In the last two weeks, roughly 4500 adults and children have been struck down with a waterborne gastro illness found in Havelock North’s water supply.

That’s a third of the town’s entire population.

Most likely source? Ruminant farm animals - quite possibly cows.

The crisis has sparked concerns about industrial agriculture - not just in the Hawke’s Bay but across New Zealand.

Leading freshwater scientist Mike Joy says this is a case of water mismanagement “coming home to roost….we are seeing the legacy of not looking after our water”.

Public health professor Michael Baker says New Zealand’s drinking water is “under huge pressure from…intensification of dairying, which is obviously contaminating surface water a lot more.”

The reasonable thing to do in the face of the Hawke’s Bay crisis would be ... Read more >

The revelation that Shell has advised its investment bank to offload its $1 billion New Zealand portfolio is another big nail in the coffin of the Government’s petroleum agenda.

The Prime Minister has been jumping up and down for years defending the offshore oil industry here, waxing lyrical about the jobs it could create and the income it could generate.

‘Could’ being the key word here.

To date, no deep sea oil has been found in eight concerted years of exploration, and now the biggest rat of all is fleeing the sinking tanker.

After more than 100 years in New Zealand, media across the ditch are reporting that Shell is about to bail.

On Friday The Australian published a story stating that Shell has asked its investment bank, JPMorgan, to ditch its New Zealand portfolio, which includes ... Read more >

On World Photography Day, Greenpeace celebrates the power of photography to inspire action and speak truth to power.

It’s a tough call to select 10 images from the more than 18,000 that Greenpeace has produced in the last 12 months. But this selection gave me a chance to look back at the amazing work that’s happening across the world.

These are not the most beautiful images, but they represent the diversity of the movement. They are a testimony to the courage and willingness of people power to fight for a better future. They define the role of photography in activism. They have the power to transfer the energy and emotions to its audiences; to tell a story that is untold or an event that cannot be put in words.

We have images from Indigenous communities in the Amazon to coral reefs in Au... Read more >

MYTH 1: Solar is only for the rich

The most common argument we hear against solar energy is that encouraging it will somehow widen the gap between rich and poor. The logic goes that because “only rich people can afford solar”, the so-called poor people without it will then have to pay a larger share of the costs to maintain the national grid.

More on this sharing grid costs thing when you hit Myth #3, but in a nutshell, we say, bah humbug to that! Statistically, we’re seeing that solar being a rich kid’s game is simply not true. Of the customers using solar provider solarcity’s “solarZero” energy service, around 40% are below median income households. Under this service, households can get rigged up without the cost of buying the solar system.

And if you think about it logically, this makes s... Read more >

A major palm oil company, which had its sustainability certificates suspended for violating rules designed to prevent the destruction of Indonesia's forests and peatlands, has had those certificates reinstated. This shocking decision by the industry's own sustainability group to lift the suspension sends a message that it's OK for palm oil companies to continue trashing forests in pursuit of profits.

Tree stump in the PT Bumi Sawit Sejahtera (IOI) oil palm concession in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

IOI, one of the biggest palm oil suppliers in the world, was suspended by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in April 2016 for clearing peatland areas and developing land without obtaining required permits. As a result, many of its big-name customers walked away such as Unilever, Cargi... Read more >

12 Aug 2016 - Fonterra has this morning committed to using only responsible palm oil products throughout its supply chains. This means it'll use only PKE and other palm oil products from suppliers that aren't clearing rainforest, developing peatlands or exploiting local communities and workers. A big first step for Fonterra....although we'll now be looking to them for a full PKE phase out.

Environmental campaigning often requires patience. As Gandhi used to say "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”.

This week our hard work (and patience) paid off. But it’s not so much us who won, as our farms and rainforests and climate.

Landcorp has announced it will no longer use palm kernel expeller (PKE) on its farms and will focus on grass-feeding its a...

This blog was written to mark International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

Greenpeace campaigner Steve Abel greets Elvis Teddy with a hongi, a traditional Maori greeting, as the Greenpeace crew of the new Rainbow Warrior meet Te Whanau a Apanui at Whangaparaoa, East Cape to celebrate the withdrawal oil giant Petrobras which had planned to drill for deep sea oil. Elvis Teddy, who skippered the San Pietro fishing boat, was arrested by police during the protest.

Kia ora my name is Mike. I am a Maori member of the northern tribes of the far north territories of Aotearoa - New Zealand. I’ve been an indigenous rights activist for most of my adult life. During the 1980’s through to the 90’s together with many others, I was engaged in the struggle to correct historical and contemporary ... Read more >