The CGCtech meetup (clean / green / climate) - end of year special!
Description
Far out - where has the year gone! And what a year it's been...
For our final CGCtech meetup of the year (well, formally at least), we have not one but TWO awesome speakers!
Dave Lane of Magnificent, and Harmaan Madon of Alimentary Systems, will be delighting and informing us on 23 November, back at Sugarhorse on Moorhouse Avenue. Details below!
Also remember to check out this month's Green Drinks, exploring sustainability beyond the headlines :D
https://events.humanitix.com/green-drinks-sustainability-beyond-the-headlines
As always, if you'd like to speak, host, propose a meetup format, collaborate, cross-pollinate, or sponsor, let us know :D
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Talk details
Note: order here may or may not reflect order on night.
Did you poo today?
Harmaan Madon, Alimentary Systems
Converting sludge and organic waste to value - the what, how and why of faecal sludge and septage management
About Harmaan
Harmaan is an entrepreneur, engineer, dad to 4 kids (including 2 dogs), and aspiring chef.
Ensuring your tools are aligned with your mission
Dave Lane, Magnificent
Choosing software tools can be tricky for values-led organisations. You want to use sustainable, ethical platforms that will keep your data secure. But that’s not the path of least resistance. Often we end up buying into the same Big Tech defaults that everyone else uses.
After years of advocating for Kiwis to drop proprietary Big Tech in favour of open source alternatives, Dave and fellow Ōtautahi tech stalwart Isaac Freeman have started Magnificent Limited. Their goal is to make ethical software easy for New Zealanders to access. They offer world-class open source software tools at a reasonable cost, with everything - servers, software, and data - on-shore in Aotearoa. They focus on user privacy and data security, with no ads or or lock-in, and no 'AI' anywhere you don’t choose it. And all of it is powered by our low carbon renewable power grid.
Dave will talk about the advantages of getting off Big Tech, show some of the tools that make it easier than ever, and how it’s an accelerating international movement.
About Dave
Dave was fortunate enough to be able to leave the US before it was cool, settling in Ōtautahi 30+ years ago. His background is physics & engineering, coming to NZ to work as a Crown Research Inst research scientist. An early Linux adopter and open source advocate, he decided he could provide better IT services than what he was seeing all around him, and left the CRI to break into the newish field of business IT services, starting an open source service & bespoke software company in 1998. He sold that in 2012 & spent 10 years developing open source tech services for a global free online digital university education foundation, focussing on the developing world. In the past year he's co-founded a new local venture aiming to be more effective at helping people use open source software, retaking their digital sovereignty from Big Tech.
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About CGCTech (clean / green / climate tech)
Waitaha Canterbury is home to incredible thinkers, doers and supporters in the fields of climate, environment, sustainability, regeneration, and technology.
But there's no event which brings everyone together to link up: the environmentalists and technologists, scientists, academics, community and industry, and anyone keen in learning more / contributing.
So this is the start of just that: a pluralistic, trans-disciplinary group of people all working to improve matters for planet and people.
While future events will have a mix of formats, from speakers and presentations to collaboration and support sessions, to relaxed catchups and more, this first meetup will be an informal kōrero. We want to hear from those who come along about what they're doing, what they'd like to see, and how we can build.
For a kinder, stronger, more resilient Aotearoa New Zealand. #bettertogether #always
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For extra fun, check out:
this recently-released cleantech report (NZ), https://www.macdiarmid.ac.nz/assets/Cleantech-Impact-Report-FINAL.pdf
this open access, recently-released textbook on the bioeconomy, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-09098-0.
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Note: due to the environmentally-focused nature of this meetup, it will not be about GenAI / agentic AI, for which there are other meetups and fora.
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Fern photo by Kai Wenzel on Unsplash.
Venue
Venue may change depending on the number of people who register, but will be in / around the Ōtautahi Christchurch CBD :)
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
