Resources 

One of the great things about sustainability is that there is something for everyone. Whether you're into community led gardening events, litter picks, growing your own food, active travel, or number crunching your household carbon stats, sustainability has touch points with every part of our personal and professional lives.

Food Sovereignty 

• How to run a community garden
• Accessing Food Support 
• Community gardens in the Manawatū 
• Plant your own: Get free seeds and borrow our tools + other gardening resources 
• Food waste management resources 
• Growing Your Own Food
• Inspired to start your own local Crop Swap? Get in touch with Crop Swap NZ or contact us for guidance.
• Edible Garden is a fruit tree specialist  nursery based in Ashhurst.
• Edible Backyard offers consultations and workshops plus lots of great educational information via her blog and montlhly seasonal gardening newsletters. 
• Awapuni nurseries sell a huge variety of edibles and ornamentals wrapped in newspaper and offer excellent gardening advice on their website.
• Kahuterawa Homegrown do regular Facebook posts about what’s happening in the garden with useful tips and tricks. 
• Paranui Organics for locally made soil mixes, mulches and everything you need for the soil/getting started.
• Spoilt Soil A new local permaculture based venture there to help you create and maintain a garden that feeds you and works with the unique ecosystem and set of circumstances that you live in
• Para Kore are zero waste education programme designed specifically for marae, community organisations and schools.  Para Kore regularly post videos on their Facebook page with zero waste ideas in the kitchen.

Climate Action 

• Te Tiriti O Waitangi - Links to information on the history and process of Waitangi Treaty settlement.
• The mission of the Deep South Challenge is to enable New Zealanders to adapt, manage risk, and thrive in a changing climate. 
• Read all things climate change from the Ministry for the Environment, including what the Government is doing, and why climate change matters.
• EECA’s Gen Less website has lots of ideas about to reduce your carbon footprint. There is also advice and tools for businesses.
• With climate change there is a higher possibility of natural disasters, being prepared will help you and your whānau stay safe. For more information visit the Civil Defence's Get Ready website
• The Smarter Homes website has practical advice to make your home warmer, safer and drier.
• PNCC environmental sustainability review
• PNCC climate change and sustainability plan
• Horizons Climate Change pages
• Calculate your carbon footprint using Future Fit
• Environmental data is available through the Horizons website
• Make your money a force for good: Responsible Investment - Mindful Money

Circular Economy

• Where to recycle things with PNCC
• How to reduce your household waste
• Zero waste Living list for the Manwatū
• Zero Waste Manawatū Facebook Group is a group for people in the Manawatū who are on the journey towards Zero Waste or living without single-use plastics and other products destined for landfill.
• Para Kore are zero waste education programme designed specifically for marae, community organisations and schools.  Para Kore regularly post videos on their Facebook page with zero waste ideas in the kitchen, bathroom, workplace and in schools.
• Zero Waste Network Aotearoa represents community enterprises across Aotearoa New Zealand who are working towards zero waste. Their mission is to connect, educate, enable and inspire people to reach their goals and to be a unifying voice at local, regional and central government levels.
• Zero Waste heroes The Rubbish Trip have compiled an excellent Zero Waste shopping guide for the Manawatū/Horowhenua/Rangitikei regions. They also have guides for all other regions of New Zealand.  
• Spinning Greenwash! A report about polyester and microplastic pollution.
• Which brands of clothing are the most ethical? ​​​​
• A circular economy is much more than recycling
• WasteMINZ have their own resource library as well as details of specific projects. 
• How to sharpen your tools and knives 
• Put a cap on plastic: Trisia Farrelly

Biodiversity

• Te Ara Oranga Taiao Project
• Department of Conservation resource all about what you can do at home for nature: Conservation activities: Get involved
• Weedbusters Identifying noxious weeds and how to deal with them properly: Weed List • Weedbusters
• Predator Free NZ Guide to the latest predator control techniques and knowledge: The hands-on guide to predator control: made for community groups and projects - Predator Free NZ Trust
• Horizons Regional Council - Conservation Kids' Activities/Information Resource: Resources - Horizons Regional Council

