CANTA ISSUE 8, 2019

OUR ENVIRONMENT

Dear lovelies,

My name is Sam, and I am the new editor of CANTA. It is pretty rad to be here. To tell you a little bit about me – I’m in my final year of law (very excited to graduate, it’s been the longest journey), but aside from that, I really love being creative, having adventures and telling people’s stories.

I have decided to change up CANTA a little bit – I hope you like what’s contained inside. I hope you’re challenged and inspired and that you learn something. I love feedback, so do let me know what you think! And if you’d like to contribute to the next issue, send me your ideas anytime! This is a process and CANTA is something which should always be developing and changing to reflect the sweet student culture of UC today.

This issue is themed ‘Our Environment.’ In a world where school kids are striking to rebel against the inaction towards the climate crises, it so important for us all do our bit to help out our Earth. One must remember that, ‘small actions x lots of people = big change!’

Thank you so much to the CANTA team – to Liam for being the best teacher, putting up with all my questions, and for being great office company, to Conor for your patience and stress-free vibes (and letting me change the whole CANTA design), to Ben for the support of helping out with so many tasks, and of course to all the contributors old and new – I hope you're proud of your work! Bring on the next issue!

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Come pop in to say hey at our CANTA office or send me an email: editor@canta.co.nz anytime.

Presidents piece

- CANTA Term 3, #2

Kia ora friends,

If you haven’t already, come through and check out your new student building Haere-roa. It’s been chock-a-block with events over the last couple of weeks including UC Open Day, Clubs Day, a Winter Market plus a tonne of concert gigs in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre. It's been awesome welcoming you into your new on-campus home which is finally open after 8 years since losing the original building after the earthquakes.

You may have heard through the online grapevine (or experienced it yourself!) about LONG queues for toilets in the building. WE HEAR YOU! We’re currently looking at permanent fix moving forward, which includes adding urinals to existing capacity. Moving into a new building always brings about new ways of making things work - so we super appreciate your patience while the team fixes this.

Yippee it’s that time of year again and Exec elections are just around the corner. Serving on the UCSA Exec is a great opportunity to represent UC students and make a difference around colleges and faculties. You also sit on the board of directors of UCSA the organisation - overseeing services like advocacy and welfare, food and beverage, events, student clubs and communications.

Most of the roles require just 10 hours a week, plus you get reimbursed for your time. Nominations close this Thurs so drop into the Haere-roa office this week and pick up a nomination form. Then the next week and a half is your chance to campaign to students convincing them why you reckon they should vote for you. Voting then happens 14-16th Aug. If you haven’t been at UC for an election before - get set, it’s going to get hectic.

Arohanui, Sam

Going Nuclear by Talisker Scott Hunter

Climate Anxiety: How to Swim not Sink by Abby Robertson

Zero Carbon Bill: Is it Enough by Vlad Matviets

Flat Famous Climate Crisis, You Care but Do You Act? By Francesca Zhang

Columns

Club Promoter

Creative Highlight

UC POLS

Student Entrepreneurs Dr Bike

Gig Guide

Ben Appetit

Weekend Adventure City Adventure

Lucky Dip

Happy Ending

Sam Mythen

Conor Jones

Ben O’Connell

Liam Stretch

Climate Challenge Team

Samuel Bull

Robert Brownlee

Grace Hamilton

Harry FR Robson

Charlotte Hargest-Slade

Kate Stanion

Spanky Moore

Talisker Scott Hunter

Abby Robertson

Kane Bassett

Vlad Matviets

Samantha-Rose Williams

Francesca Zhang

Lewis Hoban

Ella Somers

Robert Phillips

Mikaila Ceelen-Thomas

Mark Coulthard

Henry Foubister

Java Katzur

Megan Nellis

Molly Thomas

Hi Canta

Letters to the Editor

Letter of the Week

It has come to my attention recently that a certain flamboyant, well known university personality, with extremely good taste in fashion (Insert picture of hamburger jumpsuit here) has taken up permanent residence in the new Haere-Roa building.

Now I am all for students using student spaces, but BYO futon may be taking this a touch too far. I am seriously worried for him. Does he know that there is a world that exists outside this building? That there are other bars in this great city other than The Foundry?

On a side note: I am looking for someone to fill a room in my flat in Upper Riccarton. Currently paying double rent so could seriously use the $50 Bush Inn voucher and a new flatmate. Two birds with one stone aye?

Hit me up Ed x

Dear you,

Can confirm, the wonderful personality in question has great fashion...He's sitting opposite me right now and is wearing a lovely velvet, night-sky-blue jumper and checkered pants.

Can also confirm, there have been days where I've been in the office and Liam has not been here, so we can assume he's been out exploring the wider world! What's your favourite bar though? I'll let him know and maybe he'll catch you on the dance floor sometime for a boogie.

OOo that sounds tough though. I've lived in Wellington previously and the rent for just one person was horrible. Best of luck with the search and come by the office soon to collect your voucher! (and if anyone's looking for a room, flick us an email - i'll pass on your details!)

Part Two

To CANTA’s Editor,

Hi there,

This is a piss-take. Well, I could call it a piss-take if the line wasn’t so long. I’ve been waiting in this line for about twenty minutes now, and my Jack Daniels filled bladder feels like it’s going to explode. Please, CANTA, tell me how I can relieve myself within the confines of the Ngaio Marsh Theatre complex without having to wait in a queue for sixteen years? I am strongly considering refilling my now empty can with equally horrible piss of my own.

Yours truly, Pees and Queues

Hey there,

Well first of all - I hope you made it to the bathroom in time. Luckily for you, the UCSA team is looking for a permanent fix, so no one has to resort to alternative measures and all uti's can be avoided.Woooh! Finger's crossed they'll have something figured out soon...Can't help but wonder if the venue designer had ever been to mono before and experienced the queues...

I write this letter in response to a rather scathing video posted to your Facebook page. When I first opened Facebook to see a video titled along the lines of “A Review of The 2019 UC Me Profiles”, I was chuffed in knowing I’d be talked about. Despite being taken back by the fact that the reviewer was dressed like a minion with glasses reminiscent of a 1970’s serial killer, I continued in my viewing. This was until he boldly insulted me for CANTA’s entire following to see. A day or two has passed now and I have received private messages asking if “I’m feeling okay” after being ripped out by this Alan Carr wannabe. Please take this video down.

Kind regards, Putting the Done in Donnelly

Hello!

Hmmm, the digital realm is not my area, but I am so sorry for the offence taken. I'll be sure to talk to the Digital Dude and see what remedy we can offer you. Come by sometime and I'm sure we can get him to give you a kind apology.

p.s I think you're great!

Dear Editor,

I have missed the whole first week back of the semester thanks to a nasty case of strep throat. “That’s what you get for hooking up with 3+ people a week,” said a friend of mine. Rude but true. I’ve been scouring over my old copies of CANTA in anticipation of reading the latest once I finally leave my bed and return to the comfort of level two of James Hight Library. Editor, what’s your favourite thing to do to pass the time while sick?

Signed, Brendo, did you give me strep?

Oh goodness, that sounds terrible...all the best with your recovery.

I'd probably recomend becoming a burrito of blankets, making some hot tea and sitting down for a few hours of Jane the Virgin. Being sick is the perfect excuse to relax and do nothing. No point being active as you'll only prolong the sickness.

A MINIMUM OF 10% OFF ALL STORE OFFERINGS AT BUSH INN CENTRE, FOR ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF.

Produce your university ID to obtain the discounts

late

How To Organize A Conference And Save The World

Since 2015, the Climate Challenge has been empowering young people to take action against climate change. After the success of the Climate Challenge Conference held at UC on June 29th and 30th, its passionate Christchurch committee has some tips and tricks for CANTA’s Ben O’Connell about running an event just like it.

I always thought that organizing a conference was an experience reserved only for adults. Or if not adults, grownups who actually knew what they were doing. Turns out, they let just about anyone run these things. I suppose it was because it was a conference about climate change aimed at youths. Adults don’t want to screw that up. As Lan Pham said in her closing speech at our conference; “In the absence of leadership, people with leader-like qualities step up. We are not the leaders of the future, we are stepping up now with our leadership qualities to fill the gaps we see.”

The conference I am talking about here is the Climate Challenge Conference, which occurred last month. We were open to young people interested in learning about climate change and developing skills. It’s a nationwide conference that’s run annually in Christchurch for two years as well as Auckland, and Wellington for five.

This year we had numerous workshops and speakers, and tried our best to cover a wide range of interests - public transport, the science of climate change, policy creation. Politicians, university lecturers and self-starters all had their own wisdom to share. The vibe was awesome, the food was great, and the speakers were engaging and had so much to teach us. But all that tranquility and success hid the massive efforts of the previous few months. Unfortunately, we didn’t reverse the disastrous effects of climate change over our twoday conference, but that’s not to say the conference wasn’t worthwhile. There are little things you can do (like using a keep cup, fewer plastic, or even implementing a plant-based diet), and those are important too.

If we want the planet to continue being able to sustain life, we need people with climate action on the forefront of their

minds in leadership positions. That doesn’t have to mean government; it can mean business owners, local religious organisations, student-run associations, or even joining a social club or a Facebook page. Start communicating with people, the more of us the better. There are so many inspiring people out there, and they are all doing this in very different and valuable ways. From lawyers to yoga teachers to university lecturers, everyone can do something right from where they are. Now go out there and stand up, and make a difference in your community. There is still so much more to be done.

It’s too easy to feel like someone else will do the work for you and everything will resolve itself if it’s left ignored. We can’t afford to think like this anymore. Do some research, build a team, make a plan and execute it. You’ve got this. And now, in summary...

How to Hold a Conference in Seven Easy Steps:

Step 1: Get an organizing team. These guys are important. Everyone realizes sooner or later that you can’t do it alone!

Step 2: Envision what you want the conference to be about. Who will come? What will they get out of it? What are your priorities?

Step 3: Get a venue.

Step 4: Contact people who you would like to speak and present. Email them. Call groups of people who may be interested in coming. Email them. Bug them. Put up posters. Make the conference known. Don’t be afraid to contact the media or some other kind of promotional service for help.

Step 5: Hold the conference. The hardest part is over! You will have been preparing for a while now, so don’t forget to stop and enjoy the time and listen to your speakers, and interact with your audience.

Step 6: Sleep! You will probably need some rest after this!

Step 7: What’s next? You’ll probably find that you now have a bunch of free time that you don’t know what to do with. Maybe you could plan another event?

Thanks to the Christchurch team at Climate Challenge

Visit http://www.climatechallenge.co.nz for more!

Greta Thurnberg's Fight for Our Evarth

On 20th August 2018, a single 15 year old schoolgirl arrived outside the Parliament of Sweden to strike against climate change and political inaction regarding it. No friends or family members stood with her, nor did they support her at all. She was a self-described loner who could not let things go. What occurred next was the truly remarkable and unprecedented rise of a 15 year old girl and the spawning of a global movement by youth for climate change action.

In July of 2019, her movement was described by the chief of OPEC as “perhaps the greatest threat to our industry going forward.” Time declared her in April to be in the top 100 most influential people in the world. One month after, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Greta Thunberg has spoken before the United Nations Climate Change Conference, formally addressed the European Parliament, and bluntly criticised the elites of Davos to their faces—all whilst maintaining her high school studies and solely travelling by train. Ms. Thunberg is the embodiment of virtue. A staunch vegan who would not and could not ride in cars or planes, proselytising her parents to do the same. Diagnosed with Asperger’s, O.C.D., and Selective Mutism Disorder, her unique personality has enabled her to see past the noise, view the issues before us with veridical black-and-white clarity and speak with plain honesty. Ms. Thunberg is an inspiring figure that lights the way in a world of normalised hypocrisy, moral decay, and corruption. For what it means to have purpose and to be true in the pursuit of greater good, Ms. Thunberg is the gold-standard for how we can relate to our environment and take action to protect it.

A modern-day Joan of Arc, her success is a symbol of the power of positive social media. The revolutions of the past were majority lead by powerful and people of note, however now with social media a movement can reach the masses in a matter of minutes, hours and days. Social media requires an idea and people that will support the idea. She made a poignant quote saying that “the first thing I have learned is that you are never too small to make a difference” and she has beyond prove this with her power and wise voice. The fact that a totally unknown 15 year old girl from as north as north goes can trigger an international movement that has reached as south as south goes shows us all that if we have enough passion, conviction, and appeal then any of us can play a role in shaping the future we’ll all live in.

Grace Hamilton and Harry FR Robson

Student-led Protests in Hong Kong

In the last few weeks protests have erupted throughout Hong Kong. This, a re-emergence of student protest groups, who previously were part of the student-led, pro-democracy Umbrella movement in 2014. Here is the background on why this has occurred, and then what is going on now.

Hong Kong was seized by the British after the first Opium War in the 19th century and was ceded in the peace afterwards. Later on, near the turn of the century, after the Boxer Rebellion ended, some surrounding areas such as Kowloon, were leased to the British for 99 years, until 1997. During WWII it was occupied by Japan, and afterwards the communists won the Chinese Civil War, causing a form of cultural separation.

This separation meant Hong Kong was a rich, capitalist democracy that had grown under British rule, speaking both Cantonese and English. In comparison, China was a poor, brutal communist dictatorship. However, China did start growing significantly from the 1980s onwards. In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China under the one country but with two government systems. Basically, this meant Hong Kong would have its own internal government, but would be a part of China in terms of matters such as foreign policy. As a result, Hong Kong maintained its complex unfair democracy, which is dominated by Pro-Chinese groups today.

In 2014, student led protests caused the Umbrella movement; a movement wanting a more representative democracy for Hong Kong. These protests, although gaining large media attention, led to their leaders being arrested, and failed in achieving their primary goals. More recently, proumbrella members of the legislature were refused from being able to take their seats, due to their failure to show allegiance to China.

These current protests are not being done to instigate change, but rather against legislation imposed by the Hong Kong Legislature, tying back to the original pro-democracy protests. This legislation would allow suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to China. Many critics of the bill realised this would give China, whatever their intentions, the legal ability to lock up and hold political dissidents in Hong Kong under Chinese laws, which are subservient to the Chinese Communist Party. Hence, to defend their freedoms they are now protesting throughout Hong Kong. These protests are now involving more than one million people and may be the largest protest in Chinese history. These protests later morphed with the pro-democracy movement, so are still continuing despite the fact that the Hong Kong Government has stated that this legislation will be withdrawn.

