After six days of events involving 900 participants, the 2020 Wanaka Reset Summit ended on Sunday (November 1). 

The summit featured talks, workshops and activities to inspire action towards a carbon zero future.

“This year’s summit was attended by a diverse range of participants and it was great to see a real mix of generations in the audience as well as helping to shape, run and lead the events.” summit organiser Monique Kelly said. 

She said the event has grown each year and its reputation is reaching further afield, with participants coming from as far afield as Auckland and out of town participants attending events via Zoom. 

Monique Kelly (centre) said a mix of generations was involved in the summit. PHOTO: Supplied 

Some of the summit’s highlights included builders and tradies learning about zero waste construction sites; the first showing of Camilla Rutherford’s Heal the Earth exhibit; and conversations with experts on everything from climate change, circular economy, augmented reality’s role in environmental monitoring, energy efficient building to the future of farming.

The summit ended on Sunday with 700 people attending free workshops provided by local wellbeing experts.

The Story of Plastic

The Wanaka App attended the Story of Plastic documentary and panel discussion with local waste experts on Wednesday (October 28).

The Story of Plastic takes a sweeping look at the effects of plastic pollution on people and the environment. Spanning three continents, the film illustrates the ongoing catastrophe, the corporate interests behind ever-increasing plastic use, and the shocking impacts on the world’s most vulnerable communities. 

A still from the documentary The Story of Plastic. PHOTO: Supplied

It features many interviews with activists on the front lines - places in Indonesia and China where much of the Western world has been shipping its plastics off to - and tackles head on the corporate-funded idea that the cost of waste management should be borne by end-users. 

Following the screening, Monique held a panel discussion with local advocates Sophie Ward (Wastebusters project manager), Kath Buttar (QLDC waste minimisation project officer) and Nicola Cross (Honest Wholefoods co-founder). 

Panellists discussed local waste management strategies, work being done in the plastics reduction and waste management space, and provided tips for individuals seeking to reduce their environmental footprint.

Heal the Earth

Award winning photographer Camilla Rutherford's "Heal the Earth" exhibition in Criffel Station's woolshed attracted attention. PHOTO: Kirsty Taylor

Heal the Earth, a visual exhibition featuring a 25 minute audiovisual story and 24 photographs by award winning local photographer Camilla Rutherford, attracted a large crowd of around 90 people on Saturday evening (October 31).

Camila said it was an “amazing” turnout with people from all walks of life, old and young, “farmers in their gummies and others dressed up to the nines”, attending the event held in the Criffel Station woolshed.

Her exhibition focused on regenerative agriculture and featured seven different stories; the perspectives of high country merino farming, sheep and beef production, cropping, dairy, market gardening, regenerative farmed meat products, and a collector and keeper of heritage seeds.

“The whole purpose of this was to start a conversation,” she said.

“The really cool part for me was hearing people talk about their growing awareness of this grass roots movement and how the exhibition had opened their eyes to how much was happening in New Zealand,” Camila said.

The success of the event has given her the confidence and momentum to expand the experience beyond rural audiences, and she’s working on bringing the exhibition to urban centres in Auckland and Christchurch.

“Afterall, everybody eats and should care where their food comes from,” she said.

Carbon workshops

The Cell co-working space office manager M.J Muller attended two carbon action workshops at the summit.

“The [carbon] calculator is a great benchmark to understand where you are, and where you’re like to be,” she told the Wanaka App. “We all must do our part to reduce, reduce, reduce, as we don’t have enough land to offset what we’re doing.”

“The workshops really rang the alarm bells that this is something that work should have started on 30 years ago.” 

MJ said the Cell has started brainstorming different ways to do things, and is developing a simple carbon calculator.

“We’re going to provide incentive for those who walk or bike versus driving to the Cell, where people can get credit for free hours.”

MJ said she had hoped more people would get involved in the workshops, and encouraged people to attend similar workshops in the future.

“I learned quite a bit and can continue to help make the place a bit better,” she said.

Next steps

WAO is hoping to continue the conversations and workshops throughout November.

With the support of Mitre 10, and in partnership with BSM, there will be two workshops to address mental health in the building sector, a priority area identified by the Building Better Working Group. The first is a general awareness training session on November 24 at the Lake Wanaka Centre, followed the next day by a connector training session. 

WAO is also partnering with yBC.tv to launch a Rethink Channel. This new digital platform provides free access to dozens of interviews with thinkers, academics and trail-blazers from all around the world who have a focus on regeneration, reset and rethinking how we live.

Monique said the summit would not have been possible without the following sponsors: Placemakers, the Otago Community Trust, Canon, Kahu Youth, Criffel Station, Lake Wanaka Tourism, Mitre 10, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Revology, Balanced Accounting, Fever Pitch, EnviroAccounts, Dunlop Building, Rippon Vineyard, Wai Wanaka, Hiberna, MONS, Wanaka Solar, Wanaka Party Hire and Entertainment Solutions.