Marmite

Oh no, crisis - the NZ Marmite stocks are running out!!  How will people cope?  People are stock piling and looking out for themselves, and supermarket shelves are pretty much empty.

Does this ring bells in anyone's heads?  So the Christchurch earthquake has required earthquake strengthening of the old Sanitarium building and this is the only place New Zealand Marmite is currently made.  Now everyone is in panic!

Lets get sensible here!  Do we need Marmite to survive? No!  But it does start you thinking what will happen if supply chains of things we really need are truly disrupted.  

The fact remains the Christchurch earthquake did not do anything other than temporary disruption to supply chains because the rest of the country was unaffected, despite the crazy panic buying of all items from people determine to stock pile and protect there own. Apart from the odd non essential item being missing from supermarket shelves, it was no issue.  

But what say suddenly all ships being food imports to NZ were no longer able to come here (a major strike of shipping unions perhaps).  Could you survive? What if oil prices double, which could occur in less than 5 years and food increases that much in price for imported food? Is there enough NZ or even local to you region food available?  What is essential, what is just nice to have?  How vulnerable are you and your community to the effects of supply chain disruption due to natural disaster, oil price increases or other events?   

What would you feed your dog or cat if the pet food manufacturer in the USA (where most premium brands are made) had a major fire and production as halted? Some of you will have pets that can only eat or will only eat one brand.  This is not at all a dig at buying imported food - what I am suggesting is that all the great R and D that goes into these foods could still take place in a central global location, but surely the recipes could be replicated in each country they are sold - providing jobs, reducing footprint and so forth. 

Taking time to get to know your neighbour and get involved with your community  you can get into a situation where you and the local community can work together and be more self sufficient, leading to increased social connectedness, feelings of worth and more than likely reducing your overall costs while having a degree of self sufficiency.  

One day's harvest from my garden. 

Planting an edible garden is hugely rewarding, and I have been over the last 7 years slowly increasing my gardens edible products, from nothing when we first moved here, to around 30% of the garden now and more to come.  I have done it not out of the drive to be self-sufficient (if I wanted to do that I'd need a bigger plot of land and to dig up the lawn) but because I know what goes into my home grown stuff, I like how it changes through the year and its good for my kids.  Gardening is also good stress relief.  Two of my neighbours have almost totally edible gardens and many in our area now have chickens too.  Of course this isn't the answer at all, but it gets you closer to the answer. 

By the way, if you are sitting on a Marmite stockpile, why not share it round those who missed out in the panic buying!  It's probably partially a marketing stunt by Sanitarium anyway - if nothing had been said the stocks would have lasted longer and they would have been closer to returning to production before it actually ran out.  Now there is all this free marketing promoting the Marmite product.  When it comes back online there will be a huge craving for it and sales of Marmite for Sanitarium will go through the roof!

And while you are out sharing your Marmite stockpile why not head down and check out your local farmers market this weekend!  Great value local produce which can result in really awesome meals in the coming week.  Don't shop with a list - buy what's in season and then come home and decide what you can cook with it!!

Have a great weekend - enjoy the beautiful Autumn.

Sense of community

A true sense of community is talked about a lot and is going to become more important as time progresses.  As costs rise, we will become more reliant on  our local community to provide our fundamental human needs (Max-Neef): 

• Affection
• Creation
• Freedom
• Identity
• Idleness
• Participation
• Protection
• Subsistence
• Understanding

So if we take a suburban community - its about knowing your neighbours, interacting with your neighbours and sharing.  Its about getting involved in community initiatives in stead of waiting for local or national government to pass directives to fix a problem. Wanaka Wastebusters is an example of this - the community saw a problem, and as a community set about a way to alleviate the problem and a platform to raise other issues.  There are similar community waste initiatives in places like Xtremewaste in Raglan.

Imagine if you knew all your neigbours and you all shared your garden produce? Or childcare?  Or dog walking duties or dog babysitting?  Or maybe they have a skill that you don't and you could do something for them in exchange?  So many possibilities.  Think back to the community you grew up in - it was sure to be more friendly and you knew more people that now.  Use that for inspiration, or maybe the next generation before that. 

Community gardens and other community social events help build communities and they are more effective when supported.  Make becoming part of your local community a goal for this year.  This local community will become more important as time progresses.  If you are in an urban areas, look to smaller rural communities for inspiration.  Many communities are struggling with this at present. Our local school struggles to even get a Parent Teacher Association to run.  People have forgotten that community support and involvement builds communities and capability.  It improves the environment we live in and makes it a better place to live.  It is part of a fundamental human need of participation. Community projects often allow you to use your creativity and develop your identity among others.

How does this apply to the veterinary profession? 

We are in a unique position to be a community hub, this is already obvious in rural towns, and I think this can be improved on in rural towns and used as a model in urban areas.   Why not a community focused veterinary clinic that has all the services a pet owner needs - vet services, groomer, doggy daycare, pet supplies and a cafe -  a future focused sustainable design and mantra.   Imagine this community hub and the benefits it could have for bringing a local community together. 

What about our current students?