Samuel Bull

Biculturalism

“Christchurch should not be a bicultural city.” “The Botanic Gardens should not have a designated Native plant area.” “The University of Canterbury does not need more cultural centres to foster diversity.” “Local Businesses should not have diversity quota for recruitment processes.” “Christchurch should not have an annual noodle market in Hagley Park.”

On first glance, these claims may appear to be the racist shouting of a pro-white, babyboomer or a member of a skinhead gang. However, contrary to popular belief, biculturalism holds many problematic and anti-diverse assumptions. We currently live in a place which has been deemed the most racist and non-diverse city in New Zealand. As such we can ask; why does Christchurch have this reputation, and how can we better improve cultural policy for the future? In light of this, we as a University must take the chance to reconsider our idea of progressive cultural policy and question whether biculturalism itself is merely a facade which allows us to ignore underlying unequal cultural dynamics.

The Problem with Christchurch

It is undeniable that Christchurch’s cultural reputation is less than desirable. This has been noted by everyone, from scholars to rugby players and politicians. Where other cities are known for food, attractions or wildlife, Christchurch is known for being predominantly white and heteronormative. This reputation has been cultivated from a lack of population diversity and familiar eurocentric origins. Yet, this racist undertone began to flourish in the 1970s where economic downturn caused racial undercurrents to erupt in public and aggressive ways. This frustration-aggression crisis resulted in the creation of several racially motivated groups, a string of racial crimes, and commonplace microaggressions which have become the norm of Christchurch city. What should be a progressive and diverse city, has not moved far beyond its colonial origins.

Yet recently, the homogeneity of Christchurch has been challenged by the likes of immigration and globalisation. This has meant that around 14% of the Christchurch population now identify as culturally or ethnically diverse. However, in the wake of the earthquakes, Christchurch continues to face economic hardship. There is a risk that the post-quake trauma and the difficulty of the rebuild could once again frustrate cultural politics, possibly allowing Canterbury’s pro-white underbelly to thrive once again.

The Problem with biculturalism

As we all know, New Zealand was born a half-cast, parented by the European and Māori cultures. Often a point of praise for New Zealand, this biculturalism is portrayed on the lips of politicians or the media as an indelible part of New Zealand’s ‘great race relations.’ While this sounds great in theory, in practice biculturalism has been corrupt from its genesis. As we know, the so-called partnership promised in the 1800s was merely followed by discrimination and an assimilation process. As a result, cultural dominance has been undeniably institutionalised as European, an aspect of New Zealand society which Christchurch encompasses to the fullest.

Biculturalism, as we know it today, arose out an era deemed the Māori renaissance, which attempted to do away with inequality of the past. While this period rightfully granted distinct spaces for Māori to reclaim their culture, it did not act to bring the unequal power dynamics into equilibrium. Rather, biculturalism fosters a complacency which allows us, as a country, to put cultural issues on the back-burner. This point can be exhibited when the United Nations urged the world to actively empower indigenous culture, to which New Zealand exclaimed “no, but we already do!”

And what of other cultures?

While this issue began as a predominantly Māori and Pakeha one, New Zealand homes more than merely two ‘bicultural’ identities. While keeping Māori and Pakeha comfortably separate, it is said that bicultural policy excludes other diverse individuals from claiming their empowerment as New Zealand citizens. In this, biculturalism erases the diverse ethnic realities which operate within New Zealand. New Zealand has never simply been a single cultured or bicultural nation. Rather, it has always had a vast amount of migration from the Cook Islands, France and China among other places. Despite their lasting contribution to New Zealand, biculturalism does not involve these identities within cultural practice or policy. And now, more than ever, New Zealand is less a colonial sheep than an emerging multiethnic society.

Yet, what becomes apparent is that Christchurch continues to house an environment where a multitude of cultures merely exist in segments - not to be encountered outside their designated suburb, mosque or school district. In all, this policy has created a Christchurch which celebrates the relics of Sir Henry Wigram’s ‘Pakeha Flying School’ by dedicating a new suburb to his memory, without so much as a thought as to how this reflects cultural dominance. This is a Christchurch where Māori culture is valid, but only within the grounds of Ngāi Tahu or the University of Canterbury Ākonga Māori Centre. This is a Christchurch where offices are considering ‘diversity candidates’ in a separate pile of others. Here, it might be said that in Christchurch, biculturalism is a homogenised and romanticised tool, where despite progressive intentions, there remains a chasm between the dominant and subordinate cultures. As such, there is a need to move beyond the previous conceptions of biculturalism or multiculturalism which act as euphemisms for social segregation.

If not biculturalism, then what?

As noted, general heterogeneity of the modern city has been changed by globalism and migration. A resulting challenge of the 21st century has been how to implement effective policies and minimise cultural tensions. Many scholars suggest that in light of rising political divides, there

is a need for a new cultural policy which does not seek to erase cultural differences but rather harmonise them. To many, this way forward is in the form of Cosmopolitanism. This ideology attempts to deal with cultural otherness by embracing and normalising differences. Cosmopolitanism is based on the logic of “both-and,” which perceives that everyone is both different and the same. Within a cosmopolitan society, cultural differences are not arranged hierarchically nor replaced by common norms, to avoid dominance or superiority arising out of what is chosen as the institutional norm. In my opinion, this concept is not utopian nor impossible as cosmopolitanism already exists throughout our everyday lives. Take, for instance, eating sushi, pizza or souvlaki are cultural phenomena which do not feel like something ‘other’ than normal.

How to implement cosmopolitanism?

We can apply this to the situation of Christchurch - where otherness and superiority is a part of everyday race relations. To overcome this, cosmopolitanism suggests that in order to break down this sense of otherness, there must be an implementation of neutrality within the public domain. Specifically, by creating neutral public spaces for all cultures to freely and equally interact. This type of interaction allows for exposure which can humanise abstract strangers in the minds of those who generally sit within the lines of their designated culture.

Currently, Christchurch’s public spaces are remnants of the times where eurocentrism was thought to be rightly dominant. Take, for instance, the activities a person might undertake within public Christchurch. Firstly, one might take a colonial walk through the Botanic Gardens where you can admire the English Oaks and feel as if you’ve walked straight into a 20th-century oil painting. You could go punting on the Avon, taken by a guide who looks as if he has come straight from a Venice canal. And let us not forget the Native Māori Gardens where great Kauri, Totara and Mata are celebrated but not to be found outside their fenced off native area. From the trams which mirror that of those in Paris, to Arana Park’s screaming reference to colonised Africa, it is clear that public spaces reflect European institutions which operate within New Zealand society. In all, it is evident that Christchurch does not provide the vital neutrality which fosters acceptance and diversity. As such, there is a need to redefine the cultural objectives to rebuild a Christchurch which will more effectively encompass the diverse cultural realities which operate within it.

Towards a better cultural environment

Christchurch needs to redefine cultural policy to create a city where diversity is encountered in more places than an uber ride to town. We need a Christchurch where exotic food is experienced more than once annually, on a trip to Hagley Park. A Christchurch where an applicant is not seen merely as the ‘diversity’ candidate but as a person, judged on their own merits. Here, we can attempt to create a University of Canterbury where international and Māori presence is celebrated outside of specific cultural centres, or at times other than following a racial hate crime. In all, we need to create a social space – both theoretically and physically – where difference is the norm. The importance of cultural policy is invaluable, so let us not confuse unity with uniformity.

Charlotte Hargest-Slade

Waterways

A few weeks ago, I heard a young girl ask Dr Jane Goodall what she could do to help the environment. She had lost all hope because the news told her that the world was “doomed.” This broke my heart. A young, impressionable kid thought there was nothing she could do to save our planet, not even being able to make a small difference.

Waterway pollution has been a massive problem in Christchurch, especially since the 2010-2011 earthquakes damaged our pipelines and sewage systems. With headlines dominating our news, such as ‘Canterbury water could be undrinkable in 100 years,’ scaremongering our residents, what can we do to improve our waterways?

A survey from the Christchurch City Council found almost 60% of respondents thought our waterways were of poor quality, but only 55% of respondents actually knew what happened to storm water after it entered our water systems. Despite this, even with little knowledge of the extent of the damage to our waterways, 80% of people surveyed were willing to take action to improve them! This alone shows the spirit of New Zealand, a country so many of us are proud of, and further demonstrates our willingness to change our actions for the betterment of the environment. But this does present a certain issue, the need for education around water pollution and the actions people can actually take to improve our waterways and streams.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Research shows many waterways in Christchurch and the wider Canterbury region are recovering (slowly but surely). Much of this research is done by monitoring the populations of freshwater invertebrate species in streams and rivers. Their presence or absence from these habitats can give us an idea of the stream’s health, and a lot of these studies are done by our very own Department of Biological Sciences.

I am proud to be a part of, not only a country, but also a university dedicated to making a positive change to the environment in a world where, at the moment, making a difference can seem hopeless.

Kate Stanion

Unplug Yourself

A few years back I had a house guest staying with me from the USA for 6 days. His name was Chris.

Despite his disheveled 40-something appearance, Chris Heuertz is kind of famous. Not in a Donald Trump kind of way, but in that “slightly-underground-but-with-aninternational-reputation” kind of way. Like, he was mentored by Mother Teresa for 3 years. And he’s written 3 books. And last month he was invited to attend the Dalai Lama's 80’s birthday party in New York. So Chris definitely had some serious street cred.

When he was in his early 20’s, Chris flew to India and turned up unannounced on the door of Mother Teresa's headquarters in Calcutta, where he was quickly put to work in the “House of the Dying.” His job was to remove the dead bodies of the poor and sick who had died there each day. Turns out he was so impacted by the experience he left there to set up an organisation called “Word Made Flesh” - which helps victims of sex trafficking and AIDS, in slums.

But now days, Chris spends about a quarter of his life being flown around the world to speak to people about contemplative meditation and prayer. And he’s a deeply fascinating (read confronting) person to have as a houseguest.

While I was introducing him to a delicious Zab Thai Curry, he told me something that I’ve struggled to stop thinking about.

“Woooah” I thought to myself, as I slurped down my medium strength curry. And the more I reflected on what he had to say - the more I realised he was definitely onto something big with this whole solitude, silence and stillness thing.

And so about 4 years ago my friends and I started running these 3 day silent retreats for young adults we called ‘Unplugged’. No cell phones, no snap chat or facebook, and very little speaking. To start with, I had low expectations – “If

I thought to myself. I’d envisioned four students would come along.

And so I was quite caught off guard when 35 young adults expressed interest in coming along. And I was even more caught off guard when at the end of it all most people had had some sort of profound experience or realisation. Since then we’ve led over 140 young adults on these retreats – just last week we led 20 people in Auckland and another 20 in Wellington “into the silent land.” And once again most of them discovered something profound through the process of being still.

This year a bunch of us decided to take all this stuff a step further - and we've set a space designed to introduce younger people to stillness, silence and solitude. It's called the Peel Forest Eco-Monastery, and it's been booked solid most weekends by young adults since we started.

So if you’re a brave student who likes to try new things – let me encourage you to give one of these retreats a whirl! At some stage in term 4 we’ll take another crew away to discover the joys and challenges of Unplugging for 3 days. It’s definitely something you should do at least once in your life.

If you’d like to find out more details on either of these things, you can fill out an expression of interest at https://tinyurl.com/unpluggedexpression. Maybe like me - stillness, silence and solitude will become your most important discoveries of 2019.

IG: www.instagram.com/ peelforestecomonastery

FB: www.facebook.com/pg/ peelforestecomonastery

Spanky Moore

“You know Spanky, I think students at Canterbury Uni desperately need 3 things in their life right now. Solitude - because they’re always around people, it would teach them how to be properly present to each other. Silence - because they’re always surrounded by so much noise, it would teach them to actually listen to each other. And Stillness - because they’re always so busy doing stuff, it would teach them to be intentional about what they choose to do with their lives.”

you’re going to fail, you may as well fail doing something interesting”

“No.”

Megan Woods is monosyllabic in response to a question many New Zealanders already refuse to consider.

“New Zealanders don’t want it, we don’t need it, and we’ve got so many other options,” the Energy and Resource Minister continues.

While writing this article during the break, situated comfortably beneath the heat pump in a Nelson living room, I close my laptop and pop the question to the mother of two sitting opposite me. Her response is sharp and predictable; she doesn’t even look up from her book.

“Nope, I don’t want any of that.”

It would seem that ever since David Lange ‘smelled uranium’ on the breath of the Americans and the Mutton Birds helped lull our rainbow warrior to the deep, the nation which brought the world Ernest Rutherford has embarked on a crusade against all things nuclear with near religious zeal. Our nuclear free status appears to be as Kiwi as Pavlova, the buzzy bee, and a toxic drinking culture.

But, like said drinking culture, is our aversion to splitting the atom a grave and far reaching issue which we refuse to wholeheartedly confront, despite its potential to hamstring our well-being in the long-run?

The simple fact remains that New Zealand is the only developed nation on earth that refuses to even consider the adoption of nuclear energy. This should come as a surprise, especially given our nation’s struggle to align itself with a rapidly disintegrating ‘clean green’ image. Research shows nuclear energy to be cleaner and greener than our anti-nuke mantra would have us believe. Anne White, Professor and head of the Nuclear Science and Engineering program at MIT, described a shift to nuclear energy thusly:

“It would be clean, inexhaustible energy that would be available to every nation. Given how important conservation and environmental issues are to New Zealand, I imagine that nuclear energy would be of interest to this country generally.”

But, nuclear energy does not appear to be of interest to this country. Despite contemporary research finding that fission reactors generate no greenhouse emissions, no air pollution, and produce 10 times the energy of conventional fossil fuels, public opinion appears to be stepped sharply against the construction of nuclear power stations in Aotearoa. A 2008 poll, conducted by ShapeNZ, found just 19% of New Zealanders viewed nuclear energy as a viable means to meeting the nation’s energy needs. This data coincides with official statements put forward by each major political party. For instance, Jonathan Young, National’s energy spokesperson, had this to say,

“New Zealand has a strong and long-held stance against the use of nuclear energy and National has no plans to change that.”

Young is not alone in citing New Zealand’s anti-nuclear past as a cause for dismissing the use of nuclear energy out of hand. He is also not alone in pointing to the risks posed by nuclear energy as a cause for dismissal; Megan Woods cites the possible hazards of constructing nuclear reactors in a country prone to earthquakes.

Is it really that unsafe?

