• Light the Way 2020 (Railway Reserve, Nelson)
    We believe that this thoroughfare is a vital part of the Nelson commuter network for cyclists, pedestrians and skateboarders, as well as a very popular local route for Nelson south residents, dog walkers and runners. Long distance cyclists typically use this route also. By lighting the way we hope this route will become safer and more appealing for movement outside of daylight hours, particularly in the winter, giving us more choice to move around our city without motor vehicles, and to recreate more safely in our local neighbourhood.
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    Created by Ange Palmer
  • Cancel RIMPAC 2022: New Zealand withdraw!
    We are living through a time of tremendous change, when ensuring a healthy and peaceful world is paramount. Decolonisation of the Pacific: The foundation of that peaceful and just world is built upon real decolonisation of the Pacific. We believe the Pacific should be free and independent. RIMPAC directly stands in the way of decolonisation. It is held on occupied Indigenous land in and around Hawai'i, a place that was stolen and illegally annexed by the US to be used for sugar plantations and giant military base for Pacific operations. Many Kanaka Ma’oli, or Indigenous Hawai’ians, demand a return of their stolen lands and the rightful recognition of their legitimate authority over the islands. Dozens of navies, invited by the US military, descend on Hawai’i and the Pacific to bomb, to shoot, to explode and to pollute Indigenous territories. It is an invasion. RIMPAC is just one of many military training exercises conducted by the US military in the region. Nuclear-free and weapons-free Pacific: Now is a time when active demilitarisation of the Pacific should be occurring and held as the standard, to create a healthy and peaceful future, where relationships between all peoples of the region flourish. As the People’s Charter for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific stated in 1983, the Pacific “environment continues to be despoiled by foreign powers developing nuclear weapons for a strategy of warfare that has no winners, no liberators and imperils the survival of all humankind.” The New Zealand armed forces will be playing “realistic” war games again alongside the armed forces of four nuclear weapons states involved in RIMPAC 2022 - Britain, France, India and the USA - despite the 1987 NZ Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act prohibiting New Zealanders from aiding and abetting those possessing or having control of nuclear weapons. The devastating legacy of nuclear testing in the Pacific has caused much harm to generations of Indigenous Pasefika peoples. The nuclear powered RIMPAC war machine is unwelcome. Ecological restoration and regeneration: While communities across the Pacific work towards ecological restoration and protection of ecosystems and biodiversity, against the ravages of climate change and pollution, it is shocking and unacceptable that RIMPAC willfully adds to devastation. During RIMPAC, deadly weapons are used on land and sea causing massive environmental destruction to the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Ocean. The live fire training involves shelling islands; using bombs and missiles to sink ships, leaving ammunition, debris and wreckages in the sea; and detonating underwater explosives. The US Navy is exempt from the Marine Mammal Protection Act meaning it can test underwater sonar weapons that kill and injure whales, dolphins and other species. The US military is the world’s single largest user of oil - greater than some entire European states. These emissions are not even counted as part of the Paris agreement with all militaries exempt from counting or revealing their carbon footprint. The warships, fighter planes, troop transport, tanks and other vehicles used during RIMPAC consume vast amounts of fossil fuels, further fueling climate change and conflict. We have a responsibility to not be part of planning for a war in the Pacific that would only see untold human and ecosystem suffering and death. We call for an end to war exercises in the Pacific and for a demilitarised Pacific. New Zealand has the chance now to exercise independent foreign policy and be a Pacific partner and hold peace, stability, and respect for Pacific nations sovereignty by withdrawing from RIMPAC 2022. In 1982 New Zealand withdrew from RIMPAC activities. We can do it again. Join us in demanding that that New Zealand government #CancelRIMPAC 2022 - Sign this petition. This petition is led by the Cancel RIMPAC Aotearoa Coalition. References and more information: For information about the use of fossil fuels by the world’s militaries, visit Brown University’s Cost of War project: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/ClimateChangeandCostofWar The Spinoff: “Dear New Zealand, please don’t bring your war games to my Hawaiian home” https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/10-06-2020/dear-new-zealand-please-dont-bring-your-war-games-to-my-hawaiian-home/ Te Ao News: “Activists want navy out of RIMPAC to avoid Covid-19 spread” https://www.teaomaori.news/activists-want-navy-out-rimpac-avoid-covid-19-spread Open Letter to Prime Minister Ardern in 2020: https://aucklandpeaceaction.wordpress.com/2020/04/08/cancelrimpac-open-letter-to-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-say-no-to-rimpac-military-exercises/ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/418720/rimpac-war-games-exercise-new-zealand-government-urged-to-withdraw https://wwea.podbean.com/e/interview-about-rimpac-with-dr-emalani-case/ See video made in 2020 (by coalition member Auckland Peace Action): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxfquSMA5zk&feature=emb_imp_woyt
