Today is love DOC day. It is a day where we give thanks to the guys and girls who are out there, knee deep in mud and tip-toeing through the trees, looking after our treasured land.

Day after day, come rain, shine or high winds DOC staff are out there, safeguarding our heritage, our wildlife and our identity to ensure that New Zealand remains clean and green. They are the bastions of conservation, the protectors of our most fragile species like the Kiwi and the Kakapo and the guardians of our tramping trails. We owe them a lot.

Yet, like many of our iconic birds, they are under threat.

As the National led Government looks to roll back our environmental laws to suit big business, now more than ever we need a strong, well -resourced conservation department. But Nick Smith and Steven Joyc... Read more >

When nobody was watching over Easter, our Government did something very shady. No, they didn’t nick your Easter eggs. What they did was much, much worse.

Simon Bridges, Minister of Energy and Resources, tried to nick your right to protest in an embarrassing and clumsy attempt to suck up to to foreign oil companies. The new minister, who appears to be fumbling with his new job, and with the concept of democracy, has proposed a law change designed to crack down on peaceful protest at sea.

According to SImon Bridges, if you stand up and defend our oceans and beaches from an oil spill, you should face jail or a heavy fine.  

This new law won’t even be checked for breaches of the Bill of Rights -- it's the type of law-making that is more suited to Soviet-era Russia, not New Zealand.

Bri...

New Zealanders value their environment. We are blessed with the great outdoors, beautiful beaches and a rich diversity of nature in our very own back yard. It is what gives us that unique quality of life that is makes us the envy of the world. 

And we have these natural spoils because Kiwis before us have worked tirelessly to put in place sensible laws that ensure we protect our heritage, our land and our values. And we should be proud of these achievements.

Yet, the very laws that were once held aloft as being the gold standard for putting the environment at the heart of development are now under threat.

To many, the Resource Management Act (RMA) – the very fabric of our clean, green nation - means different things to different people. For some it’s about building a deck or an extensi... Read more >

Solid Energy has just announced that they will drop plans for digging up lignite in NZ. Whilst the Government’s mishandling of the state-owned business will have widespread implications for those communities who depend on Solid Energy for their economic lifeline, today’s decision sends a very clear signal about the future of burning coal. It is good news.

The collapse of the coal price and Don Elder’s preference for “Think Big” projects have seen the company’s finances go up in smoke. And the centrepiece of Elder’s vision for the company was to dig up vast amounts of the most polluting types of coal - lignite - and turn it into fertiliser or diesel. It was a climate bomb just waiting for Elder to light the fuse.

But this morning, Solid Energy Chairman Mark Ford announced that these plan...

Earlier this week, we launched a report that showed that our clean energy sector could become the beating heart of our nation’s economy whilst creating many tens of thousands of jobs. Here's the infographic, the report, and the full modelling document.

The report was based on detailed economic and energy analysis by DLR, the German Space Agency as well as New Zealand based experts. Its conclusions showed that with the right Government action we could transform our energy landscape and in doing so play a role in delivering the clean technology solutions that the world needs.

At Monday’s official launch on board the Rainbow Warrior in Wellington, we were joined by over a hundred guests including politicians from the Labour and Green parties, business and industry leaders, economists and sci... Read more >