Undoubtedly, public sentiment in New Zealand surrounding nuclear energy has been shaped by its potential hazards, as showcased by notable instances of where it’s gone wrong; Fukushima and Chernobyl are frightening examples. But, it should be noted that no form of energy production is without risk. George Monbiot of the Guardian newspaper described the situation aptly, stating that energy is like medicine: if there are no side-effects, the chances are that it doesn’t work.

Perhaps then, the search for a means to fulfil our energy needs isn’t a matter of finding a risk-free solution, but rather a matter of perspective. For instance, ACT party leader and trained electrical engineer, David Seymour, had this to say in 2018:

"The reality is, apart from Chernobyl, which was a terribly run plant in a country that couldn't run anything at the time, nuclear has always been a very safe form of power. The science tells us it's probably safer than most people think.”

Chernobyl was a plant barely up to code, as viewers of the recent HBO miniseries have likely observed. But, evidence regarding the safety of nuclear energy backs up Seymour’s assessment. Research produced by students at the Reed Research Reactor in Portland, Oregon, shows that someone living within 10 miles of the Three Mile Island plant following the reactor’s infamous 1979 meltdown suffered half of the lowest annual radiation dosage which is linked to an increased risk of cancer.

However, perhaps more relevant to New Zealand’s case is that of Fukushima Daiichi, a Japanese plant, constructed on a fault line which famously endured disaster when struck by an earthquake and Tsunami in March, 2011. Fukushima Daiichi housed an old reactor and was operated by a power company which was found to have cut corners in the areas of risk assessment, tsunami preparedness, and evacuation plans. The plant was hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Despite three reactors going into meltdown, no fatalities due to lethal exposure to radiation were recorded. Arguably, zero is a far lower number than our contemporary rhetoric would have us believe. Japan, a nation of islands which experiences just as many (if not more) earthquakes than our own, is home to fifty reactors which reside in plants purpose-built to account for seismic activity.

In providing these examples, I don’t mean to downplay the significant dangers nuclear energy poses, especially when handled improperly.

Instead, I note these instances to highlight how the arrival of nuclear power in our Aotearoa is not tantamount to condemning our nation to a future of glowing green waterways, three-headed kiwis, and long white clouds of the mushroom variety.

What of our “many other options?”

The negative side-effects of nuclear power do not occur in a vacuum. For instance, other forms of energy production, on which we willingly rely, cause significant damage without the help of nuclear reactors. The extraction of coal, an energy source which accounts for some 4% of our energy production, is a dangerous process which has claimed the lives of scores of New Zealanders; incidents at Strongman State Mine and Pike River come to mind. The burning of coal as a means of producing energy causes an array of grisly side-effects; soot dust, plant runoff, and greenhouse gases are explicitly linked to lung-cancer, the pollution of air and water, and climate change. The same side-effects apply to other non-renewables, such as oil and natural gas, which (including coal) accounted for 16% of electricity generation in New Zealand in 2014.

Even renewables, which made up roughly 80% of electricity generated in 2017, have notable downsides. Hydroelectric power, which services the majority of our energy needs, has limited potential. The construction of new stations is a well-documented uphill battle, not least because of issues relating to cost, location, and pressure from environmentalists who rightly claim hydro-power has a debilitating effect on ecosystems and waterways.

Located almost entirely in the Taupo region of the North Island, the country’s geothermal energy sector is growing. However, detractors claim this rate of growth to be not nearly enough to keep up with the nation’s growing demand for energy.

Even wind isn’t poised to revolutionise the way we generate power in the near future. Despite reportedly being called attractive by the

engineers who designed them, wind turbines are sources of a series of aesthetic and noise complaints, and that’s not even mentioning issues relating to inconsistent power supply when the weather acts unfavourably.

Consequently, no one form of renewable energy appears capable of servicing New Zealand’s energy needs in the long-term. Interestingly, the 2015 National government produced a document, entitled “New Zealand’s Energy Outlook”, which asserts that there are three possibilities set to fill the void left by the nation’s rapidly disappearing reserves of natural gas and oil. These possibilities were: expanding geothermal generation, finding more sources of oil and gas, or hoping that technology change improves yields from wind and solar. This implies two thirds of the “many other options” spoken of by our Energy and Resource Minister appear to be either in the realm of either expanding the use of fossil fuels, or technology which does not yet exist.

This should be especially worrying, as recent data suggests New Zealand’s sources of energy generation need to be on top form in order to cope with an emerging energy crisis. Those of you facing high power bills this winter are experiencing the inaugural throws of this electricity bind, brought on partly by our supplies of natural gas in the Maui and Kapuni fields running low. This should have come as no surprise. A 1978 Royal Commission, set up to investigate the possibility of nuclear power in New Zealand proved prophetic when it found whilst New Zealand could go without nuclear power for the time being, limited supplies of natural gas meant the issue would need to be re-visited by 2000, with a plant hopefully under construction by 2005.

This brings us back to my central question:

Where is the conversation surrounding nuclear power?

New Zealand’s relationship with the atom had been going smoothly up until the 1980’s, with the University of Canterbury very much playing the role of Hitch. UC Alumni, Ernest Rutherford, had split the atom in 1918; by 1960, we housed the nation’s first nuclear reactor. In 1978, Robert Muldoon’s National government had begun plans to construct a nuclear power station just north of Auckland. International experts were consulted, engineers were sent oversees to be trained, and surveyors were called in.

Meanwhile, however, the French had begun nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll, and growing outrage had begun to simmer amongst New Zealanders who more and more aligned themselves with a narrative of the peace loving, environmentalist, paradise; one that punched above its weight in global affairs. This was reflected in public polling, which found that opposition to visits by US nuclear vessels increased from 32% to 72% between 1978 and 1983.

Soon, Prime Minister David Lange found himself in heated verbal conflict with the Americans, who attempted to force the tiny nation of islands to play ball in a world of great powers armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons. New Zealand refused, establishing a Nuclear Free Zone and passing the Disarmament and Arms control act in 1987. This solidified the nation’s nuclear free status, to the chagrin of our American and French allies. The 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior by French agents in 1985 simply set Aotearoa’s nuclear free status in concrete.

Simultaneously, the Maui and Kapuni gas fields were discovered in 1976, effectively shelving plans for the construction of a nuclear power station. However, considering that, by 1985, we had seen the enemy and the enemy was anything nuclear, plans that would have otherwise been mothballed were instead buried in a lead-lined coffin. But, one could argue David’s defiance of Goliath went overboard. So overcome with ideological purpose, we seemed to forget that nuclear weapons and nuclear power are not the same thing. This was even stipulated by the Nuclear Free Zone and the Disarmament and Arms Control Act, as both don’t mention land-based nuclear power. Today, however, nearly all heads of government agree that nuclear power is off the table, due largely to New Zealand’s historic antinuclear stance. The notable gap between how our leaders describe nuclear power, versus how bad it actually is, is evidence of how the previous generation’s pursuit of national identity has prevented conversation on an issue which could very well prove beneficial to New Zealand today.

‘Going nuclear’ could be our ticket to a sustainable future; a future of cheap power and clean, sustainable energy. Pressed by an emerging energy crisis, climate change, and a dwindling supply of viable energy alternatives, should our generation resolve itself to sleep in the antinuclear bed the baby boomers had made for us? Or, perhaps it’s time to take another hard look at the facts, before we get under the covers.

Talisker Scott Hunter

Being different in New Zealand can be a difficult proposition, this is something that those who are have known for a long time. However, it is also an extremely difficult thing for many people to talk about. You don't want to rock the boat, you don't want to cause a fuss, and so you force yourself to take the nasty comments and racist behaviour in your stride and learn to roll with it. Unfortunately this has left us in a position where many people in Aotearoa aren't aware of the type and extent of racism that many in our communities face in their day to day. As we recover as a community from the events of March 15, it is important that we have a conversation about this and get those experiences out in the open.

Join us on Wednesday July 31 as nine UC students and staff from a range of ethnic backgrounds do just that. They will be sharing their personal experiences with racism, as well as their informed perspectives on how we can approach it. After, there will be a panel session where you can ask questions of the speakers, and engage in an open and honest discussion with them.

Come along and listen, learn, and ask questions of those who deal first hand with some of the nastier sides of our beautiful country. Challenge your beliefs and gain a better understanding of the racism faced by some in Aotearoa.

Doors open from 6.30 pm and entry is free.

Climate Anxiety:

How to Swim not Sink

So, there’s this thing being increasingly tossed around in the news, social media, and political spheres. Scientists are repeatedly telling us it’s a big deal. Climate change. It’s ubiquitous, it’s impending, and it’s going to negatively change things for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. Day to day life on this planet as we know it will change dramatically over this coming century. Are the hairs on the back of your neck pricking yet? Are your palms sweating? Is your heart racing? Or do you just feel cold and dead inside, as if you’ve suddenly been kissed by a dementor? Maybe. Maybe not. However, if you’re anything like myself or the hundreds of thousands of young people around the country, you will have struggled with your mental health. Currently, many of us here at university live with anxiety, depression, and a cocktail of other nasty mental health issues. The world can feel really dark at times, and the weight on our generation to try and reverse the devastating effects of climate change can be absolutely overwhelming. For some of us, mental health issues can be brought on, or worsened by the overwhelming inaction on climate change. It’s heavy, and it’s a real thing. It’s called ‘climate anxiety.’

These feelings can create a sense of helplessness and it can often feel like we’re fighting alone. While we all make up a collective and have power in numbers, it often doesn’t feel like it. And the global issue of climate change, as we know, waits for no one. It’s not going away any time soon. Hearing about it seems to be making people numb; making people turn off, tune out, look the other way, and run in the other direction. In all honesty, fair enough. Being faced with our own vulnerabilities and mortalities is challenging and scary. It’s not our fault either. Biologically, we are hardwired to react to immediate threats – the way our ancestors would have done in prehistoric times. While climate change is a very real and tangible threat, hot on our tails - and I would argue that yes, it is happening in front of our very eyes – this change is in many ways a ‘gradual’ one. It is gradual in the sense that when factors change in our environment, such as melting ice caps and the occurrence of extreme weather patterns, our psychological response is not the same as an immediate threat, such as a car, a wombat, a tree, or a Trump hurtling towards us suddenly out of

nowhere. Our bodies and brains are built to react to immediate threats, but we have never had to deal with a threat like climate change before.

Philosophically, we are also not entirely at fault. It is the human condition to be fearful of change, of the future, of the unknown. This fear can manifest as anxiety, as depression, or alternatively as passivity, distraction and apathy (both feigned and genuine disregard). The biggest causers of environmental damage are typically those who are the wealthiest, have the most power, and have the most to lose if they act in support of climate change, and transition to more sustainable practices. Stay #woke everyone. Do your research and protect yourselves mentally, especially when it’s getting overwhelming. It is depressing stuff. No wonder so many of us choose not to think about it or distract ourselves. Or on the flip side, some of us worry or obsess about it, perhaps even lying awake in dread, disgust, fear or pain. Some of us are literally experiencing disturbance and dissonance from witnessing the effects of climate change, and are feeling completely helpless to reverse the climate crises emergency that we are facing.

For your mental health - Hei tiaki i te hauora hinengaro:

✓ Seek professional help if you need to – guard your mind and be kind to it, it is so valuable and it has so much to contribute to this world! (your GP can refer you to psychologists, psychiatrists etc) There is no shame in looking after yourself in this way.

✓ Vent to your friends and whānau (online, over the phone, and in person – whatever floats your climate conscious boat).

✓ Connect with nature, be it lying in grass, going hiking, ocean or lake swims, hitting up Mona Vale or Riccarton Bush (seriously, it helps).

✓ Create art: sing, write, dance, draw, paint, blog, make poetry, compose lyrics.

✓ Take breaks from social media.

✓ Self-care: watch a movie, read a book, paint your nails, take a shower/bath, go to your local pool for a spa, visit your local vegan/vegetarian café – whatever helps you feel a little bit better.

✓ Educate yourself, it is your greatest weapon - but don’t depress yourself in all the research – take time to look after yourself too.

For systematic and environmental change – Hei panoni i ngā tikanga tiaki taiao:

-Support local, ethical businesses as often as you can afford to under the constraints of the student budget.

-Go to local grocers for cheap fresh produce or grow your own; Big Chicken, Growers Direct, Crazy Dave’s are all nearby.

-Reduce, reuse, refuse, recycle.

-Upcycle, i.e. create new stuff out of old stuff.

-BYO bowl, cup, cutlery (you get discounts!).

-Donate (clean) unwanted goods to the UC Free Table, in the Undercroft under the library stairs – but don’t leave rubbish please!

-Recycling is kind of a myth, try to reduce, reuse and refuse first.

-Also p.s. milk carton tetra-packs are not recyclable (yet?) .

-In your flat or hall, set up an organic waste bin if you don’t already have one – get into the habit of separating your vegetable scraps from your non-recyclables and your recyclables.

-Reusable bags: put them in your hand bag, your man bag, your back pack and your snack sack.

Get involved in any of the following clubs/ groups on campus:

- UC Eco Clubs Network

- UC DigSoc

- UC Sustainability

- Get involved in UC’s political clubs and kōrero about Climate Change (e.g. UC Greens, UC Labour, UC National)

Get involved with these nonpartisan groups:

ActionStation

Christchurch Climate Change Conference

Christchurch Youth Council

Department of Conservation (DOC)

Environment Canterbury (ECAN) Extinction Rebellion

Forest & Bird

Generation Zero

Ko Tātou/This is Us

Para Kore

School Strike for Climate

Lobbying MPs to develop rigorous environmental policies

-Political groups like Young Greens, Young Labour, Young Nats and kōrero about climate change

-Decrease your meat intake: it’s not black and white either! There are so many ideas:

-Meatless Mondays (nominate a day in your flat where you cook vegetarian).

-Trial a vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian/ dairy free diet and see what you think?

-Veganuary Challenge (Go vegan for a day, a week or the entire month of January or any other month).

-Meat Free May (Go meat free for a day, a week or the entire month of May).

-Plant based until dinner? (eat vegan or vegetarian for breakfast and/or lunch, and have your meat at dinner).

Visit vegetarian/vegan cafés: Portershed, Addington Raw Sugar Café, CBD

The Origin, St Albans

Karma Free Café, New Brighton

Lotus Heart, CBD

Stone Baked Bakery, The Palms & Rangiora

Water Drop Café, Riccarton

The Fermentist, CBD.

Greta Thunberg: Power of the People

I have to mention Greta Thunberg here, for a host of reasons. It is very obvious to me that she deals with these same anxieties and depressive feelings as me and many others, which has come as a result of our planet’s abuse, and subsequent continued deterioration. This is coupled with frustration at the sluggishness and even inaction by those with the power to make the systematic and global change necessary to try and mitigate the long term effects of climate change.

