NOW AND THEN ASSESSMENT

ENGLISH: Assessment Now and Then

When I think about it, our new house is standing out amongst the crowd, looking like a painting not finished. The dust and gravel that lies between the concrete slabs, blows around in the wind, getting into the cracks of the earth. A small gust of breeze makes the leaves dance and the hairs on my arms prick up. I feel the goosebumps running along my bare legs that walk the brown multi-colored ground. I hear the loud chain saws and hammers that the builders are using, as houses are built up all around me. They are being crafted and created into more pieces of art that are scattered all amid the once piece of dry land that I now live in. Mountains stand like looming giants that are dusted with icing sugar looking at their prey, they stand tall behind the houses in the distance. They appear like cardboard cut outs that have been put up on the outsides of the windows.

 

As I enter the new place I call home, the sweet scent of ambrosial pungence enters my nostrils and I can smell a substance being crafted in the oven as my mother prepares a dish for an evening dessert. She waltzes around the place she calls her kingdom the kitchen and I stand helplessly looking for the fragrance that intrigues me and I’m reminded back to my childhood.

 

My squabbling siblings and I would fight over the last spoonful of dessert that was a family favourite. I can remember the homemade sweet taste of the ice blocks we were given as treats if we behaved. We would argue over the swing that was bound to the once old trees that stood side by side like columns reaching into the sky. I can remember the smell of the sweet fragrance perfume the old lady wore as she sat on the blue armchair in the corner. With the sun on her back and the dollop of grey sleeping on her lap peering away. She wore the perfect lining of the tangerine lipstick she had put on in the morning which made me remember the quiet, wise and polite lady with the fragile sticker stuck to her chest, which was once my nana. I’m taken to the time we had a trampoline placed in the front yard and I’m drawn back to the days of practising back flips and cartwheels that my bones are now to old and useless to do anymore.

 

I’m reminded of the park bench where I would stand and throw the yellow almost damaged ball up and across the large sheet of green paper that appears like it’s been scrunched up and pressed out  again. A small creature of an animal that looks like a caramel sweet, sprints across the shamrock  paper. An animal known to me as our family pet races across looking, searching for the small object it is fascinated about, Like a small child with a toy. I remember sometimes I would lie on the crumpled sheet of the shamrock paper and look up into the multiple shaped clouds. I could see the giant looming mountain that stretched along, beyond the rough land in the corner of my eye that I longed and hoped someday I would climb but never got the chance.

 

A monstrous kingdom of a house that was once a time our home made of wood and an orange outer coat of thick lining felt rough on my skin. I would walk with my hand scaling the wall of my dad’s handy work of art.  The house that stood out among the rest like a monster looking for its prey amazed me in my childhood eyes, the house that stood so clearly out in the crowd. The memories and adventures of the monstrous kingdom that once was my home, now a distant memory.   

 

BY: Portia Vuleta

SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS ESSAY

 

INTRODUCTION:

“They overcame the impossible… by doing the unthinkable” It is evident in the texts “Touching The Void” written by Joe Simpson, “Alive” directed by Frank Marshall, “Rabbit Proof Fence” directed by Phillip Noyce and “Boy Soldier” written by Cola Bilkuei all show some sort of survival technique. In the texts “Rabbit Proof Fence” and  “Touching The Void” there is also the use of the inner conscience and emotional aspects as well as other survival techniques that help these key characters ultimate survival. All of these texts present to us the story of one’s survival and what they had to go through to insure their survival.

 

TEXT 1:

“If you succeed with one dream, you come back to square one and it’s not long before you’re conjuring up another, slightly harder, more ambitious – a bit more dangerous” -Joe Simpson.

