It inspiring to see how the efforts of a few people can lead to powerful changes.  I have always liked superheroes – those incredible caped crusaders with a mission to Save The World.  Of course, their superpowers make it easier, even if they have to fight super villains.

It turns out that we can all be superheroes, and that the world really does need saving.  Every positive climate protecting action you make, whether planting tomatoes or recycling your glass is a heroic contribution to the effort to reduce our impacts on the environment.

There aren’t any super bad guys that can’t be stopped by consumers collectively choosing to change their shopping habits.  There is a point where your shopping habits combine with others to create a critical mass – a kind of tipping point that leads to a snowball effect. 

You can see this whenever a new diet book or craze changes the way snack food makers promote their food.  In the 80’s low fat was the trend; in the 90’s the fad was low carbs; then came the high protein bars.

Green is the new Black.  We are already on the new wave of environmental awareness that makes it cool to recycle and looks on rampant consumerism with distain.  Successful snack foods now promote Organics, GE free, No artificial colours or preservatives.  We can choose in the supermarket to buy NZ grown fresh produce, and if enough people support country of origin labeling on the rest of our food we can choose NZ more often.

My point is that a few dedicated actions can influence a lot of people. 

Really great examples of the most unlikely super heroes are the Bag Ladies of Collingwood. 

These four brave women campaigned for a year in their small town (population 400) to change the shopping habits of their community.  Their supermarket and local shops got on board, and in 2005 they were declared NZ’s first plastic bag free town.

That in itself is an amazing achievement, but it is the power of that first heroic stand against the trend that has inspires and brings us closer to that avalanche of positive change.

Last year Kaikoura District Council received $23,000 of funding to produce thousands of reusable shopping bags in their attempt to become the first plastic bag free district in NZ.  They were lead by their environmental development officer, Nicole Sherriff, who got her inspiration from a tiny town in Australia called Coles Bay.

So you can see how the ripples spread, and from just four people to a population of 400 people, then a district with 3,400, then … what about Opotiki with our more than 9000 people?

What would it take for Opotiki to declare itself a plastic bag free town?  Who will be our superheroes leading the charge?  Which super villains will we need to overcome? 

Are you interested in being part of a change for the better in Opotiki?  Email me at kazel@slingshot.co.nz, call or txt 021 0332428, or leave a comment.