Out of these feelings of hopelessness and depression, Greta started the School Strike for Climate movement. Again: Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish teenager, inspired a global movement. It’s not just her though. She is one of many, and we will all add our voices to the fire. She should not be seen as this martyr, or as some untouchable person. She has achieved incredible things, but who is to say you cannot do the same, using your own skills, your own knowledge and your own passion? Also, Greta is a hugely intelligent, strong and powerful young woman who happens to have High Functioning Autism (Asperger’s). She inspires me to be open, fearless, and forthcoming about my own diagnosis with the same disability in order to empower others on the spectrum to reach their full potential. Go representation!

I hope this article lifted some spirits. I hope you feel even slightly empowered, passionate, and ready to contribute your skills and your wonderful talents.

Kohikohi ngā kākano, whakaritea te pārekereke, kia puāwai ngā hua.

Gather the seeds, prepare the seedbed carefully, and you will be gifted with abundance of food. By Abby Robertson - to read more of her, visit bohemianhumanist.com

SO, WHAT’S THE SITCH?

Scientists say the evidence in favour of human-induced climate change is irrefutable. Though, there’s a gargantuan grey space regarding what people like me and you can do to help. In this article, I’ll briefly outline the environmental situation here in Aotearoa, before discussing some bangin’ examples of how we can all become a little bit eco-friendlier in the way we lead our day-to-day lives.

Climate change is any noticeable change in the weather patterns we expect to see. These changes are long-lasting and can be condensed in certain regions or spread across all of Earth. Almost always, the effects of climate change are huge and catastrophic.

As much as I detest it, New Zealanders contribute largely to climate change. We do this through our greenhouse gas emissions, which, since 1990, have increased by twenty four percent. These contributions make up about 0.17 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Which is, on a global scale, relatively small.

However, each person in New Zealand generates about 18 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year, meaning that, on a per-person basis, we are the 21st biggest contributor to climate change in the world. Yes, our obscene number of cows are a huge part of these figures, but so are our energy and transport industries, as well as our wastage. So, on account of the dying planet, it just isn’t very cool to blame the environmental crisis on the cows anymore. We are all a part of the problem.

There are so many things that New Zealanders can do to become a little bit greener in their attitudes, actions, and lifestyles. This article is here to let you know how to reduce and properly dispose of your personal waste, find some groovy alternatives suitable for that #studentbudge , and become greener in the way you think. Hopefully it inspires you to be more self-aware about how your consumption habits affect the world around us.

By Kane Bassett

RECYLING

Recycling is converting waste into materials that can be used again. When we recycle, we reduce the amount of pollutants leaking into our air and waterways, and use less raw materials and energy on the production line—which means we end up taking a little bit less from Earth!

In Christchurch, we sort our recycling into yellow wheelie bins that are collected every two weeks by a sanitation engineer (honestly, I got stuck and could only think of the term “garbage man,” which is problematic on account of being both brash and inherently gendered). Each suburb has a different day for their rubbish collection. You can find out by searching “find your collection day” on the Christchurch City Council Website, downloading the CCC Wheelie Bins app, or you could even embrace those high levels of self-awareness by remembering to look when you’re going to and from home. Here’s what can and can’t be recycled in Christchurch.

PAPER AND CARDBOARD

In Christchurch, you can sort all clean paper, magazines, cardboard, junk mail, newspapers, phone books, paperbacks and hardcover books into the yellow wheelie bin. Lots of people use paper and cardboard alternatives to plastic, which is super, but it does take an enormous amount of energy to produce these. The point? Tread carefully—the goal is to reduce your waste overall, not just to use less of the nasty stuff!

HARD PLASTICS

The Christchurch City Council says that you can recycle plastics such as ice cream containers, milk bottles, and water bottles, so long as you rinse them and take off their lids. A good rule of thumb to use is imagining being able to crush the piece of plastic so that it can fit in your hand—if you reckon you can’t, then you can probably go ahead and recycle it. This rule is practical, too, given the machines at recycling centres can’t sort through crushed bottles and containers.

METALS

Some household metals (especially aluminium) are expensive materials. Because of this, they’re one of Aotearoa’s most commonly recycled products. Though, there is definitely a grey space around the rules of metal recycling. The general gist is to clean them properly and remove their lids. As well as this, make sure not to damage or condense them because doing so may jeopardize the entire batch of materials from being recycled.

GLASS

It is a good idea to recycle as much glass as you can because it is infinitely recyclable, meaning it will never wear down throughout repeated manufacturing cycles. Basically, glass is the Freddy Mercury of recyclable materials—timeless. As with plastics, you can chuck glass bottles and jars into the yellow wheelie bin, provided they are clean, aren’t broken or smashed, and don’t have a lid.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

Miscellaneous items may contaminate an entire load of recycling. If you don’t know whether something is recyclable, stop and check the Christchurch City Council website or the CCC Wheelie Bins app. I quite like the app, because it lets you search the item you’re unsure about before telling you which bin to put it in. The miscellaneous items people commonly mistakenly recycle are light bulbs and batteries, tinfoil, polystyrene, and Tetra Pak cartons—so, watch out for these ones!

MIXED MATERIAL OBJECTS

Our recycling machines can’t recycle waste made up of mixed materials because they can’t break up the waste into distinct groups of raw materials. Common mixed material objects include disposable coffee cups, cardboard/film packaging, plastic/foil packaging, and Tetra Pak cartons. Consider cutting out these products or finding alternatives for them.

SOFT PLASTICS

Soft plastics are plastics such as bread bags, plastic shopping bags, and plastics used when packaging. Sadly, there are no locations for the general public to recycle soft plastics in the South Island, which means we need to reduce the amount we consume or find alternatives.

CONTAMINATED WASTE

Waste that is dirty from food or other substances can’t be recycled. Currently, we send 2% of Aotearoa’s recycling to landfill because it poses a contamination risk. So, what’re the rules? A small amount stain is fine, but try and get rid of crumbs and any noticeable amounts of food or organic waste.

THE GREEN BIN

The Christchurch City Council collects the green bin weekly to turn your organic waste into compost. Councils established the green bin when they noticed higher amounts of toxic pollutants like leachate and methane coming from landfills. These pollutants are released over time when organic waste is unable to decompose in the correct conditions. So, the green bins serve as a perfect conduit between us and sustainably disposing our food scraps and lawn clippings. Here are the regulations for the green bin in Christchurch.

YES

• Food like fruit and veggies (including the stone), meat, bones, bread, coffee grinds, tea bags, dairy products, and egg shells.

• Garden waste like leaves, old flowers, branches and lawn clippings.

• Soiled cardboard and paper that can’t be recycled.

NO

• Flax or cabbage trees.

• Human/animal waste.

• Compostable bags.

• Plastics of any sort.

• Disposable coffee cups.

• Timber, sawdust, ash, stones, gravel, bricks or dirt.

• Oversized clippings.

• Clippings sprayed with Clopyralid.

CLOTHING

Believe it or not, the clothes we buy can damage the environment. In this section, I’ll talk about fast fashion and how we can respond in an eco-friendly manner. Fast fashion is the cheap and fast manufacturing of clothing. A lot of clothing companies support fast fashion when trying to compete for the hottest and latest trends. Consequently, the environment suffers. To produce clothing, manufacturers need to use a lot of energy, water, and harmful chemicals like fabric dye. Then, in order for stores to sell these clothes, they need to be packaged and transported, before waiting to be sold. Each one of these steps is harmful for the environment—in fact, they’re so harmful they make fast fashion the world’s second largest polluter. The following are some things you can do to slow down the fast fashion industry.

1. D.I.Y.

Instead of sending your garments to landfill when they get damaged, learn or ask a friend how to fix them. Or, if you’re adept with YouTube tutorials and/or a sewing machine, get some second-hand fabric and try making your own garments.

2. OPSHOPPING

Buying clothes second-hand is more sustainable for the planet and a cheap option for students. Luckily, you’re more likely to find funky and unique pieces in opshops than anywhere else--just make sure to look closely between every hanger!

3. BE SELF-AWARE

The best thing to do is reduce your consumption habits. Decide against buying items you will only wear once and buying impulsively. This part lets you question your assumptions about the environment, leaving you with a new perspective.

ALTERNATIVES

Some items we use and dispose of on too much of a regular basis. Here are some easy swaps and eco-friendly hot spots to help minimise your environmental impact.

Reduce packaging waste by using bulk bins and shopping at wholefood suppliers. There are stunning bulk isles at Bin Inn and Value Mart.

Annually, New Zealand sends 357 million tampons and pads to landfill. Menstrual cups are an alternative which saves on both money and waste. Wā Collective sells these at wacollective.org.nz.

Carrying a keep cup, metal straw, and metal cutlery means you’ll dispose of less waste.

Sustainability Trust (my fav) have them online at sustainability.org.nz.

ECO SHOP

Stop here for a plethora of recycled items like furniture and appliances. Seriously, you could furnish a flat just by going here. Find this gem at 191 Blenheim Road.

THE NIFTY MARKETS

These markets run every month, showcasing some of Christchurch’s creative and sustainable small businesses. Follow them on Instagram @theniftymarkets

$2 WAREHOUSE

A giant opshop filled with unique garments, each for only $2. This beauty sits at 1026 Ferry Road, but access is off Settlers Crescent.

CCC WHEELIE BINS APP

This app lets you know when and which bins are due, and what can go in them. Just enter your address, and you’re all set.

Zero Carbon Bill: Is It Enough?

Ever since primary school we’ve been warned about the dangers of climate change. With recent heatwaves bringing scorching record temperatures to Europe, the suspiciously increasing occurrences of once-in-100-year floods and hurricanes, and the continual loss of ice sheets in the Arctic, the general consensus seems to be that climate change is already here.

That consensus was confirmed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last year. The IPCC is a body of the UN tasked with assessing the impacts of climate change. In a special report on the impacts of global warming, the IPCC outlined that the Earth has already warmed by about 1.0 °C since pre-industrial times (from about 1850-1900).

Warming Planet

In that same report, the IPCC also outlined the substantial negative effects that ought to continue damaging our future should we fail to limit global warming to 1.5 °C by the year 2100 (as compared to 2.0 °C of global warming).

At 1.5 °C global warming, sea level rises of up to 0.77 metres will swallow many low-lying regions around the world, particularly in the Pacific. Further, the sea will get warmer, drastically changing weather worldwide. Warmer waters will also impact on sea life; bleached corals and inhospitable water will drive mass migration and extinction, with a substantial loss of fisheries, particularly around the Equator. This sea level rise and loss of fisheries will leave many in the Pacific with nothing and looking for a new home – likely in New Zealand.

On land, we’re already seeing more wildfires in Australia and Californiachanging weather and climate is transforming entire regions. Approximately 4% of the world’s terrain will completely transform, turning safaris into deserts, for example. Waterways will continue to dry up, as seen today in the Middle East. Millions will become ‘climate refugees’, escaping Earth’s nowinhospitable regions. Food security will be heavily impacted as well, with important crops like rice, wheat and maize being hit especially hard.

All that at a mere increase of 1.5 °C.

At 2.0 °C warming all of those effects are made even worse. Sea levels will rise by an extra 10 centimetres, which impacts on an additional 10 million people worldwide. 13% of Earth’s terrain will be transformed completely, rather than the 4% at 1.5 °C. Instead of losing 80% of coral reefs, we’ll lose pretty much all of them.

Critically, if we don’t cut emissions at all, we’ll hit 1.5 °C by 2040, and 3 °C by 2100. The effects of climate change get progressively worse as the temperature increases.

do this in New Zealand, the Government has proposed the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, commonly referred to as the Zero Carbon Bill. Basically, the bill would do three main things;

Set a target to reduce biogenic methane (produced primarily by our agricultural industries) by 24–47% from 2017 to 2050, with a 10% reduction target by 2030, while reducing all other greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050. Set ‘emissions budgets’ that would serve as stepping stones to achieving the overall targets.

Establish an independent Climate Change Commission that would monitor and assess how well we’re actually doing at meeting the targets, as well as changing the targets.

While the bill is a major attempt to commit New Zealand to doing anything about climate change, it has faced criticism from all sides of the political divide. Farmers have lambasted it for being too harsh on them, while environmental groups have been vocal about the fact that the bill doesn’t do enough. The bill treats methane differently from other greenhouse gases, and doesn’t actually implement any measures or mechanisms to hold people accountable for not meeting targets.

The IPCC report outlines that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C by 2100 requires a reduction in carbon by about 45% by 2030, and net zero by 2050. Carbon emissions made up about 20% of all New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2017. Methane is our most produced gas however, accounting for some 60% of our emissions. The government’s decision to separate it from other gases is primarily for political purposes, as it wants National’s support for the bill (so that it doesn’t die with a change of government), while National wants farmers to support them.

It’s also important to note that the IPCC report has received some criticism for being too conservative about the real danger and time constraints we’re facing. Of particular concern are ‘feedback loops’, in which the adverse effects of climate change contribute to that change themselves (for example, melting permafrost releasing trapped methane into the air).

Much like the recent climate emergency declarations by regional councils, the Zero Carbon Bill feels like a lot of words with no apparent action underpinning it. Questionable targets mixed with a lack of enforceable mechanisms seem to set the bill up to be little more than an attempt to appear to do something, rather than actually doing something about the disaster that is climate change. Whether political interests have watered this legislation down, or whether this truly is the best the Government has to offer, is a question for Wellington pundits. Regardless, the Zero Carbon Bill doesn’t do nearly enough to combat climate change, and we’re all worse off for it.

The Environment

After a late-night McDonalds run a few weeks ago, my friend and I sit in my room with our meals and he gets up to leave. I ask where he’s going, and he says, “to grab the metal straws you have in your kitchen.” Feeling guilty, I look at the plastic straw that I was about to open to drink my frozen coke, and say, “but we have straws.” He replies, “do you want to kill a turtle?” and heads to the kitchen.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but discussions of ‘the environment’ never seem to include particularly cheerful thoughts. Everywhere we turn, it seems that we are confronted with the reality of humanity’s impending doom. There’s consistently new articles, studies and scholars who are telling us how badly we have damaged our environment and how irreversible it is. And they aren’t wrong – humans can be destructive and our overuse of resources, abuse of materials and dismissive attitudes towards pollution and consumption are potentially lethal. And the outcomes are terrifying. I’m terrified, quite honestly. And I don’t think I’m the only one. Even if I’m doing everything I can, it doesn’t seem like quite enough. Governments and big corporations, such as Apple and Amazon, are the key players needing to make changes and lead the charge against the climate crises. Because of this, it’s easy to feel powerless, and like there’s nothing else we can do as individuals.