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    Created by #CancelRIMPAC Aotearoa Picture
  • No Dump in Dome Valley - Protect Kaipara Moana
    The current Dome Valley Landfill Application is focused on meeting the current needs of Auckland City Council’s waste requirements, without regard to Mana Whenua and our special relationship to the Whenua and local community It is the position of Ngāti Whātua that the landfill proposal in its current form will cause irreversible damage to Papatūānuku and pose significant ongoing risks to the sustainability and mauri of the Hoteo River, Kaipara Moana our whenua and the broader environment. We must consider the long-term environmental outcomes, and the first step for protecting the future of the Kaipara Moana is to consider sustainable waste solutions. We ask the Council to halt all discussions with Waste Management NZ and as a Treaty partner provide our Iwi the opportunity to co-create a partnership that will assist our communities to manage waste in a way that puts Papatūānuku and our community at the center of decision making. Ko au te Kaipara - Ko Kaipara Moana ko au Ngāti Whātua ask for national support for this kaupapa and are seeking tautoko/support from all Uri, whānau, hapū, marae and tribal partners to sign our national petition and put forward a submission which closes 11.59pm Tuesday 26th May. To make a submission and to learn more about the Iwi national campaign visit https://www.ngatiwhatua.iwi.nz/dome-valley Listen to locals share their concerns about the pending environmental disaster this proposed dump will bring to the community and the Kaipara Harbour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYklFdyCW0I We acknowledge the efforts of Fight the Tip, Save the Dome who have been fostered strong community opposition https://www.facebook.com/FightWMSavethDome/ National Press Release - Council ignores their obligations to Mana Whenua https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK2005/S00530/auckland-council-ignores-obligations-to-mana-whenua.htm
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    Created by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua
  • Reclaiming Our Streets: Carless Days and Climate Change Responsibility
    Covid 19 Lockdown has given NZ society an opportunity to reflect on the value of living essentially. We have seen our streets and neighbourhoods become more connected and human friendly. We have seen what it is to live without the consistent noise and pollution of traffic and we, in the main, have found a measure of peace, connection and re-orientation in challenging times. This collective experience however is yet to translate to a collective conversation around our use of vehicles. This is an opportunity to reorient our streets and lives to focus on the essentials and clean up our air and our streets by giving them all regular periods of rest eg a return to carless days, car-pooling/sharing, a carless week/weekend each month and a clear reflection upon essential use of our own personal vehicles as well as those for commercial use. Each of us can then start to meet the need for climate change responsibility. Please sign for responsible use of vehicles and repurposing our streets for safe and enjoyable human usage. This is an outreach to local and central government. Please see below for articles on this idea: https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/world-car-free-day-22-september-great-opportunity-reduce-air-pollution and: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/air-pollution-opportunity-not-just-problem/
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    Created by Michael Owen
  • BEES ON THE BEEHIVE
    We all want a sustainable planet. We all want our planet to survive. We all need bees to thrive to be able to achieve that. We all need to learn to think like worker bees and discover how to unite together in the common good for mother nature. Bee workers of the world unite! Bees can be both a bridge and a gateway. As a bridge they can be a way of connecting human and non-human nature and as a gateway they can guide humans to a deeper understanding and connection with urban nature. 🐝 Bees pollinate our flowers, our plants, our flora and fauna and help our natural planet to grow. Bees also work in communities in harmony with each other. However certain species are in danger because of human activities. Imagine a world without bees? No flowers and plants for us to enjoy and consume = no planet. The purpose of this petition is not to Save bees but to draw attention to them through a community approach and that promotes the values of localism as opposed to internationalism. There is huge value in creating a jar of local honey. A local jar with healing properties, rather than transporting goods across the oceans. Aotearoa New Zealand is blessed to have wonderful bees and wonderful honey. Honey is a good export business for NZ companies, though we also need to seek to find a balance and be thinking more locally. We need to think Global and Act Local. We need to consider how best to utilise our large urban corporate buildings, our institutional organisations, with large rooftops that are often neglected. We need to think more like permaculture and how a tree drops its leaves close to its trunk to feed its own roots with its own nutrients so it then