By Mei Ling
Did you know that about one in five New Zealanders is under 15 years
old? That's a whole lot of fresh thinking and new ideas. Almost all
the people talking about climate change are adults and a lot of the
things suggested about how we can make a difference are adult-sized
solutions – things like driving less or using energy efficient
appliances.
Sue Roberts-Blyth, a part-time teacher at Waitati School, recently
reminded me that young people's voices and experiences are often
missing – your voices and your experiences. Maybe your family already
grows its own veggies and you always turn off the lights when you
leave a room. At Blueskin 10:10 we'd like to hear about what you and
your family are doing now, and what you think you might be doing in
the future. It could be a Big Idea that might transform the world, or
simple actions we can take every day, using our own creativity,
resources, and No. 8 wire thinking.
If you are lucky enough to be in Sue's class at Waitati School you'll
have the chance to think and write about your experiences and ideas in
class, and in the next few months we'll be sharing some of those ideas
with you in the newsletter. If you aren't in Sue's class that doesn't
mean you can't use your incredible brain to think about these ideas,
and we at Blueskin 10:10 would love to hear from you.
Here is the list of ideas for reducing our personal greenhouse gas
emissions from the UK 10:10 website (www.1010uk.org). It might help
you think about what actions on the list you and your family already
take, if there are any you would like to start doing, and then the
exciting bit – your brand new ideas!
• Fly less
• Save 10% on heating by wearing more clothes, turning down heaters
and insulating houses
• Save 10% on electricity by changing to energy efficient light bulbs
and appliances, and turning things off at the wall
• Drive less – leave your car at home one day a week, join a car club
instead of owning your own, or car pool
• Eat local, in-season food and have one meat-free day per week (but
don't replace meat with dairy!)
• Buy high quality goods, repair things, and buy and sell second-hand
• Dump less – avoid excess packaging and useless stuff, recycle
everything possible and compost food waste
• Don't waste food
• Don't waste water – take showers rather than baths, be careful when
watering plants, and only run full dishwashers and washing machines.
Blueskin 10:10 is loosely based on the UK environmental awareness
campaign attempting to get people to make a public pledge to reduce
their personal/business/organisational greenhouse gas emissions by 10%
in 2010.
• Blueskin 10:10: ameilingb@yahoo.com, 482 2289
From blueskin.co.nz and 'Blueskin News' published by Blueskin Media:
voluntary/non-profit community publishers in Blueskin Bay (Seacliff,
Warrington, Evansdale, Waitati, Doctors Point), Dunedin, New Zealand.
All material sent to or published by us is "copyleft" in the public
domain and may be freely shared, archived, re-edited and republished.
If you want to credit the source it's "blueskin.co.nz".
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