushing this fresh, clean, beautifully processed water into the Manukau Harbour," she says. "It's an issue".

For Jim Jackson, he hopes it won't be left to the next generation to restore the Manukau to its former glory.

"If we're not careful, in 50 years time, another generation may wake up and say, 'why didn't you do something?'"

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Harbour of doubt: The tiny creek that drains Auckland of its waste

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There's a little creek running through suburban Auckland, a decent stride wide and water shin deep, that moonlights as one of the country's biggest drains. Not so long ago, it was called Waititiko, 'water of the periwinkles;' now, it's a regular conduit for raw human sewage, and a living illustration of the city's complicated relationship with waste.

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Could you power your home with a bicycle?

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Could you power your home with a bicycle?

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An NPR listener (with what may be the best Twitter handle ever - Booky McReaderpants) inquired whether a home can be powered by bicycle-powered generator.

It's an interesting issue about energy and the modern world. And the short answer comes from just running the numbers.

A typical house in the U.S. uses about 1,000 kilowatt-hours of energy in a month. So - to Booky McReaderpants' question - could you generate that much power all by yourself on stationary bike?

No.

Nope.

Not even close.

Pedaling a bike at a reasonable pace generates about 100 watts of power. That's the same energy-per-time used by a 100-watt lightbulb. So if you pedaled eight hours every day for 30 days (no weekends off), then doing the math, you'd generate 24 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy. Note that I'm not worrying about the efficiency in the electrical systems involved, which would drop the number closer to 16 kWh.

That's only 2.4 percent of the energy your house sucks up each month via the lights, the dishwasher, running the AC and playing video games on your PS4 (like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided).

Now stop and really think about that.

Biking, full time, every day, no weekends, for four weeks gets you to just a few percent of your monthly energy use. The discrepancy between what you personally can generate and what you personally use says a lot about what's happened with civilization and the planet over the past couple of centuries.

Consider this. For all of human history the amount of power the average person had to expend across each day was, well, one person-power's worth.

Duh.

And how much was that in terms of energy? Well, our little bike example gives us a good estimate: Eight hours of biking per day yields 800 Wh (0.8 kWh). So since the dawn of our species 300,000 years ago, 0.8 kWh was pretty much the energy available to pretty much everybody each day. If you personally wanted more energy you would need to buy someone else's person-power in the form of servants or, worse, enslaved populations.

But the discovery of fossil fuels did something amazing. If we look at our house example, we see that the energy running into our homes from some distant power stations is the equivalent to having about 40 people pedaling bicycles for us. Those little sockets in the wall that we plug our stuff into give us the power of 40 servants. (If I included the electrical inefficiencies, that number goes up to about 50 servants.)

We are all, literally, living like kings.

But, as we know, using that much energy has consequences for the planet in the form of climate change. The trick now is to figure how to keep a reasonable level of power available to everyone by using energy sources that have less planetary blowback.

Adam Frank is a co-founder of the 13.7 blog, an astrophysics professor at the University of Rochester, a book author and a self-described "evangelist of science." You can keep up with more of what Adam is thinking on Facebook and Twitter:@adamfrank4
And if you've got your own science-y question for us, use to send it our way. Follow Skunk Bear, NPR's science YouTube channel, to watch more answers.

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An NPR listener (with what may be the best Twitter handle ever - Booky McReaderpants) inquired whether a home can be powered by bicycle-powered generator. It's an interesting issue about energy and the modern world. And the short answer comes from just running the numbers. A typical house in the U.S.

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Are edible insects more or less ‘healthy' than commonly consumed meats? 

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Are edible insects more or less ‘healthy' than commonly consumed meats? 

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Abstract

Introduction

As the world population rises, the global food system faces an impending crisis, and a major component of this crisis is the forecast that the livestock sector is growing at a rate that is deemed unsustainable. Therefore, we must look to alternative sources of protein that can be produced on a viable and sustainable commercial scale, and in recent years edible insects have been proposed as one potential 'new' protein source. The main reason for this is that many insects can be farmed at relatively low economic and environmental costs; farming insects use up to 50-90% less land per kg protein, 40-80% less feed per kg edible weight and produces 1000-2700 g less GHGEs (Greenhouse gas emissions) per kg mass gain than conventional livestock. However, particularly in Europe, insects are a new food and information about the safety and nutritional value of edible insects is scarce, particularly since they are such a diverse category. Yet insects are already available to purchase in certain shops across Europe. Due to restrictive legislation that allows only whole, visible insects to be sold, current marketing practices may alienate consumers who would otherwise purchase insect food. However, in order to combat this problem, an international consortium known as IPIFF (International Platform for Insects as Food and Feed) is currently working to change EU laws in favour of greater freedom in marketing insects as food. This indicates that insect foods are reaching EU (European Union) markets, but also highlights the importance of systematic research into the nutritional content and safety of commercially available insects for human consumption.

Insects are not a new food, although they have not been farmed on a commercial scale for use as human food until fairly recently. Instead, the majority of edible insects are harvested from the wild, particularly in remote rural regions and in tropical countries with high biodiversity, where insects have been an important wild source of protein and micronutrients for millennia. However, insects are also a farmed or semi-farmed resource across the world. European honeybees are thought to have been domesticated for 7000 years, and the domestic silkworm, Bombyx mori, has been farmed for at least 5000 years. Silkworm pupae, a by-product of the silk-making process, are used as human food in many areas of Asia. A relative of the silkworm, the mopane caterpillar ( Imbrasia belina), is sold widely in markets and supermarkets across southern Africa, and the mopane trade is estimated to be worth millions of US dollars. In recent years, there have been systematic attempts to farm mopane worms in intentionally planted mopane forests, to meet increasing demand and to give rural women control over this important source of income, and these have met with varying success. This is part of a larger pattern: in many other areas of the world, NGOs (Non-government organisations), government-funded research teams, private companies and individual entrepreneurs are attempting to semi-farm insects that were traditionally wild harvested. For example, insect-farming initiatives in Thailand now produce palm weevils and crickets on a commercial scale, and similar farming methods are currently being developed for the African palm weevil and Mexican grasshopper, both of which are highly valued foods in the regions in which they are harvested from the wild. This shows an increasing interest in a fairly recent phenomenon: insect farming for human food on a commercial scale originated in Southeast Asia in the late 1990s.

There are many advantages to farming insects. Crickets and weaver ants have a high feed conversion efficiency compared with traditional livestock. The greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions of five edible insects are lower or comparable to emissions from pig farming and far lower than published figures for cattle farming, and a complete life cycle analysis of mealworm production has shown that mealworms require less land, comparable energy input and emit fewer greenhouse gases, than milk, chicken, pork or beef. According to current research, therefore, insects are a cheaper and more environmentally sustainable to conventional livestock.

The health consequences of insect consumption are less clear. The nutritional composition of many edible insects has been tested, and many have favourable nutrient profiles, particularly in the context of a locally-sourced traditional diet. For example, we know that that the palm weevil larvae consumed in some parts of Africa are high in lysine and leucine, both of which are found in insufficient quantities in tubers, the traditional staple food in the same regions. However, there is little experimental evidence to suggest that insects are nutritionally preferable to other plant- or animal-based protein sources. Insects have been considered as a potential source of nutrients for human complementary feeding, but the results of human trials on health indicators are yet to be published.

To address this lack of data linking health impacts with increased insect consumption, in the present study we chose to use evaluative tools developed 'to classify foods based on their nutritional composition'. These are known as nutrient profiling models, and can be used to derive a 'healthiness' score for foods based solely on their nutritional composition. A wide range of approaches have been used towards the development of such models, and opinion is divided over which approach is most scientifically robust. The scores produced by nutrient profile models have been validated against food-based dietary guidelines, the opinions of nutrition experts, theoretically constructed healthy diets, healthy diets achieved in populations and (most importantly) prospective health outcomes.

In this study, we wish to understand the relative nutritional value of commercially available insects and commonly consumed meats in two scenarios tackling two different causes of diet-related ill health, under-nutrition and over-nutrition. For our model developed to target over-nutrition, we chose the Ofcom model, which is currently in use in the United Kingdom to regulate broadcast advertising of foods to children, and is the basis of regulation in Australia and New Zealand to both regulate health and nutrition claims and support the 'healthy stars' voluntary front-of-pack labelling scheme. We used the 'Nutrient Value Score' (NVS) as a model that targets under-nutrition. The NVS is a tool developed by the United Nations World Food Programme to inform the composition of food baskets and commodity vouchers, classifies individual foods on a continuous scale based on their nutrient composition, with an emphasis on micronutrient content.

Materials and methods

Meat and insect nutrient composition data

For a broad geographical spread of meat nutrient composition data, we selected one database per continent from the FAO INFOODS website, with the exception of South America where no English language databases were available:

1. Asia: The Concise ASEAN Food Composition Tables.

2. Africa: Food Composition tables for Africa.

3. Europe: UK COFIDS tables.

4. North America: USDA Food tables for standard reference (abridged list).

5. Oceania: The Pacific Islands Food Composition Tables.

For chicken, pork and beef products in each database, we included every dataline with the keywords: '[Meat name]' 'raw'. We excluded processed meats (for example, cured, dried, smoked, minced and enhanced) and any meats that were described as 'weighed with bone'. Offal and meat by-products are traditional foods that, similarly to insects, are rejected in contemporary 'Western' diets. Therefore, in order to evaluate these under-utilized meat products separately, any foods that fulfilled the above criteria but were not a specific cut of meat or a whole carcass (for example, organs, skin and blood) were grouped as 'offal'. Where a range of values was provided, only the single best estimate (mean/median) was used. Where a value was listed as 'Tr' (trace), we replaced this with '0'.

We also extracted datalines for six commercially available edible insect species that are currently produced using intensive or non-intensive farming: Cricket ( Acheta domesticus), honeybee ( Apis mellifera), domesticated silkworm ( Bombyx mori), mopane caterpillar ( Imbrasia belina), African palm weevil larvae ( Rhynchophorus phoenicis) and yellow mealworm ( Tenebrio molitor). These data were taken from all English language FAO INFOODS databases and from a systematic review of published literature, and the datalines describe the nutrient composition of fresh insects in their raw, unprocessed state. Full details of methods and selection criteria are currently in review.

For all the foods described above, we extracted data for energy and the 12 macro- and micronutrients relevant to calculating Ofcom Scores and NVSs. The final database contained 128 datalines for meat (42 for beef, 25 for chicken, 31 for pork and 30 for offal) and 55 for insects. Many datalines had missing values for certain nutrients. In such cases, we replaced missing values with the median value for that category.

Nutrient profile models

First, we chose the Ofcom model, which scores foods on the basis of their nutritional content per 100 g of the following nutrients to limit: energy, total sugars, sodium and saturated fat; and balances this against constituent elements considered conducive to health - fruit, nuts and vegetables, fibre and protein. Full details on how the Ofcom model is applied are available here.

We used Stata syntax (freely available on request) to generate Ofcom Scores for each food in the database, and adjusted the scores to fall on a scale from 1 to 100 where 1 is the least healthy and 100 is the most healthy.

Second, we chose the NVS, which was developed to inform food assistance programmes for populations who are at high risk of under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. The NVSs are based on quantities of energy, protein, fat and eight micronutrients measured per 100 g (or relevant, food basket-specific quantity) of food to evaluate the relative nutritional quality of foods. We calculated the scores for each food in the database using an Excel file (freely available on request).

We ran pair-wise non-parametric Mann-Whitney U comparisons for the scores (both Ofcom and NVS) of each category of food, using Stata software. We applied the Bonferroni adjustment to determine the appropriate P-value indicating the significance of our results. Since we ran 132 pair-wise comparisons for 12 categories of food, the original P-value of 0.05 was reduced to 0.000378, and only the comparisons with P-values lower than this were considered as significant.

Results

shows the median and interquartile range of values in each food category for the nutrients used to calculate the Ofcom model. Saturated fat and sodium are the major parameters in this model that are relevant to animal products. Of the meat products, chicken offal is notably high in saturated fat (12.1 g per 100 g) but others have a relatively low median value (range=1-3.8 g per 100 g) considering that the recommended daily allowance is 20 g. Insects, however, have a far greater range of median values, from 2.28 to 9.84 g of saturated fat per 100 g. Median values for the sodium content of insects (range=0-152 mg per 100 g) also show a greater range than for meat (range=60-132 mg per 100 g). Values for protein content show the same pattern, with insects containing median values of between 9.96 g and 35.2 g of protein per 100 g, compared with 16.8-20.6 g for meat.

Table 1

shows the median and interquartile range of values in each food category for the additional nutrients used to calculate the NVSs. Complete information is missing for all but two of the six insect species. The median iron content of crickets and honeybees is 180 and 850% greater (respectively) than for beef, which has the highest iron content of the three meats. However, iron content of beef offal is higher than crickets. All of the insects had higher calcium and riboflavin levels than any of the meats or meat offals.

Table 2

shows the median and inter-quartile range of Ofcom scores for each food, and shows the P-values for pair-wise comparisons of these scores using the Mann-Whitney U test and the Bonferroni correction. There is no indication that any insect used in this analysis is a significantly 'healthier' alternative to meat using this model; instead, beef offal is classified as 'healthier' than three insects: crickets, palm weevil larvae and mealworms ( P=0.0001; P=0.0001; P<0.0001); and all meat and offal products are 'healthier' than palm weevil larvae. However, there is also significant variation between insect species: both crickets ( P<0.0001) and mealworms ( P<0.0001) are 'healthier' than palm weevil larvae.

Table 3

shows the median and inter-quartile range of NVSs for each food, and also shows the P-values for pair-wise comparisons between these scores. Using this model, there is no significant variation between insect species. Crickets ( P<0.0001), palm weevil larvae ( P<0.0001) and mealworm ( P<0.0001) have a significantly higher score than beef and chicken, but the only other pair-wise comparisons with any significant difference are those showing that pork products are more nutritious than beef ( P<0.0001) and chicken ( P<0.0001). However, of the insect species, only crickets and mealworm had nutritional information for every nutrient used to calculate this model; all the others had missing values.