requires less energy to grow more leaves. Aotearoa New Zealand is blessed to have a parliament building called the BEEHIVE. Basil Spence is a well known architect around the world. The Beehive government building is also the central hub of decision making for New Zealand's past, present and future. It is therefore perfectly placed to make some global media buzz and noise around this important ecological issue. We ask NZ Parliament to please consult with a NZ Beekeeping authority and local beekeepers association, to carry out a comprehensive assessment of this proposal, with a simple feasibility study. To then invite a suitably qualified beekeeper, selected from a bid put to tender, to place one of their hives on top of the Beehive. If this location is not possible due to the well-being of the bees, or due to any other logistical or security restrictions, then to place the hive within the grounds of the Beehive building. The intention is to be able to produce a jar of local honey called 'NZ Parliament Beehive Honey.' To enable Jacinda, our wonderful current Prime Minister or any future prime minster of NZ to don a beekeepers outfit for the media. To extract the honey and donate a gift of local NZ Beehive honey to all Prime Ministers and other important dignitaries who come to NZ from around the world. Equally to encourage selling local NZ Beehive Parliament Honey online to the local Wellingtonians and visiting international tourists when they are allowed back into our beautiful country after the Covoid-19 border lockdown. Especially if the old NZ Parliament shop has to remain closed for security reasons. We believe this petition and campaign will help to promote the importance of local NZ made produce in NZ and help to publicise the urban beehive industry in a positive way and for it to be a visual community voice for the NZ bee industry. This will in turn help New Zealanders to all protect our beautiful planet and our bees. Kia Kaha, Buzz Buzz, Bee Good. Protecting bees and other pollinators https://www.epa.govt.nz/everyday-environment/animals-and-insects/bees/ NZ Bee species https://teara.govt.nz/en/diagram/15740/new-zealands-bee-species https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resources/identification/animals/bug-id/what-is-this-bug/bugs-with-legs/6-legs/bees-and-wasps Bees And Wind https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/18/bees-may-struggle-in-winds-caused-by-global-warming-study-finds https://www.independent.co.uk/news/radar-reveals-secrets-of-bumble-bees-flight-1104964.html NZ Bees Under Threat https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/99580630/native-bees--small-solitary-and-under-threat Learn About NZ Bees https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12118917 https://apinz.org.nz/learn-about-bees/ https://www.beesuptop.co.nz https://www.sweetreehoney.co.nz NZ Beekeepers Forums https://www.nzbees.net/forums/ https://www.beehive.org.nz The power of Communities ~ Bee philosophy https://www.commonunityproject.org.nz
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  • Put nature at the heart of the COVID-19 recovery
    Nature is on the verge of collapse. New Zealand has 4000 species in trouble, polluted waterways and a damaged marine environment; only transformative economic and policy decisions can restore and sustain our planet and our people. The rebuilding of our society after the impacts of COVID-19 provides us with a chance to restore our natural environment for both current and future generations.
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    Created by Forest & Bird Youth Picture
  • School Strike 4 Climate NZ & 4 Tha Kulture Open Letter Calls For Covid Green Response
    As the youth of Aotearoa, it is important that the decision and projects that we put forward work around securing our generation a safe future. The children of New Zealand will be paying off the debt collected from the stimulus project. We demand that you, as the leaders of today, ensure us a safe future
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    Created by School Strike 4 Climate NZ Picture
  • COVID19: Re-set Our Economy Sustainably
    Sustainability has been at the forefront of New Zealand’s news, our elections, and spurred hundreds of thousands of kiwis to peacefully protest. Despite this, and the extremely urgent message science is giving us, there has been a distinct lack of action. COVID19, in an unexpected and undesirable way, has given us the opportunity to re-set. Our new normal does not mean going back to the ways we know are broken. Our new normal means re-setting how we live, work, produce and govern in a way that regenerates. To start to heal what we have done while living outside the biophysical limits of the Earth. This gives us, future generations and other species a fair chance. It will help prevent, and be more resilient to, future crises. This disruption is a time to re-think systems and unite business, government and NGO's. Unlike ever before, we have the means and motivation to collaboratively and fairly transition our economy for a sustainable future. It's clear that if this opportunity is not navigated properly, with courageous and informed decision making, the future we are borrowing from our Mokopuna (Grandchildren) will not be a bright one. The decisions now will make our bed for decades to come and they must be the right ones. Our Leaders have a moral, and legal (Paris Agreement), responsibility to create a strong, resilient, local economy that regenerates Papatūānuku (Mother Earth) and fosters actualised human wellbeing.
