Good Magazine Issue 80, AprilMay 2022

GOOD TESTPhotography Alexia Mougel drive BROUGHT TO YOU BY TOYOTA NZ Editor Carolyn Enting takes the Toyota Yaris Cross hybrid through its paces to Piha. Ilove a car that rates your driving petrol-only vehicles. Because they use less toyota.co.nz/electrification performance after every trip and tells fuel, the carbon emissions are reduced. you you’re a great driver. In October 2021 Toyota Motor The Toyota Yaris Cross GX hybrid Piha was my destination of choice for a Corporation revealed the production reckons I am, so I’ll take that! The roadie in the Yaris Cross Hybrid. It was a design of the new bZ4X, their first battery opportunity to take the Yaris Cross joy to drive, powering up the hills while driven vehicle (BEV) which will be Hybrid for a test drive for a few handling the windy road with stability and available in New Zealand early 2023. The days offered up a few good surprises in ease. It switched seamlessly between BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) produces addition to its excellent eco credentials. electric and petrol power, providing zero emissions while driving and is At the end of each journey, text on instant torque when I pressed the powered solely by electricity. the dashboard praised me for “good accelerator, which is a must for me. eco driving” or “excellent steady driving” Toyota’s investment into future battery as well as providing a summary of my It was enlightening to later learn that technology also includes solid state eco score for the trip. And that felt good. another feature of the Yaris Cross is batteries which will have higher I also love that Toyota NZ is on Toyota’s New Global Architecture (TNGA) performance, reduced environmental an emissions mission to demystify platform. This gives you a fun driving impact and more recycling options. the transition to electrification for experience while also adding cornering everyday Kiwis like me. stability and better handling. Another I agree with Toyota NZ’s chief The Yaris Cross Hybrid is classified as thing I like about it is how it sits up high executive Neeraj Lala when he says the an HEV, which like a conventional car on the road, providing greater visibility. bZ4X is an exciting step. It’s also going to needs to be refuelled with petrol. The take a combination of electrified vehicles internal combustion engine and Toyota have certainly led the way – BEVs, HEVs and PHEVs – to achieve regenerative braking keep its hybrid in the area of electrification. It introduced low carbon objectives. battery charged, meaning the vehicle the world to a new type of vehicle – the self-charges the hybrid battery. Prius Hybrid electric car in 1997 – and For me, the Yaris Cross hybrid ticks The other kind is a PHEV – Plug-in Toyota NZ has set itself an objective of lots of boxes beyond its eco credentials. Hybrid Electric Vehicle, which is closer to cutting CO2 emissions from its portfolio of The lustre of the Crystal Pearl paintwork a full battery electric vehicle, with the vehicles by 90 per cent by 2050. By 2030 is beautiful. Inside, it’s roomy and ability to recharge the hybrid battery at a they aim to have an electrified option of comfortable, and it has heaps of boot charging station or at home. A PHEV also every car model in their line-up. space – great for weekend getaways with has an internal combustion engine, which family or friends. can provide the car with greater range than current battery electric vehicles. Plus, it’s easy to park! Hybrids are a key factor in the transition to a low-carbon future and use around a third less fuel than similar 99

ENVIRONMENT Environmental art IN ACTION Fine Line – artistic endeavours that speak for the Earth and return to it. Words Carolyn Enting. Photography Martin Hill Carving a snow sculpture with an ice axe while balancing on a precipice sounds like risky business, but for these committed environmental artists, that comes with the territory. Over the past quarter century, Martin Hill and Philippa Jones have been scaling heights around the globe making art in the most unlikely places. They use natural materials found at each location, such as stone, snow, ice and grass, which ultimately return harmlessly to the environment, mimicking nature’s cyclical processes. Only the photographs remain as an inspiration to “think deeply and change fundamentally”. Their Fine Line project has now been made into a book, its release timed to coincide with the recent COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow where Hill and Jones hoped to also celebrate a defining moment in history where world leaders finally acted to prevent climate breakdown with an agreement to hold global warming below 1.5 degrees. “Sadly, this was not achieved and the fine line we are treading has just become even more fine,” says Hill. What is uplifting, is the completion of Fine Line, which Hill and Jones hope will inspire more people to take action. The global environmental art / science project draws a symbolic line around the Earth to connect 12 ephemeral sculptures. The line starts and finishes in New Zealand, and each sculpture connects to the other through this representative line. It alludes to the ‘fine line’ we tread between economic prosperity and ecological disaster and the circularity and inter-connectedness of the web of life. “It’s a planetary concept. You can’t create a sustainable world in one place. You have to do it 100

