Daniel Kereopa is one of several sporting ambassadors for Project Litefoot. Photo / Sarah Ivey
Surfer Daniel Kereopa reckons there are a few things he could probably improve on to lighten his carbon footprint: "Things like wearing my clothes more than once rather than just chucking them straight in the wash after one wear is one.
"Mind you, I always take my rubbish
to the tip rather than have the guys come to our house to collect it, so that probably evens things out a bit."
Known in the surfing fraternity as DK, the Raglan native is among a handful of high-profile sportspeople - including golfer Michael Campbell, the Evers-Swindell twins, cricketer Brendon McCullum and Olympic boardsailer Barbara Kendall - whose environmental impact will be under scrutiny over the next five months as ambassadors for Project Litefoot.
The initiative, under which Kereopa will receive eco-mentoring from the carboNZero experts at Landcare Research, is aimed at improving Kiwis' green discipline and encourages people to live more environmentally conscious lifestyles.
But for Kereopa, whose childhood days were spent on a farm in Te Akau, this shouldn't be too hard.
"We lived a real basic life there. We went to the beach and dived for kina and paua and we lived in a garage with no power for about four years. I sort of got used to it and have not really changed much. I've always managed to live simply."
He says the best changes people can make in their daily lives to reduce their carbon footprints are "the small things you don't really think about".
"Instead of driving to the shop, why not just jump on a bike and ride there?
"Or instead of dropping your kids off at school, why not walk them there if you have the time - these are things we all used to take for granted.
"So it'd be nice to get to the stage where people think that way about the effect they're personally having on the environment."
* www.projectlitefoot.org
