Ten ways to save the world this summer

Ride a bike and save the world? You bet! Environmental wisdom is as simple as doing things many of us do all the time, but a little bit more. Here is our Green Party list of ten ways (in no particular order) that you can have a great, low impact summer. Have a merry Christmas – Jeanette Fitzsimons

1. Get a bike. Ride it places.

Bikes don't have to be expensive. Ask around or check online for second-hand bikes. There are few better feelings then whizzing past rows of idling traffic with the warm wind in your face, knowing that not only will you be at work on time, but you and your trusty steed are a carbon-neutral fitness machine.

2. Lose the Packaging

Email the CEOs of your top 3 food brands and tell them to reduce their packaging. Then buy food with less packaging.

Rubbish going to landfills produces tonnes of climate heating methane, as well as costing households in council rubbish bags and rates. Less packaging is better for everyone.

3.Holiday in Golden Bay.

Golden Bay has two Great National Parks, Farewell Spit, beautiful sandy beaches, and The Mussel Inn. Who needs to go to Thailand? Aeroplanes cost the environment and your pocket more than a return trip on the Inter-islander.

4.Join a neighbourhood group to restore a local eco-system.

Sand-dunes are a key defence against storm-surges and rising sea levels. Trees provide shade, absorb carbon and birds nest in them. Fish like clean rivers and so do people. Do your bit to help out.

5. Make things change

Become an activist, sign a petition, write to your MP, go to a public meeting, complain until things change.

Change happens when we speak up, not when we think someone else will sort things out. You are just as much of an expert as the next person. If you're not happy, let someone know.

6.Talk to your family about this list.

Te kai o nga rangatira, he korero. The food of the chiefs is conversation.

Five years ago few people had heard the terms climate change or peak oil. Do your family know about these things, their impact and what they can do to help?

7.Give home baking for Christmas

Christmas shouldn't be about spending money, or producing rubbish. Why not give to someone who has very little (a goat for a developing world family through Gift for Life), have a family craft gift-making session, focus on the spiritual aspect, bake biscuits!

8.If you don't need it, don't buy it.

Sometimes we lose sight of why we buy things. It's not always necessary to own the latest model. Reduce your impact by using things that still function, even if they're not this season's shade of puce.

9.Eat less meat and milk products.

Meat and milk products are responsible for nearly half of New Zealand's green house gas emissions. Try nachos with re-fried beans, stir-fry with rice, pasta with pesto and sunflower seeds, roast vege salad with couscous, dahl curry - mmmm.

10.Get Political

Exercise your democratic rights and support the political party with the best environmental credentials.

Not all political parties recognise that quality of life on Earth depends on a healthy ecosystem and benign climate. But one does.