Holly Walker is a new Green MP, or perhaps it should be “an MP for the Green Party”. Â She is spokesperson for Housing, Electoral Reform, Children, Open Government, Arts Culture & Heritage, Youth & Students. Befitting these wide ranging areas we have a wide ranging discussion:
- Is it easy being green?
- Does being in parliament change being an activist?
- Who does not agree that “inequality is good for no-one”?
- Who has she enjoyed meeting from across the house?
- Why does parliament play up its combative image?
- How are future generations represented in decision making
- Will we ever get past a growth paradigm when the very idea of constraints are an anathema to many?
- Will we ever see progress on alternative progress indicators?
- How can we better engage young people in parliament?
- What could parties be doing better in social media?
- Why are we encouraged to digest the “pull yourself up” meme?
Shane’s number of the week: 51. That is 51% – we have had 51% increase in hospital admissions from infectious diseases in the past 20 years which is out of line with developed countries and one which is incidentally costing New Zealand millions of dollars a year. (more from NZ Herald).
Sam’s joined-up-thinking: “Realising value proposition” is the catchphrase of the capstone projects in Information Technology Sam runs at Otago Polytechnic. We talk about successes in the sustainable space of previous years: myGreenFeat; Arai te Uru; Housing Stars; EducatingCambodia.com; SmartAid; PestWeb; Farmwise, and eHeritage. Several new projects include citizen science; peace foundation; farm environmental accreditation, and plant identification. To these projects we can variously add smartphone, processing, participation, gamification and entrepreneurial.  Going be a busy year – will keep you posted.
Trainspotting:Â Anton describes David Clark as so old-fashioned he’s fashionable. Â Sam says the words “tear down paradise put up a parking lot”.