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    Created by Shay Lawrence - CaliWoods Picture
  • Invest in a healthy and flourishing planet for our future - a covid response
    The Government has shown a commitment to COVID-19 recovery and have indicated that it will make significant investment in infrastructure. To protect the planet and protect our future, it is important that this investment does not lock us further into the high-emission pathway we are on, as such investments will accelerate the climate and ecological breakdown. The Government has tasked the Infrastructure Industry Reference Group to present it with projects that are ready to start within six months. The projects that are selected will be pivotal in determining our future! We are afraid for our ecosystems, animals and people that projects which lock us into a high-emission and ecologically unsustainable pathway will be selected. To prevent this, and to achieve a future that is connected to a healthy and flourishing planet, we need to urge the Government to invest in transformation climate change projects. Further examples of possible projects include restoring our ecosystems, enhancing walking and cycling routes, and green tech innovations. Please sign this petition if you want to call on Government to invest in a healthy and flourishing planet for our future. Government seeks infrastructure projects https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-seeks-infrastructure-projects
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    Created by Hannah Riley
  • Ban marine dumping of dredged material
    Aotea Great Barrier Island is surrounded on all sides by the pristine waters of the Hauraki gulf and the Pacific ocean. For a decade local residents and iwi have challenged a plan by a private company Coastal Resources Limited that wanted to unload 140 barge-loads annually of contaminated sludge dredged from the sea floor off the coast of their island for the next 35 years. Sadly the traditional hāpuka grounds have already been destroyed by previous dumping of sediment. Allowing massive marine sludge dumping is unacceptable. Protect Aotea went to court to appeal the decision to give the consent - and we won! In December 2019, our High Court appeal against the granting of consent by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Coastal Resources Limited (CRL) to dump 250,000 cubic metres of marine sludge off the coast of Aotea Great Barrier Island was successful - effectively quashing the decision of the EPA. Kelly Klink, of Protect Aotea, says, “While we are relieved to have won the court case to prevent CRL’s appalling dumping of toxic waste sludge into our pristine marine environment, we are deeply concerned and unhappy about the extremely destructive ongoing practice of waste dumping within the RMA and Exclusive Economic Zone.” “We are determined to ensure that new, environmentally sound policies are urgently put in place to ensure that less damaging alternatives to marine dumping are deployed – such as proper disposal of waste on land or engaging the process of mudcrete.” “We are concerned that there is currently no meaningful consideration of alternative methods of disposal of the dredged material, rather the waste is dumped directly into our precious moana. This cannot be allowed to continue.” We are uniting again to stop the marine dumping of dredged waste happening to other communities in Aotearoa. We call on the Government to change the law that will ban this harmful method of dumping waste and enforce alternative methods. All policy and law-making should acknowledge a tikanga Māori approach to achieving well being for our moana. Such a policy will enable local hapū and iwi to properly manage and care for the taonga species that depend on a healthy marine environment to survive; which is intrinsic to the Government’s Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligation to Māori to ensure traditional fishing grounds are protected for generations to come. We call on the New Zealand government to respect the mana and will of the tangata whenua and help protect the health and wellbeing of our oceans through our laws. With legal protection tangata whenua and the community will reconnect with the moana and implement a tikanga Māori approach to achieving well being for our still-pristine coastlines. Add your name to ban marine dumping of dredged material in any part of beautiful Aotearoa. *** Great Barrier residents win reprieve over dredged waste increase, Dec 2019 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12290755 More than 200 people marched up Auckland's Queen Street, June 2019 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1356765834504795 March to Protect Aotea, Great Barrier Island, June 2019 http://www.ngatiwai.iwi.nz/our-stories/march-to-protect-aotea-great-barrier-island Large scale marine dumping near Great Barrier concerning, July 2019 https://www.miragenews.com/large-scale-marine-dumping-near-great-barrier-concerning
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    Created by Kelly Klink
  • Save our Sands - stop sand mining at Mangawhai Pakiri Beaches
