environment
Keeping NZ beautiful: Auckland city gets recycle-friendly
Next time you’re sitting eating your sandwiches in Auckland CBD’s Aotea Square, take a closer look at the nearest rubbish bin.
Chances are it will have two containers – a black one for rubbish, and a green one for recyclables.
The bins are part of the non-profit Glass Packaging Forum’s LoveNZ programme being rolled out across New [...]
Garden shed chemical may play a part in declining bee populations
Garden supply stores are selling a pesticide known to kill bees – but it’s being marketed as a safe product because it is not harmful to humans.
Imidacloprid is one of a group of pesticides widely used in the horticultural industry for their effectiveness and relative safety for humans.
Made by Bayer CropScience, and marketed in New [...]
Partnership should speed up NZ’s geothermal development
New Zealand will take a major step towards developing its renewable energy resources with a new plan to join the International Partnership for Geothermal Technology (IPGT).
The IPGT is an exclusive group of scientists, engineers and government leaders committed to advancing geothermal energy – something the group sees as a reliable renewable energy source and alternative [...]
University’s energy savings: could try harder
AUT University is not saving as much energy as it could thanks to its IT structures and a lack of student and staff awareness.
Many lab computers are left on and monitors blink away.
Sunita Taneja, ICT student service and support manager, says that not all computers at AUT are managed by IT. Others are managed by [...]
Oxfam launches Grow campaign to attack global hunger at its roots
Oxfam launched a global campaign to attack the burgeoning world hunger problem this month -
Oxfam’s communications manager Jason Garman said the Grow: Food, Life, Planet – Growing a better future campaign kicked off in New Zealand with a street theatre involving a giant commodities board, a trader buying and selling huge quantities of wheat, corn [...]
Beautifying Auckland for RWC includes moving the homeless
To make sure visitors get a long-lasting impression of Auckland during the Rugby World Cup in September, the Auckland Council has launched several campaigns to beautify the inner city – and move on the homeless.
The City Watch Programme has been established to keep beggars and buskers off the streets.
Tania Loveridge, centre manager of Heart of [...]
Public may be diverted to keep killer disease from kauri
The Department of Conservation may keep the public away from a forest that contains an 800-year-old kauri as it trys to stop a killer disease getting a foothold there.
Biodiversity ranger Steve Benham says there is no sign of kauri dieback at the Maitaitai Forest conservation area near Clevedon where there is [...]
Aucklanders take the health of waterways into their own hands
The efforts of Auckland community groups in cleaning up the city’s waterways were celebrated at a water-care expo at Unitec last week.
The annual Wai Care expo focuses on community involvement in waterway projects.
Wai Care has 105 groups that regularly test water quality and feed their results into Auckland Council’s database.
An awards ceremony was held to [...]
Key ‘delusional’ over NZ’s image of purity, say environmentalists
Green party co-leader Russel Norman says that in “treating scientists like lawyers”, Prime Minister John Key greatly offended the scientific community when he shrugged off criticism of New Zealand’s “100% Pure” image.
During a recent BBC Hardtalk interview reporter Stephen Sackur cited Massey environmental scientist Dr Mike Joy’s recent NZ Herald article which argued New Zealand [...]
‘Eau de Fullers’ gets up the noses of commuters
Unhappy ferry passengers may soon be able to breathe easily again – ferry company Fullers is testing chemicals to reduce the smell of sewage emanating from its boats at the Auckland Harbour.
The company uses a pump system at the downtown ferry terminal to empty the holding tanks on its boats.
But when the tanks are emptied, [...]
