FOND FAREWELL: A diagram of the resomation technology. Photo: www.groovygreen.com

By Hayden Ellis

The funeral industry is looking to the future for new eco-friendly alternatives to the traditional cremation or burial.

A process called resomation is gaining international support and interest as a greener approach to saying goodbye.

The body is placed inside a silk bag and lowered into a mixture of water and potassium hydroxide which is then heated to around 160°C.

This dissolves the body into two parts – liquid and bone – which can be crushed into dust and taken away by the family. 

Although it has a similar result to cremation it does not create heavy emissions or leave behind a carbon footprint.

The idea may make some traditionalists turn in their graves but Simon Manning, pictured, managing director of Funeral Link NZ, which represents independent funeral homes nationally, agrees with the comparisons to cremation.

“I see that from the public perspective they will get the same thing that they get now, a container with crushed bone in.

“The public don’t identify that this is what they are getting, they rather see it as “ashes”, which is acceptable to them,” Mr Manning says.

While New Zealand’s clean and green image suggest it is a likely place for resomation to catch on, he is unsure how kiwis would respond to the idea.

“The way I see it … there is nothing to stop someone installing a resomator in their premises tomorrow.

“The question is, would the public of NZ find it an acceptable process? I am just not sure about this answer.

“The people who are dying at the moment are generally old and conservative and therefore slow to change, the next generation however will probably feel that would be an acceptable method of disposal,” he says.

From his understanding, Mr Manning says there would be nothing stopping anyone fromd bringing the technology into New Zealand.

Dave Medland, manager of Wilson Funeral Home in Wellington, had also heard of the process but was sceptical on whether New Zealand was ready for it.

“We seem to be quick to take on new technologies for example cell phones, PCs etc. But, well, who knows with this,” Mr Medland says.

Mr Medland is also curious about the cost of the process and how it would relate to the wishes of the deceased.

ON THE Job: Members of the journalism student team, including Grace Cocker, left. Photo: Radio Mode 96.1

JOURNALISM students in Christchurch have this week experienced the adrenaline rush of covering a live disaster.

New Zealand Broadcasting School students on the ground since about 7am on Saturday, two-and-a-half hours after the Canterbury earthquake hit.

While their school buildings were closed over the weekend the students were out on the street gathering stories.

Since Monday they have been working from eight to 13 hours a day covering the event on the school radio station Mode 96.1.

Grace Cocker, a second year journalism student, says the experience has been amazing.

“Everyone has been open and willing to talk to us.”.

She described the past week as the best experience you could get as a trainee journalist.

Although Grace believes the media is covering the disaster well, she thinks they are “over-hyping” it.

She says although the city centre is a mess, a lot of people in the suburbs are going on with day-to-day life as usual.

Grace believes the broadcasting school has done well with its coverage, producing a lot of stories which have not been picked up by mainstream media.

“We are doing really well considering we are students at journalism school,” she says.

ELECTRONIC cigarette importers are continuing to push for the right to import nicotine cartridges.

Sales of Elusion Cigarettes, pictured above, increased 200 per cent in May when the government lifted tax on cigaretters.

However the record-breaking sales have dropped back to what founder and CEO Paul Medarov considers a steady level.

Electronic cigarette importers are at a disadvantage without nicotine cartridges, because they cannot be classified as a cessation device, like gum or nicotine patches.

Nicotine versions of the Elusion cigarette are currently not allowed to be sold in New Zealand however they are sold in Australia.

The categorisation of electronic cigarettes states that when they are sold with cartridges containing nicotine they are classified as a medicine, which the company is unable to sell.

Mr Medarov says he doesn’t believe using the fake cigarettes is simply switching the addiction.

“I do not believe they are addictive. They are just helping customers to break the habit. They do not contain addictive chemicals.”

He says they are helping smokers to gain the confidence they need to quit smoking.

Elusion cigarettes imitate the look of a traditional cigarette. When the cartridge is inhaled upon the atomizer within it releases a small amount of steam that gives off the appearance of smoke.

