Blogger: North Island Conservation Manager Mark Bellingham
Pimping your pavement, guerrilla gardens, nature deficit disorder - everywhere you look there’s a new buzz word to describe city-goers desire to bring the wilds back into their cities.
Hundertwasser House, Vienna
All cities evolve in different ways depending on aesthetic and economic imperatives but sadly across the board, wildlife has been given the heave-ho.
One man that tried to bring nature back into our cities resided right here in his twilight years - the Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
As a kid he dreamed of cities covered in garden rooftops and living breathing buildings that changed their colours with the seasons.
Blogger: Forest & Bird’s Conservation Advocate Nic Vallance
What an exciting twenty-four hours it has been!!! When the news broke last night I was so shocked and then excited I shed a few happy tears!
First let me say a huge THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you who submitted, signed, wrote, shouted, and marched on the government’s proposal to open up our most precious public conservation lands to mining. Your grandchildren will thank you for it!
It is a monumental day for the protection of our most precious places and native wildlife today - and it is great to see that the Government has listened.
From my personal point of view – it’s a huge relief, and also it has made me extremely proud to have been a part of this campaign.
Blogger: VUW Research Fellow and West Coast Committee Member, Brian Anderson
Recently, I attended a renewable energy strategy meeting for the West Coast, on behalf of Forest and Bird.
The meeting was sponsored by Development West Coast and came after statements last year from West Coast Regional Council CEO Chris Ingle that council should “explicitly promote the West Coast” as a power exporter and lobby the Government to change the Conservation Act to enable more use of conservation land. So it was with some trepidation that I went along.
I was pleasantly surprised then, when the energy users and suppliers, district council staff, conservation groups and recreationalists, pretty much all agreed that the West Coast should aim to be self sufficient in electricity, not a net exporter. This would mean only modest amounts of additional generation are required.
Blogger: Web Manager for Forest & Bird, Mandy Herrick
Given their penchant for getting drunk on fermented berries, it comes as no surprise that our kereru is one of our more accident prone birds. In fact, they get in into so many scrapes that a small hospital has been set up in Dunedin to care for these injured birds.
The hospital is supported by our Dunedin branch, DOC and Watties, and relies heavily on the goodwill of volunteers that nurture these birds back from the brink.
Earlier this year, I met up with the people who run the hospital and was introduced to some of their feathery patients.
