Today (21 September), around the globe, we mark Peace Day knowing that for many, peace is nowhere to be found. Not today. And unless things change dramatically, not any time soon.

2015 saw the number of refugees and displaced people reach record numbers - surpassing even post-World War II. It is with heavy hearts that we follow the news from around the world. The images are heartbreaking: a terrified child, a ruined hospital, a capsized boat, a city bombed to the ground, a community struggling for survival. For every image that catches the media’s attention, many others go unnoticed. Suffering and grief beyond comprehension and beyond the limits of what people should have to endure, are the daily reality for many.

And while we cannot pretend to comprehend, we must, ask ourselves - what ... Read more >

The New Zealand Government is pleased to announce that next year they’re keen to open more than 500,000 square kilometres of our ocean for oil companies to survey and drill, including parts of the marine mammal sanctuary, home to the world’s most endangered dolphin, the Māui. 

What utter blockheads.

We live in a time when the changing climate means widespread devastation is looming. In our lifetime, we’re going to see mass extinction, sea level rise, threatened food and water security, and an influx of climate refugees. 

Many countries around the world are desperately working together to action plans that cut our dirty fossil fuel emissions before it’s too late. 

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, our Prime Minister and his government are doing worse than nothing - they’re sitting back, twiddli...

It’s said that in war the first casualty is the truth. Increasingly this is now the case in politics and economics as well.

Over the last week or so we’ve witnessed Te Ohu kaimoana crying crocodile tears over the “removal of Maori Treaty rights”.
 
And sadly many are buying into this bullshit.
 
Let’s back the truck up a bit ...
 
Back in 1989 the government began hatching a plan to subvert legitimate Maori authority over the country's fisheries.
 
The origins of Maori authority are fundamentally sourced in the principal of “mana tuku iho” (mana that originates from the atua and is handed down through the generations.)
 
This authority was subsequently acknowledged and protected by Te Tiriti o Waitangi:
 
"Ko te Kuini o Ingarani ka wakarite ka wakaae ki nga Rangitira ki nga hapu – ki nga tangata katoa... Read more >

Controversy now surrounds the proposal for a giant ocean sanctuary around the Kermadecs, with the fishing industry taking the government to court to try to stop it.

The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary would be massive - 620,000 square kilometres - and provide protection to millions of seabirds, three species of endangered turtles, dozens of marine mammals and a third of all the fish species in New Zealand waters. It is a tremendously important sustainability measure by this government and is to be applauded, which we did when it was announced.

While the vast majority of New Zealanders support the proposed Sanctuary, the fishing industry (unsurprisingly) opposes it.

This is all pretty standard and to be expected. But here’s the wrinkle - one of the groups opposing it, Te Ohu Kaimoana (TOKM), w...

Early this morning, we travelled to the proposed site of the Ruataniwha irrigation dam in Hawke’s Bay. With a small crane we uplifted the construction site office, put it on the back of a truck and drove it 100kms to Napier.  There we left it at the door of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC).

There is huge opposition to the Ruataniwha dam because it would drive industrial dairying and further pollute Hawke’s Bay’s freshwater.  It would also need to be subsidised with millions of tax and ratepayer dollars.  Read more >

Over 40,000 people have already signed the petition to stop Government-funded river pollution, and 8,500 have sent a direct message to the HBRC – it’s clear as day that this is an issue that deeply resonates with New Zealanders.

If the Ruataniwha dam goes ahead, it will have r...