We need 'change makers'

Emma Heke and her son, Connor, spent months travelling New Zealand roads for her Green Roadie documentary. Photo/File

Margaret Mead once said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!"

I've just enjoyed the Future Proof films that launched the Tall Stories Film Fest 2014. My thanks to Helen Marie, the film society and the sponsors.

Who Cares? brought us 18 global stories showing how communities working together can lift themselves from misery to poverty and beyond to a productive future. Examples included Mahammad Yunus and his well-known Grameen micro-banking movement in Bangladesh, a community in Brazil supporting itself with a local currency and a "buy local" policy, and a Belgian Buddhist monk in Tanzania training rats to detect land mines and TB.

Adding a modern perspective to the micro-banking model, we saw a young social entrepreneur, using the internet to link lenders with those needing small loans for self-improvement.

This led into a key point: we need at least 30 per cent of our young people to become "change makers", able to think outside the box and mix their socially responsible attitudes with business models if we are to have successful and positive leaders in the future - a message our education and political leaders need to take on board.

Two other films were high-quality home-made documentaries by travellers investigating and reporting on issues that affect us all.

Mark Pedri cycled through his home state Wisconsin and then travelled around the US, trying to find the "best" energy source, in his film Energy O Energy.

Emma Heke and her young son, Connor, spent seven months travelling New Zealand roads to source her 70 stories for the Green Roadie documentary. This film highlighted a huge range of amazing people in lifestyles and businesses that cater for touristsand local shoppers, providing good food and certified organic products. Paint, pallets and builders' "waste", glass bottles and many more resources were reused, repurposed and recycled by others. In one inventive initiative, even the family pooch contributed product for the gas digester that provided all the power for the family home.

These folk are the real Kiwis who can proudly stand up and talk about making New Zealand truly clean and green. For those with produce, whether selling through a small local outlet, farmer's market, in a supermarket, over the Web or to specific overseas markets, common themes were the value of certified organic and permaculture methodologies.

Human Scale took a different tack, showing us just how disruptive the modern motor car has been to city life. Many modern architects and planners focused on car travel times, more motorways and highways, totally forgetting that it is people and their social interactions that make communities and cities vibrant and interesting. Add the '60s fetish for stark, high-rise tower blocks located away from the city centre and you can see why many city centres stagnated.

Thankfully, we were shown many examples that are now focusing on people and social interactions, reversing the mistakes of the past.

Pedestrian precincts, people squares, sidewalk cafes, cycle and walking routes in Copenhagen, New York, Melbourne, Chinese cities and other centres around the world, demonstrated the way forward with functional, friendly cities which offer a sustainable future for human society.

Let's hope the people of Christchurch win their battle for a new vibrant city !

Graham Pearson is a Sustainable Whanganui Trustee, and the community representative on the Whanganui Resource Recovery Trust.