The nature of survival was shown in the text ‘Touching the Void’ written by Joe Simpson, Joe and Simon show the aspect of survival in the peruvian Andes, siula grande throughout the text which is presented through joe thinking about other people’s survival to sacrifice his own… This was shown when he is faced with a physical injury that could be fatal and not only predestine to his fate but the fate of his partner simon yates. The text states “The sudden jerk turned me outwards and instantly i was falling”  “it wasn’t just broken, it was ruptured, twisted, crushed, and i could see the kink in the joint and knew what had happened. The impact had driven my lower leg up through the knee joint.” because of joe’s injury he knew it was going to be impossible to get down the mountain as he was above 19,000 feet and knew he was likely going to die as the next text states “dying had seemed so far away, yet now everything was tinged with it” i think this means everything joe could do and couldn’t he could die! This proves joe knew there was a huge possibility for his death but  was always thinking of simon  as he didn’t want simon to die with him and knew simon would have to leave him. “Simone would not be able to get me up it. He would leave me. He had no choice.” “either he would die in his seat or be pulled from it by the constant strain of my body.” “he would be colder than me.”  “ i hope simon doesn’t die, that’s hard… he shouldn’t have to die for me.” simon also knew joe was not going to make it down the mountain but knew he would  either make it down by himself or die trying to help joe “You’re dead…no two ways about it!” “i accepted without question that i could get off the mountain alone.” this shows that simon was afraid that if he helped joe he would die, he didn’t think of joe first and didn’t think of ways he might help joe but thought of himself.  Yet… Joe was willing to sacrifice himself for the sole purpose of making sure simon would be able to get down the mountain safely, joe was always thinking of simon when he was hanging over the cliff  he was not fearing for his life but for his partner simon this shows that joe was kind hearted, loving and caring.  

 

In the film “Touching the Void” by Joe Simpson, Joe shows us that an aspect he use to ensure his survival on the mountain was the use of his inner conscience or the “voice.” A first aspect of survival that was shown was when simon was put into a position where he was forced to make a quick decision about his own survival or risk the survival of other person like his partner simon, the position came when simon yates had to make a quick discussion about ending joe’s life by cutting the rope as joe was on the other end hanging over a crevasse. This scenario came when simon lowered joe over a cliff due to joe’s injury. Simon knew he would not be able to hold joe’s weight much longer. This is shown in the lines where simon describes the situation “ i couldn’t hold the weight much longer”… simon was forced into rational decision making and shows this in the lines “ the knife. The thought came out of nowhere. Of course the knife. Be quick, come on get it.”  Once the rope has been cut joe falls into a crevasse. He lowers himself deeper into the crevasse, and finds a small hole of light to escape. As joe attempts to descend the mountain siula grande, the “voice” in joe’s head takes over. The “voice” instructs joe to make time and distance goals to make his descent down the mountain faster and easier this is shown when the “voice” in Joe’s head instructs “the voice, and the watch, urged be into motion… i kept moving… the voice told me to reach that point in half an hour. I obeyed.” this shows that this “voice” in his head gave him determination and strength to kept going. This shows the reader that setting goals is a helpful aspect of survival, not only through survival but in life too.

 

TEXT 2:

“They overcame the impossible by doing the unthinkable”

The nature of survival was shown in the text “Alive” directed by Frank Marshall, Alive is a 1993 American biographical survival drama film based upon piers paul reads 1974 book Alive: which details the story of a Uruguayan rugby team who were involved in the crash of Uruguayan air force flight 571 which crashed into the Andes mountains on Friday, October 13, 1972. The amazing, true story of a Uruguayan rugby team’s plane that crashed into the middle of the andes mountains, and their immense will to survive and pull through alive, forced to do anything and everything they could to stay alive on meager rations and through the freezing cold. Three characters who have enough screen time, dialogue, and interaction to achieve depth: Nando Parrado (Ethan Hawke), Antonio Balbi (Vincent Spano), and Roberto Canessa (Josh Hamilton)  it is primarily around these three that the story centers and shows their survival throughout the film and there will to survive. Their survival is shown through the will to live demands sacrifice. The film begins and ends with a close-up of an uncredited John Malkovich, who, playing one of the survivors, reflects back on the ordeal and how it has affected his life since then. Malkovich, although only on-screen briefly, effectively sets the stage for what is to come. The plane crash sequence, perfectly led up to and implemented, is hair-raising, perhaps the most terrifying crash ever shown in a movie  The tension of the moment is heightened, rather than declined, by the knowledge of what is to come. As the plane begins to rise and drop through air pockets, we’re put on the edge of our seats, dreading the inevitable. ILM, responsible for making the crash real, has created a memorable spectacle. The sight of seats, with people still in them, tumbling through a gaping hole in the back of the cabin is unforgettable. I believe the director is trying to show the horror and terrify events that took place and make us picture as though we are there which makes us feel filled with the emotional impact of the overwhelming events. The unpleasant subject of cannibalism is dealt with in alive. Because it was such an important factor to the survival of the sixteen. The film confronts the issue head-on, but deals with it sensitively rather than sensationalistically {subject matter, language, or style producing or designed to produce startling or thrilling impressions} There are no gruesome close-ups of half-eaten bodies. The characters react with genuine horror at what they have to do. The most graphic scene occurs past the midpoint of the film, in a wide shot of the crash/camp site, where several stripped skeletons can be seen half-covered by snow. Alive is an adventure story that grapples with themes more intense than most movies of the genre. The moral implications of eating the body of a dead friend or relative are not overlooked, nor is the spiritual cost of such a decision. The will to live demands sacrifices, none of which come cheaply. Religion and the existence of God are themes that Alive constantly returns to. The film alive Shows the emotional aspect of survival, this is shown when “Alive” stresses this metaphysical level in scenes such as one where a survivor, stranded without hope in the middle of a vast expanse of frigid ice and rock, exults that he has never felt closer to God. This is the same sort of euphoria that mountain climbers report after their harrowing climbs, and it may be absolutely true, or a case of rapture of the heights, or a little of both. They survived the impossible…by doing the unthinking. This shows the viewer that they were ordinary young men driven to the very limits of human endurance and the triumph of the human spirit.

