Climate change

Pukerua Bay climate action group — unity in action

In October 2022, Pukerua Bay held its first-ever workshop on climate change. Forty-five people came together to share their ideas for mitigating climate change and dealing with its effects. The energy was incredible!

In February 2023, a smaller workshop was held to strengthen our foundations and get more clarity on our direction. At this workshop, we began by constructing a deeper understanding of the role of Ngāti Toa Rangatira as mana whenua of Pukerua Bay.

We also took time to understand the mandate for action provided by the Village Plan and the incredible resources we have in our community, with so many individuals and groups already caring for our place and our people by enacting the values of manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and kaitiakitanga.

We decided to add to these with three streams of work focused on sustainability, resilience, and supporting the school. The workshop series described below connects to the first two of those streams.

Pukerua Bay Climate Action Spring 2024 Series

3pm to 5pm

Pukerua Bay Crop Swap

Sunday 25 August, St Mark’s, Rāwhiti Road

The Village’s first ever food exchange event. Bring along your homegrown kai, seeds, compost or worm wee, your baked goodies, your homebrew, or fermented goods to swap or share. A BYO BBQ will be available.

Community recycling collection

Regular community recycling is held on the third Saturday of each month at the Pukerua Bay RSA in Wairaka Road, from 3pm‒4pm. There is more information about this here.

Saturday 31 August, St Mark’s, Rāwhiti Road

A collection point for plastic bottle tops, wine bottle tops (with plastic seal removed), tin foil, batteries (standard household A, AA, and button)

Pathways to carbon neutrality

Sunday 22 September, St Mark’s, Rāwhiti Road

Mike Jebson shares how local areas and regions can become carbon neutral through nature positive restoration programmes that support improved biodiversity, water quality, erosion reduction, and land resilience.

Waikato Regional Council report ‘Te Āriki Tūroa: Nature+ Framework and Plan’ (PDF 5MB)

Mike’s presentation to climate change meeting (PDF 2MB)

Escarpment domes regenerative tourism

Sunday 20 October, RSA, Wairaka Road

Floruit shares the story of the Escarpment Domes, a new social enterprise in Pukerua Bay offering destination accommodation that helps native forests with each visit. All ages welcome and koha is appreciated.

Community-led adaptation

In December 2023, we made a submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry into community-led adaptation to climate change. We also spoke to the Select Committee in July (read our notes here), and asked them to include in their final report a recommendation that when councils review their district plans, they add a requirement to consider the impact of climate change on all new housing developments.

Workshop series 2023

Sundays 3pm–5pm at the RSA, Wairaka Road, through August 2023

1	Your Household’s Carbon Footprint August 6: Find out how to measure your household carbon emissions so you can track the difference your carbon actions are making.
2	The Circular Economy 13 August: How do we change our economy to design out waste, keep materials in use, and regenerate natural systems?
3	Recycling and Homemade Cleaning Products 20 August: Take action at home by maximising your recycling and making your own cleaning products — a hands-on workshop.
4	Emergency Management and Resilience 27 August: Events will continue to happen — how will we get ready as households

We’ve drafted the diagram below to represent our strategy. Appropriately, for Matariki, it’s based on the “constellation” model of collaboration! We hope you can see how we plan to build on the strengths we already have in our community to combat climate change.