Expose your Group! Learn the basics of design, and how to write and edit your community group newsletter.

This workshop is for environmental non profit groups who want to share their news, information, promote their project, gain exposure, and seek members.

We will cover: Writing Styles | Editing | Layout | Photos- resolution/size | Introduction to Indesign & Illustrator| Basics of Photoshop |

Workshop over three sessions:

• Tuesday 24^th August, 7-9.30pm @ ECH: Writing styles, editing, layout, tips and traps
• Tuesday 31^st August, 7-9pm @ Wintec: Design and layout, design programmes
• Thursday 2^nd September, 7-9.30pm @ Wintec: Putting it all together, Wordjot newsletter and database

Our tutors:

Jeff Neems is a senior reporter for Waikato Times, and has been a journalist for 15 years. He covers environmental and conservation issues, including the paper's Eco Issues page, as well as politics, music and entertainment. He is a DJ, keen gardener and enthusiastic (but not particularly fit) club cricketer.

Georgie Gaddum teaches graphic design and advertising at Wintec in Hamilton. She studied at Massey University in Wellington, completing her 4 year Bachelor of Design, majoring in Visual Communication, and specialising in Graphics and Advertising. She has worked in the design field for the last 8 years. She is very enthusiastic about design and really enjoys helping people to learn how to be creative.

Carolyn Lewis is an environmental consultant, and national coordinator of Weedbusters NZ. As part of this role she designs, writes and produces newsletters, information sheets, newsletters, posters and fliers, and will be giving you tips and traps when putting these sorts of publications together for environmental groups using their ‘raw’ materials.

Cost only $20. For non profit Waikato environmental groups only.

Session 1: Environment Centre Hamilton (ECH):  25 Ward Street Hamilton.

Session 2 & 3: Wintec; Mediarts Mac Lab, R Block, Collingwood Street Hamilton.

Bookings essential. Numbers limited to 12 (one person per group).

Bring a pendrive or memory stick, and photos, and info to load.

rachael@envirocentre.org.nz | 07 839 4452 | www.envirocentre.org.nz

Generously funded by Trust Waikato.

Wednesday, 25th August

The Waikato Sculpture Trust invites you to a documentary film by Robin Kewell—please note in your diary and pass this on to friends.

Eden and the Arts

Tim Smit always wanted the Eden Project to be a place to showcase the stories of "Plants that Changed the World" - a place where science meets art. Sue Hill and Peter Hample, artistic directors of Eden, commissioned various artists to produce work that would tell some of their tales. This project in Cornwall, England has captured the imagination of people world-wide (see www.edenproject.com).

Eden and the Arts is a special feature from the archives of Robin Kewell’s documentary films showing the work of many of the sculptors and artists who worked side by side with scientists and technicians to create works that tell the stories of plants. Robin will introduce the film and answer questions.
This Waikato Sculpture Trust event raises funds for the exhibitions it holds within the Sculpture Park @ Waitakaruru Arboretum (see www.sculpturepark.co.nz). The Park is an iconic rehabilitation project where the sensory experiences of art and nature meet.

Seats are limited so hurry!
Time: 7 p.m.
Venue: Telecom Playhouse,
WEL Energy Trust Academy of Performing Arts,
University of Waikato
Entry: $15 per person
Proceeds to Waikato Sculpture Trust
Bookings email: sarah.a@clear.net.nz or info@sculpturepark.co.nz
Cash door sales and EFTPOS available

NZ Film Festival  - 12 - 29 August

Here are some of the environmental docos starting next week. For a full list of all movies look online:   Hamilton  or pick up a programme from Lido Theatres.

There Once Was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho
Saturday 21 August 1.30pm

New Zealand 2009, 80 mins Director: Briar March ―Climate change reaches the shoreline of south-west Pacific atoll Takuu in Briar March‘s poignant eco-documentary...Despite the serious themes, it is to the credit of the filmmakers and the people of Takuu that March‘s documentary does not leave you feeling cynical and disillusioned, but rather with a strong sense of hope. Positive outcomes are still possible: both in terms of Takuu‘s situation and the broader arena of global climate change.‖ — Jacob Powell, The Lumiere Reader

Waste Land 
Sunday 22 August 3.30pm

UK/Brazil 2010, 98 mins
Director: Lucy Walker

Festivals: Sundance, Berlin 2010
Audience Award (World Cinema Documentary), Sundance Film Festival 2010
Brazilian art star Vik Muniz recycles garbage to make gigantic portraits of Rio‘s amazingly upbeat garbage recyclers in this inspiring doco.
―Vibrant, colourful, majestically shot, the Sundance-award-winning documentary deserves the accolades it has reaped — Gayle MacDonald, The Globe and Mail
In English and Portuguese, with English subtitles

Last Paradise 
Monday 23 August  6pm

New Zealand 2009, 100 mins
Director: Clive Neeson

A zealous, ingenious cinematographer from an early age, Kiwi Clive Neeson delivers a glorious compilation from a lifetime so far of filming surfing, snowboarding, skiing and adventure sports around the world.