 

COMPARISON 1:

The film alive directed by Frank Marshall is a true event of survival in the andes and overcoming the impossible by doing the unthinkable which i believe relates to the film Touching the void written by joe simpson , also a true event of survival in the peruvian Andes, siula grande. i think these two texts relate to one another as both have strong and thrilling experiences of survival in the mountains as Alive is centred in the Andes mountains while touching the void is centred in the peruvian Andes. Both share the aspects of the will to live demands sacrifice which is shown in the film alive by cannibalism and simon yates in the film touching the void by sacrificing the life of his partner to safe his own life.  They also compare to each other through the emotional survival which both texts present throughout the film such as in the text Alive survivors looked to god for help and thought they were then closest to god, also the emotional struggle the survivors went through of losing loved ones and friends. Touching the void shows the emotional survival though the emotional strength simon went through of believing he had killed his partner joe and joes emotional survival of believing he was going to die and then his emotional mindset of saving his friend and partner simon yates.

 

TEXT 3:

The nature of survival was shown in the text “Rabbit Proof Fence” directed by Phillip Noyce, shows the nature of survival through the eyes of 3 young girls. The rabbit proof fence is a film based upon the story of three australian aboriginal girls- molly craig, gracie fields and daisy karnpill craig and their dramatic escape and walk home from the moore river native settlement in the year 1931 it takes you through their journey of survival through the stolen generation. Molly the main characters shows her survival through leadership and having a positive mind set. Molly shows her leadership through the film technique of a tracking shot of the abduction scene which shows molly running ahead of the others which shows that molly is a leader – leading the others, she is strong and more powerful. Mollys leadership is also shown by a long shot of molly, the eldest of the three girls , organising to escape from moore river with her sister daisy and cousin gracie. Molly was very intelligent in this aspect of the film as she had planned to escape knowing it was going to rain which would cover their tarks and left in the morning knowing they would have the whole day to run from the tracker moodoo as the roll would not be called till evening. Molly also shows her leadership through the dialogue “come on daisy let’s go”  Which shows molly taking leadership through being an older sibling and instructing daisy that it’s time to leave and return home.  Molly always had a positive attitude and was always using her positive mindset to help her sister daisy and cousin gracie to keep going to reach their goal of getting back home to jigalong. positivity is shown through Molly’s dialogue “find that rabbit fence, we go home”  “ that tracker not gonna get us.” when daisy stops and says “no fence” molly takes her hand and stays positive saying “the fence will come back”  Molly is also shown keeping the girls walking with a game “i see an emu… i see a big kangaroo” molly shares her positivity and leadership when her younger sister daisy can no longer walk: “my legs, molly, they hurt, i can’t walk.” molly is shown in a medium shot picking up daisy and carrying her. Molly tries to keep the girls going: “don’t listen to him. He’s a liar.” and molly tries to persuade gracie: “if they see us, they’ll catch us… we’re nearly there.” and finally after hours of walking  and losing gracie she is able to say: “home.”  This show’s the viewer that having a positive mind set, knowing your surroundings, and being a leader can help you and others through survival whether it be mental or emotional survival to physical or social.