The media is so full of negativity, and seeing how much it dominates our lives, it’s hard not to feel like we really are headed towards an inevitably gloomy future. We don’t read so much about the positive things that are happening for our environment. Perhaps that would get less clicks on Stuff.com. Yet there ARE wonderful things happening, and we can’t give up hope, just yet. For example,

- Our country’s supermarkets have banned plastic bags.

- The UK’s carbon emissions have been decreasing for six years – last year its emissions were at its lowest since 1888.

- The London marathon this year replaced 20,000 plastic water bottles with edible water pouches.

- The biggest coal-fired power plant in North America has been converted into 260 acres of solar panels.

- Maine has joined a growing list of American states that are banning styrofoam.

- China is developing a “forest city” in order to help clean up their air.

- Nine endangered species are predicted to make a comeback this year, joining animals such as the Giant Panda, the Mountain Gorilla and the Humpback Whale.

- A robot has been designed that delivers baby coral to help repopulate the Great Barrier Reef.

- The hole in the Ozone Layer is repairing itself more each year.

In the meantime, we can still keep making small changes to help our planet. Basic stuff. Recycle, avoid using single-use plastics. Plant greenery in your gardens that attracts bees. Buy a reusable water bottle, and use a reusable coffee mug (lots of places give discounts for using them, too). And from now on … I’m taking a metal straw with me to Maccas.

Samantha-Rose Williams

Flat Famous

Mik:

Flexiterian. Claims to be a sustainable queen, eats tuna Tuesdays through Sundays. Might have seen me… i’m the face of UC! (green marketing champion xD) Only did this photoshoot for another reason to get naked and deep throat carrots x Sustainable hack: Pretend to be a vacuum cleaner (Nunu) cos “food waste is bad waste!”

Jess:

Went to Nepal found herself and her love for all things vego. Avoids plastic at all costs unless it is in the form of scrumpy. Creature, messy lil f*ck. Sustainable hack: “fish are friends not food @nunu (the vacuum cleaner).”

Meggy:

vAgeTaRiaN who loves a good blueberry muff, but hasn’t tasted banana in a while. Really big fan of leafy greens and easily has the shittest chat of the flat. Haggard, shit talking vape lord! Animal lover, people hater. Sustainable hack: “pick up ur rubbish.”

Phoebe:

Carries the name the village bicycle for many reasons. The most important of which is her hack riding her bike rain or shine, haggard or not to work everyday bc mummy and daddy won’t buy her a scooter. Vegetarian who loves salami and a snag, catch her at Ensoc BBQ’s with multiple sausages in her mouth… ps. She doesn’t even go here.

Sez:

REAL Vegetarian (aspirational vegan but loves an eggie on toast) Queen of @@@@ to keep the girls in line, rewards us for good environmental behaviour by leaving phantom blueberries around the flat. Sustainable hack: “don’t drive your car.”

This issue’s FLAT FAMOUS has scored drinks, food, at the Fox & Ferret!

Band aids, broken arms and bollockery

So, let’s cut to the meat of this real quick. Aotearoa, despite the chest-puffing of our richly textured and romanticized history and out-of-the-way exclusivity, is nothing more than a tiny set of islands down the arse end of the South Pacific. Sometimes we aren’t even included on official world maps. We are, for all our want and national pride, a relatively unimportant country. To combat this, and probably to capitalize on our relatively obscure status, we’ve built an economy that relies on our ability to export. We’re known world-wide for the quality of its dairy and meat, specifically milk and beef products. Where these products are produced, in large open grassy fields adjoining lush rainforests, snowpeaked mountains and rushing rivers, are also more than enough to act as an allure for tourists. Safe to say, New Zealand survives on the virility of its environment, more specifically what we can use from it to produce that sweet, sweet GDP. Meat, milk and Ecotourism, that’s our deal. As such, in any event in which both of these aspects would be weakened or crippled entirely – for example, just spit balling here, the collapse of the dairy industry through degradation of local waterways - would result in nothing less than a total economic collapse for the nation as a whole. Yikes. That preamble and what I’m about to get into will sound alarmist, but bear with me, as, y’know, it’s factual.

Within the span of the past two decades, farms across New Zealand have reached well past an accepted ‘optimum capacity’ for a country of our size. This increase in heard sizes, relative to the demand put on the farming sector by an international market wanting more and more milk powder, and fresh cuts of dead animal, has resulted in what can only be referred to as a literal fuck-ton of waterway degradation. You might remember that spooky scary water tax the Labour government tried installing before the famers got too upset at her. While that would’ve sucked, yes, I’d argue it was necessary. At this point, no solution is going to be painless. Either it sucks a bit now, or it’s going to suck a whole lot for all of us later on.

A 2018 report conducted by the World Wildlife Fund concluded that per capita, New Zealand has one of the largest ecological footprints - which is set out to include not only total amounts of materials consumed, and pollution of the atmosphere, but more importantly total waterway pollution. We’re outranked only by the United States of America, Kuwait, Denmark and Australia. That’s bonkers. Two small islands (and one even smaller island we always forget about) are in the same league as the United States, a country that is thirty- seven times larger in land area and a population of 327.2 million people (as of last year’s) census. This should be warning enough that something fucky is going on here.

Also, the relationship between livestock, the thing we’re trying to sell, and the environment - the thing which what we’re trying to sell actually lives in - shows how everything is dependent on each other. If the cows can’t get enough feed and water to produce a nice chewy steak, then we’re kind of in a tough spot. Especially if, say, that’s not just a problem for the farmers. Let’s imagine the rest of our environment is in a similar shape as a result of overwork. No more tourists coming to see our nice forests and quaint lakes, because they’re all icky now. Not only that, but we’d have to LIVE in that whole mess. WE still need that food and clean water. In an effort to get more slices of kiwi paradise for exported plates, we’re running a major risk or ruining our own back yard for future generations.

On that subject of cost, it appears to come down to a matter of expense versus result. A rapid adjustment to multiple profitable agricultural sectors across the country would cut down on international trading as we limit our ability to supply and meet the demand. This will mean a bad time, but the problem still remains and worsens when nothing is done about it. For every moment spent debating whether or not spending millions on long-term solutions such as lessening heard sizes in waterways (in addition to the expansion of renewable energy sources and placing taxes on high-emission vehicles), the effects of climate change will continue to alter the overall global temperatures unabated. Whilst, concerns about the truckloads of money we’re going to have to shovel into altering both the agricultural and energy sectors are entirely valid, every moment we muck about means it’s only going to get doubly expensive and doubly worse.

In no way am I pinning the entire weight of the future on the backs of hardworking kiwi farmers, I feel like I should make that clear. What I’m trying to rally against is the idea that New Zealand has painted ourselves into an economic corner, even if we put rebates on imported electric cars, or put our rubbish in the right bins. We can’t keep our millions of residents happy and watered without our precious export/ import agreements, sure, but we really don’t want to end up at a point where we, not only can’t meet export demand, but cripple our own environment. While the industry would be hit hard by pragmatic reform, there is no denying, the slight hit to the country’s general income would be well worth it in protecting the environment.

The key question must be asked: what is more important, the rampant success of New Zealand’s national farming sector, or the continued survival of our environment for future generations?

Lewis Hoban

Climate Crisis

You Care, But Do You Act?

Almost every young person in New Zealand is, on some level, concerned about the climate crisis. I believe this is a fact. Last year, you may have come across the worrying statement, “we only have 12 years to save the planet,” without really knowing what it means, only that it scares you. But despite the seeming urgency of the situation, there is still a large proportion of concerned young people who haven’t done anything beyond share the odd social media post or sign a petition. I’m not trying to guilt-trip anyone, this is simply an observation. So why aren’t more of us engaging in this, and how can we empower ourselves to take action?

I suspect that many young people simply aren’t aware of the factual details of the climate crisis, and the efforts to mitigate it. It’s hard to take action when you feel like you don’t have a good foundation of understanding. For example, the lack of adequate civics education in New Zealand has led to the low level of youth engagement in politics that we have today. No one taught us how politics works, you were just supposed to figure it out yourself when you reached the voting age of eighteen. But there are issues that young people need the confidence to speak up on right now. Unfortunately, we can’t go back in time and get the civics education we deserved. We just have to recognise that there is a gap in our knowledge, and take the responsibility to fill it. As university students especially, we (hopefully) have the skills to do our own research. You can also go along to events and ask the stupid questions. Don’t feel intimidated by people who seem to know way more than you – I promise, often everyone (including me) is just faking it till they make it.

So once you know what’s going on, how can you get involved? There are actually quite a few active groups out there that you can get involved with, whether through one-off events or ongoing commitment. The SchoolStrike4Climate movement are holding their third strike in September, and this time everyone is invited. Strikes and protests are a way to put pressure on those in power and show them how much you really care. Additionally, the media loves it, and will give the issue more attention, further increasing pressure. Generation Zero is another organisation which runs events aimed at getting youth more engaged with the politics around climate change – you can join the Facebook group Generation Zero Christchurch, to be in the loop. There’s also the Extinction Rebellion, if you’re interested in more “direct” protest action. Whatever you choose to do, making connections and belonging to a wider community network is great because it helps you feel a part of a collective movement, rather than an individual standing at the foot of a mountain. We can’t do this alone.

Everyone has a different level of knowledge and capacity to act. You may get anxiety through going to events with people you don’t know. You may have difficulty with writing, or with understanding the whole picture. You might not be able to eat vegetarian or vegan for financial or medical reasons. No one can do everything. But you can’t let the excuse “I can’t do everything,” be the reason you do nothing. I challenge you to educate yourself, so you are empowered to act. The information, people, and movements are out there, but your involvement has to start with you.

Francesca Zhang

Provided below are some ‘quick facts’ on what the climate crisis is:

• Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere cause heat from the sun to get trapped around the Earth.

• The more greenhouse gases there are, the hotter the planet gets.

• CO2 is one of the most long-lasting greenhouse gases.

• In the last century, CO2 levels in the atmosphere have risen rapidly, mostly because of us humans, burning fossil fuels.

• Global warming is bad because it leads to melting ice-sheets (i.e. sea level rise), biodiversity loss and intensification of weather events, which all have huge flow-on effects for life as we know it.

• Sea-level rise will mean people in low-lying areas will have to migrate inland or move to other countries, which will lead to another refugee crisis.

• Biodiversity loss will impact our food production and would probably make the price of food rise in future.

• More intense and frequent weather events (e.g. droughts, floods, hurricanes) are already leading to conflict, death and injury, as well as high insurance costs which could be money better spent in other ways.

• We are already seeing the effects of climate change today, and it will get worse with more warming.

• If we carry on with the current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the effects would be catastrophic.

• The Paris Agreement was created in 2016 to get countries to commit to reducing emissions and dealing with the effects of climate change together (because it has to be a global effort).

• 174 countries including New Zealand signed the Paris Agreement, and all have made their own individual commitments to emission reduction.

• The overall goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, which will still have irreversible impacts, but much less than if we maintain the status quo.

• “We only have 12 years to save the planet,” is a reference to the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which states that to limit global warming to 1.5°C, we need a 45% CO2 emission reduction by 2030.

• The Zero Carbon Bill, which is still in the select committee stage (being improved, not yet law) at parliament, was introduced in order to set New Zealand up to fulfil our obligations under the Paris Agreement.

NZUTS Hockey

The UTSNZ Hockey tournament was held in Christchurch over the semester break and as usual, University of Canterbury gave a stellar result. The University of Canterbury Men’s team came away as National Champion for the second year in a row.

Competition for the UC men’s team started well before the tournament. The UC team is open to any UC student, as a result it drew players from many clubs throughout Christchurch. Selection for the team was highly competitive, and with just six weeks to train together before the tournament, the decision for the final team wouldn’t have been easy for coach, Craig Anderson.

Four excellent hockey players who didn’t make the UC team were leant to Auckland University of Technology (AUT) for the tournament. If the UC players had any hesitation in playing against their fellow students, they didn’t let it show. UC beat AUT 6-1 in their first round-robin match.

The team continued their good form with two 3-1 wins over Waikato University and Otago University, guaranteeing them a spot in the final. Their only hick-up came in their final round-robin match against Auckland University, having held the lead 2-1 for most of the final two quarters, Auckland University took the win with two goals in the last 10 minutes.

For the second year in a row, UC met Otago in the final. No doubt wanting to avenge last year’s loss, Otago came out firing in the first quarter. Both teams upped the intensity from the start and neither gained the advantage, ending the first quarter nil all.

Two minutes into the second quarter Otago’s defence broke with Keely Legge scoring UC’s first goal. Ten minutes later, Captain, Moss Jackson scored a second goal and this was followed by two more from Zin South and Carlos Kershaw in quick succession. Heavy offence from the Otago team saw UC concede a penalty corner in the final moments of the second quarter, which Otago were able to convert, ending the round 4-1 to UC.

If Otago had any hope of a comeback victory, it was dashed immediately at the start of the third quarter. Opening with a flash, UC’s Fletcher Edmond scored two goals in quick succession bringing the score to 6-1 where it stayed for the remainder of the game.

Otago were tough opponents, who’s performance was not entirely reflected in the final score. However winning finals is about turning opportunities into goals. There is no doubt that the UC Men’s hockey team were the better side, and the deserved victors. This is the second year in a row where the team have come away as Tournament Champions. Special mention should be made of team captain Moss Jackson, highest point-scorer Zin South and goalkeeper Scott Sommer.

The AUT team which included several UC students made it to the play-offs for third and fourth where they beat Auckland University 2-1 to take home third place.

The women’s tournament ran alongside the men’s tournament and followed a 5-a-side format. The UC team was coached by Jason Hursthouse and Bryce Smith, both post-grad students who have played for UC in previous years. With several players out on injury, and several others unavailable due to commitments with representative teams, UC was always going to struggle to put its best foot forward. That didn’t stop the UC women’s team from giving it their all and enjoying the competition.

Congratulations to both University of Canterbury hockey teams, their points will contribute towards UC’s point tally for the overall winner of the University and Tertiary Sports New Zealand shield. There are still several tournaments remaining with National Tertiary Tournaments in Ultimate Frisbee, Badminton, Basketball and Netball planed for later this year. If you’d like to get involved and compete on behalf of UC contact UC Sport for more information.

