Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust

By Simon Sheppard

May saw good progress made within two of the umbrella organisations
overseen by the BRCT.
The WEP (Waitati Energy Project) volunteer team and OWL (Our Wind Ltd)
successfully installed the 10 metre test tower at the Porteous Road
site and WOO (Waitati Open Orchards) recently submitted a funding bid
to allow further work to be undertaken on the open orchards front.
We are also pleased to report that $3329 was raised at the
Christchurch Charity Auction after the Dana Lyons Gig in February and
this money has been sent to Project Lyttleton to benefit victims of
the earthquake.
Last month also saw the Trust win a commendation at the DCC Trustpower
Community Awards in the category of Health and Wellbeing; with thanks
to the Waikouaiti Coast Community Board for nominating the Trust. See
more on this on our Facebook page (search for Blueskin Resilient
Communities Trust).
The BRCT has been offered a contract By EECA for some research on
community engagement. However, the Trust was less successful in a bid
to the Community Environment Fund, which was oversubscribed by almost
9 million dollars!
In other news, we bade farewell to our intern Xavier as he heads home
and thanked him for his efforts working with Scott on the many aspects
of the day-to-day running of the Trust.
A great lecture was given by Dr Jim Hansen at Otago University on
climate change and the 350 movement. He placed a lot of emphasis on
the legacy he sees us leaving future generations and gave some
entertaining thoughts on his interactions with policy makers, lots of
good food for thought for the believers and the skeptics. A turnout
of close to 1000 – the biggest on his nationwide tour – illustrated
the extent of both his following in NZ and the interest of the local
community in this topic.