William Hewett, 20, quit smoking three weeks ago and he is using electronic cigarettes to help him kick the habit.
”It is something to do when you feel like a cigarette,” Mr Hewett says.

“They have been helpful in situations where other people have been smoking and I felt like a cigarette, I haven’t felt left out.”

Mr Hewett says he doesn’t find the electronic cigarettes addictive.

He says that as he craves tobacco less he doesn’t feel the need to use his electronic cigarette as often.

Elusion cigarettes are currently sold in the South Island and the upper North Island but with the interest surrounding them, Mr Medarov hopes to soon sell them all around the country.

DIVISIVE ROAD: The planned Expressway from Mackays Crosssing to Peka Peka.

ROADING and water have been hotly debated in Kapiti this year, raising awareness of the upcoming local elections.

Kapiti Coast District Council electoral officer Jude Wadsworth says she is expecting a good voter response because of the expressway and water fluoridation issues dividing the community. Just over 53% voted in 2007.

The issues could also be driving a slightly higher number of new candidates (25) against existing members standing for re-election (22). In 2007 all members stood for re-election and there were 21 new candidates.

Strict guidelines govern how much can be spent on campaign advertising. These costs, together with donations received, must be declared.

"BILLBOARD ROAD': Rimu Rd in Paraparaumu is a prime poster location.

Voting papers will be posted between 17 and 22 September, to the 36,627 residents and 251 ratepayers registered on the electoral role.

The A3-sized vote paper includes all candidates running for mayor and district-wide councillors, and the ward and community board candidates relevant for that individual voter.

Residents also vote for Greater Wellington Regional Council and Capital & Coast District Health Board or, in the case of Otaki, Mid Central District Health Board.

Voting is Single Transferable Vote, meaning voters rank each candidate in order of preference. (For Greater Wellington Council it will be First Past the Post.)

Completed voting papers must be posted or returned by midday October 9. Counting starts September 17 and can be seen in real time.

Preliminary results will be announced on October 9 and the final results the following week.

Anyone not already on the electoral role, and wishing to vote as a resident or ratepayer, has until October 8 to register and apply for a special vote, or can register at the time of voting.

Special voting takes place at the Paraparaumu library in Rimu Rd, 9am to 4pm weekdays from September 17 to October 8, and on October 9, 9am to 12 noon.

MORE local body election stories>

WIZARDS OF NZ: Teachers Libby Morris and Angela Rongonui, writers and co-ordinators of the show.

By Summer de la Croix

A DIZZY blonde replaces Scarecrow and a politician replaces the Tin Man in a kiwi twist on The Wizard of Oz at Plimmerton School.

Even the name has changed to Wizards of NZ.

Dorothy is still in the script, but teachers Libby Morris and Angela Rongonui have the Lion representing the Wellington Lions rugby team and Toto the dog’s name has a Maori flavour – it’s Tutu.

This year it is the turn of the senior classes to stage a production.

More than 200 students are preparing for the show to be staged in late September.

Libby says the students are rehearsing hard to a scheduled timetable and they are practicing all the time.

ON SHOW: Captured during rehearsals, (from left) Meg Excell, Francesca Wotton, who plays Dorothy is holding Tutu the dog, and Kelly Vincent, all 12.

She says there is little parent involvement needed this year because there is no need for costume making.

Because of the modern twist to the show, the children are wearing clothes like suits which they are getting from home.

Tickets for the September 22 and 23 performances, both at 7pm, are $4 for children and $6 for adults and available from the school.

SHOW TIME: Some of the senior students in rehearsals.

K Gurunathan

AN ex-journalist, local radio station manager and school principal are among 47 candidates hoping to win a place on Kapiti Coast District Council next month.

The three – K (Guru) Gurunathan, Mark Benton and Doris Zuur – are first-timers on the campaign trail.