Robert Brownlee

Rawing Meg

Beyond University Walls

It can be too easy for us students to switch to a default way of living during our studies –going from home, to uni, to work, to home. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. We see the same people, go to the same places, and do the same thing.

While a tight routine can be great at getting results, you don’t want to lose touch and miss what else is going on around you. The city of Christchurch is one bloody good place to be; we are only a few minutes away from some amazing places and hidden gems. It can be hard to think of new things to try, or places to see; SO – here is a list of things that you need to try, all of which will benefit your mental wellbeing in at least one way:

Moving your body – we have so many amazing walking and running, all of which are free! So, get out of that gym rut, put on some shoes, and get amongst nature. My favourites? Halswell Quarry, Harry Ell walkway (Port Hills), Sumner esplanade, and around the Red Zone.

Enjoying some grub – go on…ditch the leftovers or mi-goreng noodles one night and take the flatties out for a decent feed. I like good food that makes me feel good too; and have a fair few of recommended places that you should hit up: Town Tonic, The Monday Room, Raw Sugar Café, Portershed café, Little Poms, Beat Street Café, and our nearby Dubba Dubba in Bush Inn if you’re wanting something more local.

Take time for you! This can easily be one of the first things to fly out the door when the pressure mounts, but taking time out is so important, if only to keep you sane so you can actually give your studies and job your all. Take a float at Cloud9 Floatclub, explore the Tūranga central city library (much more than books!), attempt an escape room, or hunt down a local quiz night for some quality and inexpensive flat bonding.

Take yourself for a drive out somewhere you haven’t been before. Sign-up for that free taster class. Rope your friends into a dinner out or a morning jog. Get amongst the enriched and varied environment that is Christchurch. Find things that keep you mentally well, and stick to them.

Rawing Meg

Insta: @rawingmeg

Email: rawingmeg@gmail.com

Blog:www.rawingmeg.wixsite.com/ hearmeraw

Let Bygones Be Bi-Gones?

People are almost always surprised to learn I’m not straight. As a bisexual woman who has mostly (and most notably, amongst my friends) dated men, I have frequently experienced what many would call the privilege of being “straight-passing.” It’s easy to assume I’m a straight woman when people only hear me talk about my ex-boyfriends. I have only ever really had relationships (or dated, had flings, or basically anything more than one-night-stand) with men. I didn’t really start dating (or let’s be honest, sleeping around) until I was sixteen and by then I was pretty comfortable in my sexual attraction to men.

Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve grown up knowing I was attracted to men, I wanted to kiss them and touch them and marry them… I guess? It should be that simple, right? No. I’ve liked girls for as long as I can remember and I had just as many crushes on girls as I did on guys when I was in primary and intermediate, but it was much harder for me to understand and acknowledge my crushes on girls. And when all my friends were getting numbers from the boys they found cute at the Year 8 dance, it didn’t even cross my mind to get any cute girl’s numbers. It wasn’t until I was at High School that I realised that girl I desperately wanted to be best friends with in year six? Yeah, that was a crush.

Now as this is the Environment issue of CANTA, it would be remiss of me not to mention my own environment and upbringing and how it has affected the way I view my sexuality. I was raised in a pretty open-minded household, my father’s best friend is gay and that was never something they hid from me or spoke negatively about, so I grew up thinking that my family would accept me if I were to ever come out to them. But now I’m 21, my dad still doesn’t know I

like girls, and my mum and I don’t really talk about it. But I am far more comfortable in my sexual orientation and my attraction to women. And yet I still don’t really date women. Why? Well not for a lack of trying. If you define trying as having my Tinder set to both “Men and Women,” and messaging every cute girl I match with, and barely ever hearing back, and then when I do? She turns out to be the ex-girlfriend of a friend of mine, gotta love Gay Christchurch™️. Sure, it’s easier and therefore often more convenient to date men, but honestly? I think I’m really fucking scared to properly date a girl.

To do anything more than go on a few dates, hook up, and then never see her again? That terrifies me. And I think this is for one of two reasons. First of all, as a woman who is attracted to other women, I often find my connections with them to be stronger than those with men. There are so many shared experiences just between women, that the men I’ve dated could never fully understand. Therefore, it seems like any relationship I have with a woman will involve a stronger connection. The second reason I’m terrified of dating girls?

I’ve fucked up so many of my relationships with men and have been mistreated by far too many men to count. So, part of me feels like I have a blank-slate with women. They’ve never cheated on me, sexually harassed or abused me or dumped me. And I’d like to keep it this way. It would certainly be easier this way. Seeing a gorgeous girl in a bar and just brushing it off, despite my friends urging me to talk to her. For now, I’ll stick to the cute guy next to her. At least I know what to expect from him.

Molly Thomas

Club Promoter

UC Sustain

Surely most of you know that we have a sustainability office here at UC. But what I am sure most of you don’t know, is what their role is within our community. The UC Sustainability Office is an on-campus hub for people and groups interested in how they can create positive change and promote sustainable practices within the University of Canterbury and wider community. The office organises events throughout the year, helps communicate pathways for change and promote sustainability.

So, who exactly is the office that we keep talking about - Matt, Chloe and Niki (although Rowan left a couple weeks ago but we couldn’t resist sharing this picture of them).The office is here as a resource for staff, students and the wider community who want to connect with sustainable-minded others and create change in their own lives and spaces.

UC Sustainability Office roles are:

To help people see how sustainability relates to their area of work, research, studies and their wider lives.

To act as a catalyst for the University in pursuing its charter intentions regarding sustainability and environmental leadership.

To foster a culture of people prepared to make a difference in creating socio-ecologically sustainable societies.

To value, recognise and reward people for sustainable efforts and participation.

Furthermore, from the office a community of like-minded people (including myself) has begun to grow over the past few years. Students have different passions when it

comes to the environment, so luckily there are a lot of different opportunities when it comes to getting hands on with sustainability on campus. Don’t have a specific area of focus when it comes to the environment? How about signing up as an Eco Volunteer. The volunteer opportunities range from fair trade days to cycling events, and I doubt it would be hard to find something you wouldn’t be into.

Our community garden is another awesome opportunity to get involved in sustainability on campus. Gardening bees are held every Friday afternoon in our campus community garden, all year round. (In summer the gardening bees are from 1pm – 5pm and in winter the bees are from 12pm – 4pm). We also run gardening and permaculture workshops, and hold frequent pizza parties using the woodfired pizza oven! Anyone and everyone is welcome to attend, and volunteers get to take home fresh, organic produce.

Our next upcoming event we have is Fair Trade Fair, Wednesday 14th August, 11am – 1pm, Haere-roa. Come and celebrate all things Fair Trade with us during Fairtrade Fortnight!

Meet UC’s Fair Trade suppliers, learn what they are doing for their communities and enjoy FREE fair trade coffee, chocolate and more at our annual Fair Trade event. As a Fair Trade Accredited University, UC is proud to stand with Fair Trade producers and encourage ethical sourcing.

Eco Volunteers

The Eco Volunteers may not necessarily be seen as a university club, but rather is a volunteering network, part of the sustainability community here at UC. It provides a great way to get super hands on with sustainability on campus. As an Eco Volunteer, you work closely with the Sustainability Office team, and assist with on campus projects and events that help enhance campus sustainability. Volunteer opportunities range from helping run cycling events, communications and social media campaigns, zero waste workshops, clothes swaps, fair trade expos and more!

Not only do you get to work alongside some groovy people on some rewarding projects, eco volunteering is also recognised as a co-curricular activity meaning you can clock those hours you do and claim some recognition for it!

For more information and how to sign up, see www.canterbury.ac.nz/life/sustainability or email sustainability@canterbury.ac.nz

Become involved with Sustainability at UC and help make a difference to our campus!

EnviroSoc

EnviroSoc is an academic club on campus for Environmental Science but also other students who are interested in environmental sciences are welcome to join. We offer educational seminars with guest speakers, upcoming ones include speakers from Pattle Delamore Partners, NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research), and ECan. We also provide tutorials and study groups for ENVR students.

We are working with UC Biodiversity, setting traps on campus to track what animals are lurking around, and anyone is welcome to get involved with this! We help with planting days and are looking to be a part of more this semester. There is a quiz night coming up on Wednesday the 7th of August.

If these events sound like something you would want to be a part of then you are welcome to join us by emailing envirosoc.uc@gmail. com or find us on facebook at EnviroSoc. Membership is $5 or you can be added to our mailing list for free

Biosoc

BIOSOC is a departmentally associated club here to help and represent aspiring biologists and anyone with a passion for helping to make the world a safer, kinder and more sustainable place.

BIOSOC is an academic club that hosts a variety of social and academic events throughout the year including; 100 level tutorials, the Beerlympics (which we won this year), the tri-sci ball (coming up in August) and various quiz nights. These events are aimed to connect students with their tutors, other biology students and with the committee itself. You can connect with us on any of our socials; facebook.com/biosoc.uc or ‘Biosoc’ on Instagram!

A fire dances on the horizon feeding on our gagged screamsthe flames herd us across a concrete wasteland, like cattle to a slaughterhouse.

Shadows of the inferno convulse on our skin - a puppet show grand finale. Our Mother heaves, choking on the steel monuments we shoved down her throat and vomitting bile across an obese Earth. Long dead and empty, the ocean moves like tarburning the shoreline as the waves ebb and flow in rhythm with Her heaving. Day and night bleed into one the Sun struggles through our darkness like a lantern on a foggy nightits warmth only a memory. ~

Windows shatter, stained glass illusions fall like dust and Christ is lost in the carpet. Velvet curtains dance in the breeze like the skirt she wore parting to reveal beautysilk and sunsets. All but a memory lost in rain and fire a memory that justifies life - in a world without windows.

By Connor McNabb @bearseedpoetry

Would you like your poetry or creative writing to be featured here? Send your work into editor@canta.co.n

The Break Down: The Environment

The stability and preservation of our environment is a vital issue. Being such an essential subject in the 21st century and a huge issue facing politicians and citizens alike, this week’s article is dedicated to the core environmental policies of the political parties represented in the current Parliament.

The Government Labour Party

Being in Government, the Labour Party has the ability to pass legislation and enact change at a more efficient rate than opposition parties. Since 2017, the Labour/NZ First Government has banned single use plastic bags, banned micro-beads, ended new bids for offshore oil and gas exploration, begun the process to pass the Climate Change Response Bill (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, signed the UNEP Clean Seas Accord, and created the Green Investment Fund. Labour has also previously outlined its aims to restore New Zealand rivers and lakes to a swimmable state within a generation, transition all Government vehicle fleets to electric vehicles, and to stabilise and increase endangered indigenous wildlife. More recently, Labour announced its desire to grant discounts to electric, hybrid and fuelefficient vehicles and place a tax upon high emitting vehicles like SUVs and utes. The Labour-NZ First government has also increased fuel taxes twice since taking power in an attempt to encourage the use of public transport, EVs and other emission-free vehicles.

New Zealand First

New Zealand First’s environmental policy largely echoes the policies of Labour and the Greens. However, in addition, New Zealand First wants to find an alternative to 1080 poison and to work with Māori to resolve the outstanding issues with the Kermadec Ocean sanctuary.

Technically in Government

The Green Party

With environmentalism being a core component of the Green Party’s ideology, many of their policies are focused on the environment. As part of the confidence-and-supply agreement signed by Labour and the Green Party in 2017, a Bill that lays out the path to net zero emissions by 2050 and establishes an independent Climate Commission to govern that transition was introduced into the House in May. The Bill is in the Select Committee stage, with submissions closed and a report being prepared to be presented before Parliament on the 21st of October 2019. The Green Party is also in favour of replacing the Emissions Trading Scheme, planting 1.2 billion trees over 1.1 million hectares of land, reaching 100 % renewable energy by

2030 and investing $1 billion in a safe cycling scheme for all major cities.

Not in Government

National Party

Whilst National will no doubt be undergoing policy changes in preparation for next year’s general election, National did make clear its stance on environmental and climate change issues in the 2017 election. The previous National Government signed and ratified the Paris Climate Accords and committed New Zealand to 85% renewable electricity with a target of 90% by 2030. National also made a commitment in 2017 to make 1 in 3 cars in the Government fleet be electric and to invest $400m in fresh water clean ups across the country. National is also vigorously against the proposed ‘Car Tax’ the current Government has recently announced, and against the increase in fuel taxes.

ACT

Being a minor party with only one member in the House of Representatives, it is no surprise that ACT’s climate policy is nonsubstantive. The core of ACT’s environmental/climate change policy is the introduction of a plan that would tie carbon prices to the prices paid in our top five trading partners. ACT believes that this would show the world that New Zealand is doing its part in helping combat the global issue of climate change. ACT is also opposed to the increase in fuel taxes introduced by the current government.

Political Predictions

My Political Predictions are: New fuel tax?

Boomers will continue to disbelieve the existence of climate change

A high-ranking official will resign from the White House Trump will tweet something stupid Brexit

Overall

The State of New Zealand Politics: 2/3

The State of Local Politics: Cycleways

The State of Global Politics: One Yike

Upcoming UCPOLS Speaker Series Guests

August 5, Bentley’s Bar: Sir Tim Shadbolt, Mayor of Invercargill

August 12, Bentley’s Bar: Lan Pham, ECAN Councillor

If there is anything in particular you’d like to hear about in a future report, or you simply want send your thoughts and comments about this article, use the email editor@ucpols.co.nz to get in touch.

editor@ucplos.co.nz

Dr Bike

“One more bike on the road is one less car.”

This week I sat down to chat with Kieran and Rory – the two keen dudes who help get us to class on time, by fixing up our bikes.

The Dr. Bike initiative started many years ago through UC Sustainability. Each year since, two members of the UC Bike Club executive volunteer have taken time out of their Monday to impart their bike expertise. It is a free, “fix it” clinic for bike issues. They offer advice and help with basic servicing of your bike.

Kieran, originally from Australia, decided to move over to Christchurch for university, studying Civil Engineering. He’s always been a keen mountain biker. Rory studies Mechanical Engineering, and only really got in to the biking scene through friends made in his first-year hall, showing all you need is a bike and a “let’s try something new” attitude and you can discover a rad, new hobby.

Both Kieran and Rory decided to join the 2019 Dr. Bike team because of their passion for bikes and helping people. Through providing simple advice, they are making a huge difference, especially when 90% of the bikes they see are old, and needing some love. Most people come to Dr. Bike having no idea what’s wrong with their bike, and for the dudes, it's always an easy fix which they can help out with.

