Welcome to the School of Veterinary Nursing FutureFocusVet blog for 2015

Welcome and welcome back to all our students for 2015

By now you should all have had your your introduction to sustainability session 

The purpose of this session was to introduce to you the reasons why we believe we all need to think differently moving forward and that we can all make small changes, the sum total of which will be big changes.  

Throughout the year we will bring sustainable practice into each aspect of the programme and practice thinking with a different mind set.  As students of Otago Polytechnic we are aiming to help you graduate with a future focussed mind set, which will set you up well to achieve in the future. 

If you missed the introductory session, or just want to review it - here is the link.  It has links to some great video resources which for the most part we didn't get time to play at the session and some further reading.

Feel free to post on this blog, on the Moodle forums or just email or call me to discuss anything you want regarding this subject. If you would like to contribute a blog post about your experiences, we would love that too!

Homemade cleaners

Relating to a discussion I had with a group of students in Christchurch around making changes at home, this week I thought I'd link you to a webpage that shows you how to make a number of homemade cleaners.  The link is missing window cleaner, so here is an other that has an effective window cleaner: This is something really easy that you can do at home - save money, save your hands and lungs and have a lighter footprint on the environment, using these simple recipes.   

I look forward to working with you throughout the year on this subject.

Have a great week
Francesca

The (anti)-Shopping List

This week, and my final post for 2014, a simple challenge and only a few words from me as the image speaks for itself. Whether your motivation is saving pennies, protecting the environment, reducing clutter or all of the above, this is the list for you!

Image source

Have a great week and summer break.  If you are not studying with us next year, keep in contact with us and this blog by signing up to our Facebook page or the FutureFocusVet page.

Say no to plastic

Welcome back to term 4.  You are on the home straight now - keep up the great work.  We hope these weekly blogs have provide a welcome distraction from the study grind and given you some good food for thought.  Remember, above all "do good".

Do you ever think about plastic and waste plastic and its impact on the environment?   Here is a recent  journal article that highlights the effects of waste plastic on bird life in the Otago region.

These effects are not isolated to birds.  Waste plastic is also found in the sea, rivers and also in our native bush, not to mention the paddocks that grow our farm animals and produce our milk.  Plastic debris kills animals by strangulation or acting as a tourniquet on the outside and on the inside causing gut blockages.  There is also the problem associated with ingestion of the toxic components and the risks affecting us as they enter the food chain, when we eat the animal that has ingested plastic debris.

Image source - Just one of the many images available if you Google plastic strangling animals.  The images are horrendous.  

So what actions can you take:

1. Pick up any plastic you find in the environment - even if you didn't drop it and dispose of it correctly
2. Make conscious choices about what you purchase.  

Here are some easy changes that you can make

• Stop buying glad wrap - fullstop.  You can use plates to cover plates or use long lasting reusable containers with lids.
• Stop buying bottled water - in NZ there is never a reason to do this. 
• Bake your own bread - you know what’s in it then and no plastic bags; purchase from a bakery that uses paper.  Dispose of the paper bags in the recycling or compost.  
• Buy as many products in compostable packaging as possible.  If an alternative is not available - ask yourself, do I need this product? and if the answer is no, don't buy it.  If the answer is yes, challenge the company to produce better packaging. 
• Take reusable containers to the butcher and reusable cotton bags to the supermarket and fruit and vegetable shop to put your purchases in.  
• Tell people what you are doing and challenge them to follow the trend for "doing good". 

Challenge: 

Look in your rubbish bin (both recycling and general waste and make a list of all the plastic products in there).  Identify which ones you can stop buying then and there, which ones you can purchase an alternative for and which ones need you to challenge the company/ies to do better.  For the latter category, when contact them regarding this - tell your friends on Facebook or other social media sites and ask them to send a similar message.  

Together little by little we can make a big difference! 

Have a great week

Ecotherapy

Thank you to my colleague Jane who provided the inspiration for today's post which is about Ecotherapy.  

Ecotherapy is about creating connections with nature to help make you feel better. The concept is a newly emerging therapy for people in Western cultures who are depressed or suffering from other mental illness.  Spending time in nature is invigorating and good for well being and even if you are not clinically depressed, there is evidence to suggest that it can be an effective part of a treatment regime.

If we are connected with nature and understand how we and planet earth is interconnected with the greater universe, then we potentially have greater personal sustainability and also a greater understanding of why we must maintain natural systems.

Image source: Wikimedia

There is a very good discussion on the SustainableMan website which clearly explains the current disconnect we have with nature.  For those of you that still don't recognise it, this is probably the first thing to overcome when starting to get your head around the change required to feel connected with our environment.  A connection with nature will help cement the idea of strong sustainability.

Ecotherapy in your life could be just getting out and gardening or going for a walk in a natural environment, it also could include getting involved with other people in outdoor community projects like community gardens, beach clean ups, tree planting or volunteering for DOC.  Contact your local residents association or local or regional council to help you connect with these groups.

To listen to a BBC podcast on Ecotherapy click here.

Don't forget to tell us what each blog post inspires you to do!

Have a great week.

Picking the low hanging fruit

Any thoughts on last weeks post about the dog biscuits and seeds innovation?  We would really like to hear your thoughts.  Here is the link again.  Please read it and share your thoughts.  There are no right or wrong answers and you don't have to be one of our students to post, so for the other people out there following this, we'd love your thoughts!

Image source

What can you do right now - at work or at home for little or no cost?

This week we look at things you could do right now.  This list will not be complete.  We'd love you all to suggest at least one more thing to add to the list.  Lets inspire everyone to make simple changes.

