NZ: Local food advocates seek Aoraki links

Building a more sustainable world is the aim of a new partnership in Timaru.

A farmers’ market and garden-sharing scheme are visions of Transition Timaru, which has approached Aoraki Polytechnic to provide appropriate courses.

Transition Timaru is a new society trying to build resilience to the effects of climate change and the peak oil crisis by reducing carbon emissions and creating self-sufficient communities in South Canterbury.
Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline.

Bob Calkin, a member of the Transition Timaru steering committee, said that in a few years, peak oil will make the global market less viable as the cost of fuel rises, and business, as usual, will not be possible. The group seeks a return to more localised food production.

Stuff