CCP-NZ

More than 12 mayors in the CCP-NZ Programme invited residents to join them on a bicycle ride around their city as one part of February’s Bike Wise month. The event is an annual friendly competition enticing people to get on a bicycle and follow the mayor.

The city with the most people on two-wheels (per capita) wins the NZ title of Cycle Mad City. Rodney District Council was the 2008 winner.

Bike Wise month encourages people to get on a bike and realise, or rediscover, how enjoyable and efficient active transportation can be.

Environment Waikato recently conducted a survey of staff commuting habits, initiated by the organisation-wide workplace travel plan. The results demonstrated that not only do council staff use a wide range of commuting options, but there is huge room for improvement.

The survey showed that 31% of staff use public or active transport and 22% carpool. From the remaining staff who are single-occupancy drivers, a huge 67% said they were prepared to carpool.

Environment Waikato’s workplace travel plan will be tied in with its Milestone 2 and 3 corporate goal setting as well as feeding into ongoing emission analysis and the subsequent measuring of reductions.

Other councils are in the process of identifying their staff commuting habits.  An employee commute survey and emissions calculator can be found in the password protected area of the CCP-NZ website.

Nelson City Council is supporting a reward scheme led by the Environment Centre to help the community and business sectors of the city lessen their environmental impact. A person or organisation can pledge at one of three levels to do their part to reduce emissions in five areas: energy, transport, water, waste, and biodiversity.

The first level pledge is ‘low/no cost’ initiatives, i.e. switching off appliances and lights. The second level is ‘some cost’, such as replacing standard light bulbs with energy efficient ones, and the third level is ‘higher cost’, such as installing insulation, solar heaters or switching fleets to hybrids.

At each level, the person or business will be put into a draw for prizes – all with the flair of sustainability.

An initiative that began in Sydney, Australia in 2007, Earth Hour has quickly grown global. On Saturday 28 March 2009, more than 375 cities in over 70 countries are participating and will see people turning off their lights for one hour to demonstrate that by working together we can make a difference.

Over 36 councils in New Zealand are taking part, showing concern and care for climate change and the use of energy. Join the cause and turn your power off from 8.30 to 9.30pm on 28 March. For details, and to be counted, visit the Earth Hour website.