Greening the world

Guided by her principles of mutual respect, knowledge and love of the land, Penny Wardle talks with Marlborough Magazine about how people can come together to tackle complex environmental problems and create a more sustainable future for all.

There is a profound struggle when tasked with writing a few short paragraphs about individuals whose lives and work dedicated to the planet could fill a novel. A true predicament when introducing well-known Marlborough legend Penny Wardle, co-chair of Marlborough Forest and Bird, and communications advisor to Te Hoiere/Pelorus Catchment Project.

New Zealand’s largest catchment restoration effort, Te Hoiere Project is working to restore nature in catchments of the Pelorus/Te Hoiere River, ki uta ki tai/from the mountains to the sea. Local communities, mana whenua, the Marlborough District Council and Government are all involved.

Penny’s devotion to the environment started with her upbringing by an ecologist father and primary school teacher mother in a suburb of Christchurch between Wigram Airforce Base and a massive fertiliser factory. The location was selected by her dad, “a climate visionary back in the 60s, so he could catch the bus to work to lessen his carbon footprint.” This was a nuclear family of two adults and two children, designed to minimise population pressure on Earth.

“What shaped me was time spent as a family tramping, skiing and camping along South Island rivers and in the mountains, and frequent stays at Franz Josef in South Westland.”

Apart from hippies and fantastic music, the 70s was an exciting time to be young, as the world saw a dramatic rise in environmental protests. “Highlights included mum’s long-haired sculptor cousin parking a van outside our home, a travelling billboard inciting people to ‘go to Manapōuri and swim among the stumps!’” The transistor radio regularly played New Zealand folksong, “Damn the Dam” by John Hanlon, originally written to promote Pink Batts then adopted by anti-dam environmentalists.

As a student at Canterbury University, Penny took holiday jobs cutting tracks through forests, gutting, weighing and removing the jawbones from deer as part of a research project, and as a student worker at Abel Tasman National Park. Later she worked on animal/vegetation surveys in Fiordland and Stewart Island, spending months in the bush assessing deer and possum numbers and damage to bush. She ran the first programme of nature walks and talks in the Catlins in Otago and helped with a summer nature programme on Banks Peninsula.

A desire to promote conservation led to a postgraduate qualification in journalism. But life takes unexpected turns and in 1984 Penny landed the role of farm reporter for The Marlborough Express, traversing the countryside high and low, talking to people with different lives and experiences to her own. Her words and photos made the “Rural Scene'' come alive with stories of the autumn muster at Awapiri Station in the Awatere, sheep and cattle sales and the latest developments at the newly-opened Marlborough Research Centre.

Like the change in tides, so has Penny’s life and environmental journey evolved.

“I developed a heightened awareness of the multiple pressures on forest and freshwater ecology that today have reached a crisis point. Not so long ago humaninduced climate change was widely denied, but it’s now impossible to ignore its impacts. Many people feel despair and powerlessness. However, I do have hope that by joining my voice to others it becomes more powerful.”

It's this coming together that makes Penny a beacon of resilience.

“A lot can be achieved when people from different backgrounds share ideas, information and research findings, then make collective decisions. Listen to people, including the young and the old who are often ignored. The first step is recognising a common love of natural places. So much can be achieved by putting your heads together, kanohi ki kanohi (face-to-face).”

With her three children having flown the nest, she has breathed new life into her home by accommodating young boarders from across the globe. Several have gone on to make a difference including an environmental lawyer, an awardwinning eco-architect, and an agro-ecologist. Penny’s closing words: “Know you can make a difference.”

Ten years ago, she covered a talk by British peer and climate change denier, Lord Christopher Monckton. He argued that if climate change was happening at all it was very slow and people would be better spending their money on their grandchildren than reversing any trend. Asked if they believed in global warming, only six in the Blenheim audience of 178 raised their hands.

“He was so incensed at my scathing article that he complained to the editor. I’m confident that if a similar talk was given today, most of the audience would be well informed about climate change.”

Businesses can donate time or labour or help out with beach clean-ups or wetland planting days. If enough individuals and organisations in Marlborough do just a little, efforts will add up to build significant environmental benefits. If there is something you care about, join an organisation which is putting in the mahi, for example, Forest & Bird or the East Coast Protection Group which cares for native wildlife and plants along the beach from Marfell’s Beach to the Waima/Ure River.

Hear more about Penny Wardle and other environmental guardians via Catherine van der Meulen’s ‘Entrepreneurial Women with Purpose Podcast.’ entrepreneurialwomenwithpurpose.com