From left to right, Kate Moss-Mason, Ashim GC, Tom Stewart and Dayna Williams with bags full of rubbish they have collected. Photo: Eli Adlhoch-Shewell.
Winning an award that recognises her conservation efforts was a nice way for Kate Moss-Mason to wrap up several years of study.
Kate finished her Master of Science in Botany on August 10. Nine days later, she learned she had won the ‘Keep Dunedin Beautiful Pod Award for Individual Excellence, Commended’ recognising her years of work picking up rubbish.
“I have been picking up rubbish around Dunedin on and off for about four years through a group called ‘Let’s get Trashed’,” she says.
“Picking up rubbish is a nice use of a few hours in the weekend, cool way to socialise with friends and show that we can all make a positive difference even if we pick up just one piece of rubbish.”
Kate didn’t found the group ‘Let’s get Trashed’, but wound up leading it along with help from Ashim GC, and Kelsey Porter of the Dunedin City Council (DCC). Kelsey supplied Kate with reusable rubbish bags, rubbish grabbers and hi-vis clothing.
Winning the award “felt great”, Kate says.
“I moved out of Dunedin and am living up in Tauranga for work, so unfortunately missed the ceremony.
“Luckily my good friends who I’ve picked up a lot of rubbish with, Tom Stewart, Jessica Paull and Sajini Dissanayake went to the ceremony in my place.”
The trio shared “really heart-warming” photos and videos of the evening with her.
“I’m glad they enjoyed it.”
The annual ceremony, run by the DCC, celebrates the cool work that a lot of different people and groups get done around the city, Kate says.
“It’s usually a really feel-good event. It can be a bit glum reading the news sometimes, so it’s cool to highlight all of the positive things people are doing around the city, often in their spare time.
“Together we can make a big difference.”
Kate’s Master’s research focused on the use of native seeds for ecological restoration in Aotearoa New Zealand.
She looked at seed provenancing, and did some experiments priming native seeds and applying pre-treatments to overcome seed dormancy.
“This is a really important area of research because now, more than ever, we rely on ecological restoration to combat mounting environmental damage,” she says.
“There is a lot of emphasis on tree planting programmes in policy and in media, but not so much research into how to achieve these ambitious but important goals that we all benefit from.
“It’s cool to answer some questions and identify other areas that need future research.”
-Kōrero by internal communications adviser, Koren Allpress