This week on Green Desk, Bronwyn talked about climate anxiety with Michael Apathy, a psychotherapist, ecotherapist and activist from Lucid Psychotherapy in Christchurch. The American Psychological Association defines climate anxiety as "a chronic fear of environmental doom". As predictions for the future of our planet grow increasingly dire, this fear manifests itself for many in a range of emotions from grief to anger. Michael talks about how he encourages his clients to deal with these...

This week on The Green Desk, 95bFM reporter Bronwyn Wilde spoke to Kepa Morgan about a Māori approach to understanding and restoring the vitality of ecosystems in Aotearoa. 

This week on The Green Desk, Bronwyn Wilde spoke to Dr Kēpa Morgan about mauri modelling  - a framework for decision-making which measures sustainability trends.   Unlike a purely economic view of sustainability, the model recognises four dimensions of wellbeing,  environmental, cultural, social and economic. Kēpa first invented the mauri-o-meter in his 2008 thesis about municipal waste water management, but since then it has been applied throughout the country to a number of ecosystems,...

This week on the Green Desk, Bronwyn spoke to Tessa Clarke, the co-founder of the mobile app, Olio, which helps to mitigate household waste by allowing people to give their excess food and other items to their neighbours. The app began the United Kingdom, but it has now spread throughout the world, including here in New Zealand where food waste is very much a prevalent social, economic and environmental issue. Every year, kiwis waste almost 160,000 tonnes of food, contributing 325,000...

This week Bronwyn spoke to Dr Daniel Hikuroa, a senior lecturer at the Te Wānanga o Waipapa, Māori Studies, at the University of Auckland who has just been appointed the UNESCO Commissioner for Culture for Aotearoa, New Zealand. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was founded in 1946, and New Zealand was the second country to ratify the constitution. It mission is to build peace, eradicate poverty and foster sustainable development and intercultural dialogue...

Bronwyn speaks to Kevin Moran from Save Our Springs about Te Waikoropupū Springs which are currently the subject of a Water Conservation Order being challenged in the Environment Court. Located close to Takaka in Golden Bay, these freshwater springs are the largest in New Zealand and contain some of the clearest water found in the world. The iconic blue-tinted waters are recognised as a wāhi tapu by the Māori Heritage Council and are of great cultural and spiritual significance to local iwi...

Today on the Green Desk, Bronnie speaks to Liam Prince, co-founder of Takeaway Throwaways, an organisation seeking to ban single use disposable plastic service ware for food and drink and replace them with reusable alternatives. The closure of cafes during Alert Level 4 meant that more than 20 million takeaway coffee cups that would have otherwise gone to the landfill were avoided. However, with businesses reopening under Alert Levels 3 and 2, many have been hesitant to bring in their...

Today on the Greendesk Bronnie spoke to representatives from School Strikes for Climate New Zealand about their online strike event this Friday. May 15th will be the fourth time New Zealand youths will strike, inspired by Swedish teengager GretaThunberg’s “Friday’s for Future” movement.  Coco Lovatt from Avondale College and Oli Morphew from Wellington Girls’ College were both involved with the historical strikes last September which saw 170,000 people take to the streets nationwide.  You...

Today on the Green Desk Bronnie spoke to Philip Solaris, the CEO of Xcraft, a company who develop UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) for environmental and humanitarian use in New Zealand and the Pacific. As well as drones, they have more recently begun work on unmanned seacraft, one of which, named Proteus, was the topic of the interview. Along with its many functions for emergency rescue and scientific data collection, it also has the ability to identify and report illegal fishing...

Last week the Ministry for the Environment released “Our Freshwater 2020” a report highlighting the declining state of our rivers, lakes, streams and catchments. An update on the 2017 report, this release emphasizes the significance and urgency of the situation. It identifies four common threats to freshwater: habitat changes, pollution, water use and climate change. Bronwyn picks out some highlights from the report, as well as reactions from Forest & Bird, Fish & Game, Choose Clean...

Last week, Oscar Perress was able to talk to Samuel Miller McDonald, a journalist, writer and student currently based in the UK for his studies at Oxford. Though talking for over an hour, their discussion around Covid-19 can be understood as a discussion on a need for systems change. Miller McDonald’s studies are focussed in Climate and Energy Politics, so a large section of their discussion was around conceptualising a response to the climate crisis from how our world has reacted and...

In August 2017, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) granted Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) a consent to carry out iron ore extraction from the sand beds in the Exclusive Economic Zone off the South Taranaki coast.  Iwi and environmental groups successfully appealed the granting of consent in the High Court, however the matter was appealed to the Court of Appeal.  On Friday the Court released its judgment, coming to the same conclusion as the High Court but on completely different...

With finance minister Grant Robertson announcing billions of dollars to combat the effects of Covid-19 and the subsequent recession, some have seen this as an opportunity to change the way live, work and interact with our planet. Bronwyn spoke to Amanda Larsson from Greenpeace about their proposed Green Covid Response, which urges the government to invest this money into clean transformative industries and uplifting marginalised communities. No doubt you have seen the stories about the...