UC is made for biking, especially as Christchurch City is primarily flat. They hope, through providing a free and accessible, bike fixing service, to encourage more students to get out and pedal. The benefits for the environment, as well as yourself are numerous. Not only is biking easier and more accessible than driving, Kieran states “one more bike on the road is one less car;” biking around being a simple way to reduce your carbon footprint.

Catch them at their usual spot on the benches by the C Block Lawn, this semester every Monday from 11am-2:30pm.

Some key tips and tricks for looking after your bike include:

Give your bike a little TLC often; give it a clean and oil up your chains and cogs. Follow the ABC of check-ups; Air, making sure your wheels are pumped up and the wheels go around unimpeded. Brakes; check they brake correctly. Chains, cables and cogs; look for anything with these bike parts.

Ride often.

Try and keep your bike out of the rain; storing it inside garages or undercover.

Sam Mythen

Hybrid RoseAwkwardly Eccentric NZ Release Tour

Feat. blue fmme/Laura Lee Lovely

Venue - Space Academy

Time - 9pm

Date - August 3

Tickets - $10 via Undertheradar

Melted Icecream Presents

Better Living 2019

Feat. Terror of the Deep/T54/Best Bets/the Ben Woods Group

Venue - Avon Room (Town Hall)

Time - 9pm

Date - July 31

Tickets - $22 via Ticketek

Dog Power

Homecoming performance, debuting new songs, experimental visual collage

Venue - Avon Room (Town Hall)

Time - 7pm

Date - August 1

Tickets - $22 via Ticketek

Creme Jean - Album Release Tour

Feat. Transistor/Kool Aid/A.C. Freazy

Venue - The Darkroom

Time - 9pm

Date - August 3

Tickets - $5 via Undertheradar

A Few Notes

Has horses in the back

Kool Aid - Family Portrait

Imagine -if your mind can bend that far- a dorkier, younger version of the author. Yes, I know, I already look like something scraped of the back of a sandwich press after it hasn’t been cleaned in months, but just try. He’s toddling around, a few beers in his system, at a 24-hour livestream fundraiser for RDU, a gauntlet of music to raise funds for the alternative radio station. At this moment in your imagination he is standing, somewhat awestruck, listening to the noise made by a band called ‘Brian Tamaki and the Kool Aid Kids’. Eventually they’ll change their name due to massively obvious reasons. He doesn’t know if it’s the drink in his system or the social high from other semi-drunk musos around him, but he’s taken quite a liking to this lot. After they finish their set, he stumbles forward, awkwardly introduces himself, and asks if he can feature them in his stupid music article that he writes for a student magazine everyone says they hate. This short, strange looking child amuses them, and they say they’ll let him know when they actually get around to putting out a proper EP. Fast forward a year. I’m now a host at RDU, falling over my own words a few times a week. And the Kool Aid Kids, now rebranded to the much more compact moniker of Kool Aid, have finally dropped a full album. Praise be to the old gods.

What is there to say about a band who I awkwardly praised after doing a live set other than how they kick the required amount of ass, not just through my obvious admiration (in the same way Knives Chau is a massive fan of Sex Bob-omb). This lot share in what could only be described as that very-hard-to-describe ‘Kiwi sound’, a mellow mix of warbled guitars, still somehow semi-acoustic, and clean drum hits. It’s all very nice and good as one would expect, good shit for swilling piss-tasting beer in a soundproof recording bunker located next to a ridiculously marked-up Asian pop-up restaurant. Oddly specific? Yes. Uncomfortably accurate? Also, yes.

Tijuana Panthers - Carpet Denim

You want more flashbacks? Okay then. There was this one time I was at record store day, at my local. I don’t know if you’ve been in a local record store during RSD, but it’s probably what it’d be like during a zombie outbreak. Ravenous indie-heads and entitled hipsters desperate for the clout, clawing at each other to get to the nearest Grateful Dead repressing. Under the pressure you end up grabbing whatever looks good before some jabroni with a bottomless wallet and loose morals decided he wanted that particular crate of vinyl to go with the others. No exaggeration, I’ve seen rich bellends buy up entire crates just for the thrill of it. At any rate, Tijuana Panthers, a rocky surf outfit, were one I grabbed purely out of adrenaline rush, and I gotta tell ya, not a bad pick.

Small Crush – Small Crush

You know what I like? Small record labels focused mainly on garage rock. So naturally I automatically had a liking for this lot, one of the latest of San Jose’s Asian Man Records. In addition to being marketably catchy (verging on the seductive but increasingly dangerous edge-of-the-world of ‘pop’) and delightfully beachy in its tonal bounce, Small Crush is another (in what I can only hope is) a long line of the Riot Grrrl revival. Without any sense of incredulous irony, we’re definitely in need of more empowered women telling Nazi punks to fuck off. Let’s all tell Nazi punks to fuck off. Hey, Nazi punks? If you’re reading this, fuck off. Cheers.

Honourable mentions:

Dude York – Falling, Fax Machine – Soup, Mac Wetha - Mac Wetha & Friends, HUNNY -Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, Mikey Erg - Waxbuilt Castles

Five books to pick up for an environmental kick:

Climate Changed

by Philippe Squarzoni

This is a brilliant graphic novel that lays out all the science of climate change and the research behind it while also addressing the author’s own guilt when it comes to his ecological footprint. And somehow it manages to do that AND do it in a graphic novel format that doesn’t turn the reader off but makes the story more interesting. Is it sorcery or is it talent? You won’t know for yourself unless you read this book.

Lab Girl

by Hope Jahren

Lab Girl is one of those books that I take every opportunity to shove in people's faces and demand they read it ASAP. It’s a memoir by Hope Jahren, an incredible geobiologist, who documents the highs, lows and many struggles that she’s faced throughout her life and career so far. Jahren beautifully entwines raw moments and memories with short pieces of science writing that -instead of making me want to put my head through a wall- actually read like poetry. If that isn’t enough of a glowing recommendation, I don’t know what is.

Pink Is For Blobfish

by Jess Keating

“I’m in university not bloody kindergarten” is probably crossing your mind right now, but did YOU know so many animals were pink?? Like pink orchid mantises, pink Amazon River dolphins, pink slugs and PINK PYGMY SEAHORSES to name a few?? I’ve gone my whole life without knowing that PINK PYGMY SEAHORSES exist and now I bear the serious responsibility of sharing this fact with the world. You’re welcome.

TV REVIEW: Our Planet

The Uninhabitable Earth

by David Wallace-Wells

This book scared the shit out of me but it’s definitely necessary reading. David WallaceWells lays out in stark detail how the earth is going to shit and each chapter covers a particular topic like “Planet Heating”, “Dying Oceans” and “Hunger”. What Wallace-Wells lays out throughout the book is often the worst possible outcome but it's the outcome we're going to get if privileged humans who have so far been purposely ignoring global warming don’t start listening. Perfect present to give to that person who always insists on playing “dEviL’s aDvOcAtE” when climate change discussion comes up.

Which New Zealand Insect?

By Andrew Crowe

This book spills the tea on lots of New Zealand insects with good descriptions and images of many creepy crawlies that are living their best creepy crawly lives throughout New Zealand. I really enjoy that Which New Zealand Insect? doesn’t give me actual nightmares like Crowe’s other book, Which New Zealand Spider? does. (Although maybe skip page 94-100 where the wētā are in this book if those sorts of creepy crawlies send chills down your spine).

NEW MEDIA: Kanopy

Our Planet delivers in heartbreakingly crisp and dazzling detail how humankind is doing an excellent job at stuffing up the planet and ruining animalkind everywhere. The cinematography is beautiful but tragic; capturing fragile, brilliant but often devastating moments on camera that viewers would never see in their lives otherwise.

Alongside the pure moments of a baby blue whale swimming by its mother’s side are shots of walruses trying to seek shelter up steep cliff faces due to melting ice and many brutally falling to their deaths. Through eight episodes that cover everything from “Fresh Water” to “Jungles”, Our Planet presents the beauty of the earth and its animal inhabitants while also showing how humankind are destroying it.

The whole season of Our Planet is available on Netflix just make sure you have a tissue box beside you while you watch to soak up the guilty tears.

Rating: 8/10 tissue boxes that I went through while watching this.

Meet Kanopy, Christchurch City Libraries latest eResource. An online video streaming service with a massive collection of documentaries and films patiently waiting for you to shirk off all your academic responsibilities. If you’re a member of the Christchurch City Libraries (aka have a current library card) you get 10 play credits which is equal to 10 titles that you get to watch for free every month. Sign up on Kanopy with your email, add in your library card number and pin deets in the box that pops up and you’re off!

There’s a huge range of films on here from independent cinema to heaps of documentaries that cover topics from Ethnicity & Gender to Media & Popular Culture. If you’re wanting to get your environmental kick from somewhere, there’s almost 700 videos in the Environmental Sciences section and over 300 in the Science, Nature & Technology documentary category. Definitely check it out now before the uni grind and upcoming assignments get their nails in and any free time without academic responsibility is just a distant memory.

Ben Appetit

Welcome Restaurant

Despite being a meat-eater, I understand why many live by a vegetarian or vegan diet. Considering this is an environmental issue of CANTA, I made sure to expand my edible horizons and visit a delicious *veggy* restaurant this week. Welcome to Ben Appetit, where I eat at Welcome Restaurant. You’re welcome.

The menu at this Wharenui Road, hidden-gem restaurant, is huge. After sifting through pages of dishes in a mouth-watering Comic Sans font, myself and my vegan homie Emma (who is pictured here, happy on the outside yet saddened by the fact she’d be continuing her engineer studies only a week later), we finally settled on the following plates.

First, the daikon rice delight ($6.50). As pictured, I thought they were square thick hash browns, but they were actually crispy radish puddings which I consider the best thing we got.

The crispy savoury cheeky nuggets ($7.00) had a surprisingly meaty flavour for being vegan, but I enjoyed them too. Both this and the daikon are different to anything I’ve eaten before. Two BBQ buns ($3.80 each) tasted just as good as I expected them too. The regular crispy red roast + veggy ($13.50) was like eating duck at Foo San but without the death. The regular chef special fried rice ($14.00) is pictured, but was unmemorable and was left unfinished. The small ginger sesame rice ($1.80) was fragrant and good, providing pleasant, toilet air freshener aromas. Note: there was a large and chaotic sauce selection. It was crucial to the buffet.

A list of other vege/vegan places Emma suggested:

- Lotus Heart - “weird in a good way”

- Tutto Bene - “nice but for a price”

- Portershed - “fully vegan cafe undercover”

- Raw Sugar - “vegetarian too, great brunch spot”

- Town Tonic - “upmarket bougie yet homemade”

- Two Fat Indians vegan menu

- Mexico Restaurant in town also has a good vegan menu

Give plant-based dishes and diets a try! I give Welcome Restaurant another 8/10 Bens.

An amble up to Edwards

The name Canterbury University Tramping Club (CUTC) is pretty good in itself at describing the club’s activities. According to some people, tramping is slightly different to hiking, yet they are essentially the same. NZ (and particularly the South Island) offers some stunning opportunities for outdoor pursuits.

The CUTC simply aims to facilitate getting people outdoors. There are so many great areas to spend a weekend away from the city. If you’re keen to start tramping in NZ, check out the easy trip described below. If you’re more a mountaineer with significant experience, we have gear and club members keen to collaborate!

I turn up to the weekly club meeting on Wednesday with a friend (Jess), simply knowing we have a car and both want to get outdoors on the weekend. We chat with a couple of guys (Quintin and Bill) at the meeting. They’re also fed up with uni and want to get out. However, they can’t make their minds on where to go (and they sorta need a car – unfortunately is not the 1930’s anymore and trains don’t stop for you). We are overheard by Fiona, who is fed up with the city but doesn’t know anyone interested in going to Edwards hut. With some tips on the track and weather shared by a couple of the committee, and checking out the track via topomap50, we leave the meeting with a plan.

We get a message on Thursday, that Quintin’s grabbing a PLB (personal locator beacon) from the gear locker but he doesn’t know how to do the base form. I tell him it’s simple as and a member of the club committee can help him out.

Getting lost in all my gear on Friday night, I check the CUTC page (https://cutc.nz/) for tips and advice on what to pack. I still have my sanity, and with some extra food, I have everything I need. I fill out the base form details, making sure to find an emergency contact who also knows the details of our trip.

Saturday morning arrives with stunning weather, and we meet in the

UCSA carpark. Jess drives us in her packed Corolla to the beginning of the track, about 5km south of Arthur’s Pass Village. I thought I was over playing Tetris when I was younger but hey, more people mean you pay less for fuel! I’m grateful for the heads up on the low rainfall when we cross the Bealey River, but the track on the other side was great. Orange markers led us in the right direction. Someone started a song, but I just hung back as tail end Charlie, and was content with the leg burn. We timed it well, getting to the hut in the last rays of light, after around 4-5 hours of walking. Stunning colours lit up the valley. After a backcountry feast (which made that leg burn worth it) we set back to have a good night sleep. I find huts are one of two extremes, sometimes you need earplugs for your neighbour, other times you can hear a needle drop.

After an early breakfast and cuppa on Sunday morning, it was up to the saddle. Bill was feeling great, but we get a heads up by Fiona about the “Gunbarrel scree shoot,” she was told about at the meeting. We ended up heading to William Saddle for some stunning views up the Edwards and Minga valleys, before heading back the same way to the car. Being early on the return we decide to go on a little side-trip to the scree slope from the bottom.

I was grateful for not having to go down it and I think the others were too. Driving back to Christchurch, I found I had a touch of sunburn (forgot the damn sunscreen), and had tight muscles, but felt all the better for it.

Back in Christchurch, Jess said she’d prefer linking us her bank details to pay for fuel rather than with cash. This meant I spend my cash at the supermarket on cookies, but after the long walk, I definitely didn’t feel too bad for it.

Summary, a good weekend to clear the head.

Robert Phillips

Sustainable spots in our environment

This article follows a day in the life of choosing sustainable alternatives, where I highlight some sustainable spots around Christchurch, and on campus. What defines sustainability is different to everyone, but I believe one core aspect involves doing minimal harm to the environment, whether it is through the reduction of packaging, ethical sourcing of products, or establishing and advocating for sustainable initiatives in store. Therefore I choose to go to stores which are representative of these aspects of sustainability.

