Hiroshi – New Zealand’s only Japanese stand-up comedian – translated this view into action when he organised an anti-whaling comedy show at the Classic Comedy Bar in Auckland in January.
Hiroshi - New Zealand's only Japanese stand-up comedian -
translated this view into action when he organised an anti-whaling
comedy show at the Classic Comedy Bar in Auckland in January. He
joined with a handful of other high profile Kiwi comedians to put
on the sell-out show, with all proceeds going to Greenpeace. The
comedians worked for free and Classic director Scott Blanks donated
the venue for the occasion.
"We're just a bunch of comedians who respect nature but are in
no way experts in this area. We wanted to show that the whaling
issue is not just for NGO's and governments, but for everybody,
even comedians! It would be great to see people in other industries
- say librarians or builders - expressing their concerns in their
own unique ways too."
Green is the new black
While studying Politics and Human Geography at university,
Hannah joined the Greenpeace evening phone team and is now the
teamleader. "Greenpeace supporters are very appreciative" said
Hannah, "It's a great job, we get all the thanks, but it's not
actually us putting our bodies on the line."
Hannah, who is considering a career in environmental
communications, grew up in what she describes as a hard-core green
family.Her mother stuck 'Turn lights off' notes around the house;
they had a composting toilet, an outdoor bath and no running hot
water. It was an upbringing she was once taunted for, but now feels
very fortunate to have had.
One thing Hannah is excited about is that it's no longer weird
to care about the planet. There is enormous power in working
together with a few others to achieve positive change, and Hannah's
message for supporters is: "Greenpeace can't do everything so if
there's any issue in your local area that you feel strongly about -
get involved!"
Every little bit counts
It's always nice to be able to say thank you to our dedicated
volunteers like Bera Macclement.
Bera volunteers her services to Greenpeace once a week; helping
with mail outs, distributing leaflets and helping systemise our
storage areas. She also 'mans' the reception desk sometimes,
answering all manner of calls from all parts of New Zealand. For
Bera, volunteering means getting out and about, meeting new people,
and "a sense that I'm doing something useful".
Formerly a physics teacher, Bera has lived in Canada and Africa
and has been involved in a number of activist organizations
including Friends of the Earth and the Green Party. She said she
wasn't particularly interested in the environment until her
mid-twenties.
It was reading Edward Goldsmith's book Blueprint for Survival in
1972 that changed her thinking. A strong believer in taking
personal action Bera says "every little bit counts and once you
start doing something you'll find lots of other things you can
do".
21 kms for the climate
With a goal to get fitter, Jerome Pardington set himself the
challenge of running Auckland's half marathon and at the same time
raising funds for and awareness of Greenpeace's climate campaign.
He ended up raising the fantastic amount of $1,640. Jerome said
signing up lots of friends for sponsorship gave him the extra
motivation he needed to complete the 21kms.
An architect by profession with a strong interest in
sustainability, Jerome says: "climate change is so important that
we need to apply all our intelligence and capacity to solve this
one."
To limit his impact on the Earth, Jerome grows his own
vegetables, describes himself as 'mean' in his usage of
electricity, catches public transport 95% of the time and is very
particular when sourcing building materials.
It's terrific to know supporters like Jerome are engaging others
and raising funds for what's effectively our biggest challenge -
preventing the worst of climate change.