There are quite a few activities coming up in the next couple of weeks:
Friday 18th March Potting morning for Friends of Waiwhakareke
Saturday 19th March Pukemokemoke working day
Sunday 20th March Plantathon at Hamilton Gardens
Saturday 26th:
Bush Map Compass and GPS workshop
Seeley Gully working bee
Permaculture Trust Bus trip
Lake Cameron Caregroup working bee
Earth Hour
31 March Balloons free Breakfast - volunteers wanted to help
3 April the Big Walk
16 April Fluoride talk from US Prof Emeritus Paul Connett
Friday 18th March
Potting morning for Friends of Waiwhakareke
Jan Simmons will be at the Tamahere Nursery ( Devine Rd, off Airport Rd, next to Tamahere School Hall) from 9 am to noon to assist the Friends of Waiwhakareke pot up the plants donated to us by Hamilton CC nursery.
Bring your morning tea.
Many hands make light work!!
Saturday 19th March
Pukemokemoke working day
I hope as many as possible can make the Saturday afternoon 19th March weeding working bee ; only 3 afternoons left to get the areas cleared especially under the big trees for enrichment planting from June onwards. Bring friends, family, and loppers or pruning saws!
Phone Alan Leadley 07 8552919 for more details
Sunday 20th March
Plantathon at Hamilton Gardens
Correction from last newsletter - apologies to Nick
The Plantathon is raising money for the Friends of the Gardens. Proceeds from the Hamilton Organic Gardeners group stall at the Plantathon will go towards the Earthquake appeal.
Governors Lawn gate 2 , above car park at bottom of the hill
Same day as the pumpkin festival.
9am till 1pm
Many plant stalls will be selling a large variety of plants ,including many hard to find .
Proceeds to go to the Friends of Hamilton gardens
Enquiries: Nick 8532660
Saturday 26 March
There are a couple of places left on this -
Bush: Map, Compass & GPS Workshop.
10am-5pm: Hamilton
This workshop, by Waikato Environment Centre, is a free event for environmental community groups who want to know more about working safely in the bush and navigation. The workshop will be held in Hamilton, a the Hardy Training Centre in Hungerford Rd, near Hamilton Gardens.
Topics: Map reading, using a compass, risk management, (RAMS), location identification and GPS.
With: NZ Mountain Safety Council and Department of Conservation.
Please note that the workshop is only open to environmental groups, or community groups carrying out ecological restoration projects, and members of the Environment Centre or Waikato Biodiversity Forum.
Lunch will be provided. Numbers limited to 12. Please email rachael@envirocentre.org.nz to register by 23rd March.
Also 26th
Seeley Gully Working bee
9am and BBQ lunch at 12.30. End of Armagh St
So far we have about 150 helping hands volunteers turning up and we’re hoping for 100 or more extra volunteers to remove at least 60 tonnes of weeds (the 26th of March is Earth hour). Hoping to have the Mayor and elected members also “lending a hand”. Earthcare Environmental Garden Bags have given us a special deal and will be removing up to 200 600 litre garden bags!!
To register email parksandgardens@hcc.govt.nz or phone 838 6622
Also 26th -
There are still a few seats on the Hamilton Permaculture Trust's bus trip -
On the Road to Self Sufficiency - Living Green in Style
Join the Hamilton Permaculture Trust on a bus tour to explore properties which are all on the road to self-suffciency.
View: 3 different styles of earth building; income streams; quick and easy approach to despatching chickens for eating; organic and permaculture principles, biodynamics and feng shui in action on different properties.
$40 includes organic lunch.
Leaves Hamilton 9am, returning 5pm.
Book your seat with Hamilton Permaculture Trust 834 2249 or permaham@actrix.co.nz
Also 26th!
Lake Cameron Care Group Working bee to release around young plants at Lake Cameron.
10am-Noon wet or fine. Bring gloves, gumboots, raincoats and equipment suitable for clearing around plants. Lunch provided. (Please let me know if you are intending to attend if possible so I can arrange lunch.)
Picnic and lake walk Saturday 2nd April 5pm at the main picnic area Lake Cameron. Hosted by Lake Cameron Care Group and open to all who wish to join us. Bring your own picnic, a bbq will be available to use. Cancelled if wet.
Bev Bradley (Chairperson)
Lake Cameron Care Group
8433 765
muzbev@xtra.co.nz
And when you have done all those - it is Earth Hour!
At 8:30pm on Saturday, March 26, 2011, towns and cities across the world will turn off their lights for one hour sending a powerful global message that by acting together, we can take a stand against climate change. Businesses around Hamilton will be joining the Earth Hour activities in the city. If you would like further information, contact Earth Hour Hamilton Project Manager, Aaron Fleming on 07 838 6483 or aaron.fleming@hcc.govt.nz. In 2011 the focus for Earth Hour in Hamilton is in the central city, and the theme of the event is going ‘beyond the hour’.
Thursday 31 March
Dawn Patrol - Free breakfast for the first 2000, and watch the balloons inflate and take off. Starts 6.30am
The Waikato Environment Centre will once again be supplying potato plates for the breakfast and taking away the organic waste. Anyone wanting to help please contact Katherine 839 4452 or email katherine@envirocentre.org.nz. It is fun!
3 April
The Big Walk
This encompasses a walk around Hamilton City Council's Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park. This is a great opportunity for people to come along and not only support FYD and the youth of Hamilton, but to experience the progress made to this great wetlands project. This is one of the first times that an event of this nature will occur at Waiwhakareke and we are extremely lucky to have been given this great honour.
The Foundation for Youth Development delivers youth development programmes within schools in the greater Waikato region. These programmes include Kiwi Can, Stars and Project K. Students will receive environmental based Kiwi Can lessons prior to and following the Big Walk in which the children will be taught about respect and caring for the environment.
For more information or to register online visit www.fyd.org.nz to partake in the Big Walk. www.waiwhakreke.co.nz
Saturday 16th April
Fluoride - the new Asbestos?
Speaking tour of New Zealand
2pm - 4pm Celebrating Age Centre, Victoria St South
Opportunity to hear U.S. Prof Emeritus Paul Connett, the world's leading expert in fluoridation.
Dr Paul Connett is the co-author of the recently published book The Case Against Fluoride - How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and the Powerful Politics That Keep It There. http://www.chelseagreen.com/authors/paul_connett/
He is the Director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), and the Executive Director of its parent body, the American Environmental Health Studies Project (AEHSP). FAN is a coalition of citizens and scientists from 14 different countries who are working toward ending fluoridation worldwide through informed debate.
Dr. Connett holds a B.A. (Honours) in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, England and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire and is a retired professor of environmental chemistry and toxicology at St. Lawrence University.
Dr Connett has spent the past 14 years researching the effects of fluoride on human health and the environment. In 2000 he was invited by the York University team, which reviewed fluoridation for the British government, to peer review their report. His critique can be found at http://www.fluoridealert.org/york-critique.htm
In October 2000, he was invited by the Irish government to present his views on fluoridation before the Fluoridation Forum, a panel established by the Irish Ministry of Health.
And in 2003, Dr. Connett gave an invited presentation to the US National Research Council committee reviewing the safety of the US EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for fluoride in drinking water. This power point presentation is available at http://www.fluoridealert.org/nrc-final.ppt and the paper supporting this presentation is available at http://www.fluoridealert.org/nrc-paper.pdf.
For more information: www.fannz.org.nz or 0800 FLUORIDE (0800 358-674)
