Community non-profit organisation Wao has launched Get SMART, a travel campaign to encourage more environmentally conscious ways of travelling.

The ‘SMART’ stands for sustainable modes of active and resourceful travel, something Wao aims to promote to reduce the community’s carbon footprint, and it’s kicking off the project with a survey to help Wao understand how locals travel.

This will help Wao understand the barriers and opportunities for sustainable travel in Wānaka, Wao trustee Monique Kelly said.

“We know that in Aotearoa 50 per cent of our total emissions come from transport; and we also know that in the next decade this number needs to be reduced by half to stay below the +1.5 degree global warming threshold,” Monique said. 

“Get SMART aims to be a catalyst for this reduction and seeks to compel Wānaka locals to consider how they can make a real difference by choosing a more sustainable mode of travel such as carpooling or biking.”

Monique said understanding how locals travel will inform future Get SMART work.

“We are asking as many people as possible to fill in a quick five minute survey, the results of which will allow us to track our impact over time.”

Each person who fills in the survey will go in the draw to win a ‘Your Future’ pass to the

Wao sustainability summit, Monique said.

Sustainability consultant Annabel Burgess has been a key figure behind the initiative.

“True, tangible change begins at a grassroots level so this initiative will roll out in Wānaka in the first instance, but we will be looking to snowball our regenerative practice nationwide,” she said.

Anyone living in the Queenstown Lakes region can fill out the Get SMART survey here.

Wao was set up to educate, inspire and enable New Zealand communities to move towards a regenerative future.

PHOTO: Wānaka App