Off The Grid - Auckland + Great Barrier Island

This is the second year of the Off The Grid Festival on Great Barrier Island, a weekend-long alternative energy event allowing people to learn about the latest developments in alternative energy solutions.   For GBI residents this is a particularly important event; Great Barrier Island is the only place in New Zealand with a large group of people individually living without a main stream power supply.  Off The Grid runs May 12 - May 15 and includes talks from a panel of alternative energy experts, public discourse, a (sold out) property tour to inspect some of the latest innovations in power systems and a field day with trade stalls.

Missed your chance to head along this year?  Keep an eye on the Off The Grid websiteş

The Off The Grid GBI Alternative Energy Event is an AoteaOra Community Trust initiative. 
This event is supported and sponsored by the Great Barrier Island Local Board.

SOUL/FOOD

In 2014, chef Massimo Bottura of world-renowned restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, had the idea to contribute to Milan's Expo 2015.  

The Expo is an expansive World Fair that runs for five months, allowing countries to share their wealth of heritage, creativity and culture.  In 2015 its central theme was 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'.  

“To feed the planet, first you have to fight the waste.”

— Massimo Bottura *

Massimo Bottura's proposed Refecttorio Ambrosiano project aimed to address the dual issues of hunger and food wastage in urban centres.  His concept was to re-design an archaic church refectory (which was serving as a disused theatre) and transform it into a dining hall for the city's most needy. As for the ingredients for the meals?  
All the food was to be generated from the edible waste from the Expo 2015, transformed by a team of top Italian and International chefs volunteering their time and expertise. 

This was a new twist on 'soul food' aiming to provide diners with a nutritious meal in a one-of-a-kind environment; and the opportunity for a second chance for the ingredients (and, as it turns out, for the patrons).   

With the assistance of Caritas Ambrosiana, a Catholic foundation helping the homeless get back on their feet, Bottura and a team of leading artists, architects and designers worked together to transform the designated space into a work of functionality and beauty.  Thirteen designers created custom-made tables, and artists Maurizio Nannucci, Mimmo Paladino and Gaetano Pesce donated works for the space.

As the project grew, lighting and seating was donated, as was an entire kitchen from Lavazza;  local supermarkets provided pasta and flour.  

Everything else came directly from a Coop 'Supermarket of the Future' exhibit at Expo 2015 - providing a truck full of products set to expire the following day.

From May to October 2015, the Refecttorio Ambrosiano's 96 seats hosted lunch for school children and dinner for a selection of the city’s homeless residents using ingredients that would have otherwise been thrown away.   Ten tons of food waste from the Expo's 'Supermarket of the Future' exhibit were salvaged and turned into healthy, delicious meals.   Massimo Bottura and his invited chefs cooked 150 meals per day with the kitchen staff of Caritas and the 87 volunteers who dedicated their time and energy over the five month period.

Post-Expo 2015 Refecttoirio Ambrosiana does not function as a soup kitchen in the traditional sense - the diners must be part of a three-month program with Caritas Ambrosiana which helps people find jobs, food and shelter.  And, unlike the standard soup-kitchen, Refettorio Ambrosiano's servers meet the diners beyond the counter and engage with them. 

"The most important experience for me was the evolution of the feeling," Bottura says.

"At the beginning, everyone was so suspicious, no one was talking to each other. Everyone would look at the floor, eat quickly, and then leave. After six months, there were tables of people. They were like family. It was amazing."*  So far, at least five people have graduated from Refecttoirio Ambrosiana and found jobs.

 A documentary by Canadian filmmaker Peter Svatek about the development of Refettorio Ambrosiano, "Theater of Life", will be released in late 2016.
 
* Bottura quotes courtesy of Refinery29 interview with Jessica Chou.
Source material & statistics provided by Refettorio Ambrosiano English Language Press Document.

THINX. Let's re-think women's hidden powers.

 A woman's monthly cycle is the most natural, important and also inconvenient part of life-giving womanhood.  THINX is addressing the lack of conversation surrounding PERIODS, especially the lack of suitable women's sanitary products and apparel, as well as the 'taboo' categorisation slapped on menstruation.  

THINX co-founder + CEO Miki Agrawal wants to point out that there have only been three major break-throughs in menstrual products in the last one hundred years;  the first was the tampon, the second is the sticky strip underneath sanitary pads to keep them in place, and then the menstrual cup (which most women haven't heard of and worldwide few have access to).  

CUE THINX.  Miki Agrawal has developed six different styles of underwear from thongs to boy-shorts that can support up to the same amount of menstrual fluid as 2 x tampons.  No more embarrassing leaks and, unlike most sanitary producets, they are re-usable. 

THINX is dedicated to creating dialogue surrounding negative associations with menstruation + supporting young women in Uganda.  For more, head to our full ZHIZHY story here.

FORTUNES - Wear Your Voice

The Jacket EP from Fortunes - The Melbourne based Kiwi duo produce a distinct take on R&B, melded with 'glitchy' electronic hip-hop swagger.  Vocalist Conor's intimate and raw voice is emotionally crisp, soft and unabashedly articulates the curving Kiwi accent.  With producer Barnaby's entwining electronic landscapes, the two are energetic + mesmerising live.
Fortunes are producer Barnaby Mattews + vocalist Conor McCabe.

Some Kid Ate My Lunch.

It's an uncomfortable statistic that 1 in 4 Kiwi kids live below the poverty line.  What does that mean?  It means that around 260,000 children won't have access to basic nutrition.  
It's time more working professionals learnt about Eat My Lunch, an online lunch delivery service that will serve you up a nutritious, delicious meal - and another freshly made lunch for a child in need.  Buy one, give one.  

$10 pays for two lunches; one for you (delivered to work) and one for a Kiwi school kid in need.  
Nutritious, fresh food with nothing in a packet.

If this strikes you as a bright, tasty idea, head to www.eatmylunch.nz

Alejandro Aravena : Community Architecture - the wisdom of favelas and slums

"When asked to build housing for 100 families in Chile ten years ago, Alejandro Aravena looked to an unusual inspiration: the wisdom of favelas and slums. Rather than building a large building with small units, he built flexible half-homes that each family could expand on. It was a complex problem, but with a simple solution — one that he arrived at by working with the families themselves. With a chalkboard and beautiful images of his designs, Aravena walks us through three projects where clever rethinking led to beautiful design with great benefit."
TED Talks