Kia ora koutou, Greetings everyone. Welcome to Sustainable Wellington Net's Newsletter #10. In this newsletter we have site news, WCC finally gets the message about Variation 17 and for better or worse embarks on a new plan, a summary of the recent Flaxroots Technology conference, more unbelievable news from Timberlands, WRC revamps public transport on Kapiti Coast, a report on how environmentally friendly computers are, a review of the thesis "Environmental Activism and the Internet", population growth, and book reviews of "Which Native Fern" and "Which Native Tree". SITE NEWS "Driving into a Transmission Gully" or "Te Aro Bypasses the Last 25 Years of Traffic Research". According to World Watch magazine, the car population is increasing five times more rapidly than the human population. In this editorial Tom Robinson writes about the Te Aro Bypass, Transmission Gully, and his reading on "induced traffic". Added phone, fax, e-mail, and address details for Local and New Zealand Environment Groups on the Network page (where available) VARIATION 17 Some extracts are from Leah Haines' article in the Dominion, 11 Apr 2000. Wellington Mayor Mark Blumsky has admitted that the council botched consultation on its plan to redevelop Wellington's waterfront. Mr Blumsky put the last knife into the ambitious Variation 17 waterfront plan early April, telling councillors that, no matter how it was modified, it would not work. The Council received more than 3,000 submission on Variation 17. [The Newtown Residents Association felt they'd been misrepresented in the last newsletter (and in the City Voice article we'd summarised it from) but haven't taken up our offer to print their side of the story.] WORK STARTS ON NEW WATERFRONT PLAN Summarised from a WCC press release . Work is now underway on a way forward to develop a new plan for Wellington's waterfront. "I have written to all the groups with an interest in the waterfront inviting them to share their views on what the process from here should be. I hope that we will have a report incorporating everyone's ideas for Council to consider at its next meeting on 24 May" said Mayor Mark Blumsky. "The survey we did showed that 97% of Wellingtonians are interested in the waterfront and that 84% want something done to improve the area. Not only do these results give us a mandate for action, but we can capitalise on this extraordinarily high level of interest to develop a new plan for the waterfront." Mr Blumsky said submissions would stay open until 8 May to allow people who had been working to this deadline to finish their work. All submissions would be analysed and used to provide input for the new plans. FLAXROOTS TECHNOLOGY: CLAIMING THE INTERNET FOR COMMUNITY Sustainable Wellington Net helped organise the "Flaxroots Technology: Claiming the Internet for Community" conference (17th-18th April) and also presented a paper on the development of the SWN. The Flaxroots Technology conference was part of the Community Networking (CN) movement which has been holding similar conferences around the globe for about 4 years. This was the first in New Zealand. The aim was to support the process of Community Development in actual geographical communities by bringing people together to share ideas for using the technology to support their communities, socially, culturally, economically, and politically. Hence the title Flaxroots Technology to signify that we were aiming at people from the flaxroots/grassroots, and not at government officials, academics, and technologists, although their support was gratefully received. One of the main issues raised at the Conference was equitable access to the technology by the economically underprivileged, and by rural and remote communities - the digital divide question. Another was the place of community in the political landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand, and the need to provide a voice for community in the political and policy-making process, and using the technology to enhance that voice. Most of all however, the conference was an opportunity for community workers to find out what other communities were doing, and how they were doing it. I think most people agreed that was the main aspect. Judging by the number of people who attended the practical hands-on how-to workshops in the Telecom-sponsored mobile classroom, that was also an important part of the conference for people who were not necessarily highly skilled in using the technology. The conference was a great success and hopefully will lead to the formation of some sort of national structure to encourage future development. Our paper is available on Sustainable Wellington . (Many thanks to Ross Himona for his help in preparing this summary.) TIMBERLAND'S EXECUTIVES FOILED IN SECRET PLOT TO KEEP LOGGING Summarised from an Environment News Service report by Bob Burton. For the second time in less than 2 months the New Zealand government has forced the government owned logging company, Timberlands, to terminate its employment of former company executive Kit Richards. In late January, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Minister for Timberlands Pete Hodgson demanded that Timberlands fire Richards from his position as general manager of planning. Richards lost his $NZ100,000 a year job last December after evidence emerged that he was organising a lobbying campaign against the policy of the Labour government which was committed to ending the logging of New Zealand's rainforests. Richards chose to resign, but within days he was back at work at Timberlands under a secret consultancy agreement. He worked for 4 days each month advising the logging company on how to gain Forest Stewardship Council certification for the logging of the native rainforests. Stunned by Richards reemployment, Minister Hodgson, contacted the Chairman of Timberlands Board, Warren Young and demanded to know the terms of the consultancy and why it had been entered into. Hodgson described the consultancy as "untenable." "I think that no sensible person could argue that someone dismissed for unacceptable behaviour to be recontracted almost immediately. If it is true that Mr. Richards can do work that no one else can do then that is a loss the company must bear," Hodgson told the New Zealand Parliament. Richards defended his consultancy arrangement with Timberlands. "There is no way I was acting contrary to the interests of the company. It would be argued in every sense that anything that I was doing was to promote the option of beech forest management," he told a New Zealand news service. After late night discussions between Hodgson and Young last week, it was agreed that Richards consultancy would be brought to an end. "In