Discussion

The results presented here are the first systematic comparison of the nutritional composition of insects and meat, and their relative healthiness according to contemporary nutrient profiling models.

Our first key finding from these analyses is that insects vary widely between species in terms of nutrient content and consequently their potential for combating crucial public health problems. Due to this variation, we suggest that the term 'insects' is not a useful food category in discussions of health and nutrition. Second, we find that many insect foods have a higher content of energy, sodium and saturated fat than conventional livestock. On the one hand, this suggests that these species are not suitable for promotion as alternatives to meat if the main priority is to combat diseases linked to over-nutrition, particularly since reducing dietary intake of sodium and replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat is thought to reduce risk of heart disease. Although the associations between saturated fat consumption and diet-related disease are controversial there remains strong evidence supporting the relationship between substituting saturated fats with unsaturated fats and reduced blood cholesterol. Similarly there is evidence for associations between blood cholesterol levels and coronary heart disease, and directly between fatty acid consumption on coronary heart disease. Third, we find that insects tend to have very high micronutrient content, particularly in the case of micronutrients that are known to be deficient in many areas where food insecurity is high. Therefore, these species may be good candidate foods to promote in areas of food insecurity and malnutrition.

Overall, the data presented here shows no evidence that any commercially available insect evaluated in the current study is significantly preferable to meat for the purpose of combating diet-related disease caused by over-nutrition. Offal and meat by-products, on the other hand, are potentially healthier alternatives to commonly consumed cuts of meat, yet offal and meat by-products are not popular foods in Europe. In the United Kingdom, for example, offal has declined in popularity in recent decades and in Italy it is still seen as the 'food of the poor'. Therefore, although the promotion of insects does seem to be justifiable on environmental grounds, when considering health in situations of over-nutrition some meat by-products may be a more appropriate alternative to commonly consumed livestock products. Furthermore, the current study also shows that only a single insect - palm weevil larvae - is significantly inferior to meat using a model designed to combat over-nutrition.

However, analyses of nutrient composition using the NVSs tell a different story. According to the parameters set by this model, at least three insects do have a significantly higher nutritional value than the commonly consumed meats beef and chicken, and not a single comparison shows insects to be nutritionally inferior to meat. Insects as a commodity have many non-health-related positive benefits compared with livestock in terms of both financial and environmental cost, particularly in developing countries where under-nutrition is a key problem. The finding that insects and meat do not show significant divergence in nutritional composition suggests that there is no health-related trade-off in promoting insect foods over meat.

Elsewhere, data on the dry weight nutrient composition of a broad range of insect species are available, and other research has compared the nutritional composition of meat and other protein sources. Quorn products, which are made using myco-protein and marketed as alternatives to meat, have macronutrient composition profiles that are comparable to the meat products upon which they are based. Non-traditional, wild meat species have lower levels of nutrients to limit such as cholesterol, sodium, saturated fat and polyunsaturated fatty acids compared with farmed livestock, and also have a higher iron content. Insects offer yet another alternative to traditional meats, and as shown in this study, some do have favourable nutrient profiles compared with meat.

However, nutrient composition is only a proxy for effects on human health, and this is a significant limitation of the present study. There have been few trials with human subjects showing the effects of insect consumption, and to date, the results of such trials are inconclusive. Two insect-based products fed to infants, containing caterpillars and termites, had a positive effect on blood haemoglobin levels and bodily iron stores compared with control groups. However, in both cases there was no observable effect on growth rates or prevalence of stunting. Therefore, the link between nutritionally favourable insect foods and health outcomes requires further research. The results of the present study can be used to inform the choice of candidate species for future human trials.

A further limitation of our study is the lack of fresh weight data on the micronutrient content of several commercially available insects. As a result, we have substituted missing data with category medians, inflating the units of analyses for our statistical tests, and biasing our results away from the null hypothesis. Therefore, comparisons between meat and insects with missing values using the NVS nutrient profile model, which places emphasis on micronutrient content, are not conclusive at this stage, and should therefore be treated with caution.

Overall, in this paper we present systematically collected nutritional information on a range of commercially available and commonly consumed insects, meats and meat by-products. We use relevant nutrient profiling models to combine this information into a single measure of 'healthiness', enabling a direct comparison of insect and meat products. Our key findings are that the nutritional profiles of insects show great variation; meat products may be nutritionally preferable to certain insects in the context of overnutrition; and several insects are potentially superior to meat in situations of undernutrition.

Acknowledgments

All authors contributed to research design; CP conducted the analyses and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript; all authors commented on, edited and approved the final manuscript. We would like to thank the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation for directly funding this research project. As individual researchers we would like to thank the Japanese Ministry for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MECT), the British Heart Foundation, the University of Oxford, UK, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (Japanese Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Projects No. 22251002 and 26310314), for ongoing financial support. We would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the following individuals and organisations for their inspiration, encouragement and support in the course of this research project: Professor WC McGrew, Kushihara Agroforestry, the Oxford Food Forum and the Japan Vespula Society.

Notes

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

Hanboonsong Y, Jamjanya T, Durst PB. Six-legged livestock: edible insect farming, collection and marketing in Thailand. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok 2013, Available from http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/i3246e/i3246e.pdf.

Nutrient Profiling Technical Guidance. In: Department of Health, editor. London: Department of Health, 2011.

Australia, New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 1.2.7 - Nutrition, Health and Related Claims. 30 October 2014. Administered by the Department of Health. Available from https://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2014C01191 (accessed 3 September 2015).

Guide for Industry To The Health Star Rating Calculator. Canberra, Version 3, 2015 Available from http://healthstarrating.gov.au/internet/healthstarrating/publishing.nsf/Content/guide-for-industry-document (accessed 3 September 2015).

Ryckembusch D, Frega R, Silva MG, Gentilini U, Sanogo I, Grede N et al. Enhancing nutrition: a new tool for [Ex-Ante comparison of commodity-based vouchers and food transfers. World Dev 2013; 49: 58-67.Google Scholar]

Payne CLR, Scarborough P, Rayner M, Nonaka K. Compiling a nutrient composition table for twelve selected species of commercially available edible insect: a systematic review and comparison with reference values. Submitted manuscript, available on request (in review).

A Food Labeling Guide: Guidance for Industry. Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the US Food and Drug Administration 2013, p 132 Available from http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM265446.pdf (accessed 3 September 2015).

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Are edible insects more or less 'healthy' than commonly consumed meats? A comparison using two nutrient profiling models developed to combat over- and undernutrition

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As the world population rises, the global food system faces an impending crisis, and a major component of this crisis is the forecast that the livestock sector is growing at a rate that is deemed unsustainable.

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A place for Tohu in enevironmental planning

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A place for Tohu in enevironmental planning

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How climate change is affecting maramataka 

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How climate change is affecting maramataka 

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Knowledge of tohu - biophysical indicators - has been passed down from tūpuna over many generations. From years of observation and tracking changes in the environment, Māori have developed an understanding of local environments and processes. Tohu are passed down through kōrero tuku iho, karakia, pūrākau, whakataukī and waiata. They allow access to the memories of tūpuna and can provide a snapshot of what te taiao looked like in the past.

Predicting weather patterns

Iwi have a range of tohu related to weather connected to their particular rohe, although many are shared across iwi. These indicators are used in combination to forecast weather for the upcoming day, month or season. Te Whānau-ā Apanui Tairāwhiti use the plume of Whakaari/White Island to predict rain or severe weather. In Te Wai Pounamu/South Island, Kāi Tahu use the presence of swarms of namunamu (sandflies) as one indication of rainfall.

Maramataka

One important method used by Māori for observing changes to te taiao is the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar. The maramataka is a vast repository of mātauranga. It is also a predictive tool that follows the movements and phases of the Moon. For Māori, the maramataka is instrumental for deciding when to plant and harvest crops and indicating appropriate times to hunt and fish for specific animals. The maramataka helps to monitor and observe seasonal changes, weather and the migratory patterns of birds and fish as well as enabling rituals and other important matters to be tracked.

Local maramataka

There are many maramataka and tohu, and they vary from iwi to iwi. The appearance of the star Puanga or Rigel, for example, marks the start of Māori New Year in the far north, Taranaki, Whanganui, the South Island and the Chatham Islands. In Te Urewera, Ngāi Tūhoe know that cold weather and frosts in April are signs of a good year for kererū because the trees will produce plentiful fruit. The phases of the Moon are used by Māori to indicate the seasons of the year.

Another example of species used to predict climate patterns is tī kōuka or cabbage tree (Cordyline australis). Kāi Tahu use the flowering of these trees as a tohu, with early and profuse flowering indicating a long hot summer will follow.

Tohu and climate change

Today, Māori are observing many changes to te taiao. Because of a changing climate, some maramataka and tohu that have been used for hundreds of years can no longer be used in the same way. For example, changes in sea temperatures mean that kina are no longer fat and ready for the table when pōhutukawa traditionally bloom in summer. Gathering a feed of kina with whānau at Christmas time was once normal but is at risk of becoming a thing of the past.

Everything has its time ... there's time for fish, there was time for oysters, time for mussels. And it never altered until recently. I realised about two years ago things are changing. Things [plants] are blooming out of season. Fishing is all out of kilter. Mullet never came till winter and now you've got mullet coming any old time, sort of thing. It's really changed.
Kaumātua, Muriwhenua (The Deep South National Science Challenge, 2018)

In the following waiata by Hirini Melbourne, Tāwhirimātea is asked specifically to stop the rain, clear the dark clouds and let the Sun shine. The waiata also contains a warning to the kōtare and noke (kingfisher and worm) about the consequences of failing to prepare and seek shelter. If we humans liken ourselves to kōtare and noke, the waiata can also be a warning to avoid the same failings.

Tihore mai te rangi - clear the sky

Tihore mai

Mao mao mao te ua - cease the rain

Whiti mai te ra - let the Sun shine

E rere kōtare - fly kingfisher

Ki runga pūwharawhara - onto the tree (astelia)

Ruru parirau - ruffle your wings

Kei mate i te ua - lest you catch a chill

E rere e noke - flee o worm

Mai to pokorua - out of your burrow

Kei ki i te wai - lest it be filled with water

Ka mate i te ua - and you will drown.

Related content

Useful links

Acknowledgement

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Māori ways of knowing – weather and climate

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Knowledge of tohu – biophysical indicators – has been passed down from tūpuna over many generations. From years of observation and tracking changes in the environment, Māori have developed an understanding of local environments and processes. Tohu are passed down through kōrero tuku iho, karakia, pū…

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Dr Dan Hikuroa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui) is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland who studies how to apply Māori knowledge to climate problems. When it comes to adapting to shifting climates, he says, indigenous knowledge can help all New Zealanders cope.
I always had a love for knowing and, in particular, knowing the natural world. I was always asking my parents, why, what is there, how do we know? They were so patient with me. So going to university to study science was always going to happen.

I was teaching stage one geology at Te Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and stage one geology at the University of Auckland at the same time and the key difference was that at the wānanga I was encouraged to include mātauranga Māori whenever it felt right.

I had absolutely none of that knowledge but what I did have was amazing colleagues around me. Although it did not dawn on me until months or even years later, I had Papatuānuku. I had the mountains, rivers, earthquakes, volcanoes, and all of those became my teachers. And the students were so generous about sharing the knowledge. That was when I started to see how these two knowledge systems could be compatible at making sense of the same things we see in the world but did not necessarily always have to agree.

READ MORE:
* Discovering the intricacies of Matariki, mātauranga later in life
* The legal threat and the big opportunity in Māori engagement on climate change response
* Māori are among the most vulnerable to climate change

I was appointed to Ngā Kaihautū Tikanga Taiao, the statutory Māori advisory to the Environmental Protection Authority, some years ago. I was asked to present to the board my work demonstrating that mātauranga can be accurate, it can be precise, that there is a rigour to its generation, and much of it has been developed with techniques consistent with the scientific method but codified and explained according to a Māori world view. I think that marked a critical moment where the board actually understood and had some confidence in it.

The language at the EPA was that they use scientific evidence in decision-making and I challenged them on that. I said: "Well, you use evidence in your decision-making, it is just that until now science has been the main form that the evidence has taken. I am arguing that mātauranga can be just as robust and precise and accurate as science." But you need to be able to probe and determine whether what you are being told stacks up, just like you would with any scientific information.

One of the mechanisms for observing change or things happening is called tohu, or indicators - so when this particular tree starts flowering, that is a tohu that a certain star will appear. Or a flower will appear on a tree and then you might get something in the ocean and, now that those things have occurred, it is a good time to start doing certain types of activities.

That is where I think mātauranga is a little better than some modelling that is going on, because you hear: Oh, it is a one-in-500 year storm but they are basing it on rainfall records. You are assuming what happened in the previous century will occur in the following century. I think that is a flawed approach. Whereas, mātauranga gives you a range of things that might happen but it does not try to pigeonhole. It is completely in tune with natural rhythms and cycles, whereas our current calendrical system is completely independent of those things. Have you ever heard the saying ''summer is early this year"? That would never happen in a Māori framework. It will be summer when it is here.

Climate change is nothing new for Māori. When they shifted from the tropics down to the mid-latitudes, effectively that was a changing climate. They also experienced a little ice age. Nevertheless, Māori were thriving once Captain Cook came down.

I think one of the exciting things about mātauranga Māori is that it anticipated that change would occur at some stage. Therefore, it has structures and mechanisms built into it, to look for that change when it occurs, to incorporate that change when it becomes the new normal, and to anticipate when more change occurs, so it offers us one of the best windows both into the past and into the future.

One of the other things mātauranga Māori can bring to a just transition [to low-carbon life] is accepting that we work with natural systems, we don't try to command and control natural systems. Other places around the world, such as the Netherlands, are working with the rivers, giving them room to move. And that is entirely consistent with a mātauranga world view. We are part of the system, we are not separate.

We find ourselves in this position because of the underlying drivers that result in carbon emissions getting larger and larger. And that view is entirely inconsistent with a mātauranga approach to living, which seeks to derive value from the relationships we have with Earth, the waters and the ocean. It is not that we can't grow forests, it is not that we can't have farms, it is just that the sole driver should not just be money, the drivers could be things like mauri or wellbeing.

