When we talk about water as a stakeholder, it’s a business’s way of saying to the ocean ‘we see you’.
Ocean. Oceans waves and tides and seabed. Oceans creatures. Oceans ability to hold and heal. Oceans place in the order of things, in the current of life. It’s saying as a business, that we see all that. We see that Ocean is alive. That Ocean (and all of nature) has inherent rights and interests. And that as a business - a Surf and Coffee shop - whose existence is based solely on the existence of Ocean, we will give as much, if not more consideration to the rights and interests of Ocean and Water.
Drop in is not a Not For Profit, it is not a charity, it is not a heavily invested in venture. It is a small owner operated business with a deep love of the ocean. We are situated at 153 Pukepoto Rd, Kaitaia. What that address doesn’t tell you, is that we are situated on the remnant of one of the largest wetlands of Aotearoa, inhabited historically (and currently) by the people of Te Rarawa. That the water flowing from the hills in the south and through this highly valuable ecosystem, though 15 minutes drive from the west coast, flows to the Rangaunu Harbour on the east coast. And that, both of these coasts are home to incredible landscapes, world class surf breaks and wonderful creatures.
It is this complete awe of the natural environment which drives us to think about the health and well being of water. How is what we are doing affecting water?
Is the product essential?
Could the product exist in a cradle to cradle cycle?*
For now, for us, this means having only 100% Natural fibres or 100% synthetic fibres
Is it organic?
As it intertwines with our other values of Wāhine / Women and Wahi / Place the questions get bigger.
Is it Fair Trade?
How local is the product?
Does it support local economies?
Does it support wāhine owned and operated businesses?
And of course we are not perfect. We are bound by the contexts of our cash flow, availability of product, cost of product, market demand, geographical isolation, customer base so on and so forth.
* Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is a design framework that promotes a circular economy where materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in safe and healthy systems, rather than being discarded as waste. It moves beyond "less bad" approaches like reducing waste and toxicity, aiming for products and systems that are intentionally designed to be beneficial and regenerative. Instead, a circular ecosystem, where recycling takes precedence, using two streams: technical (materials are fed back into the manufacturing process to make new products) and biological (returned to the environment in the same state as they entered the cycle). The model instead suggests economic growth can be gained through an intertwining of technology and culture with the surrounding environment - so manufacturing is re-shaped to become part of the natural ecosystem, while still providing all of the benefits and comforts of modern life that workers and consumers expect.