Millie Pickle's blog

I came to New Zealand in 2002 to work on a cooperative project in the Thames Valley, I wasn't fleeing the USA becase I hated it or wanted to get away. As a single mum I found an opportunity in NZ which would ostensibly allow me to homeschool my children and make a living, and all that while living in a beautiful place.

My son is asking for an IPOD. For most people this would be a simple thing, in fact, an easy gift- the child wants it and it is easily and "cheaply" available. He is almost 14, so most would say that it would be age appropriate as well.

We cannot knowledgeably elect leaders who ackowledge the need to start planning a post carbon society when candidates hold themselves aside from public scrutiny.

The future Greater Auckland Council will not be able to sustain the level of services and investment it currently provides on Waiheke in the long run. Within the next 10 years the rising cost of energy (oil) and the implications that has for all sectors of society will result in Waiheke being effectively cut off from the level of services it currently enjoys. The “generosity” of Auckland council was a function of cheap oil, not some long-term, beneficent master plan.

One area that will need a complete re-think is the Food Bank as it is currently currently operated by Budget Services, Church Groups, and charities. Sufficient food supplies should not be left to the charity of individuals, but should be built into the system.

Our whole set up, making the provision of extra food a charity and not part of the recirculating of resources is fundamentally dysfunctionally. Like the circuation of the body; if the exhale became jealous of the inhale or vice versa and kept it from circulating in the system, it would die.

In my first year of teaching I had a second grade class, year 2, made up of 7 and 8 year olds. Christa arrived, along with everyone else in the class, with the school materials listed in the registration packet given out before the start of school. She also arrived ready to do whatever it took to be good at school. She was intelligent, quiet but not shy, physically active and a little competitive. Her mother worked and took good care of she and her brother in a solo parent household.

One piece at a time.

I never liked that old chestnut, the idea of eating an elephant is repugnant, but it is instructive. Tackling a large task successfully inevitably means chopping it up into bite-sized pieces. No matter how large the goal, it can always be achieved through a succession of smaller actions

After viewing the Crash Course last year, and reading the SANZ document Strong Sustainability for New Zealand, I was motivated to focus my energy on promoting strong sustainability on Waiheke Island where I live. But where to start?

Is it just recent times or have humans always devoted themselves to dichotomies? Raising 2 opposing camps and then choosing sides- VHS or Beta, Conservative or Liberal, Sea Shepherd or Greenpeace.
My favorite example of this is in the movie Life of Brian. Lecturing to a large group, the speaker says "YOU'RE ALL INDIVIDUALS!" and a lone voice pipes up, "I'M NOT"

Lloyd's of London has officially stated that the business-as-usual practices of the major energy companies is no longer operable from a risk management point of view. They make the point that ever-increasing anthropogenic catastrophes are not within the boundaries of insurance coverage at this point.

In the days before moving my car off the island to sell, I become acutely aware of how attached I am to the independence that driving represents. Ever since I first sat behind the wheel of the family Volkswagon Beetle, which was passed down to each child to learn on, I have had romantic ideas of freedom and travel. Growing up in the USA, the mythos around the open road was alluring. My own first car was a Subaru with 4-wheel drive and studded snow tires. My father gave me his so I could get to work at New England ski fields on roads that were often a foot deep in snow and unplowed.