What needs to happen is that, through the climate change risk assessment process, Māori views of how change will occur, what the risks are, and what will be exacerbated, need to be listened to. We need to incorporate that knowledge into whatever decisions we make, because if we just seek to draw from science, we ignore such an amazing, rich source of information.

As told to Eloise Gibson.

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'People say summer is early - that would never happen in a Māori world view'

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Dr Dan Hikuroa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui) is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland who studies how to apply Māori knowledge to climate problems. When it comes to adapting to shifting climates, he says, indigenous knowledge can help all New Zealanders cope. I always had a love for knowing and, in particular, knowing the natural world.

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Re: Journalist Baz Macdonald explores what regenerative farming is, and if it might be the answer to the environmental impact of our dairy industry. This article is part of Milk and Money, a documentary and article series about the true cost of dairy in Aotearoa. You can watch it now on Re: and TVNZ OnDemand.
If I take a shit in a field, that's not a huge deal. But if 20,000 people take a shit in a field, then you've got a problem.

That's how much the average herd of dairy cows produce every day. One herd of 440 cows produces the same amount of pee and poop as nearly 20,000 people.

The way we dairy farm right now creates an imbalance between the concentration of waste being produced and the ability of the land to process it.

What if we could find a way to farm our dairy cows that struck that balance? That is what regenerative farming aims to do.
What is regenerative farming and why do we need it?
Right now, the model of dairy farming in New Zealand is intensive - which means we keep more cows than the land could naturally produce enough food for. So, we have to use inputs like fertilisers and irrigation to grow as much grass as quickly as possible.

Over the past thirty years, the industry has doubled the number of dairy cows in New Zealand to 6.3 million. As it did, the industry became the largest water user in the country, and increased its use of nitrogen fertiliser by over 600 percent.

Even with all of that, it can't grow enough grass to feed all these cows and has become more and more reliant on importing feed from overseas.

New Zealand is now one of the largest importers of Palm Kernel Extract (PKE) in the world, second only to the entire European Union.

PKE is a by-product of palm oil - it's what remains of the palm fruit after you've extracted the oils from it. Like palm oil, PKE has been linked to mass deforestation in Southeast Asia, worsening the climate crisis and leading to the near extinction of many species, including the orangutan.

By keeping more cows than the land can naturally feed, the dairy industry has exceeded the land's ability to process the waste of these animals and the fertilisers we are applying.

And so the environment is deteriorating. Our rivers are buckling under intensive agriculture, with 75 percent of native fish now on the endangered species list.

Our atmosphere is warming, with dairy cows responsible for nearly a quarter of all our emissions - more than all our cars.

And our soils are degrading under the weight of these cows and the overreliance of artificial fertilisers we pump onto them.

Some regenerative farmers say these impacts show there is an imbalance in the system - an imbalance that regenerative farming might be able to remedy.

At its core, the regenerative approach is about finding balance between the land a farmer has, and what it can naturally support.

This means less fertilisers, no irrigation, no imported feed - just the natural cycles of sun, air, water and soil that have produced life for time eternal.

Regenerative farmers say if this balance is struck, animals actually become part of the natural cycle of the land, instead of overwhelming it. All that poo and pee becomes natural fertiliser, instead of pollution.

The concept has been gaining traction all over the world in recent decades, and there are a growing number of farmers experimenting with ways of working towards a farming system that can exist purely as part of the natural cycles of the land.

They believe this holistic view - seeing our farming as part of a larger living ecosystem - will lead to healthy water, soil and animals. And may also be more economically sustainable for farmers, with more drought resistance, and less money spent on inputs like fertiliser and feed.
The regenerative experiment
There are already many New Zealand farmers who have begun the long-term work of finding the natural balance between dairy cows and the land. Creating a balanced system, with the right number of cows, adequate diversity of plants and other animals, and properly developed soils will likely take decades. The majority of New Zealand's regenerative farmers are less than five years into this long-term process.

One of these farmers is Sam Hogg, an organic and regenerative dairy farmer in Manawatu. He took over his family farm four years ago, and began transitioning it from an intensive farm to the regenerative model - reducing the number of cows they had by a quarter, eliminating synthetic fertilisers and diversifying their paddocks with more seed varieties and vegetable crops.

I visited the farm just after they had finished harvesting the vegetables for the season, and saw the dairy cows grazing on the leftovers.

I was surprised at how different the behaviour of the cows could be based on their diet. After spending a night grazing on a veritable buffet of different plants - broccoli, potatoes, pumpkin - the cows were lively, playful, and a bit cheeky. Rounding them up for morning milking was like trying to pull a toddler away from an icecream sundae - every time you'd get them moving towards the milking shed they'd sneak back.

Sam has also been experimenting with different seed mixes in his paddocks. He pointed out two paddocks that had been producing 30 percent less grass than the rest when relying on fertilisers. Over the last four years he has brought them back to the average by introducing a range of different plants such as chicory, plantain and six different breeds of grass.

"They were bored, lifeless," Sam says. "We brought them back to par with no other input than diversity."

I watched the cows making their way to one of these diverse pastures after milking and they were literally running with excitement. Earlier that week I had seen them enter a regular pasture in a very docile way, and so I was stunned by the difference in enthusiasm when they entered this diverse pasture.
Regenerative resistance
The trouble is, the effectiveness and sustainability of regenerative farming in New Zealand is currently totally anecdotal, with little to no scientific testing of the model here.

Prominent New Zealand water ecologist Dr Mike Joy thinks this lack of research is due to the scale of business-funded research in New Zealand. He estimates that for every one hundred dollars spent on research in Aotearoa, 95 of that is funded by business. This has led to good research, he says, but within the very narrow lens that suits the priorities of the agri-business industry.

And regenerative has not been a priority for agri-business - possibly because the model would mean a lower level of production, and less money spent on inputs like fertilisers and feed.

In fact, the agriculture industry has been actively resistant to the regenerative movement. Farmers all across the country told me they routinely receive flyers from agricultural lobbies denouncing the regenerative movement.

The most common argument the dairy industry makes against the movement is that it is unsustainable because dairy is so extractive. Our cows eat grass to gain nutrients, some of those nutrients are used to maintain the animal, some excreted as waste, and some go into the milk which is then exported overseas.

So they say that because we export milk with nutrients from the land, we need to introduce nutrients (in the form of fertiliser) back into the land.

But regenerative advocates say if soils are allowed to develop more fully than in the current system, they could draw in all the required nutrients from the water, atmosphere and sun alone.

Another common criticism of regenerative farming is the belief that most New Zealand farmers are already implementing regenerative practises. This is partly true.

In the first step towards scientifically validating the claims of the regenerative movement in New Zealand, a National Science Challenge team created a set of 11 principles behind regenerative farming. Some of these principles are already compatible with how we farm.

The chief author of this work, Gwen Grelet from Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, said "Our consultation found many areas of strong agreement between advocates and sceptics. It's time to stop bickering and focus on identifying any true benefits regenerative agriculture might have for New Zealand."

The diversity of Sam's pasture is a good example of this compatibility. It is already common practise for farmers to seed paddocks with mixed grasses and legumes. However, farmers like Sam take it a step further with their plant mixes. While a conventional farmer might do a mix of three of four plants, Sam is doing mixes of around 16. It was these kinds of pastures I saw the cows get excited about.

But there are also ways we currently farm that are incompatible with regenerative farming - such as the high use of synthetic fertilisers and the practise of digging up paddocks to reset them. Essentially, all of the practises used to allow more cows than the land could naturally sustain.

As such, some sacrifices need to be made when dairy farmers make the transition to regenerative. Sam needed to reduce the number of cows he had by a third in order to reach a point of equilibrium when synthetic fertilizers and imported supplementary feed were removed.

But while he has had a 30 percent drop in production, he also reduced the running costs of the farm by a third by reducing inputs.

And there are immediate gains in environmental quality from this change.

Take nitrogen, for example. Although nitrogen is responsible for many of the environmental harms dairy creates, it's important to remember that nitrogen is actually vital for plant growth. The trouble we have with nitrogen in New Zealand is that we apply more synthetic nitrogen fertiliser than the soil can absorb, and so it overflows and becomes pollution - leading to toxic algae growth in our freshwater and intense emissions in our atmosphere.

Regenerative farmers say that by using these fertilisers, not only are we creating pollution, but also disrupting the ecosystems of the soil - undermining the natural ability of the plants and microorganisms to capture and cycle nitrogen from the air back into the soil.

Is regenerative the way forward?
There is a lot we don't know about regenerative right now. Is it sustainable long term? How high can production go using only well developed soil? How well will it mitigate the environmental impact we see from dairy now?

All of these questions need to be answered scientifically and it looks like that work is finally going to happen.

But even without that data, there are a growing number of farmers around the country who say they are seeing healthier land, water and animals and still running economically viable businesses.

It says something that farmers like Sam and many others are making the shift without this data. To some, even the unknown is more alluring than the impacts of our current way of farming.

What is exciting about regenerative is that it thrives on this unknown. Of the 11 underlying principles of the movement in New Zealand, many are about the mindset - things like 'question everything', 'learn together', and 'failure is part of the journey'.

These farmers are rushing headlong into the unknown, armed only with a desire to learn how to be the best, most ethical and sustainable farmers they can be.

That's a goal I can get behind.
Want to know more about New Zealand's dairy industry? Our six-part documentary Milk and Money is available to watch now on Re: and TVNZ OnDemand.

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Dairy can't manage its crap, but innovative farmers are trying to fix that

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Re: Journalist Baz Macdonald explores what regenerative farming is, and if it might be the answer to the environmental impact of our dairy industry. This article is part of Milk and Money, a documentary and article series about the true cost of dairy in Aotearoa. You can watch it now on Re: and TVNZ OnDemand.

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https://www.guardianonline.co.nz/heritage/electric-tractors-were-short-lived/

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From the time it was formed in 1921 the Ashburton Electric Power Board, under the direction of its engineer-secretary H. G. Kemp, expanded its reticulation rapidly into the rural areas of the Ashburton District.

However, as the major depression of the 1930s began to bite the demand for electricity failed to keep pace with the network's growth, bringing in insufficient revenue to meet costs. The board decided it needed to increase the load by promoting new uses for electricity. One initiative was the sale of heat storage ranges. However, it was also thought the increased application of electricity to agriculture could help the board out of its financial woes.

Mr Kemp felt electricity could be used to power tractors, which at that time were starting to win the battle against horses on farms. In 1932 he began designing electric tractors and building experimental models in the board's workshops.

He used the chassis and drive equipment of internal combustion engine tractors that had worn out their original engines, experimenting first with British Wallis tractors before moving to American Hart Parr machines. His design consisted of a turntable at the front where the original engine had been, with a jib mounted on it, the jib carrying a large drum with the cable wound on it. The jib always pointed in the direction the cable was pulling it. A large electric drive motor was mounted low between the frames, driving to the original gearbox.

As the tractor drove away from the power source, the cable pulled the jib in that direction and the cable wound out. Driving in the other direction the jib would point towards the cable and a winding motor mounted above the cable drum would wind the cable in. This motor was controlled through a patented switching device at the top of the jib that was operated by the tension on the cable, switching on whenever the cable became slack.

About eight machines were built, although the ones on British Wallis chassis never got past the experimental stage as it was found their sheet metal frames cracked with the pull of the jib. Six tractors built on Hart Parr chassis, four on larger tractors and two more successful ones on smaller models. These were sold to farmers in different parts of the Ashburton county and proved to be remarkably efficient.

The tractors went into service between March 1934 and April 1937. They all did lengthy spells of work over an eight-year period, several working in excess of 4000 hours. They were used primarily for cultivation, although by adopting a different method of working it was found they could be used in standing crop without the cable damaging the crop. Some were also used to power stationary machinery, such as threshing mills. To increase the versatility of the tractors Mr Kemp also imported Howard rotary hoes from Australia, driven by the tractor's power take off.

The tractors could not be powered while they moved from one workplace to another, but that was solved by towing them with the truck their transformer was mounted on. Some of these trucks were fitted with steel drive wheels to allow this to happen. Another invention was the way the transformer was connected to the mains. A lever pushed three spring-loaded hammers on to three large square plates mounted on the pole, meaning no great accuracy was required in positioning the truck.

In the mid-1930s Mr Kemp attempted to sell his ideas to overseas interests. He was in touch with a scientific institute in Russia and a research organisation in England. He even wrote on a number of occasions to the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, suggesting his tractors would be the ideal machine to develop Italian agricultural land.

In the late 1930s an English university surveyed every application of electricity to tractors in the world. Many were small machines, used in applications such as vineyards, often with their cable strung on wires above the work. The university published its findings, concluding that the Kemp tractor was the only one that showed promise for use in general agriculture.

As time went on it became harder to obtain parts such as gears for the original tractors, which were long out of production. This, coupled with the war effort taking supplies such as cables, and the fact the small number of tractors sold meant the business was not paying for the board and production did not continue. The last tractor ceased operation in September 1943.

This brought to an end New Zealand's only serious attempt to build tractors, and the world's most successful application at that time of electricity to agricultural motive power.

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Electric tractors were short-lived | Guardian online

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From the time it was formed in 1921 the Ashburton Electric Power Board, under the direction of its engineer-secretary H. G. Kemp, expanded its reticulation rapidly into the rural areas of the Ashburton District. However, as the major depression of the 1930s began to bite the demand for electricity failed to keep pace with the ...

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eDNA data collected by citizen scientists

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eDNA data collected by citizen scientists

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Discover DNA

Explore publicly available eDNA data with our interactive web application, developed as part of the Wai Tuwhera o te Taiao programme on behalf of the Environmental Protection Authority - Te Mana Rauhi Taiao. Each point on the map represents an eDNA sample taken with a Wilderlab eDNA kit, and kindly made public for eDNA explorers.

