Sustainability Options

19/03/2026

Don't miss out: our next FREE Green Drinks event is coming up!

Are you curious to know what’s being done to regain lost diversity in our Bay of Plenty’s marine systems?

The March Green Drinks will be a kōrero with Dr Chris Battershill, all about recovering our lost natural marine heritage.

Details:
📅 26th March
⏰5.30pm - 7pm
📍 Basestation, Tauranga (downstairs in the Babbage space)

Grab your free ticket and learn more here:
https://events.humanitix.com/green-drinks-8ybmkrsj

18/03/2026

We kicked off our Team Day the only way we know how: coffee first, deep thinking second, and Nik presenting in analogies.

The key highlights from our recent team day…

-Nik, our official ‘Chief Reminder Officer’, treated us to the now‑iconic “Sustainability Options is a cake” analogy. 🎂 Turns out we’re the ingredients - stirred, beaten, mixed, and somehow still delicious. Jessie even smashed open a chocolate smash cake to keep the theme going.
-Caitlin jumped in with insights from our recent surveys and what they mean for improving our mahi.
-We reflected on what makes a great team and the behaviours that help us feel respected and valued.
-We did a strengths‑based activity, giving us awareness of our communication styles so we can show up even better. 💪
-Anna walked us through her work on our Standard Operating Procedures… even great cakes need recipes.

If you want to learn more about our team, check out our staff profiles: https://www.sustainabilityoptions.org.nz/this-team/ 😊

16/03/2026

Jo was invited back for an encore presentation after the Daybreak Festival hosted by Priority One. Such an awesome opportunity to share the power of the Inner Development Goals (IDGs). 🌱✨

Rethinking our economic system takes real courage. And it starts with us - because personal transformation is what ultimately drives systemic transformation.

If you’re curious about your own inner shift, we’d love to welcome you to the Inner Development Goals Hub here in Tauranga, as well as our Green Drinks community events.

Keen to learn more or get involved? Reach out to Jo at jo.wills@so.org.nz.

13/03/2026

🌱 A huge mihi to our friends at Vitality Kitchen - Tauranga - a café with heart, purpose, and seriously good kai.

Our connection goes way back to when Jo (and her partner) met Sean just before he opened the café. They clicked instantly… the kind of “vibe attracts vibe” moment that turns into years of friendship and shared kaupapa. As we learned more about each other’s mahi, Sean didn’t hesitate to lean in and support.

These days, Jo runs the Tauranga Inner Development Goals breakfast hub from Vitality Kitchen, and Sean generously backs our Green Drinks events with delicious kai and often attends too. Their food is fully plant‑based, beautifully crafted, and made with a genuine focus on community, connection, and service. They walk the talk of being both for‑purpose and for‑profit, just like us. 💚

We’re grateful for their support, their values, and the welcoming community space they’ve created - a place where the food is good for people and the planet. 🌏

11/03/2026

💚 Why do we do what we do? 💚

Why try and do business with altruism, compassion, generosity and a good dose of hustle - for the good of others?

Simply because we want to leave a more harmonious world for our grandchildren's grandchildren to live in. Because if we don't care for the environment or look out for one another, what sort of world will we leave? 🌏

Check out the why of our for-profit, for-purpose business below 👇

09/03/2026

Check out a few more highlights from Priority One’s Daybreak Festival of Innovation in the video below! 🌟

Jo loved having the chance to share how we can all work together toward a more purposeful economy - a kaupapa that’s close to our hearts. 🌏🌱

And the exciting part… she’s doing an encore presentation tomorrow at Priority One! ✨

And that's a wrap!! DayBreak - Festival of Innovation 2026 was pure magic. We couldn’t be more grateful to share the day with such incredible innovative huma...

09/03/2026

Jessie (our referral hub co-ordinator) took a big, beautiful step in her cultural learning journey last week 🌿✨ As our first point of contact for many whānau, she’s been eager to strengthen her te reo and tikanga knowledge so she can welcome and support people in a mana-enhancing way.

She spent the day at Hūria Marae, experiencing her very first pōwhiri alongside others who were also new to the process. There was whakawhanaungatanga, kōrero about tikanga, space for pātai, and learning about the significance of the marae’s design - a full day of connection and insight.

Jessie says, “It was such a beautiful experience to be a part of, it gave me goosebumps. I loved this experience; it was a true privilege to be welcomed onto the marae with such open arms. As someone who is still learning about Aotearoa [Jessie grew up in South Africa], it was incredibly special to be immersed in the culture and the stories of the people and their marae. It was a safe and welcoming space where I could ask questions about things I have always wanted to know, and gain a deeper understanding in a way that honoured the mana of the place and its people. So lovely to round off the experience by singing a waiata with the women of the marae.”

