This is outrageous!

Government mining papers released by the Green Party this week, and confirmation from the Minister’s office, show that the minerals industry will now have the privilege of being able to veto new conservation park boundaries, in secret.

“The Government has given its mining department a right of veto over all new Park and reserve boundaries, giving the mining industry an advantage over conservation and the public interest,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.
“It is unacceptable that Crown Minerals will have the power to veto, behind closed doors, the boundaries of new public parks and reserves.”

 Crown Minerals and the mining industry work closely together. Crown Minerals describes the mining industry as ‘clients’, on behalf of whom it will “promote the potential contribution of the mineral estate to regional economic development”.

 “Giving one industry such privilege and potentially denying the public a right to know is anti-democratic and effectively privatises decisions over managing our public conservation land,” said Mrs Turei.

 “If the Government proceeds with this change, the public may never know if Crown Minerals vetoed a boundary. That’s not open and honest Government.”

The Government has adopted the Ministry of Economic Development’s (MED) recommendation: “that DOC notify MED a month prior to publicly notifying a DOC proposal to classify or reclassify an area”. DOC recommended against this veto. The veto is soon to be formalised between the two agencies.

“Classifying or reclassifying an area can mean creating a new park, extending park boundaries, or elevating general conservation land to a higher protected status because of endangered species or special values,” said Mrs Turei.

“Large tracts of conservation land obtained through tenure review, or purchased by Government funds, will become Conservation Parks; however, now the mining industry will be able to control the boundaries.

“In April, the Conservation Minister excluded a high-conservation value area from the Oteake Conservation Park due to lignite deposits, against DOC’s advice. We disagreed completely with his decision, but at least it was done in public. In future such deals will be done in secret.

The MED advice notes that this option: 'Minimises the risk of potential adverse public reaction arising from subsequent amendment of a proposal for mineral related reasons'. Mrs Turei said that this shows the clear intention to allow boundary changes in secret to avoid public outcry.

“It is entirely reasonable that Crown Minerals should advocate for the interests of the mining industry, but it is only fair that there is a level playing field with advocacy for conservation and recreation values, and the public interest." said Mrs Turei. "At the end of the day, it’s public land.”

“This Government, not content with seeking to reverse a political consensus on Schedule 4, is happy to let the mining industry veto public conservation land decisions. It’s not OK, Minister Brownlee.”

References:
The OIA papers
Crown Minerals' strategic
Look on the Greens website to download a petition form or come and sign one in the Environment Centre or send an ecard

Hello

350 Aotearoa is the New Zealand arm of a global movement for strong action on global warming and climate change. We want to send a message to our government that we want them to take a firm position at the global climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December. A group of us are organising an event in Hamilton on Saturday 17 October from 11.00am to noon, in Civic Square in front of the City Council building as part of the 350 Aotearoa campaign.

Why 350? Its called the ‘350’ campaign because that is the upper limit of CO2 (in parts per million) that the atmosphere can absorb without experiencing dangerous climate change. In practice we are already over that limit (somewhere around 390ppm) and the evidence of climate change is everywhere – particularly the Arctic and Antarctic, where temperatures have already risen as much as 8 degrees above the long-term average. As you will be aware, mainstream climate scientists are deeply scared by what they see for the future.
See http://www.350.org.nz/ for more information.

Without Government support, the positive changes individuals make to their lifestyles won't come to much. We want our Government to know that New Zealanders want stronger action to be taken on climate change. There is a global ground swell of ‘bottom-up’ action happening world wide – not just in the US and UK, but in India and China as well as elsewhere. In NZ there are dozens of groups throughout the country that are doing something as part of the campaign (e.g. 350 frocks on bikes in Christchurch, 350km trek through the West Coast, Wellington Anglican Cathedral bell is to ring 350 times...). We want Hamilton to be included in that show of action.

In Hamilton, we are organising a line of people into the numbers '350' . We have obtained permission from Hamilton City Council to access the main building so that we can photo the human chain. We will be sending the photos to the local newspapers and will download them onto the 350.org website. There will be a programme of speakers, brochures, posters and fliers. We will have a 350 pledge card that people can sign and pledge ways by which they will cut their carbon footprint by 10% in 2010 (see attached). The pledge card can be sent free to Nick Smith, Minister for Climate Change.

 I hope you will be free to join the fun on Saturday morning of the 17th October, rain or shine. Bring an umbrella if its raining. Bring your friends and workmates too.

