Sustainable Dunedin City

A group of flax/harakeke weavers meets on the first Sunday of the month at Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

We work in the Pa (flax plantation) in the morning and weave in the afternoon. There is always support, encouragement and suggestions to help with weaving projects/ kete and shared kai.

Contacts: Moira Crossman and Sue Hensley, 482 1755 or email sue.hensley@gmail.com

Open to everyone who would like to take part in keeping Dunedin’s coastline clean and beautiful. All you need to do is come to the meeting place, collect your rubbish bags and gloves, and head out to a beach of your choice to start picking up rubbish.

Wear sturdy closed-toe shoes and check the weather and dress appropriately. Don’t forget sun screen, hat, camera (please send photos to osofgroup@gmail.com), lunch, snacks and water. Meet outside the St Kilda surf lifesaving club on John Wilson Drive at 12pm.

For more information or to register your interest please email osofgroup@gmail.com or post a message on Facebook www.facebook.com/MarineReserves

Venue to be confirmed

In November 2012, Bill McKibben and 350.org hit the road in the USA to build a movement strong enough to change the maths of the climate crisis. The Do the Math Tour was a massive success, with sold out shows in every corner of the US

For more info go to http://maths.350.org/nz/ or

https://www.facebook.com/events/162766327216411/

Monday 10 June

Kristen on 473 9535 or tv473ig@list.king.net.nz

Would you like to learn how to graft a fruit tree? We are planning a workshop with Jason Ross from Sutherland Nursery on Sunday Sept 1st from 1-4pm.

Cuttings need to be taken at the beginning of July, when the trees are fully dormant. If you don’t have a favourite fruit tree to take cuttings from, we may be able to help. During the recent community fruit harvest, we identified some trees with delicious fruit that appear to do very well in our area.

The cost of the workshop is $30 to graft an apple or $40 for a pear. This covers the cost of rootstock, potting mix, demonstration and tuition from Jason, and venue hire. If you’d really like to come, but the cost is a barrier, let me know and we will try to sort out something. Venue will be confirmed once we know we have viable numbers. If you want to graft more than one tree, it is an additional $10 for each apple rootstock and an extra $20 for each pear.

THE APARTMENT upstairs from The Malcalm Trust, 174 Princes Street (enter “The apartment” from Dowling Street carpark).

Talk for Permaculture group by Dr Kat Lilly, Geology Department, University of Otago

How big is the problem of heavy metal contamination in urban soils?  How can we minimise our exposure to lead in our home environments, while still getting our hands dirty and growing our own food?  Kat Lilly is a mum, a scientist, and an avid gardener who grows fruit and veggies for her friends and family on a quarter acre in NEV. She will talk about how heavy metals get in to our environment and the related social justice issues, how to remediate your garden soil, how to make it safe for small children, what and where you can and can’t safely grow, and what to do if you’re worried.

GreenDrinks Dunedin meet on the LAST Thursday of each month from 5.30pm. Everyone most welcome!

• Our Topic this month: Small Appropriate Housing - with speaker Murray Grimwood. Murray’s planning to take us on an interesting 1/2 hr journey to understand why small housing is so appropriate (and necessary!) and what features we need to consider for the future.

CONTENT - ” Painting the big picture, which is the ‘why’ of small/appropriate housing. Looking at resource use in the build, longevity of materials, what houses built now will live through (houses standing today have seen two world wars, a major depression, the odd pandemic) in the future. what they should be built to withstand. Also looking at whether the existing stock can be altered - using less energy/resources - to house more people better. A look at demographics if time permits.”(Murray)

Murray Grimwood is a hands-on environmentalist, and minimalist. He writes the occasional op/ed piece, and a monthly column (The Good Life)  in Lifestyle Block magazine. Along with his partner Jennie Upton,  they built their own passive-solar, off-grid house. It was built of coolstore panels, plus recycled and down-grade materials, for only $50,000.

To contact Murray - email grimwoods@hotmail.com , or check out his blog at http://powerdownkiwi.wordpress.com/

GreenDrinks Dunedin is part of the non-political international movement Green Drinks whose  focus is to provide a relaxed space for people interested in sustainability and the environment to meet and get together.

Green Drinks Dunedin is hosted in Dunedin by Sustainable Dunedin City. For more information or to get on the mailing list please email Maureen Howard, GreenDrinks Dunedin Coordinator on mhoward@slingshot.co.nz