Community group resources 

• Funding (EIF): The Environmental Initiative Fund grants individuals and organisations funding for their projects. If you're looking for funding in Manawatū, Horowhenua, Tararua, or Palmerston North for sustainability-focused initiatives, this fund may be for you.
• City Council Strategic Priority Grants: Palmerston North City Council's Strategic Priority Grants programme is designed to help the community sector deliver on Council’s vision. Applications take place every three years, the next round being September 2024.
• Governance: Resources to enable positive, constructive governance
• Raising More Funds: A list of tips on raising more funds, kindly written by Kerrie Tilby-Price from Exult (Helping non-profits grow).
• Making Submissions: This page contains links, tips and information for anyone wanting to make a submission to local, regional or national government bodies.
• Collaboration: One of ENM’s fundamental values is working together – great things happen when people are connected. Groups meet and collaborate, and two subnetworks have formed under the ENM umbrella – the Biodiversity Cluster and the Food Action Network. Collaboration with other organizations can boost your project’s chances of success. This page has resources on collaboration, written by our volunteers and member groups.
• Volunteer Health and Safety: The Health and Safety at Work Act came into effect in 2016. This legislation does not have a big impact on all-voluntary organisations, but the human bottom line remains the same: good planning can improve the health and safety of our volunteers. On this page you can find materials developed by ENM and some of its member groups, along with other external organisations. Governance boards and volunteer managers might find these materials helpful in improving their practices.
• Te Tiriti O Waitangi: Links to information on the history and process of Waitangi Treaty settlement.
• Library: ENM's book and tool library
• Submissions Archive: ENM also keeps an online archive of past submissions. You might find these useful for informing how you might approach a current consultation.

Sustainability academic research

Everything we have shared is already available in the public domain.

Increasingly research funders are stipulating that academic research must be freely available online so that it can be read, downloaded and reused by anyone. This is really important as it supports the wider dissemination of knowledge, and increases research visibility and impact. After all, this is the whole point of doing research!

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community, and is committed to ensuring quality content is freely available online for everyone.

DOAJ is committed to keeping its services free of charge, including being indexed, and its data freely available. You can access the website here.

• How does learning about the future of the ocean impact children's emotional wellbeing? This article discusses the importance of making space for children to express difficult emotions about their future in relation to climate change, and, that children don't need to experience pristine natural environments to feel the mental and emotional wellbeing benefits; just being in and connecting with nature helps. The study also highlights the importance of intergenerational, collective problem solving and action to reduce perceived ‘us and them’ tensions between generations, and enable supportive relationships between young people, and adults who wish to work in solidarity with them.

• Representations of Youth Climate Anxiety: A Framing Analysis ofEmotional Responses to the Climate Crisis in International News Media. This article addresses the rise in children feeling distressed, anxious, or angry about the impactsof climate change withi ncreasing frequency since 2019. Climate change has recently been identified as one underlying mega-trend affecting the deteriorating mental health of young people over the past two decades, as has socioeconomic injustice, especially between high and low-and middle-income countries. It is important that we build empathy with children and young people as our descendants so that intergenerational positive collective action and experiences can take place.

• Introducing ‘Ngaruroro’, a New Model for Understanding Māori Wellbeing. This article discusses how Indigenous peoples around the world are revitalising their ancestral beliefs, practices, and languages, including traditional understandings of health and wellbeing as an alternative approach to those established by  Western European colonial practices. The paper introduces a new model of Māori wellbeing, Ngaruroro, which adds to the growing number and variety of wellbeing models for Māori. The eight themes and forty-one items offer fresh, unique, and detailed insights as to what is important to the wellbeing of Māori people today and identify a variety of potential sources of wellbeing.

• Textile recycling - positive change or toxic truth? The fashion and textile industry is highly polluting and has been criticized for a lack of end-of-life solutions that divert unwanted garments from ending up in landfills or, worse, in natural habitats. This study examines the impact of textile recycling processes which use various chemicals, some of which can pose a significant environmental and health risk. 

• Community is climate resilience: lessons from Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland anniversary floods. Produced by Environment Hubs Aotearoa, this report demonstrates that communities have the commitment and capability to deliver highly effective disaster responses, but that they urgently need to be empowered, trusted and resourced to do so. Building a future fit for a changing climate requires moving beyond consultation toward true partnership, and recognising that community is not just part of resilience - it is resilience.

• Climate Equality: A planet for the 99%. Produced by Oxfam international, this report explains how the twin crises of climate breakdown and runaway inequality are felt most by women and girls, Indigenous Peoples, people living in poverty, those experiencing marginalization, and countries in the Global South. While the consequences of climate breakdown are felt in all parts of the world, only the richest people and countries as the largest contributors to climate change have the wealth, power and influence to protect themselves.