Pete Russell is the "initiator of www.ooooby.org here on Waiheke Island, Auckland, that is rapidly spreading from the grass roots up, as a process of producing goods and products from your own back yard, especially gardens and then finding ways to share, barter or sell to other neighbours in the community.
This is a New Zealand first, that pulls the strands of community together around your physical and virtual backyard using the internet as the medium of social networking.
See how this grass roots system is rapidly spreading here and that it’s a direct interface with Transition Towns, www.transitiontowns.org.nz which is another level up where people across the land and in other countries are mobilizing themselves and resources. They are finding new and innovative ways to survive and thrive healthily in these rapidly changing times of climate change, financial fallout, energy costs and fluctuations, and the resulting social dilemma and confusion.
Ooooby.org will inspire you to find new neighbours who care, want to share and bring family and community together from out of your own back door and back yard. A win win win for all involved.
As an independent Officer of New Zealand’s Parliament, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has wide-ranging powers to investigate environmental concerns. 'Independent' means independent of the government of the day, so the PCE reports not to a Government Minister but to Parliament through:
As an Officer of Parliament, the Commissioner's job is to hold the Government to account for its environmental policies and actions. The PCE is a policy reviewer standing outside the system of environmental management and reporting on it.
The Commissioner has wide powers to investigate and report on any matter where, in her opinion, the environment may be, or has been, adversely affected. Parliament or any parliamentary select committee may also ask her to report on environmental matters.
Dave arrived in New Zealand in 1981, became a naturalized citizen and married a New Zealander. In the United States he worked for 17 years in aerospace electronics for TRW Systems, acquired seven US patents and won awards from the United States government two years in a row for contributing to the most significant electronic achievement in the USA. Both of these had to do with designing and creating integrated micro-electronic circuits that could withstand atomic bomb blasts.
In New Zealand he directed the 'Design For The Sun' passive solar energy programme for the NZ government for seven years and taught for five years at the University of Auckland. He developed and promoted 29 solar houses across the country and wrote the solar energy building design manual now used by architects and university students. He then became an organisational development consultant with a number of large NZ companies, providing a focus on leadership and organisational change.
As Founding Director of Anew NZ, he is leading a collaborative initiative, "What Matters Most to New Zealanders" which is a long term citizen-based initiative, to stimulate national renewal and help shape the future of New Zealand - by redefining progress from simple economic terms (like GDP) to a broad set of goals for all people - through a network of networks from civil society, business and government, and robust community engagement that creates three functions: a think tank, public shared visions and the development of a set of progress indicators and two means of delivery, to inform policy makers and empower civil society to take direct action.
Outputs include:
1. Public shared future visions for New Zealand.
2. Measures of Genuine Progress (and "genuine economic success") as a challenge to the misuse of GDP, via the measurements of social, cultural, economic, environmental and governance wellbeing - with the public shared visions determining the goals of wellbeing.
3. Think Tank Research that informs the visioning process and identifies and measures "horizontal linkages" between the indicators (e.g. health and economic) and "vertical linkages" between "what matters most to New Zealanders" and the government policies that enhance or inhibit
achieving these goals (which includes developing a strategy for a sustainable economic future).
4. A policy tool, guiding evidence-based planning and action to address the issues identified as important to the people of New Zealand.
5. A reporting tool, tracking and communicating progress toward agreed goals and outcomes in the economic, social, cultural and environmental sectors.
6. A democratic tool for engaging citizens and communities to act on the goals set by them.
Outcomes include:
1. Catalyzes positive change towards greater wellbeing and sustainability.
2. Strengthens representative and participative democracy.
3. Shifts the policy and public focus from economic to overall system performance.
See www.anewnz.org.nz
Jon Eisen publisher and editor of “Uncensored,” New Zealand’s only magazine that does not censor its readers. So what compels someone to go so far out on a limb to publish their version of reality and sets up a debate on what is real, what is the truth, and who are we to believe?
With huge question marks around 911, what your Doctor will never tell you, media manipulation, the dumbing down of the populace, UFO’s, Obama, Israel, World Government, GE, suppressed everything, global warming and more. Why does "Uncensored" the magazine with attitude, shake people to their core and cause people to react?
With the Western world now feeding from less and less independent news and media outlets, where and how is the populous going to obtain the information that will assist in finding one's moral compass to delve into the swamp of sameness to drag out what could be the truth?
We are a humanity that have freewill, are we going to become responsible and grapple with the hard issues and as community, shape our own future from the grass roots up, or are we going to slide into sloth and give our power away?
Do you love your children and grand children? The choice is always ours.