Good—simple choices for a better life

Good start

8 Editorial

Annabel McAleer on working green

10 The Goodies

Sarah Heeringa, Susan Elijas, David Baird, Paul Thompson

13 Your letters

A Good-inspired makeover

14 Good times

Music and beer

17 News

Mostly good news from around the world

21 Pen or pencil?

Good choice: Back to school, back to work ... but should you reach for pens or old-fashioned pencils?

21 Coral reefs

Convenient truths about: Coral reefs are home to 25 percent of all marine species ... and they're disappearing fast

23 Good reads

Good reads: Win with Te Radar and Organic Explorer

24 Too flash to flush

Good question: Why does my toilet paper have dolphins on it?

26 Good stuff

Lovely, ethical, useful stuff

28 Siobhan Marshall

My green journey: Could Siobhan Marshall be New Zealand's most beautiful vegetarian—and our most hopeless gardener? Best known as Pascall West in the TV series Outrageous Fortune, Siobhan tells Good what put her off meat for life, and why she'll eat her veggies—but she can't grow or cook them

32 Walker

Local heroes: Lesley Reece, Oxfam Trailwalker and marathon runner

35 Winegrowers

Local heroes: Father-and-daughter team Sara and Allen Scott on why they're going organic.

Features

36 Does the earth move for you?

Action: As more and more city-dwellers dig up their lawns to plant veggies and herbs, there's just one question on our minds: why? Paul Thompson meets the new Kiwi gardeners

42 Nice work (if you can get it)

Action: Leaders from Germany to Korea are promising to turn around their economies ... by turning around the environment. Dave Hansford investigates green jobs in New Zealand. It's nice work—but can you get it?

52 Turning over a new leaf

Action: How hemp earned the name 'weed', we'll never know. Annabel McAleer uncovers the many uses for this much-maligned super grass, while Sarah James discovers that hemp is headed straight to the high-end

58 Sink or swim

Action: Melissa Clark-Reynolds turned her own life around—twice—as well as a few failing companies. She's convinced hundreds of Kiwis to do something about climate change, and now she wants you to stop shopping. Annabel McAleer meets the entrepreneur dynamo

The goods

68 Drive like a Dutchman

Transport: Drive smarter, save money. Plus: Eco-rally driving?!?

68 How to hypermile

Transport: Fuel-efficient driving is easy. Here are ten tips (in no particular order) that can massively reduce your fuel bill

72 10 reasons to buy an electric car

Technology: New Zealand's first mainstream electric car

74 Chasing gold

Travel: Cycle Central Otago—at any age

82 New Zealand's naked chef

Food: Meet Angus Allen, maker of Naked Organics

83 Bun in the oven

Food: Make your own bread

84 When red means go

Food: Red hot bell peppers

87 Head start

Garden: As the summer harvest clears our garden beds, it's time to prepare the garden for winter—and grow some broccoli

88 Get packing

Family: Eco school lunches your kids will eat

93 Re-invent a tired old chair

How to: Stylist Susan Elijas shows how to create a new chair covering in eight steps, using a fine-looking hemp fabric from Hemptech

95 Balmy days of summer

Health: Natural lip balms that really work

Good bits

96 Hooray for (eco) taxes

Business: An eco-passport for New Zealand? Rod Oram explains

97 The beautiful and the scammed

Eco-worrier: Age before beauty, says author Emily Perkins

98 Let's not do the time warp again

Gaia and brimstone: Dave Hansford rings the changes

99 Are we giving up on poverty?

The green room: The Millennium Development Goals were a promise to end poverty in the developing world. Why is New Zealand falling behind in its commitment?

100 In praise of picnics

Good housekeeping: Skip plastic food and pack a picnic

103 Cut the crap

Action: 10-step help for shopping addicts

104 Rudolph Steiner Kindergarten

The good life: Painting, drawing, crafts, baking, singing, games and stories ... what more could you ask for?