    Pakiri beach, two hours north of Auckland, is a natural treasure. People come to enjoy its glistening white sand, miraculous dunes, precious ecosystems and the rare species that make it their home. It should be protected as a taonga for generations to come. Yet for decades Pakiri has been mined for its white sand. It’s the site of the largest single nearshore sand mining activity in the developed world. Sand mining involves extracting sand from the sea floor. Sand mining literally sucks the life out of our sea bed floor, leaving 16km of suspended sediment plumes in its place. Yet, just as the benthic sea bed community is being appreciated as ever more important. Dredging releases carbon stores ("blue carbon"); it is out of step with these times, just as seabed trawling is being phased out in many places. With less sand making it onshore, it also causes erosion to dunes and foreshores. This sand extraction is causing erosion, destroying shellfish beds, stealing safe nesting spots from endangered birds and ruining surf breaks. Pakiri Beach is home to the Fairy Tern, New Zealand's rarest bird. There is a finite supply of Pakiri Beach’s sand and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. There are other non-erosionary sources of sand, so it’s not necessary to mine Pakiri Beach. The dredging is by NZ’s oldest marine reserve, with two new Auckland Reserves are at either end of the beach. Can there be a less appropriate place for dredging? We now live in an era of environmental awareness. Single use plastics bags have been banned, we all now think about and mitigate our environmental impact in everything we do. So why in this environmental era, in Green NZ of all places, allow permits to mine sand, in an intensive, primitive way from precious beaches like Pakiri, when there are alternate sustainable sources and so much future climate volatility and uncertainty looms? As COP26 is underway and the world seeks to changes its ways and work with the environment and find new sustainable paradigms, the McCallum’s approach is the following. They specifically commissioned a new dredging vessel which has been delivered and is being used, of double the holding capacity of their other vessels. Now they wish to expand their operations and the volumes as taken from new consents of higher volumes and a 35 year term. The contradiction in terms could not be any starker. This is what we are up against. Save our Sands being Friends of Pakiri Beach, Te Whanau O Pakiri, Tangata Whenua, locals and concerned New Zealanders, with the support of GreenPeace, are taking a stand and we need your help! Join us in saying 'no' to sand mining. Sign and share the page and please submit your opposition to Auckland Council and make a difference. Damon, Nick and the FOPB team. * We are still awaiting a decision on the first consent. It has been delayed because we alone were able to reveal deep seabed trenches caused by the dredging, which hadn’t been revealed by the dredger’s. This has caused the resource consent hearing committee to stipulate further investigation. We are making a difference.
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    Created by Friends Of Pakiri Beach
  • Keep the Wakatipu Ferry on the water
    We have a very effective commercial ferry service operation on Lake Wakatipu which is well patronised by locals and visitors alike. As a resident of Kelvin Peninsula, I regularly use the service when heading to the centre of Queenstown. However it cannot continue without a similar subsidy to that which the $2 buses get. The service is scheduled to be shut down at the end of February 2020 to the dismay of the local users: https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/lake-ferry-service-wind. Once shut down it will be difficult to resume operation. The Queenstown Lakes Region is facing increasing road congestion caused by exponential growth in local and visitor traffic. Queenstown Lakes District Council, the NZ Transport Agency and the Otago Regional Council have done a great job in moving residents to bus services with a subsidised service which as well as getting cars off the roads, has the added benefit of climate change mitigation. Water transport is potentially one of the most efficient and climate friendly means of transport for the Wakatipu basin. No roading infrastructure required and currently existing jetties are utilised. Plus the ferry is a really beautiful way to travel. As with all public transport, the ferry service must be reliable, frequent and reasonably priced to encourage use. We have a local commercial operator providing an excellent service for a year now but it is not cost effective for them. Queenstown Lakes District Council, the NZ Transport Agency and the Otago Regional Council recognise this but are slow in implementing a long term plan. Allowing an existing ferry service to fail through bureaucratic inertia would do the community a huge disservice and set back the momentum for positive change. As Chair of the Kelvin Peninsula Community Association, I urge the ORC to respond swiftly to this public transport need.
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    Created by David Mayhew