With finance minister Grant Robertson announcing billions of dollars to combat the effects of Covid-19 and the subsequent recession, some have seen this as an opportunity to change the way live, work and interact with our planet. Bronwyn spoke to Amanda Larsson from Greenpeace about their proposed Green Covid Response, which urges the government to invest this money into clean transformative industries and uplifting marginalised communities. No doubt you have seen the stories about the...

This week Bronwyn spoke to tutor and PhD student at University of Canterbury, Ngārie Scartozzi about her "eClean bioreactor" technology which cleans contaminants from water bodies. She has just received a grant of $150,000 from Astrolab and has 12 weeks to build a prototype of the bioreactor which has been the focus of her research for the past 15 years. A key focus of Scartozzi's work is integrating mātauranga Maori with scientific research. She began by telling us what started her off on...

This week Bronwyn spoke to tutor and PhD student at University of Canterbury, Ngārie Scartozzi about her "eClean bioreactor" technology which cleans contaminants from water bodies. She has just received a grant of $150,000 from Astrolab and has 12 weeks to build a prototype of the bioreactor which has been the focus of her research for the past 15 years. A key focus of Scartozzi's work is integrating mātauranga Maori with scientific research. She began by telling us what started her off on...

Today on the Green Desk, Bronwyn had a kо̄rero with Phil Jones from the Sustainable Business Network about their GulfX project which aims to restore the mauri of the Hauraki Gulf. The recently published State of our Gulf report highlighted the increasingly dire state of the marine park.  Some of the more shocking statistics of the included the occurrence of ten mass mortality events due to fish and shellfish in the gulf in the past ten years, and nine toxic algal blooms. This is due in part...

Today on the Green Desk, Bronwyn had a kо̄rero with Phil Jones from the Sustainable Business Network about their GulfX project which aims to restore the mauri of the Hauraki Gulf. The recently published State of our Gulf report highlighted the increasingly dire state of the marine park.  Some of the more shocking statistics of the included the occurrence of ten mass mortality events due to fish and shellfish in the gulf in the past ten years, and nine toxic algal blooms. This is due in part...

Whitebait fritters are a nationally iconic delicacy. But if we aren't careful, soon there may not be enough of the fish left to fill those fritters.  'Whitebait' is really just a catch all term for the juveniles of six species of fish. Five of these are migratory galaxiids, specifically inanga, banded kōkopu, giant kōkopu, kōaro and shortjaw kōkopu. The sixth species is common smelt. Recently, three of these species were updated to the threat status of "at risk/declining" and a fourth being...

Whitebait fritters are a nationally iconic delicacy. But if we aren't careful, soon there may not be enough of the fish left to fill those fritters.  'Whitebait' is really just a catch all term for the juveniles of six species of fish. Five of these are migratory galaxiids, specifically inanga, banded kōkopu, giant kōkopu, kōaro and shortjaw kōkopu. The sixth species is common smelt. Recently, three of these species were updated to the threat status of "at risk/declining" and a fourth being...

Whitebait fritters are a nationally iconic delicacy. But if we aren't careful, soon there may not be enough of the fish left to fill those fritters.  'Whitebait' is really just a catch all term for the juveniles of six species of fish. Five of these are migratory galaxiids, specifically inanga, banded kōkopu, giant kōkopu, kōaro and shortjaw kōkopu. The sixth species is common smelt. Recently, three of these species were updated to the threat status of "at risk/declining" and a fourth being...

This week on the first Green Desk of the year, new producer Bronwyn Wilde interviews with Rebecca  Diederichsen from Kotahi Aviary,  a captive breeding facility for the critically endangered shore plover bird. Formed in 2018 by the Department of Conservation and local Hawke's Bay philanthropist Andy Lowe, the aviary is the third of its kind in the country. With seven resident birds, its goal is to breed 40 chicks a year for release onto offshore islands.  Rebecca, the sole employee at the...

This week on the first Green Desk of the year, new producer Bronwyn Wilde interviews with Rebecca  Diederichsen from Kotahi Aviary,  a captive breeding facility for the critically endangered shore plover bird. Formed in 2018 by the Department of Conservation and local Hawke's Bay philanthropist Andy Lowe, the aviary is the third of its kind in the country. With seven resident birds, its goal is to breed 40 chicks a year for release onto offshore islands.  Rebecca, the sole employee at the...

Earlier this year on Green Desk, Mitchell Fuller spoke to Hugh Wilson from the Hinewai reserve. In July this year there was a film made about the reserve and about Hugh Wilson, the Manager.   the Fools and Dreamers film made by Happen Film can be found on YouTube at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VZSJKbzyMc&fbclid=IwAR3XF9C5LJ7U1q0no7f4u6Ozt_VCVVmQFDf1zyuHfLAL7wAjINhexPnLf1Q ) We thought we would revisit this story from earlier this year. Mitchell and Hugh discuss the carbon credits...