 

TEXT 4:

Boy soldier written by cola bilkuei is based on a true journey of his life as a child soldier. In 1987, cola bilkuei, a young boy from the dinka tribe in the southern sudan, was forcibly recruited into the sudan people’s liberation army. For three months, he and hundreds of other children from his tribe were marched from southern sudan to a military training camp inside Ethiopia. Once they arrived, exhausted and terrified, SPLA officers taught them how to handle a rifle, how to fight and how to kill. But cola knew there was a better life somewhere and he was determined to find it. Two years later, he escaped from the camp. Without money, a passport or official papers of any kind, he began a journey across the world that ended fourteen years later when he arrived in australia as a refugee. It is a story of cola’s extraordinary journey of survival. Cola shows his survival continuously throughout the text in the aspect of mental and emotional survival through positive thinking,  difficult decision making, and stepping up as a man. This is presented when cola is about to be taken to join the SPLA and has to step up, be a man and be responsible for himself. This is shown when the text states “always do as you are told, keep your eyes open and remember that all decisions are now in your hands, you are responsible for yourself.” “the realisation that the next day i would be leaving my childhood behind me for a life in the army” “their voices lifting me out of my childhood and into my adulthood.” “ here there are no children. Put your childish ways behind you, you are men, you are army men, you are soldiers” This shows that even though cola is a young boy he must step up and be a man if he wants to live through the army and he must treat himself as if he is a man as he will be forced to do things that are unthinkable.“ i had experienced what men twice or three times my age should not have had to endure, i felt like an old man. Worn down by the life that had been handed to me.” I think the army tries to implement being a man on the boys as they are going to be entering the life of a man not a child,  they are easier to intimidate, they do as they are told. They are also less likely than adults to run away and  don’t want army men acting like children.  Cola shows the aspect of mental survival through thinking positive and knowing what is right. Cola showed this through dialogue “instantly i knew, no matter what had been said to us before, no matter how many good things we’d been told, that this was not right, there was better life out there, somewhere” He also shows thinking positive and decision making through focusing on getting an education this is shown through dialogue “now, education was everything to me, i thought back to our family life, and how i had never been to school, and how education was held in low regard. In my mind, i seemed that all of our problems- as a family, as a tribe, as a people resulted from not being educated”  this showed that cola and others should get an education so the world can be a better place! It also showed that he valued his life and wanted to make the most of it, he wanted to get an education, be a refugee, so he could travel to a new country and make a better life for himself he thought if he got an education this would be more possible! This can relate to the reader as education is all around us, if you use it, you can go anywhere you wanna be.

 

COMPARISON 2:

The film Rabbit proof fence directed by Phillip Noyce is a survival story of three young aboriginal girls survival through the australian outback and through the stolen generation, which i believe relates to the text Boy Soldier written by cola bilkuei based on a true journey of his life as a child soldier. I believe these two texts relate to each other as both texts and characters Molly, Gracie and Daisy from Rabbit proof fence and cola from Boy Soldier both are taken from their peaceful homes in the outback- Jigalong in rabbit proof fence and southern sudan in boy soldier and taken to become people there aren’t.  They also compare to each other as cola is on a journey to find freedom while molly, daisy and gracie are on a journey to find home. Along their journey both texts experiance good and bad advice from strangers that help but also define their journey in a negative way to gracie being captured and taken back in the rabbit proof fence and cola being arrested and taken to prison in boy soldier. In both texts staying positive helped their survival in different ways to cola always thinking about the better things in life to education and getting a better life and molly always staying in perspective and having a positive mindset to help her sister daisy and cousin gracie as well as herself reach there destination of “home”

 

CONCLUSION:

“ survival can be summed up in three words, never give up. That’s the heart of it really. Just keep trying.”-Bear Grylls.

It is evident in the four texts “Touching The Void” “Alive” “Rabbit Proof Fence” and “Boy Soldier” where key characters show how they ensured their survival when faced with life threatening situations, whether it was mental, emotional, physical or social aspect.  The authors Joe Simpson, Cola Bilkuei and directors Frank Marshall and Phillip Noyce show us through these texts the circumstances that people go through to ensure one’s or other’s survival. Each text that has been analised in this essay describes the effects to each discussion in a situation one makes for survival. From this the reader\viewer learns that to survive the will to live demands sacrifices, thinking about other people’s survival to sacrifice your own, through leadership and having a positive mind set and difficult decision making. One’s survival is often determined by their determination to survive and their mental strength that allows them to do so.

