SUSTA IN A BLE PA R ENTING: E A R T H B E A T F E S T I VA L R E V I E W A N D H O U S E H O L D I D E A S F O R A U T U M N B Y K AT I E L O W E S
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aving the world with children IS possible, and guess what, it works! In 2019 Nche and his team proved that eco-parenting effects children’s ability to protect the environment1. Living off-grid is nothing new, some members of our community thrive in such existence. For the rest of us, living the eco life can seem like an unrelenting journey. However, science shows us that parenting is a mechanism by which we can help children mitigate and adapt to climate change. My family recently attended Earth Beat Aotearoa Festival, a zero-waste event. We took part in workshops, danced on the earth, and feasted on vegetarian cuisine. All of this with a few tin cups and plates in our backpacks. Our children returned from the festival with compostable treasures: gems, wooden necklaces, balls of clay and dream-catchers. It was the first festival I have attended that was free of heavy branding. We drank beer and kombucha from our Contigo’s, and it felt great. Earth Beat Festival epitomised cultural citizenship, the sharing of lost arts and traditions. Workshops were available for all ages, and it was impossible to walk around and not be inspired by connections between people, as well as the sheer volume of shared skill. Given that creativity and crafts are at the heart of cultural sustainability, the question is: how can we take some of these ideas into our homes for the inward season of Autumn? Making collections of natural materials and storing them in baskets, boxes and buckets is a perfect first step in providing compostable crafts for your children at home this Autumn. When children approach a play space, if it looks inviting it is the first step to success. Steiner, Reggio Emilia, and Montessori schools have taken this
angle over the last one hundred years. Indeed, Boyd argues this is an ancient Maaori approach to intergenerational learning, and a critical component of Te Whaariki2. Once you have collected leaves, sticks, shells, branches, scraps of wool and cotton, then what? Firstly, children are the best creators, they will make something of their own accord. Connecting to something genuine to you is another good place to start, weaving, braiding, knotting or sequencing the natural resources to make patterns. I presented dream-catcher and streamer-wand workshops for the Conscious Kids tent at Earth Beat, but by the time the workshops had ended the children were very busy co-creating with the open-ended resources. A couple of years ago Dr Sanson and her team found that young people are deeply concerned about climate change3. Raglan has so much to offer families in terms of zero waste and lowwaste. Dreamview Farm, veg box schemes, SWOP, Herbal Dispensary, Plastic Free Raglan, and Extreme Zero Waste, just to name a few. You can head over to Facebook and see Shelley’s awesome low-waste living inspo at ‘In My Kitchen’. Hopefully young people in Raglan will feel empowered to mitigate climate change. Grab some baskets, or head to your recycling bins for some boxes. Then into your garden, or your neighbours garden, for some Autumn leaves, sticks and seed pods. Build up collections, and when you have a bounty, start crafting. You can make rafts out of sticks, clay figures, driftwood doll-house furniture, the possibilities are endless.
1 Nche, G., Achunike, H. and Okoli, A., 2019. From climate change victims to climate change actors: The role of eco-parenting in building mitigation and adaptation capacities in children. The Journal of Environmental Education, 50(2), pp.131-144. 2 Boyd, D., 2019. The legacy café- the holistic benefit of reviving lost arts, crafts and traditional skills through an early childhood intergenerational sustainable skills project. Education 3-13, 48(2), pp.204-216. 3 Sanson, A., Van Hoorn, J. and Burke, S., 2019. Responding to the Impacts of the Climate Crisis on Children and Youth. Child Development Perspectives, 13(4), pp.201-207.
Apply now for Meridian’s Power Up Community Fund At Meridian, we’re committed to doing good things with our energy. That means good for people, and good for the environment. We’re proud to back local projects in the communities around our wind farms and hydro stations with our Power Up fund. With Power Up, your community has a say on what initiatives we support and fund. Managed by a panel of locals and Meridian staff, we’re working together to build strong, sustainable communities.
Applications for the next funding round are open until 4 April 2021. For more information and to apply: visit meridian.co.nz/powerup email community.fund@meridianenergy.co.nz call 04 803 2507
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Power Up Te Uku provides grants for projects in Te Uku, Te Mata, Waitetuna and Raglan.
How to apply
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Magazine Issue April 2021 Raglan Chronicle | AM 13 16/02/21 11:10