Others, like community board chairs Don Moselen (Otaki) and Michael Scott (Waikanae), are aiming to move up the political rung to district-wide councillor.

Twenty-seven positions are up for grabs, including mayor, five district-wide councillors, five ward councillors and 16 community board members.

Sixteen candidates are standing for more than one position (double the number in 2007). Should they win both seats, they take the higher of the two.

Mark Benton

Five would-be mayors are challenging incumbent Jenny Rowan.

David Mitchell, general secretary of local group United Ratepayers, and Chris Turver, Greater Wellington Regional councillor, who both ran for mayor in 2007, are back again.

Chris Glover, unsuccessful in 2007 running for district councillor, is also after the mayor’s role as are newcomers Ross Church, owner of Autoclassics Ltd, and local businessman Mike Clulee.

Doris Zuur

In the Otaki Ward, community board members Mr Baker and Ms Galyor go head to head for the one councillor vacancy, as incumbent Ann Chapman runs for Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Paekakariki/Raumati Ward councillor Lyndy McIntyre is standing down leaving the one vacancy to be contested by mayoralty candidate Mr Glover, current community board member Janet Holborow and district-wide councillor Hilary Wooding.

The two vacancies for Paraparaumu Ward councillor will see incumbent Peter Daniel up against newcomers Beryl Barr, Mr Benton, Mr Gurunathan, Tony Lester and Marilyn Stephens.

Also running are current community board member Louella Jenson and district-wide councillor David Scott. Ms Ammundsen, who currently holds the other ward seat, is running for district-wide council.

Waikanae Ward councillor Sandra Patton is stepping down, and community board members Eric Gregory, Jocelyn Prvanov and Harold Thomas are lined up along with newcomers Richard Halliday, Tony Lloyd (who ran in the 2004 elections) and Marie O’Sullivan.

Paekakariki Community Board members Ms Holborow, Helen Keivom, Steve Eckett and Adrian Webster are standing for re-election. Ms Holborow is also running for ward councillor, which could improve the odds for the one challenger, Renwick Wright.

Ms Jensen and Will Scollay, standing for re-election to the Paraparumu/Raumati Community Board, will be running against newcomers Ms Barr, Jonny Best, Trevor Daniell, and district councillor Ms Wooding for one of four seats at the table.

Current community board chair John Haxton is not seeking re-election.

All four Waikanae Community Board members, Mr Gregory, Ms Prvanov, Mr Scott and Mr Thomas, are standing again and running for higher positions.

Their challengers for board seats are Mr Halliday, Mr Lloyd and Marc Pettie.

Andy – whose successful entry is titled Lost and Found in Bangkok – has been making films since he was a kid.

He entered his first competition at 15 using a video camera he had saved for while working for his mother: “It was awesome seeing my film on the big screen at The Paramount.”

When only 16 he was given a special mention in the SPADA Young Filmmaker of the Year Awards.

Lost and Found in Bangkok originally aired on the TVNZ show The Outlook, which sought young queer filmmakers to showcase their work. He says they loved his idea and told him “to go for it”.

He finds he tends to write the film in his head and has a terrible time trying to get it on paper.

When working on the script for Lost and Found in Bangkok, he stewed ideas in his head for a few weeks and then spilled it out on paper in an afternoon.

The finished film is five minutes long, but Andy who wrote, filmed, directed and edited the piece, had the “mammoth task” of editing down three to four hours of footage.

The film is set the capital of Thailand where Andy was visiting while thinking of ideas for a film.

He says the idea of a young gay man finding himself while overseas seemed to work.

“Thailand appears on the face of it to be a very gay-friendly place.  Gay life in Bangkok offers a great juxtaposition to gay life in little old Aotearoa.”

The gay nightlife of Thailand is explored, but this caused the most trouble for filming, says Andy.

 “A lot of it is under strict police control.  No bars or clubs would let us film there — recording devices are strictly forbidden.”

A friend of his was hiring a club for his birthday and told the owners he was hiring Andy to film the party, meaning he could covertly get his scenes shot. 

