The fact that TPPA protestors managed to bring Auckland’s entire CBD to a standstill yesterday is a testament to just how powerful a tool people power is.

Even better, it shows us it’s a card we all have in our back pockets.

While outwardly John Key was arrogant enough to dismiss the thousands upon thousands of people who descended on Central Auckland as nothing but a “rent-a-crowd”, internally it must be a cause for concern that the TPPA protests have now escalated to a level that some say has rarely been seen in New Zealand since the 1981 Springbok tour.

Alongside the tens-of-thousands strong traditional march down Queen Street, another few thousand protestors demonstrated clever organisation and innovation by creating a peaceful “TPPA Free Zone” around Sky City Convention Centre, ... Read more >

Coal is widely considered a dead industry here in New Zealand, where yonks ago we discovered the benefits of hydro dams far outweighed unprofitable, unsafe, dirty mines.

We like to think that coal is one of those outdated things that’s still dug up and pumped out into the atmosphere elsewhere - probably in “less developed” countries than our own.  

But the truth is, while other countries are starting to kill coal completely – just yesterday the Prime Minister of Vietnam announced the country would drop all further coal-fired power plant projects – here at home we’re trying to revive it.

On Monday, it was revealed that several of New Zealand’s electricity industry leaders have been conducting backdoor meetings with Huntly Power Station owner Genesis Energy in an attempt to subvert an earl... Read more >

Our good old PM has gone and done it again: Put New Zealand in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The speech he delivered at the launch of the Paris climate change conference yesterday was so outrageous it secured New Zealand the very first ‘Fossil of the Day Award’, gifted by the international coalition of environmental NGOs, Climate Action Network (CAN).

News of the award quickly spread to media around the world, no doubt creating many a chuckle at our expense.

In a nutshell, Key decided it would be a top idea to use his opening speech at the talks to call on countries to take more responsibility and eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.

Sounds alright… aside from the minor issue that at the same time as Key and his cronies are demanding this of other countries, they are actually i... Read more >

The veil of secrecy behind the controversial TPPA has just been lifted, and it spells bad news for New Zealanders, the seas we swim and fish in, and for the air we breath.

Greenpeace NZ policy advisor, Nathan Argent, says the deal, cooked up between New Zealand, the USA and 10 other nations, will stifle efforts to combat climate change and instead strengthen the arm of the most powerful polluters on the planet at a time we should be consigning them to history.

“The ugly truth behind this deal it that it’s clearly been concocted for the sole benefit of foreign companies and their sharp-suited billionaires, not for the people of New Zealand,” he says.

“The inclusion of so-called investor state dispute settlement clauses gives special legal rights to foreign investors, which could see our... Read more >

Paul Hilton has watched countless sharks have the fins sliced from their bodies, some of them still alive and left to suffer an excruciating death.

The thought almost brings him to tears.

The conservation photojournalist is on board the Rainbow Warrior on its Pacific tour to document the out of control tuna fishing industry, that is not only leading to a scary decline in tuna stocks, but contributes to hundreds of thousands of sharks being killed for their fins every year.

Paul has dedicated the last decade of his life to investigating and exposing this cruel industry in an effort to give the apex predators one more shot.

But with some shark species down by as much as 90%, time is running out.

“Sharks basically regulate the world’s oceans,” says Paul. “If they die, we’re in big trouble... Read more >