Collapse 
Monday 23 August  8.30pm
USA 2009, 82 mins

Director: Chris Smith Festivals: Toronto 2009
Imminent man-made catastrophe is explained with alarming clarity and conviction by doom theorist Michael Ruppert, who already accurately predicted the economic meltdown. ―Shockingly persuasive.‖ — NY Times

GasLand   
Saturday, 28 August 11.30am

USA 2010, 104 mins Director: Josh Fox Festivals: Sundance 2010
Special Jury Prize (US Documentary), Sundance Film Festival 2010

Award-winning doc about the ecological poisoning caused by 'fracking‘, the mining of 'clean‘ natural gas.  "You haven‘t experienced environmental dread until you‘ve seen tap water catch fire".

The 2010 funding round of the Waikato Community Conservation Fund is now open for applications from community groups seeking support for conservation projects.
Grants of up to $5000 are available from DOC.
Applications close on 20 September.
Guidelines and application form are on the DOC website at www.doc.govt.nz/waikatocommunityconservationfund

Jan

Friday 6th August

You are invited to a Lunchtime Learning on Shared Space

12-1pm, Friday 6 August, Reception Lounge, Hamilton City Council, Garden Place, Hamilton.

The speakers will cover the concepts and principles behind shared space schemes.  Whether at planning, design, delivery or asset level there are emerging issues in this field. Extensively introduced in European urban centres of varied sizes the presentation includes some innovative and less well known examples from Swiss and German cities providing background for local situations. Besides city centre streets, opportunities to offer shared space based proposals can be advanced through redevelopment of the public realm including projects associated with waterfront regeneration, transit oriented development, other public transport initiatives, town or village centre improvements and some examples are included.

Speakers: Will Thresher
Director, Thresher Associates Ltd
John Potter
Principal, Boffa Miskell Ltd
Henry Crothers
Associate Director, Architectus Ltd

No need to RSVP – open invitation for you and your colleagues to attend. Please forward to anyone who may be interested!

Tuesday August 10, 2010 at 7.30 pm.

Royal Society of New Zealand, Waikato Branch Talk Series,
Facing the Future (see http://www.rsnzwaikato.org/talkseries)

The Nitrogen Cascade: past and future directions

Associate Professor Louis Schipper
University of Waikato.
Room SG.01
Gate 8
Waikato University

Nitrogen is critical to life and has greatly increased food production supporting population growth and has helped develop the New Zealand economy. However, the excess of nitrogen has recently been suggested to be one of three planetary boundaries that have been exceeded along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity. A major concern about excess nitrogen is that it can be highly mobile and once it leaves the soil, enters other ecosystems where nitrogen acts as an unwanted fertiliser. The “Nitrogen Cascade” is a term developed to describe the multiple impacts that nitrogen has moving from upland systems (often agriculture) through ground water to surface waters (including streams, rivers, lakes) and onto the ocean. This talk will describe the effects of the nitrogen cascade and the size of the issue in New Zealand currently and examine future scenarios and briefly discuss potential solutions.

Louis Schipper teaches soil science at the University of Waikato and conducts research into long-term changes in soil carbon and nitrogen. He is focused on trying to develop strategies that improve environmental performance while maintaining productive uses of land. He works closely with a range of CRIs and in the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre on soil related research. In the last two years, he was elected a fellow of the New Zealand and US Soil Science Societies.

ReStyle celebrates its 10th Anniversary show this Saturday 7 August with an awards show that promises not to disappoint. Since 2001 people from around the Waikato have created wearable garments from waste, raising awareness about waste minimisation issues, but also showcasing their creative flair on stage.

To help celebrate their anniversary ReStyle has also invited pop-opera duo Tesoro to take to the stage to wow the audience. Everyone who attends will also receive a goodie bag, and there are plenty of spot prizes up for grabs too. All you need to do to get into the draw is donate some pre-loved clothing prior to the show in the Founders Theatre foyer and you’re in to win! All clothing collected is donated to Habitat for Humanity.

ReStyle’s 10th Anniversary awards show is not to be missed, and will be a night out that is impossible to forget. Get a group of friends together and enjoy a great night out.