 If you care about the issue of global warming and climate change, this will be one small way that you can show your feelings.

Kind regards
Dr. Mairi Jay, MA (UBC), MA (Waterloo), PhD (Waikato), MNZPI
Senior Lecturer,
c/- University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton
Email: mairij@waikato.ac.nz

Environment Centre Hamilton

After water heating, the fridge is the single biggest household electricity-user and the most expensive appliance in your home to run. The Environment Centre is running a fridge efficiency awareness campaign in October. So take part in our blitz and be in to win fantastic prizes, including two brand new fridges – so get your old inefficient fridges over to CMA and be in to win!
Find entry forms on our website:  www.envirocentre.org.nz
If you like getting this newsletter and want to support the work of the Environment Centre, this is a great time to join up and go in the draw for Noel Leemings vouchers

1. “Out With The Old” Fridge Retirement Scheme

In conjunction with EECA and CMA Recycling.  Those recycling their old, inefficient fridges between 22 Sept – 24 Oct  go in a draw to win one of two fantastic new fridges.
Prize Pool:  2 NEW energy efficient fridges/freezers

2.  “Fill A Fridge” with the Environment Centre, Waikato Times, Pak’n Save, & Seal-A-Fridge [Hamilton]

A full, well functioning fridge is an energy efficient fridge!  In conjunction with the Waikato Times, we will call for nominations of families in need.  Three winning families will be selected and profiled.  Nominations close 16 Oct.
Prize Pool:  (3)  Seal-A-Fridge [Hamilton] Refrigerator Energy Checks and (3) $400 Pak’n Save Grocery Vouchers

 3. “Stars On Their White Ware”                 WSU Decorated Fridge
Calling all students!
In conjunction with Waikato Student Union & Noel Leemings, students submit photos via EC email of their outrageously decorated fridge.  Submissions close 19 Oct.
Prize Pool:  $300 Noel Leemings Voucher, $200 Noel Leemings Voucher

 4. EC Energy Tip Line
Win a fridge energy check!
Email energy efficiency tips to the EC website and go into the prize draw.  Submissions close 24 October.
Prize Pool:  3 Refrigerator Energy Checks supplied by Seal-A-Fridge [Hamilton]

 5. EC Membership Drive - Join now!
Become a member of the EC at www.envirocentre.org.nz between 22 Sept and 24 Oct and go into the prize draw.
Prize Pool:  $300 Noel Leemings Voucher, $200 Noel Leemings Voucher

Funding for this project also received from WEL Energy Trust

Sorry, omitted to add that the movies are at Victoria Cinema in Victoria St.
The Sunday 4th session is Carbon Weevils, Swing and Tara - Journey to the Heart of the Climate Machine
Monday 5th is Garbage Angels and Crude.
Bookings can be phoned to 838 3036 or at the Theatre.

Excellent speaker series on at Continuing Education:

Saturday 10th October 10 - 2.45pm
This is an opportunity to encourage more women into local government.

Sunday 4th October 7pm

Carbon Weevils

Director: Tim Britton
United Kingdom 2007 (7 mins)

A view at breakneck speed of the evolution of one particular species- the Carbon Weevil,- whose purpose and role is to excavate the earth's carbon deposits and convert them into carbon dioxide.

Swing

Director: Dawn Tuffery
New Zealand 2007
Nominated for Best Animation and Best New Zealand Film

Winner: Ora3 Award for Emerging Filmmakers  (6 mins)
As a small creature swings ithrough the trees, alien property developers go to work. Everyone finds out about the soil stabilising properties of trees the hard way, in this captivating claymation.

Tara -Journey to the Heart of the Climate Machine

Director: Michael Pitiot
France 2008 (91 mins)
www.taraexpeditions.org

An extraordinary tale of a scientific mission to gather data crucial for understanding climate change, Tara is the story of how a large multinational scientific organisation led by New Zealander Grant Redvers deliberately strands the ‘Tara’ (formerly Sir Peter Blake’s ‘Seamaster’) so it will drift with the Arctic pack ice throughout the Arctic winter. During the expedition, daily life for the crew focuses around two things: the scientific equipment and its accumulating data, and sheer physical and psychological survival. Unexpected fragmentation of the ice, giant pressure ridges, polar bears, blizzards and the unrelenting extreme cold threaten the mission and sometimes the lives of the crew. Rescue is impossible in the polar night; self-reliance is survival. New scientific discoveries combine with drama to deliver an educational and gripping film.