• Block drafts - use draft stoppers (you can make these out of scrap material filled with sand for example, or the leg of an old pair of trousers, again filled with sand or maybe even other scrap fabric and seal doors and windows with that spongy tape.
• Turn the lights off when not in use
• Turn off your computers at night
• Change your light bulbs to more energy efficient ones
• Stop using the clothes dryer - hang wet towels/bedding and clothing on the line
• Stop printing receipts, and don't offer your clients an option - email them and tell them why
• Recycle all cardboard and paper - see if your wholesaler if you are working at a veterinary clinic will take back old boxes to be used for future orders.  
• Install curtains or blinds over windows for more insulation 
• Stop driving places that are closer than 2km from your home or work.  Walk or Bike!
• Try taking the bus some days instead of driving
• Have a competition with your family and friends or other businesses and see who can reduce their energy usage by the greatest percentage each month.  Do the same with fuel use too.  
• Plant a few lettuces in your garden.  You don't have to be green fingered to grow a few veges!

What other little things can you think of that can be done for little or no cost?

What changes have you been inspired to make this year?  

We look forward to hearing from you!

Have a great week.

Is this innovation really sustainable or is it greenwash?

Image source

You have all been reading this blog for three and a half terms now, so its time that it got interactive!

Have a look at this video

This video is about a dog food company in Slovenia that has added live seeds to dog biscuits so where the dog does his business, a seed can grow.  

They suggest picking up dog faeces in public areas, but that in an area that has not been designed for public use (eg an old industrial site)  maybe you don't need to and that by using their biscuits you can beautify this landscape.

Is this marketing hype and greenwash, or a really good idea? What do you think?

Consider:

• The idea of not picking up dog faeces - do we want dog faeces lying around even in less used areas?
• Think about the microorganisms in dog faeces and land/water contamination if faeces aren't picked up
• The types of seeds used - what might be good choices given they are growing out of dog faeces? if the biscuits were imported or the seeds imported is there a biosecurity risk?  In NZ, would native seeds be better - will they grow out of dog poo?  
• Could the picked-up faeces be safely put in the garden elsewhere and the seeds allowed to germinate?
• Is dog faeces good compost - like we know sheep, horse, cow and chicken faeces are?

We look forward to your ideas.  Comment directly on the blog or in Moodle and we will summarise them (no names will be used) 

Paper Towels

This week Otago Polytechnic have launched a joint initiative with the Dunedin City Council to compost paper towels.  The trial will be re-evaluated after 3 months.  Paper towels can't be recycled with standard paper recycling as they are wet and also they are a different quality paper (often already recycled).   This is an exciting initiative for the polytechnic.  Remember if you are on campus to reserve the paper towel bins for only papers towels.  Any other rubbish contamination would jeopardise the initiative.  

Image source

And the relevance to this blog audience, who are primarily off-campus?

Whether you are based on-campus or off-campus, as most of you are, this is a great initiative and it could be timely to look into for your paper towel disposal methods at your own workplace.  In veterinary clinics hand washing and drying, as well as table wiping, is far more frequent  due to the nature of the work.  This can generate significant amounts of rubbish if paper towels are used.

With the launch of the Otago Polytechnic initiative the challenge for you and/or your workplace, whether it be a veterinary clinic or another work place, is to  encourage you to undertake an evaluation of the method of hand drying and look for improvements and efficiency's.  

For hand drying:

• What do you use to dry your hands?
• What is most effective?  Remember completely dry hands is the aim.  
• Maybe you share a hand towel - is this suitable?  Are there any health and safety considerations?  The considerations may depend on the particular workplace.
• In a small workplace everyone might have an individual towel - does this work?  Could it work for your workplace?  Who washes the towels?  When are they washed?  What are they washed with? Is it a full load?  How are they dried?
• Perhaps you use one of those towel dispensers that rolls up the used towel.  As I understand it these are less and less available as an option and I imagine they were pretty energy intensive in terms of collecting them, dismantling, washing and putting back together.  
• Perhaps you use hand dryers.  How effective and efficient are these?  Could they be replaced with a more efficient type that actually dries your hands?
• Paper towels. Are they bleached or unbleached?  Where are they sourced from?  How many are used? How are they disposed of? Can they be composted in your area?  
• If you use paper towels, how can we effectively reduce the number used?  You need 2 or 3 to dry your hands effectively right? Have a look at this TEDtalk which begs to differ. 
• Evaluate the financial cost of each option - is the option also cost efficient?.   

For table wiping:

• What do you use?
• If its paper - is it bleached or unbleached?  Where are they sourced from?  How many are used? How are they disposed of? Could they be composted with the disinfectant you choose to use?
• Could something reusable like a CHUX cloth be used and then washed?  
• What is the energy and time cost of washing and reusing vs paper towels?  What is the financial cost differential?  Is there any risk of residual contamination on a reused cloth?
• Does the disinfectant used have any environmental risks which preclude washing a cloth? 
• If the disinfectant used does have environmental risks, refer to this blog post.  

By using these questions as a starting point you can start reviewing the cost of what you use currently vs other options  both financially, environmentally and also in terms of health and safety and time efficiency.

The best option is likely to vary between workplace and region.  The key is to work out the best option for the specific situation considering all these factors: cost, safety, environment, source of the initial product, size of waste stream.  I am sure you can think of more.  

We look forward to hearing your thoughts.  If anyone wants to share an evaluation they have completed on this or another area of their workplace (doesn't need to be a veterinary clinic) we would appreciate the opportunity to showcase (and credit) your work/story.