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Explore publicly available eDNA data with our interactive web application, developed as part of the Wai Tuwhera o te Taiao programme on behalf of the Environmental Protection Authority - Te Mana Rauhi Taiao. Each point on the map represents an eDNA sample taken with a Wilderlab eDNA kit, and kindly…

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Track Zero aims to deliver creative platforms for the arts, science and others, to inspire transformative climate action - working together to build a resilient, carbon-neutral society that is fair for all of us. We organise projects and events to create a dialogue, increasing awareness around the urgency of the response that is needed. We offer informative resources on climate change and climate action initiatives. We actively seek collaboration with artists, scientists and other sectors to tell the climate story in ways that engage people's hearts and minds so they feel empowered to act on climate change - the biggest cultural challenge of our time.

Human-induced climate change is affecting our food, livelihoods, security and our very existence. The Paris Agreement aims to keep temperature rise this century well below 2ºC and drive efforts to limit the increase to 1.5ºC. Scientists tell us we have a critical window - less than a decade - to act to prevent climate events that may be beyond civilisation's capacity to adapt. The urgent response needed is not being matched by action.

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Track Zero aims to deliver creative platforms for the arts, science and others, to inspire transformative climate action - working together to build a resilient, carbon-neutral society that is fair for all of us. We organise projects and events to create a dialogue, increasing awareness around the urgency of the response that is needed.

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3D-printed steak, anyone? I taste test this ‘gamechanging’ meat mimic | Zoe Williams

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Marco Pierre White is championing Redefine Meat’s products, but do they live up to the hype?

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We Are Nature: A New Natural History - Carnegie Museum of Natural History

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Following the groundbreaking 2017 exhibition We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene, experience stories that weave across the entire museum.

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We Are Nature: A New Natural History

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Museon: One Planet sustainable development goals exhibition

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Museon: One Planet sustainable development goals exhibition

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Museon for the Children in Museums Award

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Sevn Sisters of the Future: decision making 

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Sevn Sisters of the Future: decision making 

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Eucalara is already feeling the impact of climate change. Climate refugees started arriving decades ago, invasive species are on the move, and water is an increasingly precious resource. Amongst all this are seven siblings. The siblings have inherited this land from their great-grandmother, but can't agree on what should be done with the land. They each have a different idea for what qualifies a good life and a good future.

Meet the siblings and help to shape the future of Eucalara through the choices that you make. SEVEN SIBLINGS FROM THE FUTURE asks what sort of future we want for South Australia. We consider the way that our personal values shape our decisions. How do these choices affect our community?

Adapted from its original showing at the Heureka Science Centre in Helsinki, MOD. is stepping into 2050.

Visit Eucalara in person from 30 November 2019 until 17 November 2020.

These accessibility considerations are included in the galleries throughout this exhibition, but differ slightly between galleries. Check each exhibit page to confirm the accessibility considerations in the space.

For more details on accessibility at MOD. see here.

A big thanks to everyone who made SEVEN SIBLINGS FROM THE FUTURE possible. See them all here.

***
If you didn't get to visit SEVEN SIBLINGS FROM THE FUTURE, or just miss hanging out in Great-Grandma's backyard with your new siblings, you can check out the 360 degree video below and re-live the memories.

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Eucalara is already feeling the impact of climate change. Climate refugees started arriving decades ago, invasive species are on the move, and water is an increasingly precious resource. Amongst all this are seven siblings. The siblings have inherited this land from their great-grandmother, but can't agree on what should be done with the land.

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Our future planet: carbon capturing technologies

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Our future planet: carbon capturing technologies

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Sophie Waring, Curator of the Science Museum's new free exhibition Our Future Planet explores how a suite of technologies and nature-based solutions can contribute to the fight against climate change

New exhibition Our Future Planet offers visitors the chance to encounter technologies that hope to help lessen the impact of our increasingly warming atmosphere on our planet , including prototypes never displayed in the UK before.

Alongside emission reductions, the utilisation and storage of carbon dioxide captured from our atmosphere has a small but significant part to play. Visitors will get to see prototype technologies that have not yet been tested at scale but offer a glimpse of the possibilities of carbon capture, like Klaus Lackner's Mechanical Tree.

Carbon c apture technologies are being developed to remove carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere and then utilise or store the captured carbon dioxide.

The most significant step we need to make is ending our reliance on fossil fuels. As society works towards that transition carbon capture is potentially a key innovation in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

Our Future Planet opens with a reminder of the urgency of the threat to our planet.

On display are fossils made from plants that grew and absorbed carbon dioxide 300 million years ago. When fossil fuels, such as coal, oil or natural gas, are burnt it releases energy from the Sun that has been trapped for millions of years. It also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making our planet warmer.

The first section of the exhibition is dedicated to nature-based solutions, giving visitors the chance to encounter the work of scientists looking at how the natural world is responding to increasing levels of carbon dioxide , as well as how forests can help to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Alongside reducing emissions, protecting natural carbon sinks - from forests, peatbogs and mangroves to oceans and permafrost - is essential to slowing down rising carbon dioxide levels.

In the next section visitors will encounter direct air capture technologies that are inspired by nature , which draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere just like trees and plant life .

T hese technologies come in different forms : from mechanical trees, with branches made of special material that sieve the carbon dioxide out of the air ; to enhanced rock weathering, where basalt rock dust can be spread over crops in fields and absorb carbon dioxide from the air when it rains.

As visitors move through the exhibition they will see how carbon capture technologies can be used in industrial settings. C-Capture is a solvent that can filter the carbon dioxide out of factory emissions before they are released.

But what should we do with all this carbon dioxide once we have captured it? Scientists are develop ing uses for it or find ing places to store i t safely .

In the final section of the exhibition, visitors will get to see building materials like concrete and aggregates and consumer products including sunglasses, toothpaste and yoga mats , all made with captured carbon.

But for carbon capture technology to be impactful on a mass scale, to really contribute to efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, scientists, industrialists and engineers are developing ways we can lock captured carbon dioxide back underground. Deep in the rock layers of the earth, from where fossil fuels, like coal, oil and natural gas were originally mined.

Our Future Planet will give visitors a special insight into the technologies that could help in the fight against climate change and leave them feeling inspired by the work being done by scientists, engineers and ecologists across the globe to safeguard natural carbon capture and design solutions to help reduce carbon dioxide levels in the future.

Our Future Planet is open now until September 2022 . The exhibition is free but to ensure you have the space you need to explore the museum safely all visitors are now required to in advance.

The exhibition is supported by UK Research and Innovation (Major Sponsor), Shell (Major Sponsor), the AKO Foundation (Associate Funder) and the Huo Family Foundation (Associate Funder).

Find out more about the Science Museum Group's approach to sustainability, including our journey towards Net Zero , on our website.

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Our Future Planet: Can Carbon Capture help us fight climate change?

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Sophie Waring, Curator of the Science Museum's new free exhibition Our Future Planet explores how a suite of technologies and nature-based solutions can contribute to the fight against climate change New exhibition Our Future Planet offers visitors the chance to encounter technologies that hope to help lessen the impact of our increasingly warming atmosphere on our planet , including prototypes never displayed in the UK before.

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size doesn't matter: small countries can make a difference

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size doesn't matter: small countries can make a difference

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Nicola Sturgeon: How small countries can make a big impact on climate change

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When it comes to tackling climate change, the size of a country doesn't matter -- it's their ambition that counts, says First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon. In a rousing talk, she shares examples of small nations -- from Bhutan and Fiji to her own Scotland -- whose leadership and climate action are galvanizing change on the international stage.

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TED Countdown summit 2023 talks

Climate action is on the cusp of exponential growth

Climate action is speeding up -- and we each have the power to push that transformation forward. As the head of the UNFCCC, the UN's entity supporting the global response to climate change, Simon Stiell points to clear social and technological signals that show we're at the tipping points of a green revolution -- and invites us all to apply our unique skills to defending the planet against the catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis.

The renewable energy revolution happening in Ukraine

What's it like keeping the lights on during war? Ukrainian energy executive Maxim Timchenko shares how his company has diversified Ukraine's power structures to survive Russian attacks, highlighting the resilience of renewable energy. Hear more about Ukraine's present-day challenges, how it's become a testing ground in the global fight against climate change and the transformative path towards sustainable energy independence.

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TED Countdown | Championing and accelerating solutions to the climate crisis

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We champion and accelerate solutions that will propel us to a zero-carbon world - a world that is safer, cleaner and fairer for everyone.

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Exhibiting and repurposing our museum rubbish

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Exhibiting and repurposing our museum rubbish

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Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email

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Waste not, want not: the Science Museum exhibits its rubbish – in pictures

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From decaying food to discarded bras, the Science Museum is putting a month’s worth of its waste on display

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Test your knowledge of wine culture with top connoisseurs

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Book a lesson

Discover

During the lesson your pupils will discover what the freshwater bugs (macroinvertebrates) that live in our waterways look like. They will find out how they can determine the water quality in the waterway depending on which bugs are found.

Investigate

On the field trip, if the waterway is shallow and easy to access, your pupils will scoop up bugs and empty them into ice-cream containers. If the waterway is not easy to access, adults supervisors will collect the bugs.

The pupils will examine the bugs using magnifying glasses. They will identify the bugs and record them on the bug sheet, with help from the adults.

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Book a lesson During the lesson your pupils will discover what the freshwater bugs (macroinvertebrates) that live in our waterways look like. They will find out how they can determine the water quality in the waterway depending on which bugs are found.

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Everything vibrates at its own unique rate, or frequency. Bridges, atoms, and playground swings-each wiggles, waves, or swings with a characteristic natural frequency.

In this exhibit, two pendulums are joined together, and there are two natural frequencies. In any system consisting of similar parts joined together-like atoms in a molecule or girders in a bridge-there are as many natural frequencies as there are parts.

Energy added to one pendulum moves back and forth between both pendulums. This happens three times a minute, which is the difference between the two natural frequencies, 47 and 50 swings per minute.

The unfinished aesthetic of this exhibit reflects Exploratorium founder Frank Oppenheimer's openness to tinkering with exhibit design. Made from hardware store parts and a staff member's kitchen table, this exhibit went through many stages before it premiered on the museum's exhibit floor in the early '80s.

Since then, there've been more alterations and iterations, including removal of a motor and an anonymous addition of whimsical feet. The Exploratorium has generated a smaller do-it-yourself version of this exhibit and a full-sized swing-set of coupled pendulums. (click image to enlarge)

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Coupled Pendulums | Exploratorium Museum Exhibits

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Everything vibrates at its own unique rate, or frequency. Bridges, atoms, and playground swings-each wiggles, waves, or swings with a characteristic natural frequency. In this exhibit, two pendulums are joined together, and there are two natural frequencies.

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Asparigopsis seaweed reduces methane in cows by 90%, but how to scale it up?

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Asparigopsis seaweed reduces methane in cows by 90%, but how to scale it up?

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To save the planet, we don't have to go vegan, says international climate change activist David Wallace-Wells. We just need cows to eat seaweed.

Add algae to their feed and they'll belch out up to 95 per cent less methane, he says. So that's New Zealand's climate emissions problem one-third solved.

Unfortunately, the reality is a little more complicated.

At the root of the excitement is the red seaweed Asparagopsis. It comes in two varieties, a warm water species, Asparagopsis taxiformis and a cold water species, Asparagopsis armata. The cold water version grows wild around New Zealand, hence the global rush to commercialise the seaweed's production includes two Kiwi efforts.

Nelson's Cawthron Institute is running a one-year research project, with $100,000 in government funding, to look at Asparagopsis's preferred growing conditions.

And the Provincial Growth Fund has awarded $500,000 to new company CH4 Global, which aims to grow and process the seaweed in New Zealand and South Australia.

Both are working with Australian teams at research organisation CSIRO and James Cook University, who discovered that the fluffy native algae could reduce the amount of methane let off by farm animals.

On the face of it, the research looks promising. Studies in both the lab and live animals have found supplementing the diet of sheep and dairy cows with 1-3 per cent of dried seaweed can reduce their methane emissions by 60-90 per cent. But behind those numbers lie logistical, food safety and animal health questions.

Unlike humans, sheep and cattle can digest cellulose in plants. The first of their four stomachs - the oxygen-starved rumen - contains an army of micro-organisms that help ferment the feed, reducing it to smaller molecules that the animal can then turn into energy. Among the microbes are methanogens, which like to hang out in oxygen-free spots.

They combine fermentation by-product hydrogen with carbon dioxide, to produce methane and water. The methane, or CH4, is released when the animal burps.

Unlike most microbes in the gut, scientists' best guess is that methanogens are not essential to digestion, so if you could reduce their activity, you could reduce methane emissions without affecting the animal's growth and health.

In the case of Asparagopsis, scientists have worked out that bromoform - a chemical found in many seaweeds - inhibits the methanogens, reducing methane release.

The first thorny fact is that bromoform is a known animal carcinogen. While it occurs in low levels in chlorinated water, the United States' Environmental Protection Agency has classified it as a probable human cancer-causer. It also depletes the ozone layer.

Proponents argue that in seaweed, bromoform is locked away in a complex cellular structure. But scientists and farming industry bodies are wary.

Andy Reisinger, the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre deputy director, who raised the bromoform problem back in 2016, says his concerns remain unanswered.

"I don't think it's a bad idea. I think it's an idea where claims have run ahead of the evidence and people haven't addressed core problems, or have tried to ignore them or make them go away by continuing to be terribly excited about it."

Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGGRC) general manager Mark Aspin says the farming industry remains nervous about the risk to its reputation of bromoform residue turning up in meat or milk. The memory is still raw of the fears sparked by the discovery of a trace of chemical DCD - which was not considered a food-safety risk - in milk.

"I think there's still quite a bit of work to do. It's not trivial to think about no residues, no food safety issues, no challenges like that. DCD - the nitrification inhibitor that was released was found in milk, it wasn't meant to be there, end of story."

​CH4 Global co-founder - cleantech entrepreneur Nick Gerritsen - is promising big things. As well as harvesting wild Asparagopsis on Rakiura, CH4 Global is undertaking tank trials to grow the seaweed from cuttings and has experimental growing ropes in the ocean - like mussel lines - in both Rakiura and South Australia.

The South Australia project is researching both taxiformis and armata, while the New Zealand efforts are limited to armata.