Monday 5th October 5.45pm

Garbage Angels

Director: Pierre Trudeau
Canada 2008
Nominated for Best Animation and Best Ultra Short Film
Winner: Reel Earth Award for Best Animation (non-juried)  (6 mins)

Disregarded everyday items take on a life of their own on the dump. Watch beautiful garbage as you’ve never seen it before and appreciate its tale of our society, where everything seems to be disposable.

Crude
Director: Joe Berlinger
USA 2009
Nominated for Best Feature Film
Runner Up: Destination Manawatu Award for Best Feature Film
(104 mins)
www.crudethemovie.com

A classic but as-yet-unfinished David-and-Goliath story, Crude documents the battle between indigenous Ecuadorian communities, represented by two attorneys, and the giant multinational Chevron corporation with annual revenue of $US200 billion. Under dispute is Chevron’s part in one of the world’s greatest environmental catastrophes. Sometimes described as “The Amazon’s Chernobyl”— the contamination in this case isn’t nuclear, but oil and the by-products of drilling. Pablo Fajardo, a young attorney who grew up in poverty in the Amazon, and free-lance attorney Steve Donziger claim that over three decades Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, systematically polluted one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, poisoning the water, air and land and leaving a toxic legacy that manifests as increased rates of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and a multiplicity of other health ailments, and in the process destroying the cultures and ways of life of the indigenous and colonial communities. Predictably, Chevron denies everything, claims it’s a fabrication and blames state-run PetroEcuador for any problems. After 10 years of legal wrangling, Chevron managed to get the suit transferred to Ecuador, where the documentary takes up the story as the antagonists battle bitterly. Filmed in true documentary style, with both sides given ample opportunity to state their cases, Crude is a deeply moving, gripping film likely to evoke strong emotions and vigorous debate. One of the festival’s top films.

Speaker this Saturday morning - 26th September

10am to 12 noon. - Celebrating Age Centre Victoria St South - parking under and around Celebrating Age, Grantham St.

Hamilton Citizens & Ratepayers Association welcome with a cuppa anyone who wishes to hear our speaker: Matthew Stott a Microbiologist (from Taupo)
"The Unseen Majority" (A study of microbial biodiversity from a geothermal environment perspective)

Reel Earth Film Festival Movies on this Sunday/Monday at Victoria Theatre

Organised by Environment Centre Hamilton and Forest and Bird. Bookings phone Victoria Theatre 838 3036 (book early) only $12.

Sunday 27th September at 7pm

Feral Peril
Director: Andrew Sully

Australia 2008
Nominated for Best Feature Film (53 mins)

A novel approach means this Australian film gets off to a cracking start. Set as a detective thriller, Feral Peril investigates whether foxes really have invaded Tasmania. Producer Ian Walker was “intrigued by the idea that there was a lot of money being spent in Tasmania to set up a very high-tech bunch of people who were dedicated to eradicating foxes, but their dilemma was that they couldn’t find one”. Feral Peril explains why foxes would be such an ecological catastrophe for Tasmania, and explores why the iconic Tasmanian devil may have an important role to play—if it can survive an unrelated and gruesome threat to its own survival. Several issues, including the setting of priorities for conservation funding and the importance of effective relationships with hunters, have great relevance for New Zealand, while insights from a diverse range of people including shearers, hunters, verterinary experts and researchers, “Fox Squad” staff, and environmental philosophy professor Andrew Brennan are supported by excellent filming and slick editing to make this a fascinating and highly entertaining film.

Grandma Builds An Earthship

Director: Kent Gunnufson
USA 2008
Screening time 8pm Thursday 21 May (58 mins)

Who says age and inexperience are barriers to accomplishment? She might be 67 years old with a cardiac problem, but Pascha dug the trenches, placed the timbers, wired the outlets, milled the cabinets, trowelled the walls, and did most of the other work to build her home in the mountains at 3000 metres. And, as if the Colorado Rockies weren’t hard enough, she overcame a mountain of regulatory barriers to build her home using alternative construction methods and energy sources (it’s completely off the grid). But the challenges of building her dream home also built her inner spirit, and the film inspires not just by showing possibilities for alternative building but by showing the power of imagination, determination, and humour.

