Walking the Talk – Wayne Walker

Profile long-time environmentalist and Soil & Health member, Wayne Walker

Wayne Walker is these days an Auckland City councillor, but in the past he was a busy cog in the wheels of the Soil & Health Association’s magazine, Soil & Health (today, Organic NZ).

Wayne joined Soil & Health in 1990 when editor Chris Wheeler brought him alongside to write gardening articles.

“The magazine wasn’t available in many shops then, and advertising was limited,” Wayne recalls. “Distribution was virtually confined to subscribers. The magazine required marketing, and it was clear that someone should actively sell advertising. In May of 1991 I drove my station wagon full up with Soil & Health stuff for the AGM from Auckland to Invercargill. Steve Byers was the Southland president then. On the way there and back I called on health shops and bookshops which stocked Soil & Health – the Biodynamics Association in Napier, Weleda in Havelock North, and I visited organic gardens such as Mallards in Christchurch, and Tony West in Nelson. That helped get the magazine onto retail shelves and, as feature stories came up, I sold advertising to go with them.”

Soil & Health was New Zealand’s only environmental magazine at the time, Wayne says. Improved sales meant a bigger print run, which brought down the unit cost and eventually a move to bi-monthly, rather than quarterly publication. The office was then sited upstairs at the Northcote shops (now it’s at Birkenhead) with Chris Wheeler as editor based at home, and Lynn Watson in the office with Deidre Crewe and Dorothy King. Perry Spiller was national president. Ian Fielding was Auckland president – and still is.

As an Auckland City councillor, Wayne led the Council’s Low Carbon Action Plan to reduce carbon emissions. He works hard to provide an environmental lead, such as with the campaign to make Auckland parks and streets glyphosate free.

When you see where he’s come from, that makes perfect sense. As a youngster passionate about plants and trees, he would name every plant he saw while biking to school, and when he spotted flora he couldn’t name, he’d engage a mental camera to take a snapshot and look it up later.

He became interested in conservation and joined the Native Forest Action Council, campaigning in his teens against logging in the 1970s.

“We succeeded in getting all the unprotected native bush areas into National Parks, including Whirinaki bordering Urewera National Park, and Pureora National Park between Lake Taupo and Te Kuiti,” says Wayne. “Hardly anyone in New Zealand knew what a kōkako was before our Pureora campaign, notable for the tree-sitting protest, but most people do now.”

In the late 70s Wayne helped set up the Epicentre (Environment and Peace Information Centre), and was co-ordinator for a time. Greenpeace was upstairs and in an adjacent building Friends of the Earth occupied a small office. Wayne helped their campaigns to ban 2,4,5-T, remove lead from petrol, and their anti-whaling and nuclear-free campaigns.

On OE from 1979–80, after completing a commerce degree in marketing and management, Wayne visited many environmental groups and activists in the Northern Hemisphere, including the remarkable Lawrence Hills, founder of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HRDA, now commonly known by its working name, Garden Organic, www.gardenorganic.co.uk) was one of the organisations (along with Soil & Health and the Biodynamic Association) that founded the New Zealand Biological Producers and Consumers Society (NZBPCS).  That became the owner of the BioGro certification agency.

“When I got back, I opened a large garden centre in New Lynn, and promoted organics, vege growing, composting, and toxic spray alternatives as much as I could. I met a lot of great people,” says Wayne.

Having the garden centre led Wayne to write gardening columns, features and books; to a garden design consultancy; and to manufacturing, including composting, worm farming, and water conservation products. One compost bin he patented was called Wayne’s Wobbler. It was built on a diagonal axis to mix the compost more effectively and get it out of the bin easily. He also developed home worm farms, then largely unheard of.

In 1994, as the water crisis in Auckland became dire, his water conservation interests culminated in the design and production of downpipe diverters which sold exceptionally well, until the rain came back. His passion for water conservation continued into the development of backflow prevention techniques and equipment, and he became an expert in this specialist building compliance field.

Today he notes the subjects of Soil & Health features, articles and advertisements of the early 1990s have become virtually mainstream: solar power; free-range eggs; organic vegetables, fruit and meat on supermarket shelves; environmentally friendly building; climate change; naturopathy; herbs; wool insulation; environmentally friendly paint: all common now, but not then.

“It was great to be part of a magazine with knowledgeable and concerned contributors who I learnt from,” says Wayne. “Gillian Painter on herbs, Meriel Watts on toxins – still going strong, Brendon Hoare, Sue Muller, Margaret Peace, Bob Crowder, Chris May, Owen Wilkes, Leonie Bartrom, and more.”

Since his involvement with Soil & Health (1990–1996), Wayne has seen many harmful chemicals taken off shelves, including 2,4,5-T, endosulfan, Benlate, and others. Soil & Health, along with other organisations including Pesticide Action Network, has been involved in campaigns against a number of now banned pesticides, and others not yet banned, such as 24-D.

Being an Auckland City councillor is more strenuous and challenging than most people want to take on, but Wayne still finds time for his pet projects, one of which is a community garden at the Whangaparaoa Hall. This is based on a much larger garden in Melbourne known as Veg Out, which incorporates art and other community activities. Linked to the Whangaparaoa community garden is a ‘Love Soup Kitchen’, and a community radio station due to go live in August.

“The radio station will be great for community groups who will be able to communicate to the broader community,” says Wayne. “I don’t work by myself on these things. Organic and environmentally friendly living comes with the input of many, and I’ll continue to take a huge interest. My interest when I was a young person hasn’t waned. If anything, in today’s environment it has increased, and to my way of thinking should be top of mind for us all.”

First published in Organic NZ – September/October 2016 – Vol.75 No.5

www.organicnz.org.nz