Rebuilding connection – community and sustainability
by Robin Allison
In September I was one of the presenters at a book launch in China, home to 1.3 billion people and one of the most rapidly urbanising countries in the world. It was held on the 28th floor of a new ultra-shiny high-tech building in the centre of the Beijing business district, rising above motorways amongst a forest of other sky-scrapers. Another presenter spoke before me; and there, on the screen was a photo from 1970’s Waitati, of my old mate Bill sitting in a bush bath surrounded by the light, space and beauty of the New Zealand landscape. The contrast couldn’t have been more extreme; and yet this back-to-the-land New Zealand experience was relevant and interesting to the Chinese people in attendance.