We will hear from activist entrepreneurs who want to reshape the world of business and show case employment income that also benefits the planet. These business leaders aim to reduce and or sequester carbon through their business models.

The Climate Festival is an open platform created to accelerate and celebrate climate action. Social Enterprise Auckland in collaboration with Impact Hub Waikato are proud to present Business Activism.

Our panel consists of:

SEAWEED: Hanna Eastvold Edwins - Popcorn Innovations
Will discuss seaweed as a climate solution and possible solutions in New Zealand. Seaweed can help restore the natural balance in the ocean, reduce acidity, and provide habitat and food for native species of fish and other species. It is a renewable source of food, feedstock, and materials (like plastic and textiles), and potentially other fossil fuel alternatives. Asparagopsis taxiformis, a red seaweed can reduce methane emission in cattle by up to 98%

We hope to engage a small group of interested parties to join us into forming a collective called the Seaweed Initiative. We aim to inform and inspire community activists and entrepreneurs with knowledge around hatching, farming, and processing seaweed into various products. We are planning to open a small lab soon to trial small batches of seaweed for study. We also wish to encourage citizen scientists to create sustainable small businesses.

MYCELIUM: James Ferrier - Bio Fab
Have singled out one of the worst non-compostable offenders, polystyrene, and come up with a replacement product that works just as well, without the landfill or toxicity. Made from agricultural waste and eco-friendly mycelium – the vegetative part of mushrooms – our biomaterial comes from the earth and safely returns to the earth, providing a timely and highly innovative. breakthrough for the construction and packaging industries.

DECONSTRUCTION: Saia Latu – Trow Group:
Is one of the largest commercial deconstruction companies in New Zealand and is the industry expert in delivering full project, lifecycle services, salvaging hundreds of tonnes of construction materials every year. We work to create a more sustainable construction sector and repurpose over 90% of the materials we salvage, to improve social outcomes and enable community projects locally and in the Pacific Islands.

ELECTRICITY: Tom Land – Ecotricity:
NZ’s cleanest and greenest electricity company. Being carbonzero certified means we purchase from specific wind, hydro and solar generation sites and we measure all greenhouse gases associated with the full lifecycle of those stations. We have detailed programmes in place which follow United Nations Product Protocols to measure and minimise our greenhouse gas emissions.