Tickets are on sale now from Ticketek www.ticketek.co.nz. Get yours today to avoid disappointment.

For more information visit http://www.hamilton.co.nz/restyle

Sustainable Waikato (SW); an organisation of like-minded people, from all walks of life, who are aiming to get good councillors into local councils at the upcoming election.
Visit http://www.sustainablewaikato.org.nz to get introduced to the group.

We need councillors who can assess a range of issues nationally and make decisions based on sound evidence, enhancing our region's sustainability in the near and intergenerational future. The issue of what to do is now urgent as local elections approach and it is our local representatives that have the most impact on our regional environment - some say perhaps even more than our government...

Sustainable Waikato is a self-organising group of concerned citizens who got together to advocate and support the candidates that we deserve. See our vision statement on the site. We are not affiliated with any political party - we are simply loyal to our regional economy and environment and insist on clean air, water and healthy soil for ourselves and the generations to come.
In the weeks leading up to the elections we will carry out a series of activities, including reviewing governance of our local representatives in the Hamilton City Council and Environment Waikato.

More information will be posted on this website as we progress.

What can you do? Any number of things below!

1. Raise awareness
How far can you reach? We each know from 50 to 100 people in our immediate circle. Take responsibility to spread the word amongst your circle. As a first action point, people must register in time for voting!

1.a Forward this email to your friends, contacts, colleagues etc... to raise awareness about the issue. The voting rate is typically just above 30% and very often voters are unsure not only what the candidates stand for, but also what their past performance really is. Sustainable Waikato is working to assemble a list of candidates we will support, based on their actions, knowledge and intentions to serve our region, towns and cities, when they serve as councillors. Sustainable Waikato will inform the public specifically about their actions or lack thereof, in relation to our vision. We can make a difference!

1.b Talk about it in group discussions. Some supporters have offered to bring up this issue at upcoming club meetings, public meetings etc. You can advocate for this directly in your circles.

 2. Make a personal statement
List yourself as a supporter of Sustainable Waikato. See the Supporters tab on the website where we are starting to assemble a list of people who are prepared to state out loud their commitment to sustainability issues. Email your name to clb17@waikato.ac.nz to be listed too.

 3. Help Sustainable Waikato spread the word further

 3.a Pledge money to print election leaflets. We are all volunteers and have pledged money for this campaign as we have no external funding. The money we need to raise is funding to print leaflets to drop in mailboxes. We will make every effort to raise public awareness in other ways, but we know that leaflets play an important role in informing voters.

3.b Print leaflets! If you have printing facilities to lend, please let us know; we'll email you the leaflet and you could print part of the total amount needed - avoiding intermediary costs.

3.c Contribute your time and expertise. We welcome more hands and thinking caps to act now and raise awareness amongst friends & colleagues. Please contact one of us, or reply to this email to discuss what you could contribute to this effort. We have each carried out actions as per our professional expertise and available time - as a self organising group this has worked wonders.

 4. VOTE and make sure your group votes too!!
As the election approaches, encourage your circle of connections to vote and remind all the people you had rallied to vote too.
We are looking forward to your support and in so doing shaping together the sustainability of our region.

Wednesday 28th July.

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Engineers for Social Responsibility Waikato BOP Branch Public Meeting

Energy from Biofuels – The Facts Not Fiction

A rare Hamilton opportunity to hear the current real facts and the associated debate from New Zealand’s leading professional engineer in the field.
Speaker: Stephan Heubeck –

Stephan’s first career was as a German agricultural engineer and during his training he designed, developed and worked on farm power plants using cow muck as the fuel. Many of the properties around his family farm are still profiting from his innovations. For a long time the farmers were making more money from the sale of excess electricity generation than from the milk they were producing – so why not here in the Waikato?

Since settling in New Zealand Stephan has extended his interests into the full range of biofuels. together with research work for NIWA he is now in international demand and we are lucky to catch him following work in Australia, Germany and Sweden.

He is an ideal person to clarify the media spin of national government and interest groups, and provide measurable facts related to the pressing questions on energy, the needs for carbon neutrality and especially the current status of biofuels and where they fit in the national and global energy mix.

 • Time: 5.30 pm meet and greet. 6.00pm Stephan’s presentation 7.00pm go home or join a group of us for dinner in town for more chat.

 • Venue: Waikato University School of Business Conference Room MSB 1.01, Gate 7, Hillcrest Road, Hamilton.
(Conference Rooms entrance at the bottom of the steps on the left hand side of the building)

 • Contact: Norm Stannard Secretary ESRNZ Waikato Branch tel: 07-8556579
Frank Scrimgeour Chairman ESRNZ Waikato Branch tel: 07-8562889