Kate Hall: Sustainable activities for the summer

Most Kiwis will be taking time off over the summer, and while most of us are probably looking forward to relaxing before next year kicks back in, some will be looking for things to do. 

If you’re searching for ideas, Kate Hall has a few ideas for sustainable activities you can do over the summer break. 

Waste audit 

Go through one week's worth of rubbish and see what the main culprits are, then make a plan for how to reduce those in the new year (e.g. bread packets, see if your local bakery will let you bring your own cloth bag to get bread or find a recipe and start making your own). 

Gardening 

Start small with herbs or start even smaller by getting a book out of the library on gardening (Edible Garden by Kath Irvine is great and NZ based). 

Pick your own fruit 

Go to a pick-your-own berry spot and stock up – preserve or freeze them to eat all year round!  

Beach cleanup 

Attend a local one or do your own at your favourite beach (we enjoy beaches a lot during summer so it's great to give back!). 

Explore a regional park and learn about the local ecology  

Start a conversation 

At a BBQ or Christmas function, talk with someone about sustainable living, what/if their values are sustainable – keep the convo positive and curious. 

Start a compost

Summer is ideal because everything breaks down faster – and you have time to set one up! A worm farm, bokashi or compost is great. 

 

LISTEN ABOVE  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks, that'd.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Be time to catch up with our sustainability correspondent Kate
Hall is here with us this morning. A good morning.
What are you counting down the days to Christmas? Are
you into it in a big way?

Speaker 3 (00:24):
I'm into an a medium way, I'd call it.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
I would have thought any excuse for unfeitted consumption would
be right up there, all Kate.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Christmas mixed feelings because you can, you know, do an
awesome Christmas that has great impact and do some fun
sustainable day things. But just looking at all the sales,
even I get bombarded with pop up it just makes
you feel that sick sometimes.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, it's your first Christmas with your daughter though, that'll
be cool. Yes, yeah, I mean sure have absolutely no
idea what's going on, but that's not the point. Yeah. Anyway, Hey,
you've got some really useful little tips for us this
morning on sustainable activities to do over the summer break
and as well as you know, a bit of a
time to kind of relax and disconnect, and also with

(01:10):
those hours in the day, there's a bit of opportunity
to go and do some things that you know can
can push sustainability forward a little bit. So let's begin
with a waste audit.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yes, this is one that takes a bit of time
and a bit of thought, so it's a great one
to do over the summer break. So a waste audit
generally it can look like how big or smaller you
want it to, but I advise looking through a week's
worth of your waist, so keep it asize. And then
when you look through and you can find kind of
the lowest thing for the main waste culprits. It may be,

(01:43):
you know, a plastic bread bag, and so you may go, Okay,
how can I do this more low waste. I'm going
to go to my local bakery. I'm going to bring
my favorite bread bag and that's what I'm going to
do in the new year. Or you could find a
bread recipe. Anything that kind of the main waste kind
of culprits are really good to start with first because
you're reducing a lot of your waste all at once.

(02:05):
So yeah, was can you know can sound a little messy,
and if it is messy, that's probably a big sign
you need to start composting and dealing worth your organic waste,
because your rubbish bin should actually not really smell or
be messy if you're dealing with organic waste properly. And
that's another great one to do is start a compost.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Nice oh yeah, true, okay, yeah, I mean even at
the time of year, I mean, stuff's going to be
composting pretty quickly in the heat.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
A yes, yep, yeah, it's very rewarding. I mean it
can be a little bit more stinky if you don't
have a nice brown matter. So that's your toilet rolls
and paper that's really need to add a lot of
that over summer, otherwise the slides and things can can
get a bit too much. But yeah, starting a compost
is a really really good idea compost Pakashi worm farm. Again,

