James Samuel

Trading through a Facebook group, is so simple and natural, and after all it’s where the crowd is. After only a few weeks, membership of the “Waiheke Trading” Facebook is up to 660 members, and the Waiheke community are embracing it with alacrity.

Hosting this Biosphere Reserve meeting on the Marae, seemed entirely appropriate given that the move to become a Biosphere Reserve is a move from the western-dominant anthropomorphic world-view to one that puts humans in their rightful place as part of, not apart from, ecology.

I put facilitating the buying and selling of land, in the same basket as brokers trading on the stock market. Neither contribute much to the general well-being of the community in which they operate. I don’t believe that any cash benefit to the community, of selling Waiheke land (and homes) to the highest bidder, has outweighed the detrimental effects of the changes that have come about, albeit as unintended consequences.

My heart sang last night, to see members of my community look at the challenges of the future, square in the eye, and then with energy and creativity name some creative, and do-able solutions. Here’s a six minute video I put together summarizing the evenings activities. Read on…

I am most curious what happens when we come across new information, that once understood, begs a change of habit and some new actions. I’ve noticed in myself and others, that information alone is rarely enough to change how we act from day to day. So what does make the difference?

The crowd is building, down at the buyers club, which has only been open for three weeks now. A simple concept… get a group of people together, who know each other, and begin buying (in this case organic foods in the form of dry goods and produce), have some people run it like an enterprise [...]

There is an abundance of websites offering information on the environmental impacts of materials used in our day to day clothing and the methods by which they are manufactured and traded. Watch a video of Bee speaking about hekedesigns where she makes beautiful clothes from what would otherwise have been tossed out on the garbage heap.

Many important ideas and feelings were expressed into the circle on Tuesday night, respectfully. Finn MacKesy had come over from the city to facilitate the evening’s dialogue, which began with a round of introductions and a quick presentation of global challenges as Finn and I have, along with many others, perceived them. You can view the presentation and explanatory notes.

This presentation came as a bonus to the work I was doing for the Waiheke Community Supported Agriculture project. As I attempted to find an effective way to communicate the “How” of that project, I found myself describing a model that could be applied to projects in general. Ever since coming across the Transition Towns [...]

One of the most fun projects I’ve initiated, around which an awesome team gathered, was The Great Waiheke Plum Drive. What made it so good? Perhaps because it had so many elements to it, there was something for everyone. Harvesting abundance, learning new skills, conversation over a hot stove, experiencing cooperation, managing a successful project [...]