Quite some time ago, most of Southland was pretty much a wetland. Many a tile drain later, there are a whole bunch of people putting a lot of effort into recreating wetlands. I can see why people were never fond of them - hard to navigate and 'unproductive' from an agriculture perspective. What became clear at my recent attendance at the Wetlands Symposium a couple of weeks ago, was that it is much simpler to preserve what we already have by way of wetlands, than to realise the consequences of draining them away, and later having to recreate 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.

If you are ever so lucky to have the opportunity to have a say in the design of your workplace or home, you'll find yourself with hours of research to do. When you begin to look into it, there are so many opportunities to make the indoor spaces we spend time in more energy efficient, water efficient, pleasant and healthier places to be. Something also worth putting some grey matter to, is what changes we can make to our existing building stock to achieve the same outcomes. The following are some innovative ideas to get you thinking about retrofitting.

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.

We have a number of businesses in Southland who have implemented the LEAN system, following on from receiving training through the former Enterprise Training Programme. Recently one business asked me what the difference was between an Environmental Management System (EMS) and the LEAN system. The following is summarised from a paper written by  Ross & Associates Environmental Consulting, Ltd for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and outlines how these are different systems, but are complementary in some ways.

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.