If you also pledge to do some of these actions you'll go in the Silver rewards draw.
energy actions
- Change your five most used lightbulbs to low energy compact fluorescent bulbs
- Buy local food and products, eg, veggie boxes from local growers, Nelson Farmers Market or the Marlborough Farmers Market
- Choose organic food products where possible as production methods involve a lower energy footprint
- Use a Power Monitor to monitor and reduce your energy use
- Do a home energy audit
- Insulate your hot water cylinder (unless it’s a Grade A)
- Insulate your hot water pipes (especially first 2.5m)
- Use a push mower rather than an electric or petrol one
transport actions
- Have your car regularly serviced
- Cycle, walk or take The Bus in Nelson or The Bus in Blenheim three times per week
- Use your Super Gold Card for off-peak bus travel in Nelson or use your Super Gold Card for bus travel in Blenheim
- Carpool every day to work (there's free parking up for grabs!) or have a search Jayride for trips around your home town and the rest of New Zealand
- Combine all shopping into one weekly car trip
waste actions
- Compost, Bokashi or wormfarm your organic and garden waste (NCC - Compost, Bokashi, Wormfarm or TDC Compost, Bokashi or Wormfarm)
- Get together with your neighbours to chip fresh prunings and branches to make garden mulch
- Use re-usable nappies
- Re-use by buying second-hand gifts and goods
- If using a large wheelie bin – swap for smaller bin or change collections to fortnightly rather
- than weekly
- Don’t print documents unless necessary, or print double-sided
water actions
- Develop strategies to reduce watering in your garden
- Use low maintenance planting and mulch to create a water efficient garden
- Install a rainwater barrel for garden watering
- Install a low flow shower head
- Buy a shower timer to ensure shorter showers
nature actions
- Start a vegetable garden (pdf @ 1.9mb)
- Plant a fruit tree
- Choose native plants and trees for your garden which are eco-sourced from your region and appropriate for your area (for Nelson and for Marlbrorough)