Monday 28th September 5.45pm (Note earlier time)

Herbal Pathways

Director: Anna Hickman New Zealand / Vietnam 2009
Nominated for Best Short Film and Best New Zealand Film
Runner Up: Environmental Choice Award for Best Short Film (22 mins)

Filmed in the stunning mountainous Sa Pa region of Northern Vietnam, ‘Herbal Pathways’ shares a quietly intimate and informative account of the Medicinal Plants Innovation Project (MPIP). MPIP brought NZAID and the hill tribe people together on a quest to fulfil two objectives—poverty alleviation and plant conservation. Intellectually engaging, Pathways combines stunning cinematography with the hugely positive story of the conservation of important medicinal plants and of the communities that rely on these plants.

So Right - So Smart

CO Directors: Justin Maine,Leanne Robinson-Maine,Guy Noerr & Michael Swantek  USA 2008
Nominated for Best Feature Film
Winner: Destination Manawatu Award for Best Feature Film  (99 mins)

“I was a plunderer of Earth; stealing my grandchildren’s future. And that is not the legacy one wants to leave behind.” One of the slickest, most professional films submitted to this year’s festival, So Right So Smart tells the story of how, in an epiphanal moment, Ray Anderson, founder of the hugely successful Interface Corporation, realised the implications of his company’s way of operating. Describing it as “like a spear in the chest,” Anderson accepted the ethical imperative to ensure Interface no longer imperilled but in fact contributed to a sustainable future. The decision, he believed, was “So right.” As his vision turned into action, he realised sustainability was also “So smart”—it helped, not hindered, his business goals. So Right So Smart also shows how ecologically sound business practices foster better business in general, using examples such as clothing company Patagonia, the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, rock stars the Bare Naked Ladies and others. Insights from luminaries like Paul Hawken, David Suzuki, Lester Brown, and many others entertain and inform, and the narration by Daryl Hannah links the various aspects of the film to help create a truly inspirational film that should be required viewing for all our politicians and captains of industry. Highly recommended.

3rd October ENERGY WORKSHOP

Michael Lawley, EcoInnovations, will go through ways of reducing your home's energy load, how to carry out an energy audit, and provides a hands on opportunity to learn more about onsite microgeneration, such as wind turbines, solar hot water, photo voltaic cells and so much more. www.ecoinnovation.co.nz. $20 per person
Contact Megan Edmeades megan@greenme.org.nz or 021 414 529

November 2nd NZAEE Quiz Night 

Only 6 weeks away, so make sure you mark your diaries and start getting some teams to enter.

$10 entry per team (Maximum of 4 people per team)

It will be hosted at Singer Bar on Hood St. Ray Webber (Singer Bar) has been supportive of environmental events in the CBD.
Entry includes nibbles
Test your environmental knowledge and have some fun!
Register your team name before Oct 30th by emailing
aaron.fleming@hcc.govt.nz

"Free Trade is [not] Fair Trade" Thursday 24th September

 The Post Graduate Programme in Social Enterprise at the Waikato Management School of the University of Waikato, together with SIFE, an extra-curricular student run organisation is hosting a roundtable discussion regarding free trade: "Free Trade is [not] Fair Trade" and we would like to cordially invite you along to this event.

 Thursday 24 September at the Waikato Management School in MSB4.02 beginning at 1.30pm and will formally conclude with afternoon tea and mingling, kindly provided by Trade Aid, at 3pm.

RSVP to SIFE by 21st September sife@waikato.ac.nz

 The discussion panel and guest speakers will include Barry Coates, CEO of Oxfam New Zealand; Wayne Walford, Waikato Chamber of Commerce; Fiona Hurd, a PHD candidate in the Post Graduate Programme in Social Enterprise at the University of Waikato; and students from local high schools. These guests will present their view on the topic and the floor will be open for discussion about free and fair trade.

Barry Coates visit.pdf

Closed For Good (BNZ community initiative) - do you know any projects that need some help?

On 4 November we're literally going to close the Bank for the day, to allow as many of our people as possible to get out and support our local communities.
Closed for Good is a unique way for NZ communities to get free help with projects that are nominated by our communities. Between now and 27 September, we're asking for ideas about projects that we can help with on the day. You don't need to be a BNZ customer to have a project selected - it just needs to be something that helps your community to be better off.

On the day, we'll be working in teams of all sizes, on projects all over NZ. So - if you have a project that you'd like your local BNZ team to help out with, then let us know. Check out the website and make a submission!

 http://www.closedforgood.org/

Celia Eggleston
Organisational Development Consultant
People
BNZ
DDI: 09 976 5051 (x65051)
Fax: 09 375 1277
Mobile: 029 409 0050