the Ecowars Battlefield

The Skanks have it

The Eco War is over and the troops have been rewarded. Going into the awards night, only a whisker (obtained through natural moulting) separated Skank Palace and the Sustainatrons. The beer tasting was the deciding factor. All teams had managed not to drink their product, which according to our expert tasters was 'not bad'. The Skanks' brew came out tops with the result that they walked away with a fridge/freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer and a dishwasher. Thanks to their second place, the Sustainatrons are going to Taranaki Eco Inn Lodge with a full tank of gas and a grocery voucher. Even the losers are winners in Eco Wars, "We're-so-f'ing-cold-we-need-a-heatpump-crew got bucket loads of Eco friendly stuff to keep them on the path to sustainability.

Look out in February for Eco Wars 2. Until then, check out the War Doco:

Then check out all the videos here. 

Workshop one

Guest speaker Ariana Fontan, Palmerston North City Council Eco Advisor - took the teams through some interesting facts and figures about power consumption. Then each flat put their heads together and competed against each other to come up with the most ways to reduce the power consumption within a given room in a house. Teams certainly got creative... one team suggested "communal flat showers" to save money on heating the water. A little too far maybe... but never the less it got the teams thinking. 

Workshop One Riddle - 24 August
Bamfield's burnt books is where we shall start
Viewing arms that swirl thanks to nature's large fart
Watt we shall learn, Joules will define
Ten plus nine, for 120 the time

Workshop Two

Workshop 2 started with a bang! First Sian Cass from Super Grans www.supergran.org.nz demonstrated how to build yourself the ultimate compost heap. She actually brought in sacks fill of different waste and emptied it out on the floor of the Green Hub, (floor protection of course). She went on to explain that most animal waste is very good for your compost heaps... you can image the types of questions Sian then had to answer! And answer well she did... that is correct human waste is considered good for your compost!...one thing springs to mind when the teams heard that... VIDEO BLOG! Watch this space... or maybe not! 

Learning how to make a worm farm was next on the agenda...and again Sian brought in her very own friendly worms. Turns out if you have a healthy worm farm you shouldn't be able to smell it... lets hope our flats look after these otherwise the post flat audit could be interesting. Sian then went on the explain the fundamentals to planting and growing seeds and seedlings. Tips and tricks were shared as the teams picked Sian brain for the competitive advantage... so we will wait and see which flats have the greenest fingers! 

Time seemed to fly by and before the teams knew it, only 15minutes remained and it was Pip's (PNCC Environmental Educator) turn to give a brief run down on the Bokashi kits... a new term / product  we all learnt about last night too! Bokashi is a Japanese term meaning 'fermented organic matter'... AKA 'composting' or for you greenys out there 'the anaerobic fermentation process'. Again very interesting and incredibly easy.  

Each team walked about with, fish bins, veggie mix soil, a set of gardening tools all thanks to Mitre 10. A selection of great seeds thanks to King Seeds, a packet each of seedlings thanks to Awapuni Nurseries and their very own Bokashi kits. Not only did they leave with the knowledge but also all the equipment they need to start their very own sustainable gardens. 

Workshop Two Riddle - 31 August
520 to 570 nanometres, and the centre of a wheel
You'll find it on a river's road - now our activity we'll reveal:
Propagation in gang logos, of leaf and root and stem
The time? Hughes, Pickering and Bickmore know, so why not just ask them?

Workshop three

Waste Water was the topic for Workshop 3....and there are 3 things that the Awapuni Waste Water Treatment Plant is SMELLY, GROSS but NECESSARY!! I think all the teams would agree, that the men and woman that work out there taking the bad particulars out of the water are seriously impressive people. Take a bow people!

Pip started at the beginning and walked us through each stage of the waste water treatment plant. As we went through each stage the water quality dramatically improved. Which meant viewing each stage become slightly more bearable than the last. We found out some rather interesting facts. Sunday mornings are the worst for finding mobile phones in the waste water. The treatment plant doesn't remove the oestrogen and progestogen levels that are in the contraception pill and once released into the Manawatu river its having negative effects on the many wild life reproductive systems. 27,000,000 litres of waste water go through the Waste Water Treatment Plant each day.

Pip handed each flat a worksheet on waste water (aimed at 7-8yr olds) to complete. Lets hope the teams don't have any difficulty completing it and also 3 tips for conserving water. Turn off the tap while you are brushing your teeth, If your showers are longer than 5 minutes you are better off having a bath and wash your veges in a sink fill of water instead of running the tap. 

All in all a very interesting tour and certainly something all of us want forget in a hurry. 

Clean Dihydrogen monoxide is the product of this
and because we all give a shit, it must take the piss
It's on a tree's route, near where thoroughbreds belong
the time to meet is an Incubus song
And the topic today? just so you know,
is HIJK,LMNO

Workshop Four

Janice Feyen from the Green Hub introduced tonight's workshop. Bread, Beer and Cleaning. She started by demonstrating how to make the perfect loaf of bread... in a bucket. Then it was the teams' turn to showcase their bread making skills, or lack thereof.

Wile the bread did it's thing in the buckets, Reuben Lockwood from Simply Brewing taught the very eager audience the basics of brewing beer. The teams were surprised and excited that to actually make beer takes just 20 minutes. But just as they were about to quaff their new creations, Reuben opened a can of disappointment by telling them that it would take several weeks to ferment. Some of the points up for grabs will be awarded to the team who produce the best beer for the awards night.

Finally Janice showed how white vinegar and other common ingredients could be used to make everyday cleaning products (something that every grandma knows about.) And once the cleaning's done there's no vinegary smell lingering in the house. The end of the night was devoted to finishing off the bread. Some of the loaf shapes were, well, not suitable to show the parents.... Each team walked away with their own beer brewing kit, cleaning products and a selection of odd shaped bread. 

Workshop Four Riddle
It's a mixed up place, we admitEloquence Hazel, be legit!
Ninkasi's liquid and dough baked hot
your mind may be filthy, but your home will not.
Let's work out the time, with a little game:
first sodium fluoroacetate by another name
count this number in mins from midnight
turn up then and you'll be right.
A longer session than the others employed
10800 seconds to be enjoyed.

Workshop fIVE

Tuesday’s workshop was super interesting. Pip Chrystal (Eco Advisor for PNCC) took the teams through the Awapuni Recycling Centre, which proved to be a real eye-opener. The centre manages the city’s recyclable waste and processes it to make saleable bales of material, used to manufacture new products. After the tour, Pip showed a number of interesting videos.  

One of these was a very sad video about the Pacific Rim and how Hawaii beaches now have hundreds and thousands of pieces of plastic rubbish washing up on their shores. A rather lengthy discussion was generated from watching these videos, in which the teams agreed that the problem was huge, but that the solution was not so easy to define.

Thanks to Ecobulbs and Enivrosax each team walked away with, reusable sustainable shopping bags and enough ecobulbs to refit their flat.

Check out this trailer of a BBC documentary called Message in the waves: http://www.messageinthewaves.com/

And this:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/ about electronics, cosmetics and bottled water.

This was the final workshop. All that remains now is for the teams to complete their video blogs and for the judges to brave a return visit to the flats before the big awards night on October 12. Get voting for your favourite platoon…

As next week is the final workshop, we thought we'd make you work just a little bit harder to get the information you need. This week, you'll need to complete a crossword. Then take the answers from your completed crossword and insert them into the answer sheet provided. Read the words aloud. Don't worry about the words themselves, just listen to yourself reading and all will be revealed...

Ecowars - Workshop 5 Riddle