Good—simple choices for a better life

Good start

15 Editorial

Action: Francesca Price sets the agenda

16 The goodies

Meet the green team

18 Good times

Your chance to get involved

20 News

Stories from around the globe

32 The Good book backlist

Good reads: Get up to speed with our backlist of books and films

34 Robyn Malcolm

My green journey: She is New Zealand’s best-loved actress but Robyn Malcolm has many more talents to offer. Passionate about the environment, Robyn not only knows her stuff but she walks the talk. Just don’t try to impress her with the size of your engine—

36 Greenish envy

Eco-worrier: Emily Perkins reports co-trends from the fourth-to-top rung of The Ladder of Virtue

39 Activist

Local heroes: Meet 88-year-old activist Margaret Jones

40 Good stuff

Our pick of the products

40 Tree-hugger

Local heroes: Meet green-fingered teenager Emma Bowering

42 Air-dryer vs paper towels

Good choice: It’s the classic public loo dilemma. Air-dryers are slow, noisy and seem to burn through electricity. But that bin overflowing with damp paper towels is going straight to landfill. What’s a soul with wet hands and good intentions to do?

42 Climate change

Convenient truths about: 2005 was the warmest year ever recorded, closely followed by 1998 and 2007. Twelve of the 13 warmest years on record were between 1995 and 2007

43 Why do supermarkets shrink-wrap cucumbers?

Good question: Packaging, lightbulbs and floppy cucumbers. We have all the answers

Features

48 Back to the source

Take back control of your food supply, save money, and do your health and the planet a favour. It’s time to declare food independence! Here’s how.

60 Can this woman fuel the world?

Take the world’s most reliable, constant and universal waste product, and use it to fuel cars, planes and homes. Sound far-fetched? Vicki Buck, ex-mayor of Christchurch, is doing just that

66 Science will save us ... right?

Taking cues from nature, Star Trek, Easy-Yo and The Simpsons, scientists the world over are pushing the limits of possibility.

74 Watch this place

New Zealand’s small towns have some big ideas. Determined to wean themselves off oil, communities are coming together to plan for more sustainable futures. Andy Kenworthy visits one of our Transition Towns.

The goods

82 Sunny side in

Home: A bright and cheery Christchurch renovation proves you don’t have to leave the suburbs to go green.

91 Happiness is a warm home

Consumer guide: Insulation: boring? Yes. Important? Very.

94 Global worming

How to: The humble worm turns everything it eats into nutrient-rich fertiliser—even industrial waste. One scientist is bringing worms to big business, reducing rubbish and saving our soil in the process.

96 DIY: worm whare

How to: DIY worm whare with "worm lady" Linda Lee

97 Bust germs, repel vampires

Garden: Plant garlic, now!

98 Warm tarted

Food: Hot tarts and fresh bread

102 RIP rabbit ears

Technology: Want to buy a big flat TV? Read this first

103 All that Jazz

Technology: A tiny car for a boy racer

104 The tree's knees

Travel: Our glamorous editor eats grubs at the luxurious Treetops Estate and Lodge

107 Get into hot water

Travel: Take a hot bath in a thermal spring

107 Eco-chic ... Wellington

Travel: Eco-chic in the Capital

108 White moonshine

Health: Heifer madness: the black market for raw milk

110 Sheets, roots and sleeves

Style: Bamboo: this fast grass is being fashioned into stylish and sustainable products

115 Turn your kids green

Family: Ten ways to tint your kids mint

117 The (solar) power of one

Business: The bottom line isn't just profit anymore. Rod Oram reports on the evolution of business

118 Get what you give

Business: How charity can pay you back

121 Garage brand

Business: Ecostore founder Malcolm Rands is taking clean green Kiwi know-how to the world. Vincent Heeringa caught up with him on the eve of a massive US expansion

122 Green means go

Business: Close your eyes and think of a taxi. No, you can’t order one that way—but chances are you’re thinking of a New York City Yellow Cab or London Black Cab. What you don’t think of are New Zealand’s ubiquitous white sedans.

122 Drink yourselves green

Business: Any business worth its weight in salt now knows it needs a sustainability plan

Good bits

125 Does being green make you happy?

The green room: Niki Harré, senior psychology lecturer, believes so. In the first of our Green Room discussions, she tells us why integrity matters.

127 Talk to your supermarket

Action: Talk to your supermarket, welcome some worms into your life, help a small business, drink green and more ...

128 Ruth Paul

The good life: Off-the-grid with Ruth Paul