(02:51):
when you have the extra time over summer, this is
you know, the opportunity to do it.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
And if you're in the garden, you might as well
do some gardening.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yes, yes, that's small. If you have never grown anything
in your life, start with you know, you may start
with some herb. You know, even if you're an apartment
you can have space maybe on your windowsill for a
few just get stuck into yeah, growing something that you
don't have to buy at the supermarket.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's basically impossible not to just grow an enormous tomato
plant right now, It's almost impossible. I just cannot believe
how quickly tomatoes go every year. I think, you know,
you know, you like go, you water the plants at
like eight thirty at night, you come out at six
o'clock the next morning, you're like, oh, it's just it's
growing a foot okay. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
My favorite is compost tomatoes.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
They kind of yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
I've got a few that, yeah, grow out through kind
of the little vents and so it's just a yeah,
free tomatow plant.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah nice. So okay, if you have your compost set up,
you're doing a bit of gardening. But you want to
go even further, you could be picking your own fruit.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
I think that's the fun one that everyone seems to
do at some point during this summer is go to,
you know, a strawberry field and put here own fruit.
I do this in quite a full on way because
I try to bring as many buckets as possible and
get a whole lot that I can freeze them so
I don't have to buy berries and packaging and a
lot of the ones that we have at the supermarket

(04:21):
and the frozen section that we get, you know, all
year round. For us, moodies and stuff are actually from overseas,
so it's a great opportunity to make them yourself. Even
if you're into preserving, you could preserve the berries and
just kind of stuck up for winter stores so you
can still enjoy summer fruits.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
All of us love going to the beach over summer,
and you reckon, there's a really simple way for us
to give back a little bit.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yes, there's often beach clean ups that are organized by
your local groups, but you can also just do a
diy one. I think, you know, we spend so much
time at the beach and it's nice when it is clean.
I know I've seen some pretty horrific waste and mess
left behind from people who think they can enjoy your
day at the beach and leave their rubbish, which is

(05:06):
really unfortunate. But I think if we're enjoying something, it's
only fear that we give back. And it may sound like,
you know, it's my holidays, Kate, I'm off, you know,
but this is our country and we need to be
proud of it. And we need to look after their
natural environment, especially when it's so busy. So yeah, just
do a d why de x clean up. If you
don't want to get to an organized one, just take

(05:29):
a rubbish bag and when you're out there next just
you know, allocate thirty minutes, even even ten minutes. Anything
is better than nothing.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
And if you're in summer barbecues over the next few weeks, Kate,
what are you going to be doing.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
I'm going to be starting polite and positive conversations about sustainability.
So I think, you know, there's I think sometimes at
these Christmas events, you know, conversation staters. They are helpful
with your you know, family members, you may not talk
too so often. So I'm just throwing a conversation starter

(06:04):
out to everyone who's listening to talk about you know,
one stainable thing that you've done this year, or you
know a random and statable thing you heard Jack and
Kate talk about on air. Just start the conversation and
see where it goes. Really, that's how culture changes, you know,
to be more sustainable and aware, we need to keep
talking about it.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Good on you, kay, Hey, thank you so much for
everything this year. Have a wonderful summer, won't you. Yeah,
you too, and yeah really look forward to talking again
really soon, Kate Hall. You can find her on the
social media platforms by searching ethically Kate. All of her
tips for a more sustainable summer will be up on
the news talks he'd be website. And I've got to
say that point around the beach cleanups is so so accurate.

(06:45):
So I mentioned I went for my first proper ocean
swim of twenty twenty five the other day. We just
popped over to tuck up in a beach and while
I was in the water, my wife just went up
and down the beach, honestly, only over a stretch probably
of about fifty meters of sand, and she was going
back and forth for about ten minutes or fifteen minutes

(07:08):
as the water was lapping in. So here's what she found,
and she collected it all. Five pairs of sunglasses, two
pairs of goggles, an ID, a hop card, plastic disposable vape,
a set of headphones, a shoe, and a small plastic doll.

(07:31):
That's crazy. She found that I reckon, honestly, in about
fifteen or twenty minutes, and she collected them all and
you know, lifted them above the high tide line and stuff.
But yeah, just unbelievable how much trash there was even
in you know, what is a pretty pretty beautiful beach,
you know, and not a beach that we necessarily think
of as being massively polluted, but nase. So if you

(07:51):
do have time, even when you're at the beach, I
reckon doesn't even need to be a big formal cleanup thing.
If you go for a bit of a swim and
you're just warming up afterwards walking along the beach, you're
actually doing a bit of a cleanup as you go
and as you warm up under the sun's rays. I
think makes so much sense.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks at B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio