Karamea Sustainable Living (Karamea, New Zealand)

Woolworths National Drought Action Day: on the right track, but may lack sustainable commitment

Andi Hazelwood — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 23:16:19 -0800

Sunshine Coast Relocalisation- Noosa Eumundi and Districts (SCReNE)

Karamea Summer Knowledge Swap on Sustainable Living

Elisabeth Frankish — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:42:07 -0800

Karamea Sustainable Living (Karamea, New Zealand)

2006 Winter school

Elisabeth Frankish — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 02:56:26 -0700

We've just finished the Winter School for 2006. Workshops on it included: Solar hot water, knife and axe sharpening (using files and knife sharpening stones), the establishment of a 'tribal work co-operative', smoking kahawai and then making a French vegetable soup and a French fish and potato pie (using local available ingredients), Establishing a "Post Carbon Outpost", and videos including "The End of Suburbia", "Population, Energy and Arithmetic" and "The History of Oil".

Although it was a small winter school it was successful in that it brought like-minded people together and passed on valuable skills and knowledge. (I've just had a dear little baby and didn't have time to properly promote it this time around.)

We'll be running a summer school in January or February 2007. Workshops for that are planned to include: Building a HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) - such as reclining bicyles, Making woolen nappy covers (a Scandinavian method), fishing from a 14 ft catamaran on the Karamea River Estuary, flax weaving, and alternative energy systems.

Karamea Sustainable Living (Karamea, New Zealand)

Karamea Winter School - Sustainable Living

Elisabeth Frankish — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:55:24 -0700

Start: 2006-07-01 09:30

End: 2006-07-15 16:00

We've just finished our Winter School for 2006. Each summer and winter we run a money-free 'school', in which local people run workshops to share their knowledge with others on the theme of sustainable living. My role is in effect an information coordinator. One of the workshops was on the establishment of a Post Carbon Outpost (Relocalisation group) and I had about 5 people interested. A good start! Everything starts small in the beginning. We'll be having another meeting soon to start discussing things in more detail.

It takes surpisingly little energy to run this kind of summer/winter school, and I encourage anyone else to give it a go in their /your community.

I've just realised tonight that there are 10 members to the Karamea group- 7 of whom are from various places in NZ... Taranaki, Northland, Otago, Wellington... That's fantastic! I had no idea that my listing here would result in the responses from people. I hope it will be an opportunity for you to network among yourselves too.

Liz Frankish

Karamea Sustainable Living (Karamea, New Zealand)

Update on "Karamea Sustainable Living"

Elisabeth Frankish — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:23:17 -0700

This year my goal for "Karamea Sustainable Living" is to form it up as a real group of real people, in Karamea.
So far, the group has been in concept only - a starting point, but one which I need to move along a bit.
My plan to is tie the concept in with the Karamea Summer School and Winter Schools, which I've been organising for the last couple of years. The summer/winter schools are focussed on "Back to Basics Living" which is another way of saying sustainable living. I deliberately used the words "Back to Basics Living" because I felt that our community would relate better to them than to "sustainable living". But now I think it's time to make the transition, and to make the link with the Post Carbon Institute absolutely clear.

Karamea Sustainable Living (Karamea, New Zealand)

Karamea Summer School: "Back to Basics Living"

Elisabeth Frankish — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 20:14:28 -0800

Start: 2006-01-14 09:30

End: 2006-01-29 21:00

Karamea is a small rural community on the northern west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Our local economy is predominantly dairy farming, which is highly petroleum-dependant. The next major income-earners are tourism and supporting businesses.

We're in final planning for our second summer school on "Back to Basics Living". This summer school is money-free, and is motivated by a need to prepare for an oil-depleted future.
As well as focussing on traditonal "Back to Basics" type knowledge, the summer school is also about contemporary knoweldge such as solar water heating, wind powered generators and other similar sorts of technologies. (I may change the name from "Back to Basics" to "Sustainable Living" for next year's summer school.)

Karamea Sustainable Living (Karamea, New Zealand)

Karamea Sustainable Living (Karamea, New Zealand)

Elisabeth Frankish — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 15:14:51 -0800