Good to see RadioNZÂ interviewing Charles Landry, an international authority on future planning for cities, and ways to make them more creative. He works with cities around the world and wrote ‘The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators’.
The latest Saab ad I think sums up nicely the dilemma we face. Here they are selling a car on the basis of good old grunt - grrrrrreen - in other words, let’s keep driving our cars really fast - with a shimmer of green.
The Australian Greens have taken the company to task for overstating their green credentials. Personally I am more annoyed that they are pushing the ‘lets drive fast message’ as part of the package. Good creative though!
Very interesting article by Peter Madden, chief executive of Forum for the Future in Gristmill. He asks whether the green narrative focuses too much on doom and gloom.
Recently in my organization, senior staff were sharing the first five minutes of the presentations we give externally, the bit where we explain sustainable development, climate change, and so on to a skeptical audience. The idea was to compare notes on our best presentation techniques. But guess what? We all started off on the negatives. We opened with different variants of “We’re in real trouble, guys.” We then mostly had some graphs, facts, and predictions showing how “we are going to be in even more trouble soon.” Sounds familiar?
He goes on to say
Of course we still need to scare people a bit, to grab the attention. But we risk paralyzing and de-motivating people if that is all we dwell on. When greens do paint visions of the future, they are often utopian, hippie, bucolic, and frankly unbelievable. They either seem to think that everyone will live in some variation of rural France, on a small-holding complete with small vineyard, goat, and squeaky bicycle.
This is a refrain that others have made but I take my hat off to Mike Ward on his campaign site for the Nelson mayoralty for succinctness.
If we can’t have at least as much fun saving the planet as we are having destroying it we just aren’t doing it right.
Good luck on the campaign Mike - hope I can make it over for the celebrations! Mike . . . . . Yes!
The Government has released a discussion document on a proposal that would require assessment of the overall carbon cost of producing, maintaining and using new buildings.
The NZ Herald also produced an interesting piece on the issue of embodied energy in various building products.
What’s envisaged is a time when houses will be rated according to their lifetime energy consumption, or carbon output. Architects will design to a carbon maximum, choosing long-lasting materials with low-embodied energy. Potential for end-use recycling will be factored in.
This is a key issue and I hope the proposal doesn’t get shredded. Get yourself involved in the submission process.
I for one will be watching what Meridian actually do with their trial of electric cars. CEO Keith Turner says the company has been closely watching overseas
developments in electric vehicles, and is convinced that the technology
is about to reach a tipping point. According to Turner,
Meridian will be able to demonstrate renewable, zero-emission, certified carbon neutral mobility.
I’ll let Mr Turner know my address 
Was a bit surprised to spot this 3-wheel electric ute for sale on TradeMe.
Made in the China for the US market, has a FMVSS Safety Compliance Plate and is manufactured in RHD for NZ. These motorcycle utes are stable and easy to drive with 6 x 12V 100Ah Deep Cycle GEL SLA batteries, an on-board auto-off 12A charger and a 5KW DC series motor. Range is up to 25km and can be extended by opportunity charging or by using a portable generator in the tray to charge the batteries while driving.
Not quite the answer to my dreams though the four-seater version (pic to come) has more possibilities. Good to see some more options coming here.
Then again the new Lithium-ion powered Mini Cooper may not be in NZ for a while. Interesting though - but at US$25000 on top of the price of the standard Mini Cooper I think it will be a play thing for the celebs and Siliconaires for a while yet.
I also understand that the Reva mentioned in this post was given approval for testing in Western Australia earlier this year [ABC].
The Western Australian Government has approved a one-year trial of 50 small electric cars that produce zero emissions.
Western Australia will become the first state to trial the vehicles, provided the Federal Government permits the cars to be imported into the country.
Participants will have to pay about $15,000 for the cars and they will be restricted to roads with speed limits under 80 kilometres an hour.
Otherwise I understand there are efforts being made to re-establish the NZ Electric Vehicle Association.
This has caught my attention for several reasons, particularly if some of the organisations the students work with are focussing on sustainability, but also for my interest in how new technologies can be applied creatively.
The yMedia Challenge is connecting media students with not-for profit organisations. Over the weekend of 27-28 October 2007, students and organisations will come together to hear inspiring leaders, brainstorm possible digital solutions and share knowledge and ideas.
During the following week the students will produce an effective and intelligent digital media solution for those organisations selected. This could involve anything from making a website to filming a short promotional video.
Any not-for-profit organisation can register to participate up until 15 August 2007. Students are eligible for prizes for work completed judged by a panel of top industry professionals.
Read more about the yMedia Challenge.
Great to see this initiative. The Outlook for Someday encourages young New Zealanders to
make a short film about how you see the future unfolding. Look at your world through a lens of sustainability. Give your personal take on what matters to you, focused on the future.
Organised by David James of Connected Media, the project involves both TVNZ and MÄori Television and The Enviroschools Foundation and the Global Education Centre.
David has been behind a number of great projects. Connected Media is a New Zealand based charitable trust founded in 1993. Our mission is to promote sustainability through media.