In New Zealand they've produced more than a tonne of the algae, but that's almost all wild harvest.

They're also investigating using existing freeze-drying operations in Invercargill to process the seaweed to a dried powder.

Their first target market is California, where lawmakers have decreed the state must reduce emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, which requires methane cuts in its 1.7 million dairy cows and 650,000 beef cattle.

Gerritsen estimates 1000ha of Asparagopsis farm would be enough to provide 10 per cent of that market, and that should be doable by 2022.

The business could create more than 3000 new jobs, CH4's website says. Gerritsen has also predicted CH4 would be the first commercial scale producer and leading global supplier into Australasia, California and other farming areas.

The rhetoric is similar to that surrounding a previous venture Gerritsen founded in 2005 with renewable energy champion Barrie Leay and former Christchurch mayor Vicki Buck. Called Aquaflow Bionomic, the company planned to produce biofuel from algae harvested from Blenheim poo ponds. Despite continuous promises that the company was on the verge of commercial production, its pilot plant only ever produced a tiny amount of green crude. Former staff say the media hype bore no resemblance to the reality on the ground.

Gerritsen does not accept he over-hyped Aquaflow and says it's unfair to compare the two.

Rhetoric aside, growing enough seaweed to reduce emissions in the world's cows presents a mammoth logistical challenge. Dairy cows eat about 16kg of dry feed a day, so at 1 per cent that's 160g of seaweed per cow per day during milking season. That would mean 1000 tonnes a day just to feed the New Zealand dairy herd.

That's dry weight. But seaweed is 70-90 per cent water, so the drying costs could be astronomical. For one research study, the seaweed was blast frozen for six hours then freeze dried for another 30 hours. Gerritsen says the economics of processing need more work, but at this stage it looks viable.

Asked how easy it is to grow algae, NIWA seaweed specialist Wendy Nelson laughs.

"That's like asking how easy it is to have an orchard and grow fruit. It's very species-specific, it depends on seasonality, kinds of growth, and for example, how you choose to prune or espalier your fruit tree."

Seaweed - mostly large brown algae, kelps and nori - is already used worldwide for food, agar, carageenen, cosmetics and food additives. Of the 30 million tonnes produced annually around the world, about 29 million is farmed.

Depending on the species, seaweeds can be grown in horizontal nets at the sea surface, on dropper lines like mussels, suspended in nets, in tanks or in cordoned off pieces of sea.

Despite looking like plants, seaweeds have a complex life history. Some - including Asparagopsis - have two distinct life stages, one big and conspicuous phase (the one you want to harvest) and another microscopic phase that controls the release of spores.

The Japanese grew nori for hundreds of years by putting bamboo stakes in the ocean and waiting for the nori blades to appear. But they had no idea how they got there. It wasn't until someone cracked the biology and connected the microscopic phase to the blade phase that the industry took off.

"Suddenly they could grow the microscopic phase in huge warehouses, could change the temperature of the water and the lighting conditions, hey presto you get spore release, they could seed their nets and that led to huge scale industrialisation of the nori farming.

"For Asparagopsis, I think the nut still has to be cracked. What are the sets of conditions that would enable you to control the seeding on to ropes or whatever technique is best? ... Until you've got control of the biology, you're really driving blind."

It's not the first time people have tried to grow red seaweed. In the mid-1990s farms were set up to grow Asparagopsis armata in France and Ireland, for cosmetics.

Reports show the algae was cultivated by growing cuttings from mature plants and using them to seed special ropes. It took about two months from seeding to harvest, and they produced two harvests a year during winter/spring, before a summer die-back. A 2-hectare French farm, with 14km of cultivation rope, produced 8 tonnes of wet seaweed a year.

Despite talk about it being the next big thing, the Irish farm was discontinued.

"If this was easy, by logic you'd think it would have been solved by now," one person commented.

While the methane-reduction numbers seem compelling, they merit closer scrutiny. Most relate to Asparagopsis taxiformis, not the armata species native to New Zealand. Gerritsen says CH4's comparisons suggest there's little difference in effectiveness, but an American researcher has said armata is only about half as potent.

One selling point of the seaweed supplement is that methane production wastes energy, so reducing it should mean cows can eat less and still maintain the same healthy weight and milk production.

But a UC Davis study that tested Asparagopsis armata on 12 dairy cows raised questions about that equation. Cows fed seaweed at one per cent of their total feed ate more than one-third less and produced two-thirds less methane. But they gained almost 10kg less than those that ate no seaweed. Milk production dropped by 11.6 per cent and milk protein levels also fell.

Bromoform levels in milk were also higher than in the control cows. However, the increase was not statistically significant and was still 500 times less than the United States maximum for drinking water. But iodine levels rose so much that further processing could be needed to meet daily limits.

Reducing the armata supplement to 0.5 per cent of total feed meant the cows ate 10.8 per cent less, with no reduction in milk production or weight gain. But at that level the fall in methane emissions was only 26.4 per cent.

Reisinger says that means farmers might have to use lower levels of supplement - with lower methane reductions - to keep their cows healthy long-term.

"If you're asked to run a marathon every day, you either eat a lot, or you grow very very skinny. So that's what we're seeing in some of those trials. The level of inclusion to get very high reductions does suppress feed intake."

The other major obstacle to using seaweed inhibitors on New Zealand farms is the fact our sheep, beef cattle and dairy cows mostly eat grass. That makes feeding a supplement a potential logistical nightmare.

In trials, the seaweed is mixed with a dry food ration. That's fine for intensively farmed animals fed grain-based diets. But how do you feed it to a sheep grazing on the far flanks of a high country sheep station?

You don't, says Aspin. The only realistic opportunity is in the dairy industry, where cows spend about six minutes in milking sheds twice a day. About 40 per cent of those sheds have feeding systems for supplements, but only 29 per cent have the technology to feed out a metered dose.

Even then, Aspin says, the seaweed supplement would have to be long-acting to work, because cows graze for 6-8 hours after milking, and that's when methane is produced.

"If it's very volatile and broken down quite quickly, it won't be giving the same kind of impacts you see or hear reported in literature of 80-90 per cent knockdown."

The PGGRC is also investigating methane-reducing alternatives, looking for other inhibiting compounds that would work in a grass grazing system, investigating a methane vaccine and trying to selectively breed sheep with naturally lower methane emissions. But nothing is imminent - the vaccine is technically challenging, any inhibitors are 6-7 years away and breeding programmes are not a quick fix.

Reisinger says New Zealand must find ways to reduce methane, and should not reject anything because it's not perfect. However, scientists should also look beyond the hype.

"Climate change is a real, serious problem so we shouldn't leave any stone unturned in looking for solutions. But people need to also be clear about what the solution looks like and what the implications are."

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Is Asparagopsis seaweed the answer to NZ's methane emissions?

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To save the planet, we don't have to go vegan, says international climate change activist David Wallace-Wells. We just need cows to eat seaweed. Add algae to their feed and they'll belch out up to 95 per cent less methane, he says. So that's New Zealand's climate emissions problem one-third solved.

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One by one, the archaeologists stumbled upon pieces of junk. Using techniques typically reserved for documenting stone tools and bones, the team recorded such items as plastic spoons, eye glasses, bottle caps, straws, mobile phone batteries, paint can lids, candy wrappers, and plastic wrap. By the time the experiment was over, the archaeologists had uncovered nearly 3,000 items, the vast majority of them made of plastic.

That plastic would be found at the site, a former hillfort in Wales, was not a surprise. In fact, it was expected, but not to this degree.

Since the 1980s, two replica Iron Age roundhouses existed on this spot, matching the ones that once stood at the Castell Henllys Iron Age fort during the late first millennium BCE.

Most of the visitors who came to the site were children out on field trips, the legacy of which is only now being understood. As the new Antiquity shows, plastics have a habit of sticking around-including in heritage sites that existed long before these synthetic materials were invented. It's yet another sign that we've entered into the Anthropocene, a period in which we're remaking the planet in our image.

The replica roundhouses at Castell Henllys served two different purposes. The first one, named Cookhouse, was set up like an actual Iron Age roundhouse, while the second one, called Earthwatch, was configured like a classroom, where students sat on benches to learn and eat their snacks.

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, which manages the site, recently decided to dismantle the roundhouses due to health and safety concerns. Prior to building new structures, however, archaeologists thought it wise to excavate the site. It would serve as a good opportunity to study decay processes, to determine which human activities result in leftover waste, and how replicated structures might affect the integrity of prehistoric structures located at the same site. Here, the two replica roundhouses were literally built on the same spot as the real ones that existed well over 2,000 years ago. As the authors wrote in their study, "we anticipated that the artefact assemblages and distributions at Castell Henllys could act as valuable tests for correlating accidental discard with activity patterns."

This turned out to be the case, but the quantity of waste seen at the site exceeded their expectations.

"We often find a small amount of recent debris when beginning an excavation, or if we find a deliberate dump, but never like this within a heritage or occupation site building," Harold Mytum, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool and the first author of the new paper, explained in an email.

This is not to say the heritage site was managed poorly. The roundhouses were cleaned regularly to maintain the look and feel of a prehistoric Iron Age setting. But as the new research shows, a surprising amount of litter managed to creep its way into the soil, leading to the discovery of so many items. Needless to say, the vast majority of the recovered items were found in Earthwatch, where the students ate their snacks. Most of the items were small and fragmentary in nature, such as torn packages, which explains why not all of the garbage was collected.

"Children's pack-ups [lunch packs] can damage the planet-they contain a lot of plastic and items get dropped and lost," said Mytum. "Also, candy wrappers are plasticised and are another environmental threat."

Needless to say, the discovery of all this plastic, while certainly a part of the experiment, forced the archaeologists to tweak their approach. The scientists had been recording all the finds, but they had to adjust their resources "to do the evidence justice," said Mytum. That said, it did not affect the archaeologists' ability to examine how the buildings had decayed over the decades and to the document the distinct signatures left by our modern civilization.

"Indeed, it revealed how artefacts get incorporated into the flooring and also where they were densest inside the houses," Mytum explained. "Prehistoric houses have fewer finds, but we can think about how activities leave their traces in the archaeology."

Moving forward, Mytum and his colleagues will continue to work with Pembrokeshire Coast National Park to educate the public on these matters and to find more effective ways of keeping these important spaces clean.

But it won't be easy.

"Even rural, well-managed locations can have a significant build-up of plastics in the soil," said Mytum. "The Plastic Age-an indicator of the Anthropocene-has indeed come not only to the oceans of the Blue Planet, but also to its soils. Reducing use of plastics is essential-this debris was a by-product of our lifestyles even in a place where any obviously modern materials, such as plastic litter, is cleared away to avoid affecting the heritage visitor experience."

To which he added: "If it is this bad here, it is a sign that our lifestyle needs rethinking."

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Archaeologists Uncover Disturbing Amount of Plastic Waste at Iron Age Site

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One by one, the archaeologists stumbled upon pieces of junk. Using techniques typically reserved for documenting stone tools and bones, the team recorded such items as plastic spoons, eye glasses, bottle caps, straws, mobile phone batteries, paint can lids, candy wrappers, and plastic wrap.

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how does planting a tree make a difference to C02?

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how does planting a tree make a difference to C02?

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Climate tips for climate solvers - carbon dioxide and forests

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Welcome to the second in our series of climate tips.  Join Sam and Gordon to discover how we measure carbon dioxide in our atmosphere in New Zealand, how nature is doing its bit to help, and what you can do to reduce carbon emissions yourself.

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eDNA citizen science Wai Tuwhera o te Taiao – Open Waters Aotearoa

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eDNA citizen science Wai Tuwhera o te Taiao – Open Waters Aotearoa

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Environmental DNA, or eDNA, refers to all the tiny traces of genetic material that is left behind as living things pass through water or soil.

In your backyard, local stream or boggy field lurks a secret web of co-conspirators. Largely unseen, they slink and swoosh, creep and crawl, helping each other to survive. Sometimes there are many, sometimes there are few. How do we know this? They leave their DNA behind.

From kērēru to kōwhai, and the leaves in the wind, all living things shed genetic information into their local environment. This is called environmental DNA, or eDNA.

For example, a bird flies over a lake and drops a feather. Under the surface, a fish swims around and, if it is unlucky, gets gobbled up by bigger fish. Likewise, an insect may fall into the lake, and leaves fall from trees. These plants and animals leave behind 'genetic breadcrumbs' (such as skin cells and faeces) in the environments they live in.

"In one drop of water are found all the secrets of the ocean."

Poet and philosopher, Kahlil Gibran

We get a picture of plants and animals

By collecting up discarded DNA and sequencing it, we can get a picture of the plants and animals in a local area.

Once it is shed into the water, eDNA sticks around for a few hours to a few days. The time depends on whether it is in freshwater, marine water, stagnant water, the exposure to sun, and so on. Other material that's in the environment can also break eDNA down.

We can survey the environment quickly

Environmental DNA is a new and powerful tool, and can be a way to scan environments quickly to detect change.

In some applications, eDNA may eventually replace some current survey methods, such as visual counts, netting, and electrofishing. It has the advantages of being non-destructive and doesn't require animal capture.

There can be limitations

Environmental DNA can't tell you how big a fish is, or the size of a population. A single water sample may pick up a large piece of skin or scale that contains a lot of DNA, leading you to believe there is a large population nearby, when really all of that DNA just came from one individual.

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Environmental DNA, or eDNA, refers to all the tiny traces of genetic material that is left behind as living things pass through water or soil. In your backyard, local stream or boggy field lurks a secret web of co-conspirators. Largely unseen, they slink and swoosh, creep and crawl, helping each other to survive.

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Hopping into the world of 3D-printed food - The University of Auckland

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Professor Olaf Diegel and Dr Arno Ferreira have recently made progress towards a tastier approach to 3D printing.

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The Refold cardboard standing desk is here to change the way we work. It’s portable, 100% recyclable and made in New Zealand.

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Observing waste through a kaupapa maori lens. education session

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Observing waste through a kaupapa maori lens. education session

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When we started planning a hui that addressed rethinking waste from a Māori perspective, we were challenged to make it authentic for our young learners. Working with Ngati Oneone, mana whenua to Titirangi maunga enabled the engagement of tamariki through a kaupapa Māori lens, and deepened connections to local stories and tikanga.

The day that eventuated on Titirangi was place-based, linked to examples of traditional Māori living, gardening, and cooking, and created very little waste, while considering the choices we make each day.

Our mihi whakatau from Uncle Albie from Ngāti Oneone was very special as he shared the stories of Maia bringing hue to Tūranganui-a-Kiwa and Te Maro, the legendary gardener, growing kai for his people. This pūrākau related to the amazing new sculptures at Puhi Kai Iti and on Titirangi.

The students, representing seven schools, journeyed into the present day by examining the Seabin and storm water grate at the harbour. The Seabin is emptied a few times a day as it filters out mostly plastic waste from the surface of the harbour.

The stormwater grate had a coke can and more plastic trapped in it. Students could see the links between how plastic travels via Tāwhirimātea (wind) and Tangaroa (water) and how these atua are affected by modern waste.

Schools were encouraged to stop waste entering their own school stormwater drains and to design some funky art creating awareness in their school and expressing why it's important to keep waste out of Tangaroa. Eastland Port and Gisborne District Council were excellent at extending their support to this kaupapa.

After a brief weather flurry, we moved to a midden site where Jordan and Mihi from Whaia Titirangi (a collaborative programme between Ngati Oneone and Gisborne District Council) shared their knowledge and mahi. Jordan and Mihi work full-time on the maunga, planting native trees, weeding and spraying, education, looking after pest control and more!

They are passionate people who relate well to our students and teachers. We loved collaborating with them, and they were kind enough to help plan the whole day.

Looking into the midden site gave students a tangible window into the past and was fascinating to all of us. We heard about the Polynesian designed fishhook made of moa bone that was found at the port, indicating it was made in the pre-1300s.

This taonga contrasted vividly to the "modern midden" that was observed on the path - full of plastic, dumped bones and cans washed off the road. This gave the students an opportunity to reflect upon their learning of the day so far, and the difference between the 'old and the new' ways of living.

Jordan explained that as well as demonstrating the tikanga around harvesting kawakawa for rongoā Māori, the students were also given a kōrero about the small midden pit which had shell remains present on Titirangi. "This gave a good comparison to what early Māori cooks left after a kai, where-as we in the modern era have a kitchen rubbish bin full of plastic, tin cans and other non-biodegradable items".

After a delicious morning tea, we moved into groups and explored the different ways we can reduce waste. Talei from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa discussed the whakapapa and tikanga of harvesting harakeke and our students loved making a putiputi.

Rawinia Kingi, Poutautoko from Te Aho Tū Roa, helped us plan the day and ran an inspiring workshop about the story of how kūmara came to Tairāwhiti and how we can grow it. Enviroschools Tairāwhiti Regional Coordinator Darnelle Timbs challenged students with a story of plastic and the affects plastic waste this can have on many Atua.

We finished the day by each writing down one idea for moving towards zero waste in our own lifestyles. We then sowed our ideas, by literally planting a hue seed in a pot. Schools discovered more about the stories around hue and how to grow containers from hue instead of using plastic.

Finally, we honoured the learning from the day by closing with our poroporoaki, which was given by Mihi.

It turned out the enthusiasm from the day's learning wasn't over however, and the interesting kōrero continued on the journey home. Emma McFadgyen, teacher at Makauri School, said that during the drive back the students discussed how they were going to facilitate specific workshops in their collaborative hub to share with others what they had learnt on this day.

The students contemplated how this could lead to tidying up the school's harakeke, growing a potential rongoā garden, and growing hue and kūmara.
"The recent Enviroschools workshop gave students an opportunity to view zero waste through a kaupapa Māori lens. It incorporated the local history of the Tairāwhiti region and weaved these ideas to our present time and how we can look at reducing our waste currently. The students, who attended the day from the school I work at, were engaged during the whole process and found the experiences relevant to the projects they were exploring in their school, which they will take back and share as inspiration... It was a great day!" - Emma McFadgyen

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Rethinking Waste Through a Māori Perspective

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When we started planning a hui that addressed rethinking waste from a Māori perspective, we were challenged to make it authentic for our young learners. Working with Ngati Oneone, mana whenua to Titirangi maunga enabled the engagement of tamariki through a kaupapa Māori lens, and deepened...

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Community Waste Centre planned for western springs

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Community Waste Centre planned for western springs

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Lease decision paves way for community recycling centre in Auckland central

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A new community recycling centre for central Auckland at the Western Springs Garden is a step closer after an Albert-Eden Local Board decision on a community lease for a site at 956 Great North Road.

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Mining eWaste for metals, Auckland company

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Mining eWaste for metals, Auckland company

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'Mint's vision is to provide a low cost, sustainable solution to recover precious metals from the urban mine, by having a biorefinery in every major city around the world.'

Uses efficient and sustainable processing methods
to extract value

Circular

Provides low cost regional plants, returning materials into the local economy

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E-waste Recycling | Mint Innovation | Auckland

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'Mint's vision is to provide a low cost, sustainable solution to recover precious metals from the urban mine, by having a biorefinery in every major city around the world.' Uses efficient and sustainable processing methods to extract value Circular Provides low cost regional plants, returning materials into the local economy

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Reducing food waste is one of the most effective ways we can fight climate change.

Every year, around the world, we waste a third of the food we produce. And for every bit of food that's squandered, we also waste all the energy, water, land and resources used to produce that food in the first place.

The great news is, there are lots of ways we can fight food waste right across the food supply chain. Upcycling is one of these ways, and that's where we come in.

Citizen was started by a bunch of people who want to help fight food waste by upcycling food instead of letting it go to waste. We're a proud member of the fast-growing global network of food upcycling organisations, the Upcycled Food Association.

Every Citizen product is made using edible surplus food, or edible food production by-products destined for waste streams. We rescue this food, then re-work it into delicious food and drink.

Our first product is beer made using surplus supermarket bread. Every can uses the fermentable starches from one rescued slice of unsold bread. Slice by slice, it adds up.

We then dry and mill our brew mash to create a high-quality, nutritious spent-grain flour that we use as a core ingredient in our Citizen sourdough loaves.

Behind the scenes, we're preparing more awesome foods and drinks for launch. It's all part of our mission to help rebuild a broken food system.

Welcome to the world's most delicious revolution. Cheers!

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About Us | Reducing Food Waste | Citizen Collective

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Reducing food waste is one of the most effective ways we can fight climate change. Every year, around the world, we waste a third of the food we produce. And for every bit of food that's squandered, we also waste all the energy, water, land and resources used to produce that food in the first place.

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Free-range egg producer Frenz is solving an environmental problem and boosting the nutritional content of its eggs by feeding mussel waste to chickens.

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Broken Nature

The XXII Triennale di Milano, Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, highlights the concept of restorative design and studies the state of the threads that connect humans to their natural environments--some frayed, others altogether severed. In exploring architecture and design objects and concepts at all scales and in all materials, Broken Nature celebrates design's ability to offer powerful insight into the key issues of our age, moving beyond pious deference and inconclusive anxiety. By turning its attention to human existence and persistence, the XXII Triennale will promote the importance of creative practices in surveying our species' bonds with the complex systems in the world, and designing reparations when necessary, through objects, concepts, and new systems. Even to those who believe that the human species is inevitably going to become extinct at some point in the (near? far?) future, design presents the means to plan a more elegant ending. It can ensure that the next dominant species will remember us with a modicum of respect: as dignified and caring, if not intelligent, beings.

Broken Nature is composed of a thematic exhibition and a number of international participations solicited through official channels. It will run from March 1 to September 1, 2019.

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Broken Nature portrait #3: Accurat-The Room of Change

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Broken Nature The XXII Triennale di Milano, Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, highlights the concept of restorative design and studies the state of the threads that connect humans to their natural environments--some frayed, others altogether severed.

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Speed and Scale: An action plan for climate

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Speed and Scale: An action plan for climate

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John Doerr and Ryan Panchadsaram: An action plan for solving the climate crisis

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"How much more damage do we have to endure before we realize that it's cheaper to save this planet than to ruin it?" asks engineer and investor John Doerr. In conversation with Countdown cofounder Lindsay Levin, Doerr and systems innovator Ryan Panchadsaram lay out six big objectives that -- if pursued with speed and scale -- could transform society and get us to net-zero emissions by 2050.

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Biome turns Didymo, the pest algae into high-end fashion materials. Founder, Logan Williams (Ngai Tahu) leads the Christchurch based start-up. The company aims

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Biome

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Arataki Systems is a proudly Māori owned, whānau (family) owned business based in Aotearoa New Zealand that builds digital cultural storytelling platforms and end to end technology solutions.

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Awesome friendly family with knowledge of exactly what I needed for my daughter to practice for her school performance. She's delighted and I'm stoked. Thanks heaps

Carmen Copland

Fast delivery and awesome communication when I ordered the poi. My 2 year old couldn't have opened anything more exciting on Christmas Day, her face said it all as she said with delight "poi E". Thank you.

Nicole Kearns

I ordered yesterday morning and they arrived today - nga mihi nui - they are ataahua and so well made. I will be ordering more very soon.

Sharleen Hole

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Awesome friendly family with knowledge of exactly what I needed for my daughter to practice for her school performance. She's delighted and I'm stoked. Thanks heaps Carmen Copland Fast delivery and awesome communication when I ordered the poi.

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A set of playful digging tools for our tamariki based on customary Māori design

418 backers pledged NZ$ 53,932 to help bring this project to life.

You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content.

Paku: Discover Aotearoa through play

Funding period

- (39 days)

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A set of playful digging tools for our tamariki based on customary Māori design 418 backers pledged NZ$ 53,932 to help bring this project to life. You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. Paku: Discover Aotearoa through play - (39 days)

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The native kānuka plant is being transformed into a 'liquid smoke' in a new business venture.

"Hangi in a bottle" is how the Auckland academics and Ruatōria whānau behind the start-up Nuka Institute describe their food flavouring.

University of Auckland management lecturer D Kiri Dell (Ngāti Porou) is part of the Nuka Institute team.

Dr Dell says she wanted to replicate the aroma of kānuka from her childhood memories in a flavoursome food ingredient.

"I had always been curious for quite a while around how can we create more value around kānuka trees, considering its a massively abundance resource for Māori landowners.

"At that time mānuka was kind of the hero tree of New Zealand, and nobody was interested in talking about kānuka and thought I was being quite silly with regards to my pursuits."

The scientists working to capture the taste of kānuka brought a new perspective on a plant that seems quite ordinary to Māori, she says.

"We've been surrounded by this tree all our lives, and I guess in a way we've been locked into thinking about it in a certain way so when you bring these diverse perspectives and lenses on to what might be your everybody normal, they have the ability to think differently about a resource."

By putting kānuka wood chips into a pyrolysis machine, which exposes them to high heat and starves them of oxygen, a food flavouring ingredient with an instant hangi taste is produced, she says.

The Nuka Institute team is looking to scale up as demand for their liquid smoke product is already exceeding supply, Dr Dell says.

"We're working with government to secure some funding that will help us to scale up and an operation based in Ruatōria, and with that operation comes all those good things, like more jobs, more exposure of the community to science capability and development."

There's a bigger kaupapa at play than just business, she says, and Nuka Institute won't accept investment money that potentially overrides their values.

"Our biggest need at the moment is money to purchase equipment. In terms of investment, we've been really well supported by the University of Auckland and UniServices, which is our commercial arm, and without them, our journey would've probably taken another course.

"We've been really cautious about who we partner with, there's many people we could collaborate or get investment from, but we're very particular about who we want to be involved as partners in this."

Nuka Institute is also exploring other potential kānuka food products, she says.

"We've got one product that is going to be developed in coming off the leaf, in a way that you probably wouldn't normally think of, and we've got another exciting venture for the biochar.

"There's massive potential with our native plants and I'm involved with a few other lines of inquiry regarding other native plants, and the key is to match and marry Māori land communities with the right capability to help them achieve and realise that potential."

* Dr Kiri Dell is a lecturer at the University of Auckland lecturer and director of postgraduate diploma in Mā ori business development.

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'Hangi in a bottle': liquid smoke flavoured with kānuka

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Business and chemical engineering academics are transforming native Kanuka into a 'liquid smoke' startup - tasting like hangi in a bottle. The hidden flavour of Kanuka has been captured in an inter-departmental University of Auckland collaboration, together with whanau from Ruatoria. Dr Kiri Dell is part of the team behind the new business venture, Nuka Institute.

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Matauranga Maori and erdatication af freshwater weeds

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Matauranga Maori and erdatication af freshwater weeds

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A 70-year-old problem is being tackled with an 800-year-old mātauranga Māori solution just outside Rotorua - and the issue all started with goldfish.

Those goldfish, and the contents of their aquariums, dumped into Lake Rotoiti and Lake Rotomā back in the 1950s are the cause of the pest weed that now infects both lakes.

According to Te Arawa Lakes Trust biosecurity manager William Anaru, the pest weeds and their oxygen-sapping spin-off effect on the water quality has seen traditional kai such as kōura (crayfish) almost totally wiped out.

"It's disappearing, a 99 per cent drop in the last decade," he said.

READ MORE:
* Biosecurity champion brings Western science and te ao Māori together to tackle pests
* $2.5 million for Rotorua lakes project and jobs
* Weed infestation at The Groynes casts doubt over children's fishing event
* Northland council wins battle against oxygen weed in Far North lake
* Catfishy business a threat to Rotorua lakes

"Weed that is here, it came in via the aquarium trade, dumped goldfish."

Anaru was speaking to Stuff on Thursday at the shores of Lake Rotoiti where a key stage of the pest weed fight back was about to commence, as a team of divers prepared to sink Uwhi, harakeke mats, into the lake.

Cory O'Neill, the Te Arawa Lakes Trust lead diver, described the simple concept of using the woven mats.

They suppress the pest weed, preventing parts breaking off and establishing elsewhere, and also block the photosynthesis process.

Seeds from the native weeds, however, are able to grow up through the mats and over time, hopefully replace their pest competitors.

