Southland is a pretty awesome place to live. We can produce our own milk and meat, grow a huge number of vegetables and grains, and our fruit trees are known for their spectacular crops. But there are some things we aren’t so great at; growing coffee is one of them. It’s not easy to produce coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, bananas and cotton (among other things) in New Zealand so we have to rely on our neighbours overseas to get our daily fixes.

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to be at a networking meeting for the various landcare groups from around Southland. Many spoke of the great work their volunteers had achieved, from high profile events like the Living Legends planting for the Rugby World Cup, to everyday work that goes under the media's radar. In particular, one group raved about how much they achieved when a workplace used their project for a workplace volunteer day - part of the BNZ's 'Closed for Good' initiative.

In terms of the sustainability challenges we are facing, some would argue that the advertising industry has played a big part in getting us into this mess, through it’s role in promoting materialism and ego-driven consumption. (Clive Hamilton is a particularly strong advocate of this position).

Here at the Invercargill TOP 10 Holiday Park, we are proud members of the Southland Sustainable Business Network and enjoy reading the regular newsletters sent to members. However, I still feel we are at times inclined to be price driven rather than always looking at the sustainability issues when we do things. We are as guilty as the next person and it's only because we have the benefit of hindsight from building several units and also the early involvement with the Sustainable Tourism South Project that we started down the track of thinking differently.

When we began searching for local businesses who were implementing sustainable practices, we found a lot of examples of good stewardship. The Anchorage Motel in Te Anau encourages their guests to take away their toiletries and finish it up, rather than leaving behind a half used product. They also supply motel units with re-usable bags for guests to use. Other accommodation providers are collecting used bars of soap and returning them for manufacture into biodiesel. CleanBiz, a cleaning product supplier, takes back empty containers from customers, washes and re-uses them.

Sometimes, with all the best intentions, changes we make result in some unintended consequences. Some environmental solutions actually create other problems. Most people or organisations who have started their sustainability journey have at least one story to share along these lines. You know, when you have tried to change something to improve the environmental outcomes, but for some reason or another it has ended up causing another problem that you didn’t intend.

Last month I attended what felt like the social event of the year - the Environment Awards. Such a positive buzz of enthusiasm from young school kids right through to some of our region's older pioneering tourism operators. There were a number of businesses nominated for awards. However, I felt there should have been a greater number of nominations because there are so many more businesses doing wonderful things that I am aware of.

Venture Southland, in partnership with SolarCity, this week announced the launch of the Southland Solar Pilot project. The pilot which is New Zealand’s first regional solar pilot scheme has been launched with the support of all three Councils in the Southland region; Southland District Council, Gore District Council and Invercargill City Council. The goal is to install monitored solar hot water systems on 20 homes and five businesses across the region to show how solar can help reduce electricity costs and help offset climate change. It will also assess options for the establishment of suitable loan schemes to support the funding of installations.

Ideas Shop founding partner, and regular contributor to Venture Southland’s former Enterprise Training programme, Dan Ormond attended the COP16 climate change talks in Cancún, México from 29 November to 10 December.

Everyday business actions can impact on the environment, often without anyone knowing. Environment Southland frequently responds to incidents involving the release of pollutants where no perpetrator can be found. These incidents contribute directly to the degradation of our world-class natural environment.

It has been my privilege to spend time with many of Southland tourism businesses who open their doors to me seeking advice on how they can be more sustainable. Often, they don’t need any advice on community initiatives they can be part of, because they are already spending all the spare time they have giving to others. It’s not just tourism businesses who are taking action to be more socially responsible. During our research into businesses practices back in 2008, we found that 84% of Southland businesses had considered ways to improve health and wellbeing of staff. Staff health and wellbeing along with social concerns were in the top three issues of importance to Southland businesses, right up there next to energy concerns.

It is becoming increasingly important to everyday business practice to be resource efficient, especially when you consider the fact that businesses contribute 45 percent of rubbish to landfill in Southland. Donna Peterson from Wastenet Southland shares her views.