A huge mihi to SociaLink Tūhono Pāpori - Western Bay of Plenty for organising, and Huria Marae for the warmth, generosity, and opportunity to learn more about Te Ao Māori 🤍

09/03/2026

Every whānau deserves a home that reaches 20°C on a cold winter’s night. And that’s exactly what the 20 Degrees kaupapa is all about. 💚

Led by our team at Sustainability Options, we work alongside whānau across the Bay of Plenty to create warmer, drier, healthier homes through free home assessments, minor repairs, education, and collaboration. 🏠

Journeys like Michelle’s are only possible because of our funders, partners, and the incredible generosity of our community.

For more than 70 years, Michelle’s whānau home has been the centre of their lives. But when she returned to care for her father living with dementia, the whare had deteriorated so badly that rain poured through the roof, the bathroom floor had rotted out, and black mould was making her tamariki sick.

With support from Te Puni Kōkiri and the 20 Degrees programme, this whānau transformed a near‑uninhabitable house into a warm, dry, healthy home - and rediscovered their own confidence to keep restoring it. 🌿

If you want to help more whānau like Michelle’s this winter, any koha makes a real difference. Your support helps us go the extra mile where it matters most.👇
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/20-degrees-1?fbclid=IwY2xjawQbFmZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeDQ8Qu-QAzqddcyH3JyTthzKyU5RcOj1nw-HiAVApmR3dRj_UN43KQkVyZE8_aem_sY_lY1MlP14-DyWPwChK0A

04/03/2026

Our coasts are under unprecedented pressure. But what’s being done to regain lost diversity in our Bay of Plenty’s marine systems?

The March Green Drinks will be a kōrero with Dr Chris Battershill, about recovering our lost natural marine heritage.

At the event, Dr Battershill will dive into the effects from urban/human activities on our marine environment.

But it’s not all marine gloom – he will also be talking about what we can do, with the marine restoration projects currently being championed. This includes re-establishing 'ecological corridors' from the open coast to our sub-estuaries and rivers and working with regional iwi and industry (forestry/farming) to examine improved ways of managing catchments.

This is a FREE event. Check out the details below -
📅 26th March
⏰5.30pm - 7pm
📍 Basestation, Tauranga (downstairs in the Babbage space)

Grab your free ticket and learn more here:
https://events.humanitix.com/green-drinks-8ybmkrsj

Thank you to our generous sponsors Vitality Kitchen - Tauranga, Basestation and Zeden Cider Co. for helping make this possible.

📢Special announcement!

Bay of Plenty Regional Council is inviting community feedback on its draft Annual Plan and a proposed amendment to the Long-Term Plan. This is a hugely significant consultation in a time of change and uncertainty. The consultation focuses on some major generational investment decisions and some key topics, such as a question whether to invest in more, the same or less indigenous biodiversity enhancement. Please click the link to find out more and make your submission. BOPRC would love to hear your thoughts. https://www.participate.boprc.govt.nz/consultation2026

Come along to hear about the range of marine restoration projects that focus on re-establishing 'ecological corridors', supporting coastal and marine ecosystems

03/03/2026

"Learning of each provider’s compassion and motivation to help whānau to have healthier homes was very connecting. It was definitely a shared feeling in the room. I got the impression that each provider is striving to go the extra mile where possible to help families - beyond criteria and eligibility." - Caitlin, Sustainability Options 💚

Our blog is BACK! 🎉
In this blog, Caitlin writes her reflections from the regional Healthy Homes Initiative hui, where five providers came together for two days of learning and connection.
Take a peek into two days in the life of Sustainability Options 👇

This blog is written by Caitlin at Sustainability Options (I manage our comms, referrals, and do some in-house research). For context, two weeks ago, a team of us from Sustainability Options (SO) went

25/02/2026

Yesterday, Jo facilitated the 'Leading within Complex Systems for Powerful Change' workshop at the DayBreak Festival of Innovation. 🧠 It was a unique event bringing curious people together, to connect and learn.

While soaking up the rest of the festival, Jo’s personal highlight was hearing from keynote speaker Melissa Clark-Reynolds, who spoke about turning signals into strategy. As Jo put it, “She’s great. She’s always on point.”

Jo left the event feeling grateful to Priority One for responding to her expression of interest to speak about how a purposeful economy can serve people and the planet, and how economies are shaped by us. 💡

And sometimes when you put ideas out into the world, interesting things happen. Since yesterday, new opportunities have already popped up for Jo to run sessions with other organisations. Watch this space! 🌱 ✨

25/02/2026

The Inner Development Goals intention is to provide a common, accessible language to address the gap between knowledge and action, for some of the major challenges we're facing. 🌏

🔗 Here's a great article by co-founder Erik Fernholm about the Inner Development Goals. If you'd like to know more, get in touch with Jo, an IDG ambassador, by emailing her at jo.wills@so.org.nz

Erik Fernholm: Addressing the Root Cause, Not the Symptoms – Why We Started the Inner Development Goals 2025-02-08 Erik Fernholm, Co-founder of the Inner Development Goals (IDG). Photo: Press Image. We already have all the knowledge we need to tackle the climate crisis and the challenges fa...