"It allows our native seed bank to come through," he said.

Anaru said the idea came to him in March 2020, just before New Zealand entered its first Covid-19 lockdown, at a weed conference in Wanaka.

It was there he heard about the use of hessian mats, imported from Sri Lanka, to do the same job.

That was the lightbulb moment.

"We've got this resource [harakeke flax mats] here, our people have been using for 800 years."

That was the beginning of a project led by the Lakes Trust that brought together Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, through the Government Jobs for Nature programme, and the weavers of Te Roopu Raranga Ki Rotorua, to create the 2.5m by 5m Uwhi.

Te Roopu kaumātua James Schuster said work to create the mats took place throughout November at the Te Puia Māori Arts & Crafts Centre, work that required time, technical experience and concentration.

He also said they came to be named Uwhi, a new name, as traditional weaving is "not put on the bottom of a lake".

"It's a new word for us, and it's become part of our life," said Te Roopu committee member and master weaver Christina Wirihana.

"We have had many discussions about the logistics of making and laying the Uwhi," said Anaru.

"We approached Te Roopu Ki Rotorua to see if we could bring our collective knowledge together and combine mātauranga Māori and science-based approaches to create a natural solution.

"By using freshly cut harakeke we are confident that the right choice has been made not only from an environmental standpoint, but also biological, with additional potential to grow our kōura population."

Anaru said the kaupapa was a prime example of drawing on traditional methods and knowledge to create and test a modern solution.

"We have high hopes for the trial and being able to share our experience with the rest of Aotearoa."

He said it was important too that the scheme was creating jobs amid the Covid uncertainty, and having a positive cultural impact.

"Returning kai to our people, being able to give employment."

The combination of mātauranga Māori and modern science was also key, O'Neill told Stuff before donning his dive gear.

"We can implement mātauranga in a way that's effective," he said.

"It's groundbreaking to use mātauranga in such a scientific way."

The topic of mātauranga Māori has been the cause of some controversy recently, with an open letter signed by seven professors from the University of Auckland claiming that although indigenous knowledge may play some role in the preservation of local practices and in management and policy, it "falls far short of what can be defined as science itself".

Others, however, have claimed mātauranga Māori, and knowledge from indigenous people, will play a key role in tacking issues such as biodiversity crises.

The 70 or so people gathered at the shore of Lake Rotoiti, down a winding logging road accessible only by a 4X4 vehicle, were clearly in the latter camp.

O'Neill said he hoped the mats would eradicate the pest weed within two to three months, then within another two to three months, natives should begin to emerge.

Toitū Te Whenua biosecurity and biodiversity manager Tracey Burton said they were proud to take part in work she said could "change the way we manage lake weeds in the future".

"Tackling aquatic weeds takes a team effort, and it's great to be working alongside the Trust to explore innovative control approaches."

Ngati Rongomai rangatire Tukiterangi Curtis, who blessed proceedings, summed up the mood of those assembled by the lake on Thursday.

"Making history today," he said.

"Something majestic, magical."

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Diving into mātauranga Māori to find an 800-year-old solution for 70-year-old problem

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A 70-year-old problem is being tackled with an 800-year-old mātauranga Māori solution just outside Rotorua - and the issue all started with goldfish. Those goldfish, and the contents of their aquariums, dumped into Lake Rotoiti and Lake Rotomā back in the 1950s are the cause of the pest weed that now infects both lakes.

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Described by many as the most moving show of NZFW, Emma Gleason caught up with the designer behind Campbell Luke to discuss the deeply personal narratives behind his work.

In a week where sustainability, diversity and identity were at the forefront of everyone's minds, the standout Campbell Luke show in the concert chamber of Auckland Town Hall captured these sentiments in a truly authentic and personal way.

The brand's designer, Bobby Luke (Ngāti Ruanui), is part of the fresh vanguard of labels demonstrating and exploring what fashion in Aotearoa is now, and his show was one of the most emotional things I have experienced at New Zealand Fashion Week.

With a choir in the stalls above the runway, from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi Marae, models walked the catwalk in a collection that incorporated high collars, ruffles and aprons, alongside contemporary design elements, and accessories that included kete and hats woven from harakeke by Keita Tuhi (Ngāti Kahungunu).

The show finished with a performance echoing the historic portraiture of Māori, featuring a hundred-year-old whāriki (mat) that is a taonga (treasure) from the designer's marae; followed by a standing ovation, with much of the audience weeping as Bobby hugged his mother Alison Luke seated proudly front row.

Fellow designer Te Orihau Karaitiana and other members of the audience and the kura performed Tika Tonu, a haka tautoko (haka of support).

The collection is entitled Whiri Papa, which translates to three threads bound as one, and it was inspired by the narratives of past, present and future, and their relationship to the knowledge carried and shared by the wahine in Bobby's life.

Backstage after the show, he explained how the kitchen was a formative place for him growing up: the domain of women, it was where they nurtured and educated the next generation.

Whiri Papa also draws from the legacy of Parihaka, and Bobby also explained why it's so important to him to explore Māori identity, culture and history through his work. "It's my responsibility to hold the mana (strength) of my people."

The effects of colonial actions and the process of decolonisation underpin all of Bobby's work.

"The collection draws from colonial silhouettes, something that has always attracted me as a designer. At the time of New Zealand being colonised, Māori were incredible adaptors - in good cases and in bad cases. My tīpuna (ancestors) Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti o Rongomai during this time sought to work alongside Pākehā and not against them, which still had an incredibly sad and destructive outcome that has left so much trauma - not just as a country but throughout the whole of Te Moana-Nui-A-kiwa (the Pacific Ocean).

"The outcome of the narratives that discuss this are subtle references of the time from the silhouettes in the collection - direct aspects such as high collars, ruffles, puffy sleeves, all inspired by colonial photos of Māori women during the 1800s."

Currently studying his PhD at Auckland University of Technology, Bobby is exploring the decolonising of design methodologies through re-representations of taonga, and agrees that the effects of colonisation are a dialogue that needs further work within the industry.

"This is definitely a topic of discussion that needs to be hashed out within fashion. Clothing is an incredibly westernised subject... but something is happening now in terms of a shift towards holistic ways of thinking."

Sustainability in the environmental and social spheres was also incorporated in the show. The collection itself is made almost entirely from linen; a natural and biodegradable fibre, linen crops requires less water than cotton, and it is the closest textile to harakeke.

Bobby has previously explored other sustainable methods, such as repatriating homeware such as bedspreads for his garments, and for this collection he included a knitted outfit with pieces originally made by family members in the '40s and '50s.

Social sustainability is equally a key focus of the range. "The collection is endowed with aspects of kaimahi - the worker, supporter, the foundations, the people in the background - it opens a discussion of paying attention to these people and really acknowledging them. In my case this was my mum, who was the subject of the three narratives in the film we also showed."

He also reiterates the importance of fostering and supporting a 'Fashion Whakapapa' with his work - "whether it's a seamstress, pattern maker or even someone like my niece sewing on a button, they are important and it's our responsibility as a brand and as a people that we acknowledge them".

These varied, deeply interlinked ideas all help contextualise the ground-breaking and personal show, and give weight to the reception it received from attendees and public alike - something that came as a surprise to Bobby.

"It was totally not expected at all - when the show started, we were scared that nobody would turn up. The influx of support has been amazing! The supportive messages from young Māori who want to be in the same position we are in has been inspiring. I feel we have done right not only as a brand but also for our culture."

Where does a young designer go after such a phenomenal solo show? For Bobby moving forward hinges on economic success in the retail market.

"Our next approach is sustaining it and making a living. It's okay for us to discuss our concepts and our culture through the presentation, but it's also important for us to become a successful business, to continue sharing and telling our stories, to inspire those who are up and coming, and for us to also give back to the community."

For fans of the Campbell Luke collection there is exciting news. "We will be selling for summer pre-orders soon, so keep an eye out!"
Pre-orders will be available on September 23 to October 4, when Campbell Luke launches its new website. In the meantime, follow Campbell Luke on Instagram, and scroll down to view all the looks from the show.

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Emerging Aotearoa fashion label Campbell Luke brings audience to tears

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In a week where sustainability, diversity and identity were at the forefront of everyone's minds, the standout Campbell Luke show in the concert chamber of Auckland Town Hall captured these sentiments in a truly authentic and personal way.

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Earth Matters, Artists respond to themes of global concern Auckland Art Gallery

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Earth Matters, Artists respond to themes of global concern Auckland Art Gallery

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Exhibition Details

Earth Matters includes work by artists who make reference to themes of global and environmental concern. It explores how we report on the world, and respond to our environment - either its physical matter or image proxy - with available technologies.

The artists in Earth Matters work in a variety of media from photography, to painting and sound-installation. They create images of our activity on earth, whether through the appropriation of news headlines, Google Earth's live imaging, or playing with pop-culture depictions of the globe.

Drawing on work from the contemporary collections of the Auckland Art Gallery, Earth Matters spans the last thirty years of art practice. The earliest work in the exhibition is a magnetic puzzle by regarded Swedish artist Öyvind Fahlström titled Section of a World Map from 1973, and more recently, from 2006, is an installation by New Zealand collective et al. titledMaintenance of Social Solidarity.

This eclectic array of work reveals how contemporary art typically responds to the world by depicting either sites of immediate locality (its soil and earth); sites of exchange, or a total picture of the globe, often with the comic realisation of the ineptitude of form to reveal the totality of our experience of earth.

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Earth Matters includes work by artists who make reference to themes of global and environmental concern. It explores how we report on the world, and respond to our environment - either its physical matter or image proxy - with available technologies.

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We have this at MOTAT outsife building 5. Currently there is no interpretation

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Wet pour safety surfacing provides a safe surface for playgrounds, fitness stations, schools, parks and Early learning centres.

Continuous porous material means no joins and less maintenance.

Elastic properties of specialised EPDM rubber ( ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber)

Hard wearing - Playtop is resilient to damage, weather extremes and has a high flame tolerance.

Playtop is perfect for hospital and retirement home pathways with it's non-slip attributes.

Specific designs and graphics can be easily incorporated in to wet pour safety surfacing.​

Available in 24 colours which with blends available, means thousands of colour options!

Playtop is tested and certified to conform to UK, European, Asian, American and New Zealand standards for playground safety surfacing.

Playtop safety surfacing is a wet pour product and can be applied in any shape, either on a compacted stone base or over existing tarmac or concrete. The base layer is made from recycled tyre rubber and the top layer consists of finer EPDM rubber granules, available in many bright, permanent colours. The impact absorbing properties of the wet pour rubber surfacing provide cushioning from a fall onto the surface.

Local councils know that playgrounds are a great place for kids to have fun and learn, together with the importance of community spirit and a meeting place for families to come together.
Playtop NZ together with local councils ensure each project has the very best design team, installation and project management. Playtop NZ is busy working with NZ Councils to provide the utmost safety for kiwi kids around New Zealand. Ensuring all initial assessment risks are completed together with planning, installation and construction, each project is totally unique and fulfills all specific requirements.

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Wet pour safety surfacing provides a safe surface for playgrounds, fitness stations, schools, parks and Early learning centres. Continuous porous material means no joins and less maintenance. Elastic properties of specialised EPDM rubber ( ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber) Hard wearing - Playtop is resilient to damage, weather extremes and has a high flame tolerance.

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Installed at MOTAT

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Let's Locky Dock

Lock, dock and recharge

Free for any bike, e.bike or scooter

Download the app

to get started

Locky Docks are smart city infrastructure that make cycling safer, secure and much more convenient. After launching in Christchurch, our Amsterdam of the Antipodes, they're now popping up across the country with sites in Auckland and Wellington now coming online.

Check out the map to find the Locky Dock in your neighbourhood or just download the Bikeep app to get started.

Locky Docks are part of the Big Street Bikers network for happy, healthy streets in Aotearoa.

Sponsored by

Engineered by

Supported by

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Let's Locky Dock Lock, dock and recharge Free for any bike, e.bike or scooter Download the app to get started Locky Docks are smart city infrastructure that make cycling safer, secure and much more convenient. After launching in Christchurch, our Amsterdam of the Antipodes, they're now popping up across the country with sites in Auckland and Wellington now coming online.

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Mining for precious metals using microbes

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Mining for precious metals using microbes

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University of Auckland Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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The venture using microbes to turn e-waste into precious metals

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Kiwi start-up Mint Innovation has just raised $20 million to go global - funds that will allow them to build their first commercial biorefineries for extracting precious metals from electronic waste. Leading their research and development is University of Auckland alumnus Robert Staniland.

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The venture using microbes to turn e-waste into precious metals

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Kaiika take 'waste' fish products and gift them to community

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Kaiika take 'waste' fish products and gift them to community

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Home

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Vector Energy/ Soul Machines partnership to create a robot Educator

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Vector Energy/ Soul Machines partnership to create a robot Educator

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In a first for education, Vector is exploring the use of "digital human" technology in its energy education programmes in primary schools.

In conjunction with New Zealand's leading AI company Soul Machines™, Vector has created Will, a "digital teacher" being trialed in its award-winning 'Be Sustainable with Energy' schools programme, which is offered free of charge to schools within Vector's Auckland electricity network. The school's programme was launched in 2005 and has since educated more than 125,000 children about energy.

Will can interact with children from a desktop, tablet, or mobile, and helps them to learn about renewable energy such as geothermal, solar, and wind. Will challenges kids on their renewable energy knowledge by asking questions such as "how tall is a wind turbine?"; "how long does sunlight take to reach the earth?"; and "when we burn biomass, what do you think is let off as the main by-product?"

Vector's Chief Digital Officer, Nikhil Ravishankar, says it's critical the company uses new and emerging technologies which will allow Vector to have better conversations with its customers - including its future generation.
"Our work with Soul Machines"What was fascinating to me was the reaction of the children to Will. The way they look at the world is so creative and different, and Will really captured their attention." "Using a digital human is a very compelling method to deliver new information to people, and I have a lot of hope in this technology as a means to deliver cost-effective, rich, educational experiences into the future." ™ is a very effective use case as an education tool for kids around renewable energy and creating a new energy future." "Creating one of the world's first digital teachers has been one of the company's most exciting assignments. The opportunity to see digital interactions with children in the classroom has been a fantastic part of this project with the next generation of Vector's users.
Will uses Soul Machines™' world-leading Artificial Nervous System - an autonomous animation platform that is modelled on the way the human brain and nervous system work - to bring his digital human face and persona to life in a very human-like way.

