Today was a jam packed day full of interesting lectures encompassing ideas behind ecosystem restoration, sustainability, and green developments. We even got to visit a Ngai Tahu land development. The Ngai Tahu are a southern New Zealand Maori tribe. We have been fortunate enough to have met so many fascinating and cultured lecturers that are so equipped with knowledge of their fields!
Today we started off the morning listening to Colin Meurk speak to us about Ecosystem Restoration Theory and Principles. We learned the importance of restoring the New Zealand ecosystems since the landscape has lost so much of its indigenous components. In addition, we learned the seven dimensions of Ecological Restoration, which involves a full spectrum of interactions from socio-political considerations to biodiversity elements.
Next, we took a tea time break and then returned for a lecture on Solutions for Creating a Sustainable Culture, by Dr. Will Allen. His lecture was very interactive and got us all using our creative minds to come up with what we think sustainability is and how to convince people to incorporate it into their lives. We broke into two groups and brainstormed how we see a sustainable community would be and how the people in it would respond and measure their success in life. We all decided that there must be an outreach of sustainable education early in one's life. Parents' interactions with their children early on are extremely important in raising an environmentally friendly generation.
After lunch we listened to Dr. Hostetler lecture on the Post- Construction aspect of conservation and management. We learned about the potential problems and the need for educating residents and readily providing them with the information regarding living in a green friendly community.
Finally, we headed out to a Ngai Tahu housing development and met with David Schwartfeger, a project manager for the Ngai Tahu developing agency. He spoke about the land that is envisioned to provide for a green friendly neighborhood. Half of it has already been built on, and they will soon have running paths, trails, and a park. Unfortunately, as we have learned, all of these certified green developments have their issues. He spoke how they monitor the silt and particle formation into the water and provide new homeowners with information regarding their responsibilities in living in a green community and the regulations they must follow. David emphasized the importance of communication and the hope to instill the sense of sustainability in the residents' minds. They do this by checking up on them for years after the development has been built and marking the community and wetland area with signage providing wildlife information. After this we headed back to Lincoln University to escape the brisk outside temperature! Tonight some of us are going to go to a concert, which is part of the Winter festival that is held at the university the first week of the new term!
Cheers!
Kinsley
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