all the circumstances it is appropriate for Timberlands to bring to an end the consultancy arrangements with Mr. Kit Richards," Young said in a statement. Richards' original resignation followed the public release by conservation groups of a December 19 e-mail in which Richards, then Timberlands general manager of planning told the group to target the Prime Minister and the Minister responsible for Timberlands. "The only chance is to put real heat on Clark and Hodgson personally. That may not alter anything over here but unless their fingers are burnt they are not going to change. Marian Hobbs has to be another target and fast. She may not be as dyed-in-the-wool Forest and Bird as Clark ... She need [sic] to be pressured to visit and hammered over the appalling example set by her government..." Richards wrote. At the time Young, Timberlands' chairman, told the "New Zealand Herald" that "the ethical and moral standards at issue are not up to the level that the board requires of all employees of Timberlands." WHEELS OF PROGRESS TURNING ON KAPITI COAST, says WRC Extracts from a WRC press release Changes to Kapiti's bus and train services are only the beginning of major upgrades to public transport services for the district, says the Wellington Regional Council. From the 1st of May, the existing bus circuit routes will be replaced with two simple, more direct routes. Extra train connections will be added in peak times, and a Sunday service has also been established. Each route will have a bus at least every 30 minutes between 6.00am and 8.00pm Monday to Friday. WRC Public Transport manager Anthony Cross that in addition to the timetable improvements, all trips will be operated by low-floor buses to improve access for people who have difficulty using steps, and for those carrying shopping or pushing prams. The new services are part of a transport package the WRC is developing for the Kapiti Coast that includes: * Similar upgrades to bus services in Raumati Beach and Raumati South, to be put in place later this year. * Extension of electric train services to Waikanae. * Major improvements to the level of service on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. * A new bus interchange and park-and-ride railway stations at Raumati and Lindale. * Refurbishment of Paraparaumu Station. * More frequent train services in both peak and off-peak periods. More details about the WRC's investment plans for the future of Kapiti Coast are included in the Council's ten year plan, now available and open for public submissions till 22 May 2000. For information about the new services and timetable information, phone Ridewell on 0800 801 700. GREEN APPLES Extract from Moore's Views and Reviews. According to the Clean Computer Campaign, the high tech industry is the fastest-expanding industrial sector in North America. Over 50% of US of A households now own a computer and the average life span of a computer is falling to about 2 years. This means that the problem of computer waste is building. Last year over 12 million computers were obsoleted and within 4 years over 315 million computers in the USA will become obsolete. Most computer scrap is currently landfilled although the majority, three-quarters of all computers ever bought in the USA, are sitting in people's basements, attics, or cupboards because consumers don't know what to do with them. The Clean Computer Campaign's 1999 End of Year Report Card lists Apple and IBM brands as the most environmentally friendly computers - "corporation web site research for the USA and Canada examining the information and policy on hazardous material use in computers, product upgrades, and take-back practices". The Clean Computer Campaign is now listed on our Resources page. ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM AND THE INTERNET We received notice recently of an MA thesis by Clem White (a student at the Albany campus of Massey University) on the effectiveness of the Internet for Environmental groups. The thesis "Environmental Activism and the Internet" is available online (see above address) and gives some interesting insights into the use of the Internet by environmental groups. White found that virtually all of the groups surveyed found the Internet of some use in their work and 71% said it was of significant help. The key areas where White found the Internet of value to groups were: * Communication - it facilitates communication, and is cost effective and fast. * It facilitates coordinating actions over wide geographic area. * It allows access to previously inaccessible information resources. * It enables groups to do more with limited resources. The Internet has the potential, to some extent at least, to level the playing field. To redress the massive imbalances of power and resources between environment groups and government and industry. While this paper is long it's well worth the effort of reading right through. NEW PAPER: WILL LIMITS OF THE EARTH'S RESOURCES CONTROL HUMAN NUMBERS? Extracts from a recent Earth & Sky show: Dr. David Pimentel of Cornell University is an editor for the new scientific journal, "Environment, Development, and Sustainability." Pimentel and his colleagues recently published the above paper. Last October Earth's population topped out at a record 6 billion. In 2050 it will be 9-12 billion. Just how many people can the Earth support? Pimentel tells us that our planet's natural resources cannot support 12 billion people. He said that if we can't get the rate of population growth under control now, natural forces including disease, malnutrition, and poverty will do it for us. Pimentel and colleagues have estimated Earth's carrying capacity. Supposing a standard of living comparable to present-day Europeans, they say Earth can sustain only about 2 billion humans indefinitely. To achieve that, we'd need to reduce growth to 1.5 children per couple. Pimentel, D., Bailey, O., Kim, P., Mullaney, E., Calabrese, J., Walman, L., Nelson, F., and X. Yao. 1999. Will limits of the earth's resources control human numbers? Environment, Development, Sustainability. 11: 19-39. For more information see Earth & Sky and the Population Category on our Resources page. BOOK REVIEWS: WHICH NATIVE FERN? (ISBN 0 670 85549 9) and WHICH NATIVE TREE? (ISBN 0670 84351 2) These 2 pocket books by Andrew Crowe take you through the process of easily identifying native ferns and trees. For instance, the fern questions start "Is it a tree fern?", "Can you see the print of a book through the fronds?". The books include colour photos of every entry, growing areas, heights, original Maori uses of the plants, and more. They retail for around $20 each. PAINTING THE TOWN GREEN ;-) _ Hei kona mai, Goodbye for now.