Snow sculpture, Pigeon Spire West Ridge, Bugaboos, Purcell Mountains, British Columbia, 2002. 101

Martin Hill and Philippa Jones carving a snow sculpture on Mount Ruapehu in 2019. Grass, sisal, bamboo Snow sculpture, Mount sculpture, Karambony Climb, Ngauruhoe climb, Tongariro Madagascar, 2001. National Park, September 1997.

Sand sculpture, Half Dome ENVIRONMENT Climb, Yosemite National Park, California, 1996. 103

everywhere because everything is connected and “All the information is out there. It’s up to the everything effects everything else. So the line going people to embrace it,” says Jones. “We try to inspire around the Earth is a reference to that,” Hill says. people to listen, learn and do stuff.” Fine Line also aims to promote systemic design The first sculpture in the book was created on solutions to climate, ecological and social collapse the summit of Mount Ngauruhoe, Tongariro National by learning from living systems. Park, in 1997. Hill laughs as he recalls Jones saying she wasn’t sure if the snow sculpture with a triangle “We need to redesign our lives, businesses and in the circle would work. It’s now on the cover of energy use to become regenerative and therefore the book. compatible with the Earth’s natural systems on which we totally rely.” A year earlier they were “stormed off” Ngauruhoe’s peak. It wrecked their tent and in The pair met in New Zealand in 1996 while rock hindsight it was a “blessing because the presence of climbing. Hill was 48 and Jones 44. Now in their 70s, snow was ideal for sculpture making”. they are still climbing and the day before this interview they’d cycled the Lake Dunstan Trail on The book, and line, ends on Mt Ruapehu in 2019. their e-bikes. They chose not to climb to the summit of Ngauruhoe on this occasion out of respect for the Home is Wanaka where they grow their own local iwi. “We had no idea that 20 years later we’d vegetables, compost and look after the trees on still be trying to do the last one and connect up that their land. line,” says Jones. “It was not the right thing to do, to climb Ngauruhoe again.” They never imagined Fine Line would take them 25 years to complete, but many things All of the climbs in the book were profound intervened, including the fact the project was experiences for the couple and involved a huge entirely self-funded. effort and a lot of self-belief and perseverance but one of the most memorable climbs for Jones was Hill, a photographer, began to make land art Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, in 1996, which in 1994 and envisioned the Fine Line concept. looks hair-raising in the photographs. When he later shared his vision with Jones, a weaver and writer, she resonated with the idea “It wasn’t death-defying, but it did take nerve. and was all in! That rock is very solid but it’s hanging over a 1,000-metre cliff but as rock climbers we are “The idea was to combine our lives of going to accustomed to precarious spots,” says Jones. “The these wild mountain regions and making these precariousness of it was part of the idea, reflecting works with the concept of inter-connectedness, our precarious human way of life.” which is essential to an understanding of changing our model of progress from degenerative to Jones remembers them sitting up in the rocks regenerative – one that understands natural leaning against their packs with a little stove as they systems and operates accordingly,” says Hill. waited for the sun to come up and watching the sun “The work is about sustainable design, which is go down and sitting there in the dark. “Martin and referenced by the use of nature’s materials, which I had only been together for a year and it was an go back where they came from without harm.” out-of-this-world experience.” The couple hope their work will have more In British Columbia, Canada the peak they chose impact in 2022 as in the beginning it wasn’t always was literally a sharp rock summit they could barely fully appreciated. stand on. They made a sculpture there from snow with the concept referencing humanity’s position on “Global warming was clearly understood 30 years the abyss. ago but it’s taken us 30 years to get to the point where governments are actually admitting it, never A two-week trip on Baffin Island, Canada – home mind doing anything about it. And frankly, they’re to some of the highest walls in the world and not doing enough,” says Hill. “We never thought twin-peaked Mount Asgard – was extremely it would take 25 years to complete the project. arduous and required carrying large amounts of I thought that people would pick up on it after five equipment and eating dehydrated food. It was also years and we’d have international support and it very remote. To get there and back also involved would be exhibited around the world but we came multiple river crossings in glacial water. across the same negativity that the scientists have come across because people didn’t understand it, And that’s before they even got to making a or if they did understand it, it wasn’t in their interest sculpture and photographing it as well as waiting for to act on it.” the weather to come right. Sometimes it doesn’t, as was the case in the Isle of Skye, Scotland where it With the climate emergency that has now rained for a week. changed and Fine Line has already been featured in BBC4 series Nature and Us: A History through They also need to be on location long enough to Art. They’re hopeful their work will inspire people to be able to gather materials and then be in a position take action. where the light is good enough for photography. 104