Soul Machines™ Chief Business Officer, Greg Cross, says education is going to be one of the breakthrough applications for Soul Machine's technology as digital teachers have the potential to democratize the delivery of education to students everywhere (particularly those in remote communities) and help address the growing teacher shortages on a global scale.

" Working with such an innovative company with a vision to create a new energy future, we've been able to not only demonstrate the power of digital humans in education, but also show how our technology can play an important role in helping companies reinvent themselves."

About Vector

Vector is New Zealand's largest distributor of electricity and gas, owning and operating networks which span the Auckland region. We're leading the transformation of the energy sector to create a new energy future with sustainable energy technology, which includes solar power, energy storage, EV charging stations, and smart meters, and we're constantly identifying and developing options that will provide value, choice, and service for our customers.

Soul Machines™ is a ground-breaking high-tech company of AI researchers, neuroscientists, psychologists, artists and innovative thinkers; re-imagining how we connect with machines. It brings technology to life by creating lifelike, emotionally responsive artificial humans with personality and character that allow machines to talk to humans literally face-to-face. The company's vision is to humanize artificial intelligence to better humanity. Soul Machines™ is now deploying the world's first digital humans with some of the biggest corporate brands in the world in Banking and Finance, Software and Technology, Automotive, Healthcare, Energy and Education industries.

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Meet Will - Vector's new renewable energy educator in schools - Soul Machines

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Media Release | 22 August 2018 In a first for education, Vector is exploring the use of "digital human" technology in its energy education programmes in primary schools. In conjunction with New Zealand's leading AI company Soul Machines™, Vector has created Will, a "digital teacher" being trialed in its award-winning 'Be Sustainable with Energy' schools [...]

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How to inspire sustainable systems change?

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How to inspire sustainable systems change?

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People are happiness seekers, joy and flow spark creativity and openness to change, people are social, people are copycats, stories have power, people want to be good

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Future homes are still highly energy dependant

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Future homes are still highly energy dependant

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Energy effecient smart homes? Or energy indifferent dumb homes?

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A 1960s ad, promising "You Live Better Electrically". Etsy/ecofriendlyfreckles

Imagine this: Total Electric Living... where electricity does absolutely everything: heats, air conditions, cooks, preserves food, lights, entertains, encourages hobbies, makes it the easiest way ever for you and your family to be happier, healthier, to live fuller lives.

Sound familiar? It should: while it dates back to the 1950s, that quote from a Westinghouse ad for the "Total Electric Home" is strikingly similar to today's ads for new "smart homes".

Today, US home automation company Control4 invites us to:

Imagine a house that remembers to lock itself at 10pm. Shades that close as the sun hits. A home theater setup that takes care of lights, sound and picture with one touch. With Control4, everything works together the way you want it to. Life is just better with a little more control.

Both visions promise homes that take care of themselves, and those that live in them, with us barely needing to lift a finger.

But there is one critical difference. The 21st century smart home also promises to deliver substantial energy savings through automated appliances and smart heating and cooling systems. Sound too good to be true? You may be onto something.

Smart home technologies are now being advocated not only by home automation companies, but by governments and energy providers as well. While there are energy efficiency gains to be had, it is important to pay attention to the new ways of life these technologies promote, and what this might mean for future energy consumption.

Lessons from the past

History provides many reasons to be cautious about dream home aspirations. For a start, utopian visions of our future lives and homes rarely come to pass as intended. They are like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: tantalisingly close, but never within our reach.

Nonetheless, the continual promotion of new ways to live are always productive in one way or another, just not necessarily in the ways they were intended.

The industrial revolution of the home and the proliferation of labour-saving devices like vacuum cleaners, irons and washing machines, was intended to free women from the daily drudgery of housework. And in many ways it did.

But as Ruth Schwartz-Cowan succintly points out, it also served to increase expectations of cleanliness, creating " more work for mother ".

As mother has worked harder, our dependency on the various appliances we now consider essential for modern day living has grown, along with the energy needed to power them.

Old expectations for a new future

It is possible to speculate on how "smart" cleaning, entertaining, security, heating and cooling technologies might ratchet up our expectations for these services, potentially undermining some energy efficiency benefits.

This is often the explicit aim of home automation companies, which promise to "elevate your standards" (Sony) and whose websites depict luxury and decadence on a Dubai-style scale. The smart lifesyle has one defining feature: it is all powered by electricity - albeit greener and more efficient electricity.

Remote controlled security lighting, for example, replaces the friendly neighbour or housesitter who keeps an eye on the place while you're away. Similarly, automated climate-controlled heating and cooling systems can replace other ways of keeping warm or cooling down, like wearing more or less clothes, building climate-sensitive housing, or taking a cold shower.

This preoccupation with energy-dependent ways of life dates back to at least the 1930s. Westinghouse's display-style 'Home of Tomorrow' celebrated its achievement of an electrical load equivalent to that of 30 average homes, "ready to do the work of 864 servants with the flip of a switch".

What has changed between then and now is that, where the dream homes of the past glorified their high energy consumption, the smart homes of today promote their efficiency credentials. However, both are thoroughly subscribed to an energy-intensive lifestyle.

Reimagining the dream home

There is nothing wrong with imagining different ways to live. Indeed there has never been a moment in human civilisation when we have not. There is something captivating and thrilling about a future that to many people, will never be affordable or available. That's what makes it so desirable.

However, what is troubling with these dream home visions, past and present, is their dependence on energy, or on electrically-enabled ways of life.

What we rarely see in the past or present are utopian aspirations for a way of life where homes are cooled without the need for mechanical heating and cooling, where security systems aren't needed, or where cleaning doesn't require new electrically-powered gadgets and devices.

When home automation companies invite us to imagine warming up our spa before we even get home, we might laugh, get excited, be appalled, or all three. But whatever our reaction, we should be concerned - not because the smart home of the future is destined to either fail or succeed, but because it might unfold in ways we weren't intending.

It might rope us into new forms of work for mother, father and the rest of the family. And it might increase our expectations for energy-intensive lifestyles.

We do need new utopian visions for dream homes, but we can do better than ones that only involve automation and energy efficiency.

We can imagine homes with new ways of entertaining, securing, cleaning, cooking, heating and cooling. We can imagine homes that don't need very much energy at all.
This article is based on content from Yolande Strengers' recent book, Smart Energy Technologies in Everyday Life: Smart Utopia?

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Dream homes of the future still stuck in the past

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Imagine this: Total Electric Living... where electricity does absolutely everything: heats, air conditions, cooks, preserves food, lights, entertains, encourages hobbies, makes it the easiest way ever for you and your family to be happier, healthier, to live fuller lives. Sound familiar?

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Foodprint App. decreasing foodwaste by allowing it to be sold

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Foodprint App. decreasing foodwaste by allowing it to be sold

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LittaTrap : Protecting the future of our waterways

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Stormwater sleuths: citizen science using the litta trap

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Stormwater sleuths: citizen science using the litta trap

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Stormwater Sleuths

The Tread Lightly Charitable Trust is excited to announce our new citizen science project Stormwater Sleuths, proudly supported by Auckland Council, SouthSci Comet and Curious Minds.

Stormwater Sleuths is a comprehensive and facilitated educational programme, designed to enable students from 15 selected schools across Auckland to lead a citizen science project to understand the type and amount of gross pollutants and organic matter that enters the stormwater system through catchpits (stormwater drains) located in school grounds.

Student learning will be extended through the data analysis in the classroom to understand where the pollutants are coming from, the effect the pollutants have on our waterways and what can be done to address the issue. 10 schools will also have the opportunity for classes to participate in water monitoring field trips for students to further learn about the effects of water pollution in their local waterways.

Stormwater Sleuths is a year- long project to be delivered in the 2021 school year, suitable for a year 5-8 class, with the aim of answering the key question: "Is our school community contributing to stormwater pollution in our local catchment?"

Programme components

Emptying the trap

On a regular basis students empty the trap to understand the type and amount of gross pollutants caught

Auditing the litter

Students record what litter/gross pollutants are caught in the LittaTrap.

Present Findings

Students as a class exercise are encouraged to present the findings and their recommendations for actions for reducing litter and debris entering the stormwater system

With thanks to our major supporters in 2021 for the Stormwater Sleuths programme:

Auckland Council Healthy Waters

SouthSci

Curious Minds

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Tread Lightly Charitable Trust | Stormwater Sleuths

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The Tread Lightly Charitable Trust is excited to announce our new citizen science project Stormwater Sleuths, proudly supported by Auckland Council, SouthSci Comet and Curious Minds.

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Farming our way to a more resilient future

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Farming our way to a more resilient future

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Farming our way to a more resilient future | Mike Taitoko | Boma NZ | E Tipu 2021 Agri Summit

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Forgotten Fibre, wool as a waste product and what can we do with it

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Forgotten Fibre, wool as a waste product and what can we do with it

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Shear Edge is a New Zealand based materials engineering company, revolutionizing industries built on synthetics one wool fiber at a time. Our wool polymers give your products world leading performance, and unique edge.

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Strong wool to absorbant material, revolution in the nappy industry

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Strong wool to absorbant material, revolution in the nappy industry

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OUR STORY

Woolchemy, NZ is an innovation 'mother' company, formed with one goal in mind: to transform an abundant base material [wool] into something more valuable, using sustainable, environmental and ethical processes.

Inspired by a love of the land and versatility of sheep, Woolchemy transforms an underutilized traditional natural fibre [wool] into truly innovative, multi-use products. Woolchemy, New Zealand is committed to providing eco-logical solutions to the everyday problems we all face in this fast-changing world.

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Woolchemy, NZ is an innovation 'mother' company, formed with one goal in mind: to transform an abundant base material [wool] into something more valuable, using sustainable, environmental and ethical processes. Inspired by a love of the land and versatility of sheep, Woolchemy transforms an underutilized traditional natural fibre [wool] into truly innovative, multi-use products.

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cleaning products as dissolvable tablets, re-use plastic packaging

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cleaning products as dissolvable tablets, re-use plastic packaging

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Business

VIEW PROFILE

Fullers has unveiled a plug-in hybrid-electric ferry that will service the Auckland-CBD run from 2023.

Chief executive Mike Horne told the Herald that his company had spent around $1 million on R&D for the boat

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Fullers unveils electric ferry for Devonport run, wider EV plans - NZ Herald

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Business VIEW PROFILE Fullers has unveiled a plug-in hybrid-electric ferry that will service the Auckland-CBD run from 2023. Chief executive Mike Horne told the Herald that his company had spent around $1 million on R&D for the boat

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There's a new highway taking shape at the southernmost tip of the North Island but not for sheep trucks or milk tankers.

Farmers like Stu Weatherstone, who operates one of Wairarapa's largest dairy farms, are getting in behind the scheme to create a bird corridor across the valley.

The four year Tonganui Corridor project linking the Aorangi range in the east and the Remutaka mountains in the west involves planting and protecting tens of thousands of trees on strips and pockets of farmland in the South Wairarapa valley.

It's hoped the corridor will eventually link the ranges and allow birds, insect life and other native species to flourish across the basin.

Stu Weatherstone, whose great great grandfather started milking cows in the area in the 1930s, said it did not take much persuading to become involved and fence off 20 to 30 hectares of his 1800 hectare farm for the corridor.

He felt there was a need to do more to change perceptions about dairying.

"The more we can do to convince people we're doing the right thing ... that's a good thing."

His farm sidles up to the foothills of the Aorangis and instead of replanting pine forest around the stream which flows through his property he is planting totara, cabbage trees, kanuka and manuka.

It's more expensive than pine and costing him $30,000 to $50,000 on top of funding from the project.

Further down the valley at the Kohunui Marae, Ricky Te Tau is tending tree seedlings at the marae's new native tree nursery, set up with the help of the Aorangi Restoration Trust which is driving the Tonganui Corridor project.

The seedlings are grown from seed collected locally, able to withstand the area's harsh winds as well as lure the birds.

"We're hoping to put a smorgasbord out there, and they can choose what they like," Ricky said.

From whole valleys to just one hectare slots, there are now about two dozen parcels of land starting to form a chain through the lower valley and 15 more are on the cards for next year, according to the Trust's operations manager Aaron Donges.

Raihania Tipoki said it is now a common sight to see kereru flying between stands of natives on his farm after years of planting. He has also joined the project, despite being somewhat cynical at first.

For him giving back to the whenua is key.

"We've been promoting planting natives for a very long time," he said.

"Knowing that other farmers are doing this for the right reasons, not just to look good or raise the value of their land."

Palliser Ridge, a large sheep and beef farm hugging the coast, is also on board.

One of its owners, farmer Kurt Portas said they had been planting native trees for nearly 20 years and about 150 hectares is in bush or retired. An extra two kilometre strip has gone into the corridor.

"We're doing our bit, the neighbour's doing his bit and all the other neighbours are doing the same thing."

It is part of the overall vision for the farm and involves all the staff including the shepherds and stock managers.

They'll chase out animals who've strayed into the precious plantings, Kurt said.

It's all music to the ears of conservationist and Martinborough winemaker, Clive Paton, whose own "bush block" was an inspiration for the project.

He has noticed an increase in birdsong in the 20 years he's been planting at the foot of the Aorangis.

Changing people's view of the land was one of the main aims of the project, he said, "rather than just having deserts of grass."

He said thinking had changed particularly in the last five years.

"I'm not looked on as being an oddball anymore."

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A bird highway is taking shape across the south of the North Island. Farmers and landowners are getting in behind the Tonganui Corridor - a project to link up pockets of old forest with new plantings so that birds and other endemic creatures can travel from the Remutaka range across to the Aorangi forest in the east.

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Sharing fishing "waste" with the community

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Sharing fishing "waste" with the community

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