SPEECH

They say we are the clean and green country but are we really? From poverty and environmental destruction, to war and economic crises, many of the big problems we face as a planet are rooted in natural resources. While monopolists instigate wars over oil, diamonds, and other precious minerals in poor countries, the real estate sector profiteers from property bubbles land and water in rich countries. People are dieing because our world isn’t surviving

Urban land is the most precious natural resource of all, for it determines how well we use all other natural resources. The more space that is wasted in cities, the more people must sprawl to outlying areas, causing a slew of environmental problems. Therefore, saving the environment, and using resources efficiently means using land and water efficiently, first and foremost

In towns and cities we are surrounded by buildings, roads and footpaths. Rainwater cannot soak through these hard surfaces and instead runs into gutters, picking up pollutants as it travels. It then flows into the stormwater network, which carries the water straight to our streams, rivers and lakes. Unlike wastewater, stormwater doesn’t get treated, so whatever goes into the drain will end up in the nearest stream or river. Stormwater pollution reduces water quality, destroys habitats and kills plants and animals. Our water is becoming polluted more and more each day  “Our clean green image has worked as a marketing promise in the past, but if we don’t do more to actively live up to it, in 50 to 100 years’ time, there won’t be anything to market. Many lakes and rivers were deemed high contamination levels  meaning they were not suitable for swimming at any time. But the government has a new target of having 90 percent of the country’s waterways swimmable by 2040, Prime Minister Bill English says, but critics say it does not go far enough. Environment Minister Nick Smith said the cost of the proposal to the government, farmers and councils was estimated to be $2 billion over the next 23 years with that money it could go to people in need like the sick, homeless , new schools, new areas for housing, and much more. But the target is based on meeting the swimmable water quality standard at least 80 percent of the time, in line with European and US definitions.”It will make us a world leader in water quality standards for swimming, and that’s important for New Zealand’s growing tourism industry. It will return our rivers and lakes to a standard not seen in 50 years while recognising that our frequent major rainfalls mean a 100 percent standard is not realistic. Another major Government report found water quality was worst in agricultural and urban areas where there was reduced water clarity and aquatic insect life, and higher levels of nutrients and harmful E.coli bacteria. In Auckland, 54 per cent of the 100 or so streams and rivers it monitors are in a poor or degraded state which is just over half – and summer monitoring data showed dozens of other regularly-checked sites elsewhere weren’t safe.”We shouldn’t have a situation where our waters are not-swimmable or the water can’t be drunk by livestock or animals. This is not right. The government has been slow in making changes that stop the progression of these rivers deteriorating.” the policy was an improvement but did not go far enough in putting the environment first. that is our current position and we need transformational change.” Mr English said cleaning up freshwater was a complex issue, but hugely important to New Zealand’s economy, and the government was taking a balanced approach. Freshwater ecologist Mike Joy told RNZ News there had been a “subtle shifting of the goalposts” for water quality, which could allow more faecal matter in river and lake water now deemed swimmable. He said there was now a one in 20 chance of getting waters swimable in an river rated “excellent” by the Ministry of the Environment. “By saying that a river with a grade of ‘excellent’ can be so polluted that one person in 20 gets sick from a waterborne disease, Bill English is deceiving our kids and grandkids, who are missing out on clean rivers. “Bill English can dress up these changes as conceding to New Zealanders’ demands for clean water, but he’s just shifted the goalposts.”

This is only a couple photographs of the water population in the philippines children our age, older, and younger live like this everyday, imagine living in this type of condition where you can’t drink the water thats surrounds you, can’t wash in it cause you’re afraid as you know there’s bacteria that could kill you. We sell our water to these types of countries because they can’t keep their water clean what is going to happen when  our clean and green country becomes just like the photos here??? Who will we sell our water to when we become a country thats cant drink, bath or swim in the water that surrounds us?

We live in a city where water is want surrounds us, we see it everyday, drink it, bathe in it, swim in it. It all comes from that one place where you can see the tourists taking that special photograph or coming to see the beautiful view of the mountain that reflects of it or the mountains that are like a cardboard cut out in the background but it’s also what in 50-100 years is want is going to kill us if we drink it, bathe in it, swim in it. the wanaka lake will eventually be that ice cold murdering machine if we don’t help preserve it we’ll all die with it.  

The Otago Fish and Game Council has resolved to seek urgent action from the Minister for the Environment and Minister of Tourism. The Otago Regional Council this month begun a new round of trophic studies on Lakes Wanaka, Hawea and Wakatipu to improve understanding of what is happening. While filter and treatment systems need to be developed, it was more important to research and collect long term data on water quality to allow informed decision making, he said.

