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Christchurch City Scene
September 2002

Lead Stories

Sustainability: Just good housekeeping

Thousands discover lost world

This LYFE's for living

Do right with dogs

Something for everyone at Parenting Week

 

Back to the September Index

Sustainability: Just good housekeeping


Christchurch’s Sister City of Seattle is named after an Indian Chief. In the 1880s Chief Seattle made a profound speech in response to the government’s wish to buy his land. He said, “What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

Those insightful words remind us that saving the environment starts at home, in our own backyards — we should not be content to leave the experts to find solutions to our environmental problems.

The biggest barrier we face in taking on a huge issue like planetary survival is — where to start? Many of us feel daunted about what to do to help sustain and restore our world.

In Christchurch the public have already shown by their own actions that most are only too willing to do what they can. Every week when the recycling bins go out around 70 per cent of households show they are already converted and committed to making our way of life more sustainable.

It is regular evidence of a powerful will amongst the public to take action. Almost without realising it we have already made a start on that journey towards sustainability.

Within the Christchurch City Council we too have been making some quiet but decisive steps toward finding more sustainable ways of working. Like you, we have realised that while sustainability is a big word it really just means good housekeeping.

You will find out about some of these steps in this edition of City Scene.

Our next step forward as a city will be to find a way that can build on this commitment amongst the public, local government and the business community. It is not a journey we are making on our own, but it is an issue where Christchurch is starting to take a lead role.

We need to take small steps and be willing to act on the reality that we all have a stake in making sustainability succeed.

Householders can play a big part in setting a good example. Over the next two years we are going to have a major debate over new way of charging for rubbish bags. As city we will have to decide whether the idea is good, or not. It is an area where the public can take direct control of how they treat resources.

But we also need to remember that it only one part of a way of life that holds us back from becoming more sustainable. The reality is that household rubbish only accounts for 18 per cent of the total waste stream.

For us in local government, we will only be able to move far on sustainability with your support. We have started to clean up our backyard. It is a journey I hope you will feel is worth supporting.

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