Visualising the invisible ENVIRONMENT To express the fine line representing interconnectedness and interdependence of all living systems a symbolic line has been superimposed onto each of the final sculptures in the book. “Some of the sculptures have been really hard Weaving sculptures is something she enjoys Photographs by Martin Hill, work. Some of them are very simple and quick. because it means she is working with her bare extracted with permission Some of them are quite momentary and a hands rather than being gloved up with crampons photograph captures them in that moment and then and ice axes. She also loves working by the from Fine Line: Twelve they’re gone. Some of them are heavy work, heaving water where they often use reflections to Environmental Sculptures rocks and shovelling snow, and one of the most complete their sculptures. Encircle the Earth by Martin challenging things is coping with weather conditions,” says Jones. Hill prefers everything to come from a Hill & Philippa Jones, conceptual idea, which he finds the most satisfying. Bateman Books, $70. There have been times where nature has also worked for them. In Switzerland their stone circle What does he say to people who compare his was “a bit bland”. “We knew a storm was coming work to land artist Andy Goldsworthy? through and the idea was if it’s stormy enough this could transform it, and it did. Over a 24-hour period “Our work is similar to all the other it snowed, and everything changed,” says Hill. environmental land artists because we use nature. Land art is a genre. We are inspired by Two of Jones’ strengths include weaving and Richard Long, Chris Drury and Nils-Udo. We focus improvising, which came in handy in Madagascar. on our art practice and our communication When the couple did a reconnaissance climb all intention without being affected by social media they could find was vegetation, which they didn’t and online discussion. We just ignore it.” want to disturb, so they went back to the valley and made a sculpture from grasses that they then What he cares most about is demonstrating that carried back to the location. nature has the power to regenerate. “That was a very unusual way for us to work but “I believe art can help trigger change and inspire in this case we had to improvise,” says Jones. us to look at problems as opportunities for innovation from which multiple beneficial outcomes increase wellbeing for all.” g 105

HANDY HINTS Life hacks facts Happy garden Tips, tricks and remedies that will change how you go about After pruning weeds like daisies, everyday tasks, for the better. knapweeds and dandelions, shake them over a sheet of paper to collect any seeds Make your own altar that drop. Mix the seeds with some wet soil and roll into little balls. Squash the mini- Create a sacred space in your home. It can be a seed bombs into the cracks in your walls or whole room or a tiny altar on a table, but it will become the place where you apply beauty masks, paving to let the wildflowers meditate, do yoga, write in your journal or set soften man-made edges. intentions. There’s no right or wrong way to build an altar. The best way is to let your intention guide Into Green by Caro Langton you. It could include crystals, flowers, pictures and Rose Ray of RoCo of loved ones, images of goddesses, a bowl of Potato wisdom coins (abundance), incense, essential oils, mirror and candles. Never store potatoes and onions in the same container. The onions make the potatoes go Whole Beauty by Shiva Rose soft. Always store potatoes and onions in a dark airy cupboard to stop potatoes going green. Ginger – how to Light also makes potatoes and onions shoot. use it all Never eat the potatoes if they have gone green. Don’t let the last knob of Green = toxin solanine. ginger go mouldy in the fridge! Thrifty Household – Collected wisdom from The Either grate or slice it, then Country Women’s Association of Victoria Inc. freeze it for up to six months, or try pickling it or adding it to kitchen scrap paste. Use It All by Alex Elliott- Howery & Jaimee Edwards Save your Purging chemicals and cooking water pesticides If you steam or boil You can clean your produce with vegetables, save the water this simple wash recipe: rather than tipping it 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar down the sink. It is full of plus half a litre of water; allow to sit nutrients and, when cooled, for 5 minutes and then remove the makes a free fertiliser for produce and rinse very well. watering your plants. Go With Your Gut by Robyn Youkilis Watercare 106

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