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Editorial August 99: "The network grows" This quarter has seen the heartening emergence of many new Eco-village projects, from all over the country, and quite a bit else happening in one way or another. A proposal has been made by a planning consultancy to research and write a nationally applicable handbook for Eco-Village developments. The firm, Lattey Consultants Ltd of Waikanae, are negotiating some funding from the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors and the Tindall Foundation, and others. The target audience for the handbook is both professionals, local authorities and the general public. The aim of the project is to produce a handbook that sets out some voluntary standards for the implementation of systems such as sustainable on-site waste treatment, water supply and power generation within subdivisions, and to obtain local authority approval to these standards. A timely project, for more information see their notice on the notices page. I had an email from Robina McCurdy, to say that she and Robert Gillman are coming to New Zealand in November. They are offering workshops on "The Practical Applications of Sustainable Economics", "Community Development Through School Grounds Transformation", "Practical Know-how For Innovators", "Creating Community Harmony From The Inside Out", and an "An Introduction to Ecovillage Development". Old "Friends of Eco-Village" folk will remember this pair (well not as a pair then :-) for their very inspirational presentations back in 94 or so. Naturally they are to be encouraged, and as they are calling for expressions of interest, you can do so to Robina at robina@context.org. The Nelson Bays Sustainable Living Trust is running an Eco-village workshop in Nelson on the 27-29th August 1999. Running the workshop are Sue Ware and Peter Olorenshaw and Josee Lebel and Daniel Nepia, in order to contribute towards establishing ecovillages in the Nelson area. The venue is at Kimi-Ora, Kaiteriteri, for more info see the notices page. The law commission is still brewing up a reform package for unit titles and company titles, watch that space... www.lawcom.govt.nz. The projects page has received a fresh injection of new groups, from Northland, HawkesBay, Nelson and Christchurch. There is life (and internet) beyond Auckland! I expect to hear a bit more from a couple of others too, including the great work the Sustainable Cities Trust are doing in the Christchurch area. My plea to you all is that we are scattered groups in a small out of the way country, moving into huge and exciting but complex and challenging initiatives. Lets share what we are learning, and the resources we find along the way. This website is just the place to post such information! The noticeboard is proving to be really useful. As a step further toward our ability to share information an email facility has been added to the noticeboard. This gives you the option of receiving copies of notices. As the web maintainer I have had this for some time now, and it is convenient. Notices are placed about 1-2 per month, and are newsy as opposed to chatty. Design of this system has been based around perceived needs, if you see it different let me know. Details in right sidebar, or on the notices page.
To everyone chipping away at making our settlements more sustainable Peter Scott
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