Flightless Birds

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Comment by Patrick Morgan on November 19, 2009 at 2:28pm

Wellington man Tom Bennion of stopflying.org will be on Bryan Crump's show on National Radio this eve at 7.12.

Comment by Charmaine on November 18, 2009 at 9:02pm

I recently went to New Plymouth for a course and decided to get the bus there and back, it did mean I had to take more time off work. The course was not work related so it was Annual leave, but I really enjoyed getting the bus. it gave me time to chill out and relax, plus i got a chance to catch up on some reading.

In a few weeks time I am getting the train from Auckland to Wellington after i have been in Auckland for a course. I am really looking forward to it. it will be a long day but hopefully enjoyable!

Comment by Chris Watson on November 18, 2009 at 8:39pm

you might be interested in: www.bicyclefilmfestival.com

Comment by Patrick Morgan on November 5, 2009 at 2:37pm

Sacked executive can argue he was discriminated against because of his belief in climate change, judge rules.

There was no control on how many flights people took, he said, so, "given the carbon intensity of flying", he raised his concerns with the company's chief executive, Rupert Dickinson, but never received a direct reply to his email. Eventually he was told by another member of staff that there would be no change to existing policy. In his written statement Mr Nicholson said: "He [Mr Dickinson] showed contempt for the need to cut carbon emissions by flying out a member of the IT staff to Ireland to deliver his BlackBerry that he had left behind in London."

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/tim-nicholson-a-green-martyr-1648388.html

Comment by James M Maddock on November 5, 2009 at 9:02am

I like that idea of a Train Film Festival. My boss Tom Bennion (of stopflying.org fame) is right this moment on a train to Hamilton on a business trip, with his laptop out, doing some work. I'm sure he would be behind the idea as well!

Shall we get another group going to flesh this idea out some more? I reckon it's a goer. :)

~JamesM

Comment by Jinty MacTavish on November 3, 2009 at 6:28pm

Choice, I like it! Another random piece of information from the Overlander employee (I hope I don't get him in trouble!) - there are two ex-Wairarapa line carriages which could easily be used for a budget Overlander option - only barrier to them being used is that they aren't all prettied up with Overlander branding... Perhaps we could talk to Kiwirail about launching a budget Grounded Kiwis service with such an event? I've been trying to get hold of a person at Kiwirail I was recommended to talk to about all this...but no luck as yet (think she must be on leave)

Comment by Nick Potter on November 3, 2009 at 4:46pm

Thanks for the useful info Jinty - great bit of research :)

A random idea for the day: How about a Train Film Festival next year to help bring back the romance of the trains? No, not boring films about trains. I was just thinking more about films that have a train motif. E.g. Darjeeling Limited, Murder on the Orient Express, The Trans-Siberian Express, and lots more like in this list. An ideal opportunity for Kiwirail to sponsor an Intersect-supported event, with lots of associated publicity and conversations about slow travel...?

Comment by Rimu on November 3, 2009 at 1:48pm

optional commentary! thank god! :D

Comment by Jinty MacTavish on November 3, 2009 at 1:38pm

Hey all,

I got talking to a Kiwirail employee on the Overlander a couple of weeks ago. I quizzed him about Kiwirail's plans for the long distance network, and this is what came up...
- New carriages with extra features
Kiwirail is purchasing new carriages for both its South Island and North Island routes. These will feature power plugs by every seat, headphone jacks meaning commentary will become optional and internet access. Current timeframes will see them arrive in the South Island within two years, and in the north within three.
- Recycling / waste
The reason why Kiwirail services in the North Island have such atrocious waste processes is because both Britomart and the Wellington Railway Station have no recycling services in place. This significantly increases the trouble that Kiwirail would have to go to to deal with their waste more responsibly, and it seems like that is a large hurdle for the management team.
- Cheaper fares
When I mentioned I was a regular user of the service, it was suggested I ring the national office team and talk to them about potential frequent user discounts...
Cheers all,
Jinty

Comment by Joshua Vial on November 3, 2009 at 1:27pm

Have spent the last few months trying to find a way to get home for christmas without flying - freighter travel came up with an option that was around $2500 and the dates weren't very good.

In the end I chose to fly ($660) and give $500 to 350 as even if it was zero carbon on the boat it would still be around $3 / kg of carbon saved, which is a pretty shabby deal.

For me the most important thing is being aware of the carbon costs and trying to minimise them - I used to fly to aus 3-4 times a year to visit family so cutting back to one trip a year (~480kg) is the first step. Am looking forward to the time there is some cost effective places on ships.

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