Today we met with Sustainability Trust New Zealand. They are a social enterprise that supports sustainable living. They work with Wellington City and surrounding areas to educate people on sustainability, circular economy, and how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. They also serve the communities through services that aid families in becoming more circular. For example, they help families’ houses stay warm by providing heating services like fixing heaters and they also help families get close to brand new curtains (made from used or unwanted curtains) that help in the looks of the house but also with heating as well.
I really enjoyed meeting with this company today. The one thing that stuck out to me was their education section. They care greatly about working with the community and children to make sure they understand what being sustainable is. They host workshops and community events that are centered around being sustainable. For example, they have workshops teaching people how to properly compost and they also host workshops where people can come in and have a specialist repair their things such as holes in pants, and broken bikes, and they even have specialists such as welders who come in to fix things that need to be welded. My favorite thing I learned about today was their program called Wilderkids. This program takes children out into nature to learn about the planet they live on. The slide presenting this had the quote “No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.” I enjoy this quote because it captures what I believe the most important part of sustainability is (education) and I am happy to see how education is rooted in the Sustainability Trust values as well.
