FMD, University of Waikato
Issue No: 95 – August 2011
Introducing Rachael Goddard, environmental scientist, who’s just started in FMD as the
Sustainability Coordinator…
I moved to New Zealand 34 years ago from Yorkshire, UK. I grew up on the land, fishing,
keeping chooks and ducks, and growing veges.
I have spent many years travelling, and have lived in Germany and London. After visiting so
many countries it makes you appreciate how distinctive and special NZ is.
I live in Raglan (as you may have guessed by the hair style!), in a 70 year old rimu and kauri
cottage that I am slowly restoring.
Before joining the university I ran my own environmental consultancy for 9 years. I managed a range of projects,
developed educational resources, delivered workshops, lectured and presented to over 6000 children and adults.
I have worked for a decade in environmental science/education areas, and have published papers and articles on
waste and recycling, social behaviour, landfills and water quality. I also wrote a regular enviro issues column for the
Waikato Times, and I’m a children’s science author with Reed and Penguin books.
I have a Masters in Science from Waikato University, Post Graduate in Environmental Science from Auckland
University, and a Bachelor in Science & Technology from Unitec.
I am looking forward to working with everyone and establishing new environmental initiatives on campus, and within
FMD.
TEM Conference
Part of the Waikato team (Tony was also present but missed
the picture) at the TEMC conference in the Gold
Coastrecently.
In case you think it was all fun at the beach we are actually
standing in front of the back drop at the conference dinner,
which was themed on Hawaiin clothing, hence my Hawaiin
shirt, and although you can’t see it boardies and jandals!!
The other people in the picture are all from Student &
Academic Services, namely (from left to right) Michelle
Jordan-Tong, Mary-Jane Waddington and Tania Mallett.
The Waikato
team were also
the first people
onto the dance
floor after the
dinner!!!
This conference
is attended by
in excess of 700
University staff
from Australasian
universities but
this year also had
a large contingent from Papua New Guinea, people from
South Africa, England and America.
Like most conferences the quality of the presentations varied,
but the networking opportunities were great; of course we all
also enjoyed the social events as well!!
John Cameron
Heating headers for College Halls new heating system,
manufactured in the University Mechanical Workshop
by Alister and Gary Mitchell.
FMD Social Club
Wednesday 7th September
There will be a sausage sizzle lunch
in the FMD courtyard
at midday
All social club supporters welcome!!
Bongiorno
Snow
On Monday 1st August we flew
to Hong Kong for a transfer
flight to Rome Italy for 3
weeks. Accompanied by my
two sons, Anthony and Shane,
we were met by an Italian
driver and taken to the hotel.
From the hotel it was two
blocks from the Metro Railway
Station, which we used
frequently.
Interesting area of the city 24
hour fruit vendor. Highlights
were visiting all the museums
we could, mostly marble
statues, bus tour of Naples,
Pompeii, Ti Voli, Hadrians
Villa, Villa d‘Este which was
incredible with water features,
ancient Rome area, passed
Monte
Cassino,
tour
to
Florence
–
very
clean,
picturesque town, also went
through the Vatican and took the train to Ostia – Roman ruins. Armoured
Police everywhere! An enjoyable time and would recommend to anyone
thinking of travel.
Malcolm Redpath
This was 2 weeks ago at Maungakawa
(Sanatorium Hill), Cambridge
We saw a Big Native Wood Pigeon on a
short walking track, gave us a bit of a
fright! A massive shape fluttering above our
heads all of a sudden when it was so quiet
there, the snow started just as we were
about to leave which was pretty ‘cool’ we
will go back when it’s warmer as it was way
too cold for us – certainly bracing !!!
Sarah George
Pictured top-bottom: Villa Borghese & Ancient Rome
Worms & Waste
On first appearance worms are not particularly attractive or endearing creatures. They
have no eyes, no nose or mouth, and are basically a tube with a hole at either end.
However, these under-rated, berated, low-lifes provide an essential service. They are
eating machines, consuming their own body weight in food every 24 hours. They are
also excellent crappers; their poos are rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium;
essential elements for plant growth. They effectively cultivate and aerate the soil, and
break down organic matter. They are also inexhaustible in the ‘bedroom’ (more about
that later).
Worms have 5 pairs of hearts, and blood is pumped around the body. It is a fallacy that
if you chop them in half they grow into two worms.
Worms have no lungs, they breathe through their skin, so it is important that they are kept moist. Worms are
hermaphrodites (not transvestites, as one 12 year old solemnly declared in a class I was teaching). However, they still
require another worm to copulate with (this is quite a marathon session) lasting several hours. They match their
relevant bits up and fertilize each other’s eggs. Each egg has 3 to 5 baby worms inside which hatch after a few weeks
into the soil.
A mature worm at 60 days old can produce over 1,200 young each year.
Poos and wees are the resource that is provided after the worms have consumed our food scraps and paper. They also
eat coffee grinds, tea bags, vacuum cleaner dust, hair, animal fur, newspaper and cardboard, lots of fruit skins and
eggs shells. They don’t like spicy food, bread, cheese or onions.
So what is the connection with waste & landfills?
We can reduce organic matter to landfill, and save money by letting the worms deal with the waste.
There are 1000 landfills in New Zealand. In the Waikato region there are 6 operational landfills.
Waste to landfill comprises 40-50% organic matter. Bacteria in landfills decompose organic matter and produce
methane and carbon dioxide. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 21 times stronger than carbon dioxide. The
methane gas enters the atmosphere and contributes significantly to global warming.
Leachate (a liquid toxic cocktail of chemicals) is produced as the landfill contents breakdown.
Leachate contains heavy metals, volatile fatty acids, ammoniacal nitrogen, aldehydes and alcohols.
Leachate has the potential to leak from landfills into ground water, soils and waterways. Although modern landfills are
lined with plastic the liners, they ultimately fail after a period of a few decades.
Watch out next month for our new worm bin outside in the courtyard.
---
Rachael Goddard
Facilitation will be produced monthly. This publication is available online (where the pictures are a lot clearer) at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fmd/
For communications relating to the FMD newsletter please contact Judy Swetman, ext 4980, email [email protected].