Latest News & Resources
First Timer’s Guide to the Wao Summit
Welcome to your first Wao Summit! Whether you’re here to explore sustainability, learn how to improve your business, or engage with community resilience, this guide will help you navigate key events and make the most of your experience. This blog is a day-by-day, class-by-class breakdown, highlighting must-attend sessions for first-time attendees
Wao Podcast: Giving people the opportunity to be in nature changes people.
Positive change through action with Sam the Trap Man. This interview highlights the power of individual and community action in driving positive environmental change.
Wao Podcast: If you're going to solve the climate crisis, you have to bring everyone along.
Greg Bodeker is a climate scientist with over 130 papers published in atmospheric and climate science. Greg advocates for progressive policies that reduce inequality, ensuring that the least fortunate are not left behind in the fight against climate change.
Wao Podcast: Nobel Prize winning climate scientist on an intergenerational mission.
Dr Jim Salinger, on getting the Boomers to collaborate with the Zoomers! A conversation on climate science, the challenges it faces, and the importance of intergenerational collaboration in addressing climate change.
Ride for Change: Momentum Builds for Active Transport in the Southern Lakes.
Wao is proud to release the Ride for Change Report, showcasing the incredible impact of our recent campaign to promote active transport and low-emissions travel in the Southern Lakes region.
Wao Podcast: Regenerative farming: ecological integrity over profit.
Zeb Horrell on what happens when you combine the values of growing up on a Southland sheep farm with innovation, regenerative thinking and a focus on sustainability?
Wānaka’s Ride for Change: Students Clock Over 8,400km of Active Travel
Since launching in April, Ride for Change has been picking up serious speed across Wānaka!
Wao Podcast: Can business thrive and do the right thing at the same time?
Alec Tang asking the question, can business thrive and do the right thing at the same time? And what about political uncertainty, short-termism and community?
Wao Podcast: Positive medicine: four pillars of health which can transform your life.
Who ever knew that lifestyle changes can be simple and effective, and actually quite easy to do? Mark talks to Dr David Beaumont on transforming healthcare for your family - and humanity.
Wao Podcast: How to solve a housing crisis, hundreds of homes at a time.
Hint: It doesn't require foreign investment or huge government debt, and the houses are built better, to last longer, and will cost you less to build, buy and rent! Sam Stubbs tells us more in this episode.
Wao Podcast: Grassroots goodness: nourishing the community and empowering people with disabilities.
Janice Lee is an inspiration. This episode how social enterprise helps multiple layers of people, gives training and employment to people with disabilities, and solves social problems all at once.
Wao Podcast: Our shapeshifting population: navigating a positive future
If you are at all interested in how Aotearoa New Zealand is changing and where we are heading, this is an episode with Professor Paul Spoonley is for you.
Wao Podcast: The power of community collaboration: dark skies and fewer predators
Dr Leslie Van Gelder shares her insights on community resilience, conservation efforts, and the importance of hopefulness in challenging times.
Driving Systems Change in the Construction Industry
As 2024 concludes, we reflect on a year of systemic progress and look ahead to ambitious plans by the BBWG for 2025 that will continue to foster deep, structural change.
Leading the Charge for Systems Change in 2025.
Our mission is to shift systems—not just for today, but for the future we envision for the Southern Lakes region and beyond.
Better Together: Charles Nimmo
A few weeks before summit, we cast our net to find some extra talent willing to help us cover Wao Summit. We found this wonderful human. Check out Charles’s experience of Wao Summit.
Better Together: Kamani Suppiah
A few weeks before summit, we cast our net to find some extra talent willing to help us cover Wao Summit. We found this wonderful human. Check out Kamani’s experience of Wao Summit.
First Timer’s Guide to the Wao Summit 2024
Welcome to your first Wao Summit! Whether you’re here to explore sustainability, learn how to improve your business, or engage with community resilience, this guide will help you navigate key events and make the most of your experience. This blog is a day-by-day, class-by-class breakdown, highlighting must-attend sessions for first-time attendees
Celebrate Nature: A Family Festival of Fun, Music, and Conservation
Picture this: the majestic views of Lake Hāwea, the crisp mountain air, and a vibrant festival atmosphere alive with music, laughter, and the hum of excitement. The Festival of Nature is not just an event, but an experience that brings together the community for a day of learning, creativity, and inspiration.
Level Up Your Business: Embrace Sustainability and Security at the Queenstown Sessions
The upcoming Queenstown sessions at the Wao Summit offer two dynamic opportunities for businesses to enhance their operations and align with purpose-driven and secure practices.