Joe Davy and Martin Hyslop are first year students in Information Technology at Otago Polytechnic. They tell us how they are taking control of their own learning – with a sustainable twist. Shane’s number of the week: 4.4 That’s 4.4 million hectares approved for fracking in New Zealand. A recent report (Journal of Groudwater) [...]

From pristine environments to human interactions with the environment, we take a tour of Ella Lawton‘s short career in sustainability. In a remarkably short time we go from studies in law and ecology, international law in Finland; considering footprints in Antarctica; pest control for the Regional Council; Future Leaders Programme; Sustainable Futures Trust; Project [...]

Steffan Browning holds the agriculture portfolio for the Greens in the New Zealand parliament. He tells us of his passion and experience of running an organic greenhouse business. Local food production, he argues, is vital to constructing a more resilient society. He tells us of his experiences on the Primary Production Select Committee -asking [...]

Nicola Bould describes both design and sustainability as verbs – as processes. Design, she says is about finding creative ways to solve complex problems. Thinking bigger and wider she says is key to work at the start of the pipe – thinking in strategically and in systems – not to try to retrofit sustainability [...]

Linus Turner proudly describes himself as a teacher. His twitter one line bio states “Preparing children for their world …preparing their world for them …you wouldn’t want to do anything else!”. We are the ancestors In a packed hour we discover how Linus is teaching independence and interdependence by empowering his students to make [...]

Despite being an engineer by training, Dr Stephen Hill argues that a sustainable future is one of better social systems, not one of technical fixes. Within that social system Stephen explores tensions in environmental management. For example, while the history of the environmental movement stems from place based protection, the development of renewable energy [...]

Instead of limiting the numbers of people who have access to the wilderness could we have a goal to maximise the impact – the more people the better it is? Editor of a new book Wild Heart: The possibility of wilderness in New Zealand, Dr Mick Abbott has strong views about the wilderness. For [...]

Know your Kyoto from your Durban? How about your COP from your UNFCCC? How do burping cows come into multi-lateral agreements? In this interview Prof Jonathan Boston untangles the mysteries of global climate change negotiations. He presents an ideal model and a way forward. Earlier in the week, Prof Boston gave a public lecture, [...]

Does being elected dull the activist? Not if you’re Dunedin’s Jinty MacTavish. She is passionate, articulate, and convincing. It’s a year since our first show so to celebrate this double rainbow event, we’ve invited back our very first guest Jinty MacTavish. It has taken a year as Councillor, but now Jinty is excited about [...]