Minimonos job application

It is easy to convince a child of certain beliefs, harder to mould the mind of a teenager and nigh impossible to change the mind of a grown-up.

I should know – having brought up my two kids by myself for the past 10 years. I have seen their views change - adjusting to their social environment, reacting to new information they gathered and made their own, and building their personal leanings as they grew up into adults of 23 and 20.

It is what you build into them as they grow up that remains with them throughout their lives.

I built into my kids an intrinsic respect for the environment. I remember my daughter, at five years of age, telling her uncle off for throwing a dead branch into the river. She believed then, as she believes now, that throwing anything into a water way is wrong. It is a lesson I taught my kids from a very young age.

I can also remember my ex-wife buying a bundle of under-sized live mud crabs for the children’s dinner when they were about 10 or 11 years old. Together we opened up the strings tying them together and released them into the sea, an expensive exercise but most fulfilling.

These events remain, and remind me of the lessons I taught my children. Today, their respect for environment is as high as it was when they were kids.

I come from a pro-environment background. It is part of my cultural mix. As a practicing vegetarian, respect for the environment and all living things is part of my make-up. In short it is the easiest thing for me to be green, sustainable and understanding.

I am also very spiritually inclined, as can be seen from my blogs. Unity of life, respect for each and a responsible attitude towards the earth governs my spirituality.

Both my kids are non-vegetarian. What can I say? I can’t impose all my beliefs onto them. You have handle them with kid gloves. That’s what grown-ups have been geared to do.

I also believe it will be the children who will lead the way in the new age of greater sustainability, greater respect for Planet Earth and closer understanding of our position in the web of life.

Lastly I sign off each my work emails with this message: Please Be Gentle With The Environment.


My contact details:

Nalinesh Arun
Communications Advisor
Communications Unit
Christchurch City Council
Civic Offices, 163-173 Tuam Street, Christchurch, 8011
PO Box 237, Christchurch, 8140
DDI (03) 941 8250
Mobile 027 599 4573
Email: nalinesh.arun@ccc.govt.nz
Web www.ccc.govt.nz
Please Be Gentle With The Environment