Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Waving goodbye to the Warrior (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

Six weeks ago I packed my trunk in my bedroom in Grey Lynn Auckland, boarded a bus and rode downtown to Princes Wharf. There I walked up the gangway of the Rainbow Warrior. It was hot, late summer. American tourists crawled about the Viaduct. On the ship, there was excitement in the air and alleyways; a TARGET CLIMATE CHANGE banner ran between two masts. My cabin was downstairs and to the left. It had “Expect the unexpected” written on the door. I shared it with three others and it smelt like essential oils. I didn’t yet have my favourite spot to sit in the mess during dinner. And I didn’t yet know how to avoid pissing off the first mate. This would all come later. Read more »

Undoing dairy (C) GREENPEACE / SHAROMOV

It was a nippy morning and, coming from Auckland I could feel the difference moving down the island, but the physical labour returning over 1000 beautiful native trees to Papatuanuku warmed our bodies and our hearts.

The prestige mountain Tauhora stood in the distance, reminding me of how great our whenua is and the need to protect it. Just beyond us as we worked the land suddenly turned a destructive brown, with diggers working ignorant to the impacts of their actions, and the bigger picture of how the forest conversion to dairy farming will be on the environment and greenhouse emissions contributing to climate change.

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Dairy conversion near Taupo (C) GREENPEACE

While our teams in Taupo did some extreme gardening, I went to the Landcorp headquarters in Wellington to deliver a letter outlining Landcorp’s contribution to climate change and demanding that Landcorp halt its expansion plans for the dairy sector and instead lead the way in sustainable land use practices.

I arrived at the HQ on Allen Street and asked to speak to the Chief Executive, who came out very quickly to meet me. Perhaps they were worried I’d lock myself on to something!

I gave him the letter and then we had a great little debate. It went something like this …

They don’t own the land and therefore they have no say over what it’s used for.

(I pointed out that they lease it and do make the decisions about what it’s used for - in fact they’re playing a central role in the deforestation and conversion to dairy)
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New Zealand’s farmers are currently experiencing a severe drought that dairy farmer cooperative Fonterra warns may cost farmers $500M. The Government has been meeting with farmers this week to arrange a support package.

The effects of climate change are starting to be felt in New Zealand but it’s only a taste of things to come. Impacts include changes to rainfall patterns, more extreme weather events like flooding and droughts, and new pests and biosecurity problems. All these changes will make growing food much harder than it is now. Indeed the agriculture sector will perhaps be hit hardest of all as climate change begins to bite. This is not good for New Zealand. Agriculture plays an important part in our economy.

There’s an interesting irony here though.

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