Dismantling democracy

Blogger: Web Manager for Forest & Bird, Mandy Herrick

A few years back, I lived in China. Yes, for two whole years, I sucked back lungfuls of their toxin-laced air, drank their increasingly polluted waters and ate their chemical –riddled fish.

And unnoticed by me (I was an entertainment reporter), day by day, I think I grew into an environmentalist.

I quickly learnt the phrase ‘the pollution is not good here’ in Chinese, and I would tell everyone I met – but that’s the extent of my environmental activism.

Part of me thinks that I should have bottled some New Zealand air and smuggled it back to China, so I could ambush taxi-drivers, strangers, acquaintances and force them to take a shot.

That way, they could palpably understand what I actually meant.

So what do you need to get a nice, clean lungful of air these days? It’s only in the past two years (since becoming an F & Ber) that I have begun to unpick all the things I think you need.

First, I think you need a free-press, a good body of environmental scientists (that are not silenced) and a well established democracy – one with good, well organised lobby groups to inform the public of their rights to fresh air, clean water, fish-filled seas, bird-filled forests.

China, of course has none of this – the press is gagged (all my – rather pithy – articles went to a censor), lobby groups are squashed, the internet is monitored rigorously and companies get away with polluting to their heart’s content.

Even e-campaigning is difficult because the Chinese government routinely shuts down social networking sites like facebook (it is trying to start its own heavily monitored site).

Secondly you need consultation and formal processes in place so that your government listens.

At the moment, our struggle with the current government is the exploitation of our commons – our water, our land, our seas and our carbon-absorbing forests.

Resort owners & farmers are wanting to take large quantities of water (for free) from our rivers to irrigate large patches of unsuitable dry-lands (the Mackenzie basin).

Mining companies may soon get the right to plough through some of our most important conservation land –  leaving us with contaminated waterways, scarred landscapes,a long list of imperilled species, erosion problems and quite possibly an almighty clean-up bill from ‘orphaned mines’.

Our dairy farmers are largely flouting their obligations to keep our rivers clean (yes, it’s not all of you, I know there are some good ’uns out there)

Large swathes of our high country in the South Island are falling into private hands without even a mention in our large North Island newspapers.

It’s a land-grab. It’s a blue rush. It’s a gold rush. It almost makes me feel a little blubbery just thinking about it.

And do you know what, I may not visit these rivers, or tramp through these drylands, but it’s enough just to know that these areas and the creatures that inhabit them are protected.

My actions each day have a cost: and I take my social responsibilities seriously, I know that if I drive to work – someone has to pay the price of that pollution.

And believe you me, I ain’t no angel. Getting people, let alone small businesses and companies to pay for their actions is the tricky thing.

And if they flout their obligations, it is lobby groups like Forest & Bird that must take them to the environment court, especially if the department protecting these natural assets is rendered voiceless.

Firing democratically elected boards like Environment Canterbury, rushing through legislation to free up the Resource Management Act degrades and dismantles the very laws and policies that protect our democratic rights.

Thankfully, we have a free (hysterical?) press, well-organised lobby groups, a tradition of democracy and facebook (!), so I am going to fully embrace my newly appreciated democratic rights, and er, shout from the treetops. I like to call it campaigning 2.0.

Join me.