Category Archives: Water

Landscape for Resilience – with guest Nigel Cowburn

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Every day we hear and read news that makes us realise we live in a changing world. The key to being able to cope with change is – resilience. And by this I mean being able to withstand external shocks and still be able to function.

In this show my guest Nigel Cowburn and I are looking at how we can make the landscapes we live in more resilient.

Nigel Cowburn is a Landscape Architect for GrowPlan Ltd. He works primarily in Otago and Southland as well as further afield. He has a Batchelor in Landscape Architecture and a Postgraduate Diploma in Rural Studies. His passion is sustainability and creating resilient landscapes.

Listen to this programme on RESILIENT LANDSCAPES HERE

For more information:

RESILIENT LANDSCAPES was first aired on the 17th January 2019 through Otago Access Radio 105.4 FM and was supported by Sustainable Dunedin City with the assistance of New Zealand on Air. Eco Living in Action’s host Dr Maureen Howard is a Sustainable Practice Educator and Communicator at Treedom NZ

Nigel Cowburn, Landscape Architect with show host Maureen Howard

 

Keeping rubbish out of our waterways with a LittaTrap – with guest Rosemary Clucas

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Lately Dunedin, here close the bottom end of New Zealand has been very wet. In fact, this November was the wettest November on record for this part of the world. One of the implications of this is that a lot of rubbish as well as water will have been heading down our stormwater drains and out into the ocean. Cigarette butts, plastics – quite a few of those small things that end up in the gutter – make their way to the sea where they can pollute and may get into the stomachs of our marine life.

So what can we do about this? There are solutions. And one solution that is underway is being promoted bv Rose Clucas from Pūmanawa Wai who with the support of the Dunedin City Council and the Otago Regional Council have been installing some LittaTraps, a type of in-drain filtering device.

My guest Rose Clucas is a self-employed consultant ecologist, with a background in environmental management advocacy and cultural awareness. In August, nominated by Te Rūnaka o Kāi Tahu, Rose was appointed to one of the New Zealand Governments Conservation Boards. Rose is a very valuable person to have living here in Dunedin!

You can listen to this programme on LITTA TRAPS HERE

LITTA TRAPS was first aired on the 20th December 2018 through Otago Access Radio 105.4 FM and was supported by Taste Nature  with the assistance of New Zealand on Air. Eco Living in Action’s host Maureen Howard is a Sustainable Practice Educator and Communicator at Treedom NZ

Dr Rose Clucas from Pūmanawa Wai

TASTE NATURE

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Community Based Water Catchment Groups – with Rhys Taylor

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I love the idea of communities united through the rivers and tributaries that they share – in other words through their water catchment. Every piece of land on earth is part of a water catchment. Where does the rain that falls in your garden end up? Unless it is whisked directly away to the ocean by a stormwater drain, it will eventually make its way to a stream or river on the downside of your property.

Community Catchment Groups have been set up in South Canterbury in New Zealand. They comprise of members of the community who live around a particular river and its tributatries, who share a desire to protect that water and its natural environemt.

Rhys Taylor is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the South Canterbury River Catchment Groups, supported by Canterbury Regional Council.

Join me, as I ask Rhys about how these groups were set up, how they are benefiting their communities, what their participants are learning and what they are achieving.

This show was recorded on the 27th February 2018.

To listen to this programme about COMMUNITY CATCHMENTS please click on http://www.accessradio.org/Player.aspx?eid=858339c7-5bb7-41cc-b80b-1e8dea3d01b1. If the link is not working – please let me know and I’ll fix it. We also endeavour to re-air our older popular shows on request.

For more information –

This show was originally broadcast on the 2nd March 2018 with the help of Otago Access Radio 105.4FM and sponsored by Taste Nature – Dunedin’s organic shop.

Eco Living in Action is hosted by Dr Maureen Howard, Eco Action Educator

 

Rhys Taylor (Community Engagement Coordinator for the South Canterbury River Catchment Groups). Pictured here at a photo-competition on South Canterbury rivers, holding the framed winning photo of Wainono lagoon, near Waimate.

Members of the Waihi Catchment Group by the Waihi River bridge in Geraldine. Rhys is currently facilitator for this group.

Members of the Waihi Catchment Group on a recent visit to a deer farm where they learned about management of deer to reduce silt loss to waterways.