Go-go bar scenes were filmed in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai where they were able to film when the club was usually closed.

They picked a bunch of boys and paid them to dance on stage for the price they’d usually get having to go home with someone (around $40).

He says the internet has made short films much more accessible to the public.

“Before, you could only have your work played in festivals with limited audiences if it was deemed good enough.

“Now you can exhibit almost anything and have feedback from your audience, which is awesome.”

View the film below:

SELF PORTRAIT: Artist Mariana Isara as she sees herself.

 The fellowship – created by Wairarapa writer and historian Gareth Winter to commemorate the memory of his daughter Lavinia who died four years ago – gives young writers a chance to take time out from the usual domestic duties and to think about their writing. 

“It was handwritten inside a black cat silhouette and won a special prize in a children’s writing competition and was displayed for a fortnight in Linwood City Mall,” she says.

This first foray into poetry moved to “lyrical hormonal poetry during my teens (written) in small blue lined notebooks with celestial covers”.

At 16, she decided to be a poet and do The Bill Manhire course at Victoria University’s Institute of Modern Letters.

She completed her masters in 2007, and found out about the fellowship through the institute’s newsletter.

The life of a poet was not always her plan. She had been obsessed with dinosaurs and big words and had considered palaeontology, opera singing and becoming an artist were other ideas.

LAVINIA WINTER

For her application to the residency, she submitted a residency inspired by sighting a winter garden in a nunnery.

It is a piece that draws on research about a traditional erotic Samoan dance, a poem partially inspired by being spoken to in Te Reo in a dream, and an anaphoric (a poem in which lines begin with the same phrase) piece she reworked in the after-shock of the tsunami in Samoa.

“I see writing poetry as the work of my lifetime,” she says.  

“Because poetry has little market value, I like to think of it as a creative koha to the world, which I hope to contribute to. In more pragmatic terms, I hope to some day publish my own collection of poems.”

 During the residency she plans to draw inspiration from the Wairarapa landscape, history and mythology.

Mariana will be leaving her Christchurch studio apartment – which is “too small to contain my collection of books, let alone make art in” – to the country lifestyle at New Pacific Studio at Mt Bruce in January.

Wellington rhythmic gymnasts Lydia Hingston, Ashley Fry and Maddie Lath

Within days his energy increased, he was more alert and his digestion improved.

He had suspected for some time gluten intolerance was the problem, but six months ago his doctor confirmed the diagnosis.

He is now careful to avoid bread, burgers and buns.

“I used to be a fan of KFC, but their entire menu contains or has traces of gluten and chomping down a Big Mac is now also a thing of the past,” he says.

Gluten is found mainly in wheat-based foods.

Russell shops for gluten-free products and his grocery bill has almost doubled.

A loaf of gluten-free bread can be up to seven dollars so his staples are now meat, fruit, vegetables and rice.

Russell says he’s always looking for ideas for flavoursome gluten-free foods and a wider range of products.

Healthy Life Media director Kim Mundell says in the past five years her company’s Healthy Food Guide has had a large increase in reader letters related to allergies and intolerances.

It was clear there was an increasing need for information in this area.

The company hosted the Gluten Free Food & Allergy Show recently at the TSB Bank Arena, attracting hundreds of consumers hoping to learn more about products available to them.

Among the many stall holders, Aria Farm – who provided free samples of their lamb and beef products – was the most popular.

Also popular were gftreets who spent six months perfecting their gluten free fish batter after their son was diagnosed with crohn’s disease meaning he was able to eat fish and chips.

They sell their range which includes hot dogs, fish, donuts and chicken strips throughout supermarkets.

They had planned to sell them through take-away stores but the risk of cross-contamination made this unfeasible.

Many of the companies now making gluten-free foods started from a family member being diagnosed.

Scotts Brewing Company from Auckland is New Zealand’s only gluten-free brewery, taking four years of experimentation to get the brew just right.