SCMW 14Aug11 meeting notes
Sustainable Canterbury – Mauriroa Waitaha – August meeting
held Sunday 14.08.2011, 3-5pm at the Workers’ Educational Association, 59 Gloucester Street, Christchurch.
Present: Tony Raizis, Lorna Sventivanyi, Rik Tindall, John Veitch.
Apologies: Brian Sandle.
The Oil Crisis and Waste Water to Oil public forum on a local ‘biofuel’ program that we held on Tuesday 14.08.2011 (background on meeting page):
feedback debate set our August meeting workshop agenda thus:
1. Post-earthquakes, Christchurch City Council waste-water system rebuild in what form? Was there a pressure from insurance needs over sustainable design? Criteria we promote are: conservation of the energy and nutrients involved in this waste stream, for clean water output. We support expansion of the Bromley algal-biocrude project trial to the full 400 hectare pond area it needs, incorporating all the current treatment ponds and Linwood Paddocks grazing area. This assumes all the CCC waste-water infrastructure will be reinstated (except red zones) which is most likely. There was some support within our forum for home composting systems as a preferred replacement to new sewer pipes. But a winning case is yet to be made for this that: A. can deal with all toilet waste and nutrients consistently and cleanly within a dense urban area; and B. is not actually wasteful of organic material better used elsewhere; and C. actually has significant public support. A majority of us were not convinced that waste-water system change was better than system optimisation.
2. We resolved to support the algal-biocrude project, under the following criteria: with carbon neutrality in CO2 recycling as the base condition, we wish to encourage more carbon capture and grown carbon storage from use of this process and some inert biocrude product. Thus addressing the climate change risk of global warming from growing greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Another public SCMW forum on clean water – to draw out the industry potential we have now heard about still further – to be held in October 2011.
4. Our next workshop meeting will be Sunday 11.09.2011, 3-5pm at WEA.
5. Getting the Sustainable Canterbury message out. We reviewed poor group progress with social media and forums, compared to media releases and this blog site. Our emphasis will therefore be upon the latter online communication means, using searchable keywords especially. – Rik
6. CRPS submission for ECan re green belt farmland versatile soil use for housing, and lack of transport planning, to incorporate August’s developed thinking. Discussed further. Due next day. – Tony
7. CCC Central City Plan – transport. We don’t agree with what has just been proposed: neither the city-west route for the first light rail leg, nor that Christchurch is suitable for any light rail yet. We recommend securing transport corridors now with rapid-transit bus lanes, to use sustainable biofuel and save a lot of ratepayer money; perhaps light rail much later on. Prepare a submission.
8. Voting system referendum 2011 discussed. We support MMP in this but want to see it reviewed and refined. Questions raised and yet to be decided: total number of MPs to be reduced?; party vote threshold for representation to be reduced to 4%? ..?
9. Another public SCMW forum – Richard Worrall on ‘The light rail system that Christchurch needs’ – A Monday or Wednesday night in September, if we can.
..more detail soon
Sustainable Canterbury 