Today started with an early morning ferry to the very very beautiful Waiheke Island. Once there we began our day planting trees and a hike through a section of the revitalized forest of the island (pic 1). After that, we bused over to Mudbrick, a wine company, to taste some wine and learn about the relationship between the wine business and sustainability (pic 2). After, we took a brief bus tour of the island (pic 3), ending with us running to catch our ferry.
The main thing that stuck with me today was how everyone on the island worked together to be sustainable. The community helps with and respects Waiheke forests, they all try and compost and help one another, and they all seem to keep in mind that the way they live affects the health of the island. This was pleasantly surprising to find out about Mudbrick Winery because they are such a big company but still value being sustainable. The owner was describing how everything they use is used as much as possible (ex: every part of the food/grape used to make the wine is either used for fermentation, composted, or used in another way.) This was also evident within the Waiheke community as there is information everywhere on how to be sustainable such as composting information. Overall, it was a very fun and informative day on Waiheke Island!