One of the things scientists and the community needed to understand was how prevalent lake snow was. The council has initiated extra monitoring in Lake Wanaka and was aware that various groups had formed and were keen to get involved.

Wanaka residents are increasingly worried the unsightly algae, “lake snot”, will ruin the town’s most precious asset – the lake. The non-toxic algae was first observed clogging water pipes and filters more than 10 years ago. But concerns have spread well beyond the long-debated, multi-million cost of new water treatment methods.

Swimmers and anglers have emerged with algae-covered wetsuits and fishing lines to add their voices to the chorus of concern. The possible spread of the slimey snot to Lake Hawea was reported for more than a decade .was report but Scientists and others are now asking if lake snot is an “introduced” organism and biosecurity concern similar to didymo, a river snot that has been clinging in long tails to rocks on the Clutha River bed “I don’t think we know enough, not only about ‘lake snot’ but about what exactly is happening in the lake.” Board candidate Ed Taylor is calling for a public water summit, more publicly available information and a water quality report card that is updated every year. “There are different groups looking at different aspects of lake and river water quality.  Do they all know what each of them are doing? Is some of the work being doubled up on?” he asked. Deputy board chairman Bryan Lloyd says the council should spend “whatever it takes” on a drinking water treatment system. The council and board could also speed things up by making a financial contribution to research. “The precise nature of the “animal” we are dealing with must first be determined . . . This is not a quick fix, but is of paramount importance – the jewel in our crown must be kept in a pristine condition,” Lloyd said. Quentin Smith, an environmental management consultant, says a secure water supply is “incredibly important”, but of greater concern is the impact of lake snot on lake amenity.

“The lake is our greatest asset and letting it turn into a murky smelly mess is not acceptable,”  Dr Smith said, if the new standard was met, New Zealand would have the highest standard of freshwater in the world. He said the plan would be backed up by regulations requiring stock to be fenced out of waterways, new policy requirements for regional councils to strengthen their plan rules on issues such as sewage discharges, a new freshwater improvement fund and new maps that identified where improvements were needed. “This is an emerging environmental problem. We can’t follow someone else’s lead.. This is a totally new thing for people to have to grapple with,” he said Help us to improve the health of our waterways by doing your bit to prevent stormwater pollution. A campaign calling for cleaner lakes and rivers has been launched this summer, as monitoring data shows many spots across the country remain unsafe for a dip. But the group Choose Clean Water wants a tougher stance, ensuring waterways were suitable for swimming, and expects to collect 10,000 signatures for its petition by last March.

Massey University ecologist and Dr Mike Joy believed individuals and groups like Choose Clean Water could make a difference by speaking out and putting pressure on decision-makers. “This ambitious plan to improve the water quality in our lakes and rivers recognises that New Zealanders expect to be able to take a dip in their local river or lake without getting a nasty bug,” he said. Pick up any litter you see around the streets, such as cans, plastic bags and cigarette butts Pick up your dog’s droppings. Washed into storm water they increase bacteria levels in rivers and the sea, we need to be  a community that helps restore the water in our country even a little thing such as picking up that piece of litter you see on the sidewalk can help a river, lake or stream. Just the touch of your finger tip can help your home land.  They said we were the clean and green country but are we really? From poverty and environmental destruction, to war and economic crises, many of the big problems we face as a planet are rooted in natural resources. While monopolists instigate wars over oil, diamonds, and other precious minerals in poor countries, the real estate sector profiteers from property bubbles land and water in rich countries. People are dieing because our world isn’t surviving

Urban land is the most precious natural resource of all, for it determines how well we use all other natural resources. The more space that is wasted in cities, the more people must sprawl to outlying areas, causing a slew of environmental problems. Therefore, saving the environment, and using resources efficiently means using land and water efficiently, first and foremost

In towns and cities we are surrounded by buildings, roads and footpaths. Rainwater cannot soak through these hard surfaces and instead runs into gutters, picking up pollutants as it travels. It then flows into the stormwater network, which carries the water straight to our streams, rivers and lakes. Unlike wastewater, stormwater doesn’t get treated, so whatever goes into the drain will end up in the nearest stream or river. Stormwater pollution reduces water quality, destroys habitats and kills plants and animals. Our water is becoming polluted more and more each day what are you going to do? Let’s start by Helping our beautiful lake wanaka to be its clean  and natural self. Let’s stop polluting our lakes and rivers lets start being that clean and green image everyone makes us out to be .

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