To kick start the day, I biked to Bin Inn to get my groceries for the flat. For those that don’t know, Bin Inn is a wholefoods and specialty groceries shop, which focuses on minimal packaging and encourages BYO containers and bags for products, appealing towards the zero waste lifestyle. I would recommend to go to Bin Inn for loose rice, grains, cereals, and pasta, as it’s pretty rare to find plastic free pasta at supermarkets these days. You can also bring empty bottles and refill your cooking oil, dishwashing liquid and powder, shampoo and conditioner.

After doing the hard yards grocery shopping, I was heading past Addington Coffee Co-op so naturally I went in for a coffee. The coffee is Fairtrade certified, organic (no nasties), roasted locally and sourced ethically - bit of a mouth full I know but all very important nevertheless. One thing which really amazes me about the Co-op, is how 70% of profits are redistributed back to the local community, and to some of the producers and communities overseas that create the products we sell. This effort helping to improve the lives of people here and overseas. There are plenty of other cafes across Christchurch which use seasonal, locally sourced foods too. A few I can recommend are Untouched World Kitchen, Portershed - a 100% vegan cafe which uses biodegradable ‘glad wrap’ - and C1, which not only has solar panels on the roof but grows an organic vineyard. It’s these little things which cafes can put in place, educating people and helping to create a more environmentally friendly community.

I had to go check out the Durham Street New World, which is meant to be one of the only ‘sustainable’ (and I say that loosely) supermarkets in Christchurch, because how can a chain store like New World be sustainable. However it was very impressive to see some initiatives they had in store, such as the Ecostore refill station, four separate

vegan areas around the store and peanut/cashew/almond butter machines so you can BYO container and make it yourself. Although exciting to see that some supermarkets are making an effort towards being more environmentally friendly, it’s quite hard to praise them when supermarkets are one of the biggest cult pirates for single use plastic and unnecessary packaging.

How can I not mention the Ecostore. If you don’t know about the Ecostore and you are flatting. you are missing out! The Ecostore is the home of all goodies secondhand, whether you need a new couch, kitchenware or outdoor tools for your flat that’s the place to go. At the start of uni semesters, Ecostore pops off, and you can always guarantee you will find some necessities for the flat or yourselfperhaps even some wall art. All jokes aside, make sure to check out the Ecostore instead of buying from chain stores such as Briscoes and The Warehouse save some money and the environment.

I thought it would be best to mention some spots on campus to check out :

- The cup library for Nuts and Bot’s cafe in engcore! It’s as easy as borrowing the cup, getting a discount for using the cup, and then returning it!

- Free table tucked under the Puaka-James Hight Library stairs in the Undercroft. Here you can drop off what you no longer use/need and pick up some other items from the table! You never know the goodies you can find there.

- Every Tuesday and Friday, Vegsoc puts on $5 curries (BYO container) located next to the book shop with a different flavour every time

I hope you arenow a little bit more knowledgeable on some sustainable alternatives around the city. No matter how small the act, you are still making a difference in big picture and it’s important to remember that!

Mikaila Ceelen-Thomas

The Policy Place

Words of Wisdom from the UCSA’s Student Advocates

Ah, the beginning of a new semester! That exciting/terrifying time when you realise that you survived another semester at UC, but are also six months closer to having to work out what you want to do in the so-called “real world” (Psssst – I’m not convinced it’s any realer out there than it is in here, but I returned to a job on-campus, so what do I know).

The beginning of the semester can be a tricky time, especially if you are not happy with how things went last semester, or are still trying to work out what you want to do even pre-‘real’-world. Luckily, we are here to help!

Unhappy with your Semester 1 results?

Then for four weeks from the official release of grades, you can apply for a Reconsideration of Grade. These normally consist of a remark of your final exam and a re-count of the marks for your earlier assessment(s). Applications cost $80 (per course) but this will be refunded if your grade is changed. Keep in mind though that there is a chance your grade could go down – but you should still get a refund of the $80 fee!

Failed half or more of your Semester 1 courses or have a GPA <1.0?

Then you are likely to have received a letter via your UCLive email regarding Academic Progress. These are vital to read, as Academic Progress can result in you being excluded from your degree programme, or from UC completely! There is a review process available if your performance was impacted by external circumstances, which we are happy to help with. If this sounds like you, get in touch with our team ASAP.

Unsure about your current courses?

You are able to withdraw from Semester 2 courses and get a full refund of your course fees if you submit your change of enrolment by 26 July, 2019 (the second Friday of the semester). You may even be able to enrol in other courses to replace them, depending on those course’s entry requirements. If you are considering withdrawing from a course, make sure to speak with your College’s Student Advisors, and keep in mind that reducing your course-load can affect your StudyLink entitlement.

Not sure what to do, have questions, or need advice?

Get in touch with us in the UCSA Advocacy and Welfare Team! Email us at help@ucsa.org.nz, or fill in our intake form on the UCSA website.

Top Tips for Starting the Uni Semester

Outline When Your Assignments and Tests are Due

This information should be in your course outline early on in the semester. Make note of when each assignment and test is due. Notice if you have any in the same week and try to plan out enough time to prepare for everything.

Make a “To-Do List”

It will save you mental energy if you write down everything you need to do. It is also helpful to prioritise this list and figure out what can wait and what can’t. This can free up your brain for other problemsolving tasks.

Do One Thing at a Time

It is much easier if you start one task and work through it, compared to simultaneously trying to complete multiple things at once. It actually takes you a few minutes to pick up where you left off when switching tasks anyway. Therefore, try to dedicate at least one hour to one specific task if possible.

Take Regular Breaks

Sitting down for long periods of time can make you sleepy. And no one is productive when they are sleepy. Make sure you take regular breaks and get up at least every 2 hours. This also gives your eyes a rest from your intense concentration.

Schedule Downtime

Optimal productivity cannot occur without downtime. That’s because your mind needs to rest for it to work well on a long-term basis. If you’re not naturally inclined to take a break, then you need to schedule downtime, and keep it strictly downtime! Make sure you relax and recover.

Drink Plenty of Water

Drinking water can do amazing things for you. Drinking more water can help you lose weight. It can help to maximise physical performance, improve mood, memory and brain performance, relieve headaches and constipation, help treat kidney stones, and prevent hangovers. What’s more – water is free!!!

Delay of Gratification

Acquiring the ability to delay gratification will help improve your selfcontrol and ultimately help you achieve your long-term goals faster. According to Aristotle, true happiness is about growing good habits and surrounding yourself with people who grow your soul, which in turns helps you move towards your greatest potential. So, start delaying pleasure, putting in the time, discipline and patience, and start creating real joy!

Charity Shops an Ethical Alternative to Fast Fashion

Take a walk down the high street in most New Zealand townships and you don’t have to look too hard to find the local and national charity shops. A cursory thought might be that it’s just a sad reflection of society that these `op shops’ seem to be popping up everywhere, but think again as there are a great deal of environmental and social benefits to their existence.

The idea of dropping off your unwanted clothes or household goods for somebody else to use is not new, but the environmental benefits of doing so are just beginning to be realised.

We are all guilty of supporting the fast fashion industry, where multinational companies turn out cheap poor-quality clothes that are designed to be worn a handful of times before being consigned to the landfill. The clothes are often made by workers in third world countries that are paid a pittance for their labour, condemning them to a life time of poverty and deprivation.

The fashion industry is the second highest polluter in the world, and is a huge user of our natural resources – it takes approximately 2,700 litres of water to make a single cotton t-shirt, and 1,800 litres to make a pair of jeans!

There is another choice though, one that takes into consideration both the environmental and social impacts of its actions. It is known as Sustainable Fashion, and this is where charity shops give everybody a chance to make a positive, ethical contribution.

When you think of buying `new’ clothes why not take the focus off of the `new’ part and instead consider the thousands of good quality

items that are already out there in the various charity shops? The quality of the clothes on offer has improved dramatically over the years, and you can always find designer clothes at a fraction of the price they would cost new.

Every time you purchase clothes from a charity shop, you are helping the environment by reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. This in turn saves the CO2 emissions (mainly methane and carbon dioxide) that this waste would create in a landfill.

I manage the new Salvation Army Family Store in Riccarton and am proud to say that last year, the Salvation Army Family Stores around New Zealand prevented 16,000 tonnes of waste going to landfill.

Furthermore, the Family Stores raise funds for much needed community work. We have helped support over 120,000 families and individuals in their time of need, and this year we are aiming to raise $17m towards funding a wide range of programmes covering areas such as housing, budgeting, alcohol and drug support, through to reintegration services.

There are two local Salvation Army Family Stores nearby; situated at 385 Riccarton Rd, Upper Riccarton & 1 Amyes Rd, Hornby and we would be delighted to welcome you in store. I am sure that you will enjoy the experience and at the same time can take an ethical stance against fast fashion!

Mark Coulthard

Lucky Dip

Lucky dip is printed as submitted, without proofing

Want a BARETTA dinner, drinks and a chance to shoot your shot in LUCKY DIP? Email editor@canta.co.nz

Want a BARETTA dinner, drinks and a chance to shoot your shot in LUCKY DIP? Email editor@canta. co.nz

One Side

To start this night, I was terrified. I’m not the sort of girl to really go on blind dates like this, I’ve never wanted tinder or anything. I guess, honestly – I’m a cheesy, fairy-tale girl, who believes that people come along at the right time. But hey, why not try something new and there I was going on a lucky dip date.

So, I walked up to the outside door of Baretta, my heart beating triple-time and I notice, leaning against the wall, the most attractive man. He was James Dean, drop-dead gorgeous, wearing black jeans, and a turtle- neck, with brown curly locks tucked behind his ears, framing his lovely face. As I got closer to the door, he straightened up from the wall and so I took a deep breathe and decided to ask boldly if, by any chance, he was my lucky dip. I couldn’t believe my luck, when he said yes. My heart started up like a wild-fire frenzy as I introduced myself. He then introduced himself, flashing me the most wonderful smile, his whole face lighting up like sunshine. And then into Baretta we went.

We fill up on tasty food and sweet wine and tell each other our stories. He mentions this tv show Fargo quite a lot, which I’ve never seen, but

The Other Side

Lucky dip’s chief allure, for me at least, was the promise of free food and drink. I’d never expected to meet the love of my life on a CANTA sponsored blind date and, in all honesty, the prospect of a situation wherein two people with no chemistry shared a painful few hours of forced chat was unappealing.

Regardless, last Thursday I found myself outside Beretta, nervously anticipating the arrival of my date.

Several people rounded the corner of Colombo and St. Asap before I saw her. An elderly gentleman with a vape and two yo-pros on limes, followed by one of the most attractive girls I’d ever seen. Brown hair, big blue eyes, beautiful smile; “Surely she’s not my date”, I thought to myself, knowing for certain that the universe is never this kind.

She approached me and asked with a cheeky grin if I was here for the lucky dip, upon which I felt my sphincter clench and my stomach churn as a realised I would now be forced to sit opposite this creature and act like a functioning human being.

We go inside, work through the basic quiz of “what do you study”, “where are you from” etc. before diving into some of the best chat

I didn’t really mind because I just nodded and smiled, and it gave me an excuse to keep looking at him and drown in those ocean eyes. We laughed so much and several times I almost cried with laughter…the highlight had to be when we caught on to both liking Harry & Sally and he proceeded to replicate the scene where Sally makes sexual moans in a café. I almost slid off my seat from laughter.

I didn’t want the night to end. Despite being so full, he suggested dessert and so we shared the incredible crème brulee and talked some more. He paid the extra, the sweetest gentleman and outside we walked.

I glanced back to see the waiters all leaning out the door to watch us leave and gave a nervous giggle. Maybe a second date sometime, I asked? He replied, absolutely – how about right now? And off we walked to start that second date...to Peaces and Cream (that's another story lol).

Wholy moly. What a night. Hopefully looking forward to the third date.

I’ve had since the smoko area behind the foundry in first year. She was great, and my ability to act as a functioning human being largely kept up, only lapsing for a bit when I found myself ten minutes in to a blow-by-blow description of my favourite scenes from season one of Fargo.

Another slip up was when I realised I’d already finished my second glass of wine before she’d even made it to halfway on her first. Later, she asked me if I wanted the rest of her drink, because wine made her feel ill on account of how she went too hard at a flat crawl on Wednesday...no word of a lie, I welled up a little.

The night continued slip-up free, and as it drew to a close, we left together. Before calling the Uber we decided to swing by Peaches and Cream for a laugh. But this was a bad move, as it ended up being an awkward experience in what is, in all honesty, a very funny-smelling store. Moments later we piled into an Uber and were, within minutes, at her place.

Overall, a very pleasurable evening was had. I hope I get to see her again.

AQUARIUS

(Jan 20 - Feb 18)

In an emergency, make sure to climb on top of your table, make out with the person right next to you fearfully, and take your precious belongings straight to the new CANTA office.

TAURUS

(Apr 20 - May 20)

When you’re feeling down about global warming, look outside Haere Roa to see nature’s beautiful greenery, because AstroTurf doesn’t brown in ozone-less summers.

LEO

(July 23 - Aug 22)

Considering the unisex nature of the new Haere Roa bathrooms, there’s no better place for everyone to shoot their shots before shooting their shots than the long line.

SCORPIO

(Oct 23 - Nov 21)

Being involved with Law Revue is a lot like studying a law degree itself. It’s a waste of time.

PISCES

(Feb 19 - Mar 20)

The first week of lectures is always admin anyway, so don’t feel bad for not attending. Don’t feel bad for thinking this way for the eleven other weeks of semester either.

GEMINI

(May 21 - Jun 20)

You’re finally receiving emails on your UC Live account! You’re the busiest, most popular person I know! Oh wait, it’s just introductions to classes and clubs, nerd...

VIRGO

(Aug 23 - Sep 22)

The fact the beanbags in Haere Roa have wipe-off covers is the UCSA’s subtle attempt to wingman you. Bring wet wipes.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov 22 - Dec 21)

If life gives you lemons, throw them at Sam Brosnahan?

ARIES

(Mar 21 - Apr 19)

Using the elevator to get from the second floor of central library to the third floor is like arriving to a party in a Honda Civic. You could’ve just walked there and now you have no friends.

CANCER

(Jun 21 - Jul 22)

The stars show that you will suffer a horrif---UNLOCK THE REST OF THIS HOROSCOPE BY CALLING +9195307978

LIBRA

(Sep 23 - Oct 22)

Getting so drunk that you forget the entire night totally counts as a loophole for Dry July.

CAPRICORN

(Dec 22 - Jan 19)

HAPPY ENDING HOROSCOPES

Sorry, but Haere Roa is already entirely booked out until 2023.