Our Environment Survey Results

Thank you to those who responded to the survey included in issue 25 of Our Environment. Your views and suggestions were very helpful. Your bribe (a chocolate fish) should have been included along with this issue, that is, unless you forgot to note your details at the bottom of the page.

Huntsbury Residents and Ratepayers Association members were lucky winners of the morning tea draw and will soon sit down to their mouthwatering prize.

It was very satisfying to read that on the whole Our Environment is well received by a wide range of readers, from residents groups to schools to government organisations. The reasons given were also varied. Some liked it for reasons of personal interest, others wanted to keep in touch and said it assisted them in their job.

As a result of your suggestions page three is to become more school focused. In the past we have also neglected to target pre-schools, hence the green list’s theme for this issue.

As for the overall appearance, we are updating the banner and have decided to run with two colours (as seen in this issue). Full colour was too expensive.

For those who prefer to receive Our Environment electronically, please send us your email address and details. In order to read the electronic version you will, however, have to have web access.

It was great to find out that a number of our readers are using Our Environment as a resource and for purely inspirational purposes.

We have listed below some of the ways this is done:

• Reference for excursions, resources etc,
• A resource for activities, discussion starters,
• Source material for teaching eg “global environmental issues”,
• Rerun relevant articles in organisation’s newsletter,
• Current information about Christchurch for science classes. Students love to hear about things happening in their city,
• Gives good ideas for student- operated environmental groups to work on.

The Calendar of Events suggestion was a good one and comes up time and time again. We have resisted this in the past because of the volume of requests we get for promotional advertorials and because Our Environment is only sent out quarterly. However, the Council produces the “Be There” events calendar and is happy to include environmental events such as Seaweek.
For further information please contact Dawn Brown at 941 8916 or (dawn.brown@ccc.govt.nz) City Scene should be combined and concluded that the two newsletters had very different purposes and should continue to operate separately - but thanks for the thought.

A few of you indicated that you would like to contribute so we look forward to running with interesting stories from a range of sources in future issues. Drop me a line at (kerry.everingham@ccc.govt.nz) kerry.everingham@ccc.govt.nz  

Kerry Everingham