If I switch this slightly to a focus of our current students, some of whom are struggling, or struggle to find work placement in animal related facilities or veterinary clinics. By building relationships within the local community and becoming involved, you will automatically find it easier to secure work placements because someone will know someone, who can help.  Doors will open to more opportunity. If we switch from work placement to the classroom community, most of our students are studying by distance.  This is not the easiest way to study as it is harder to create the classroom community - so it is up to you all to create it - via block courses, Moodle, study groups and so forth.  I see examples of a community building with students already - make sure you are all part of it.  The more involved you are the more engaged you will be and the easier the road will be.

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Take a look at your local, work and /or student community - see where you can be more involved and go for it!  The benefits for you and the community/communities you are part of are there!
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What we eat

A very short post this week, as its a few days late, after I took a trip to Dunedin to attend our 2011 students graduation.  A big congratulations to them all!!

Recently I have been spending more time examining what we eat - the list of ingredients.  Yoghurt has been one that has really taken my attention recently.  I used to think yoghurt was yoghurt, but think again.  Take a look at the long list of ingredients in a common yoghurt brand and you'll soon see what I am on about!  

I have recently taken to buying some less processed, boutique brands - more costly but because they are generally thinner in consistency I actually use a lot less on my breakfast so am buying no more than I would previously have so it reduces my calorie intake too.  The interesting thing is that this more natural yoghurt actually tastes like yoghurt too - the yoghurt I remember as a child. 

The next step of course is to make my own!

Have a look at this link: http://grist.org/food/not-your-grandmas-yogurt/ which talks about this very topic. 
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Not too long ago I read a book by Wendyl Nissen, called "A Home Companion - my year living like my grandma" and it highlighted things like this about the list of ingredients in common foods including what could only really be described as industrial chemicals.  In that book I remember being astounded that Twisties had a shorted ingredient list than I think it was BBQ flavoured chis. 

This weeks challenge:  Next time you go shopping, take the time to read the ingredient lists on some of the food products you buy.  And make choices based on choosing food that has less ingredients, therefore is less processed. Wendyl Nissen suggested choosing foods that had no more than 5 ingredients in their ingredient list. 


PS: I make no judgment at all about the brands pictured here.  I suggest you look at all brands on the shelf at your supermarket and make you own choices. 

The power of consumers

Every week I have so much material I don't know where to start!  I am also conscious of being overwhelming to everyone and instead of inspiring you, having the opposite effect!

The reality is there are so many great things happening and by supporting those things you can make a huge difference, that not only helps the environment but makes you feel great too.

As most of you are consumers, actually I am sure all of you are, it is important to realise the great power you have. It is what you choose to buy or perhaps even more importantly what you choose not not to buy that will help drive change. For example: if you continue to purchase battery produced eggs, there is still a market, so they will continue to battery farm (until government legislation stops it).  However, if you stop now and make a conscious effort to buy free range, the battery egg market will dry up.

Global brands
I found this opinion piece by Joe Bennett in our local newspaper titled "The irresistible allure of the global brand, apotheosis of capitalism".  It's not very long and is well worth a read. I thought it nicely summarised the allure of global brands but clearly showed the folly of it.

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School of Veterinary Nursing Uniforms
Part of the reason I chose consumer power for this weeks blog post, is that we have been quite rightly challenged by a student regarding our sourcing of our uniforms that we require our students to buy. The point raised was - "all this sustainability stuff is all good, but then you go and source uniforms from China". I totally see the students point. In fact the week before I had already brought this up with my Head of School. It is important to remember we are still in the change phase but we are in discussions with how to bring the design and manufacture of the uniforms to a New Zealand home, made with sustainably sourced fabrics. This is a work in progress and will not happen overnight. We would welcome comments from our readers on this subject:

1. What would you expect from a sustainable uniform?

2. How much extra would you be prepared to pay?

3. As sustainably sourced fabrics that are themselves sustainable, they last a lot longer and we would want to ensure that they got used for their full lives and then recycled back into new clothing. Would you support a lease model for clothing where you pay a fee + refundable deposit, so it can be used by future students or do you prefer to keep the item?

4. If you prefer to keep the uniform and use if once your studies are completed - how could we design it so the uniform was something you are more likely to keep wearing.

Any other comments are welcome! 
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Your own wardrobe

And that leads me to our clothing in general. Have a look at your wardrobe - where do you purchase from? What is the supply chain of your clothes - do you know? I know I looked at mine and have decided I am going to now make a conscious effort to make less purchases, but purchase items that will last, so the added cost is mitigated. It should also reduce the space needed in my wardrobe. I have recently read articles about the toxins used in clothes production too or the toxins used in producing the raw materials, e.g. cotton and that sends alarm bells too when you look at the increasing rates of cancer in the modern world. 
 
This link from treehugger listing the details of 10 sustainable designers in New Zealand. it gives a good starting point for thinking about sustainable purchases you can make in New Zealand around your wardrobe.

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A consumer challenge!
This week I issue a challenge for the week to make conscious decisions about your purchasing, not just clothes and eggs, but anything you plan to purchase this week.

1. For everything you go to purchase this week -firstly ask "do I actually need this?"

If the answer is YES

2. Does the product have good credentials in terms of cyclic production? Social and ethical production? Local production? If the answer is no to any of these, is there an alternative that you could choose that does meet these criteria?

Have a great week. I look forward to your comments this week on this subject of consumer power and perhaps the pressure we feel as consumers.  I would also like to hear about the choices you made this week - it will provide inspiration for all of us. 

Kind Regards

Francesca