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What's happening at AUT...
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Student auditor recruitment
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We are looking for a few students to audit our Green Impact program. No prior experience needed!
- Gain the skills and knowledge associated with auditing
- Make a positive impact in your local community
- Improve your CV and gain valuable employability skills
- Do a course that is ISSP and IEMA approved
Green Impact
Green Impact is an internationally recognised competition helping teams of staff and students take practical actions towards sustainability and social responsibility. Almost 100,000 people have taken part globally with over 2,500 students trained as auditors.
Auditing
We are looking for volunteers to review the work of Green Impact teams and conduct audits. You'll be fully trained on the skills and content of auditing through a half-day of training, then complete audits during the afternoon.
Date: 9th September
Time: 9:30 am – 3:30 pm
Location: City campus
Please fill out this form if you’re keen to be involved or get in touch with us at sustainability@aut.ac.nz if you have any further questions.
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The last Friday of August each year is Wear It Purple Day. This is for celebrating and supporting young LGBTQIA+ people, and challenging societal attitudes. The 2021 theme is the important conversations in daily life that center around sexual orientation and gender identity. It aims to remind people that the issues should not only be considered on just that day… but every day.
If we are to empower rainbow young people, we need to encourage and support them each day in the classroom or workplace. The importance of pronouns and gender affirmation, as well as the use of inclusive language, is a great place to start. Everyone is encouraged to share their stories, to educate on LGBTQA+ issues, to start these conversations… And continue them 365 days of the year. Educate yourself on how to be a good ally that supports the rainbow community.
You can also get involved and to show your support by:
- Raid your wardrobe and don your brightest and loudest purple get-up!
- Let people know why you're wearing purple.
- Hashtag and share! Use #wearitpurple on social media.
- Organise an event at your university
- Check out Wear It Purple resources.
There is still time to register for the Cutting through greenwashing webinar which will be on the 19th at 2:00 pm Register here.
Complete Green Impact action B016 - All members have attended an Acts of Connection online event.
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Something easy you can do...
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Try switching from paper towels to reusable cloth. Paper towels cause environmental issues from production to disposal. They require energy, water, trees to produce creating further pollution and environmental damage. They often come wrapped in single use plastic and are are not recyclable after they have been used. Although they can be composted, the majority ends up in landfill.
To further this the personal cost of paper towels adds up quickly whereas adding small cloth towels to your existing loads of laundry isn’t going to cost you more money in water.
Try making your own (lots of online tutorials like this one) or purchase from an online or zero waste store. Try to avoid synthetic materials that will release micro plastics.
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What's happening in the wider world...
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released their 6th assessment addressing the most up-to-date understanding of climate change. Its creation involved hundreds of scientists globally and 14,000 scientific papers. IPCC reports have served as a wake-up call for policymakers and the public every time a new one is released. This call has largely not been listened to in the past with little being done to reduce emissions, takeaways from IPCC reports are becoming increasingly dire. This is undeniably the starkest report written.
The very first sentence in the IPCC report lays out the hard truth that increases in greenhouse gases (GHG) since around the 1950s are "unequivocally" caused by human activities. It highlights that climate change is already wreaking havoc around the world, with worse to come. Every choice and every fraction of a degree of avoided warming matters. The benefits of stronger action will be realized well within our lifetimes.
This report shows that we can avoid a future of truly catastrophic warming. Some long-term impacts cannot be avoided, such as rises in ocean temperature and sea level. However, strong and sustained emission reductions this decade can slow these trends, stave off much worse, and protect so much.
AUT has an overarching goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2025. Work is being done to get carbon data externally verified. Action plans have been created to reduce emissions from waste, water, energy, transport, buildings, procurement and increase biodiversity and sustainable food. Individual targets in each area will contribute to reducing our overall CO2 production. Read more about what AUT is doing here.
The New Zealand government have implemented the Carbon Neutral Government Programme that will require public sector agencies to measure and publicly report on their emissions and to offset any they can’t cut by 2025. In 2019 the '2025 target' was passed which requires that NZ reach net zero emissions of GHGs (excluding methane which has been given its own targets) by the beginning of 2050.
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Climate justice is a movement that acknowledges that climate change and human rights are inextricably linked. Climate change disproportionately effects those who have contributed least to its causes. Low-income communities, people of color, indigenous people, people with disabilities and older or very young people all tend to be more susceptible to risks posed by climate impact.
AUT's Dion Enari - Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences and an academic from Australia, have recently published an article highlighting climate justice from the Pacific Island perspective. Pacific Island nations are suffering from climate injustice. They contribute the least to climate change compared to other nations, however they are the most impacted by rising sea levels.
There is a lack of information on climate change from Pacific Island perspectives. They hope this article will bring awareness. The voices of two Samoan activists who were raised in Brisbane, Australia combine to tell this story.
Read this here.
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Auckland is still feeling the effects of the severe 2019 drought which saw our total water storage drop to mid-40%. Our dam levels are currently 61% full, this time last year we were at 87%. While recent rain has helped replenish the dams, much more is needed.
AUT is working to install more smart water meters that will help to determine areas where water usage can be reduced and where there are leaks. Targets are in place to increase the amount of rainwater captured and used throughout the campuses to reduce reliance on mains supply.
Saving water as an individual is not about making big sacrifices, it is about thinking before turning on the tap. Changing old habits such as long showers or leaving the tap on when brushing teeth can help reduce the strain. Check out the Water For Life website for water saving tips.
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This is a scrambling, evergreen shrub with hairy, smelly, ovalish leaves that are very wrinkled and have toothed edges. It has flat flower heads all year round with many tiny tubular flowers. Flowers are cream, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple or mixtures of these, changing colour as they mature. These are followed by small, clustered, berry-like fruits which are green ripening to purple-black.
Lantana produces many seeds and forms dense thickets that exclude other species. It produces toxins that poison the soil around it so other species cannot replace it. It is versatile in habitat preferences and tolerates drought, shade, and fire.
Dig out or if too large, cut of at ground level and cover stump with thick black plastic for 6 months or until rotted. Rot or sent to landfill the remaining plant matter, making sure the seeds especially are disposed of.
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Fortnightly Species: Pūtangitangi/paradiseshelduck
This is an endemic goose -like duck. They are NZ's most widely distributed waterfowl occurring in the North, South and Stewart Islands as well as all near-shore islands. They are the second most common after the mallard. Their population is estimated around 6-700,000 in 2011.
The male is dark grey-black while the female body is a dark-light chestnut. The male’s head is black with occasional green while the female’s head and upper neck is white.
Facts
- The male gives off a goose-like honk when startled or in flight, the females call is more shrill and rapid.
- They are partially protected, with regulated hunting permitted making it a prized game bird
- They form long-term pair bonds, often lasting for life
- The female paradise shelduck lays a clutch of 5-15 eggs
- They once were a large proportion of the food supply for Maori in some regions
Excessive hunting in the past have threatened their population, however conservation work over 20-30 years has restored their abundance.
Listen to the ducks here, female has higher pitched call, male has wheezy call.
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