Kia ora everyone Welcome to Sustainable Wellington Net's fifth newsletter This month we were linked to by a new eco-site in the US of A: Phillip Ratapu, a New Zealander living overseas, and his Southern California partner Shauna, have set up MoanaSray Unlimited. This site promotes Earthfriendly products for the Mind, Body & Spirit as well as providing useful information on sustainable living and eco-building. They believe homes should be built to last, but also so the environment around the home will last. "What good will it do us to live in homes for 100 years if all of our natural resources are used up in 50 years?". You can visit them at or temporarily SITE NEWS * Bovine Complacency Threatens Our Blood Supplies, a new editorial, talks about the possibility of CJD transmission by blood transfusion * In addition to local groups, the Network page now contains links to New Zealand groups, worldwide groups, and other networks (they've been moved from the Links page and enhanced) * Our new Mailing Lists page indexes automatic e-mail you can receive * And the new Newsletters page contains past issues of our newsletters * We've found 2 "green" restaurants to dine at, and have listed them on our new Restaurants page. If you know of some more, please let us know! * A table of contents has been added to the Links, Network, Resources, Retail, and Food Irradiation Links pages * A Table of Contents has been added for the whole site * The Government Election Survey 1999 has been substantially updated. Check it out and tell us if there's any missing environmental questions you think the parties should be surveyed on * We've upgraded our Bobby rating to the new 3.1 version. Bobby is a standard which makes web sites easier to use for disabled users. See our Mission page for details * Lots of entries have been added to the Wellington Green Map and it too now sports a table of contents ASSORTED NEWS - KARORI SANCTUARY What runs for 8.6 kilometres and wears a top hat? The Karori Sanctuary fence has been completed! The $2.1 million fence has taken 3 years to design and 8 months to construct. It's the first fence able to exclude all introduced mammalian pests, does not rely on electrification, and is the first design which aims to exclude mice. For more information phone the visitor centre on 920 9200 (their web site seems to be down at the moment) ASSORTED NEWS - TARARUA WIND FARM The Tararua Wind Farm officially opened its 32 Megawatt wind farm in June, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. The wind farm is located on the Tararua Ranges, about 15km North East of Palmerston North. It produces electricity for around 15,000 homes and displaces approximately 80,000 tonnes of CO2 each year by generating electricity without using fossil fuels. The Tararua Wind Farm was developed by Centralpower. This is one of the few wind farms in the world to be developed without government assistance or premium energy prices. However, due to the Government's electricity sector reforms, Centralpower cannot own lines and generation capacity, so has been forced to sell the wind farm. The farm has been purchased by Trustpower, adding wind to Trustpower's fossil fuel free electricity generation assets. -- Greenpeace Solar Pioneers Newsletter, Issue 8 Spring '99 ASSORTED NEWS - GENETIC ENGINEERING Extracts from The Muller Report * Canada and the US of A have imposed tariffs on European imports because the Europeans don't want hormone-laced beef from the USA (also reported in The Dominion, 23 Aug 1999) * Organic sales in the USA are increasing by about 20%, while in the UK at about 40% per year * Many food suppliers in New Zealand have already starting checking their foods for GE ingredients, and going GE free - eg. Sanitarium is now GE free. Consumer pressure does work! [Editor's personal thought: Keep New Zealand GE free. If for no other reason, there is NO WAY to remove GE plants once they're growing here. Their seeds will be spread by the wind and they'll breed with existing plants] See also the IBAC attachment below ASSORTED NEWS - ATTACHMENTS Good news for conservation.txt: Labour's West Coast forests policy has won praise from the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society IBAC boycott.txt: Explains why a boycott has been called on the new Independent Biotechnology Advisory Council (IBAC). IBAC is designed to "help New Zealand explore and consider issues arising from advances in biotechnology. Its main role will be to stimulate dialogue and enhance public understanding about biotechnology" - i.e. The general opinion among environmental groups is they've been set up to promote Genetic Engineering to the public Petition.html: Help save the West Coast forests: Print out this petition, take it around your work or friends, and return to the address on the bottom of the form (The Body Shop on Lambton Quay also had a copy) Timberlands Privatised.txt: The Minister of Conservation, Dr Nick Smith, confirmed the government plans to privatise Timberlands West Coast Ltd - with the feeble reassurance that this wouldn't happen "before the election" WELLINGTON GREEN DAY The Sustainable Wellington Group are organising a "Wellington Green day" Sunday 17 October, 10.00am to 4.00pm at the South Wellington Intermediate school. The theme of the Green day is "Sustainability in an Urban Environment" it will provide ideas, examples and info to empower people to work towards building a sustainable future. Mark it in your diary and see our Calendar page for more information MISCELLANEOUS Tom has a "National Bank Heritage Bonus Home Loan Offer" coupon to give away. If you present this coupon when taking out a National Bank Home Loan they'll give $250 to Forest & Bird. Let him know if you can use this DON'T BE A STRANGER! http://www.sustainable.wellington.net.nz/ Ka kite ano, See you again