https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.13196 Having spent what feels like half of my life trying to highlight the decline of freshwater in New Zealand and the causes it is infuriating beyond description to realise that through this work I am playing into the hands of the mostly transnational water bottling companies operating in New Zealand. I have been part... Continue Reading →

Humankind is facing peak everything[1]; this dilemma is the manifestation of exceeding the ecological/planetary boundaries of the planet. We have hit the ‘Limits to Growth’ we were warned about in the 1970s[2]. Crucially, and often ignored, climate change is just one symptom of a wider ecological overshoot which includes biodiversity loss, collapse in ecosystems, soil... Continue Reading →

Jacinda Ardern's government is attempting to bring in freshwater standards which would require New Zealand farmers to clean up their act. The farming lobby - a major player in politics here - is insisting that they need the right to pollute. This is known as socialising your costs while keeping your profits. Before Britain's Brexiteers succeed in throwing off Europe's remaining... Continue Reading →

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/farm-plan-proposals-should-be-careful-not-to-put-the-cart-before-the-horse?utm_source=Friends%20of%20the%20Newsroom&utm_campaign=c42093d124-Daily%20Briefing%2013.12.2021&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71de5c4b35-c42093d124-97857323&fbclid=IwAR2-OstJXLOy6mvwgrFisaZTCdWafnkP4h868j9g7p80AomDtzWvZs4-oOg

Nitrate contamination of drinking water could cause up to 100 cases of bowel cancer in New Zealand every year, leading to 40 deaths, New Zealand research has estimated. The estimate is based on international studies linking nitrate in drinking water and bowel cancer combined with assessment of the levels of nitrate in drinking water in... Continue Reading →

Instead of asking what we can extract from the land, ask what the land can sustain. He wants to count all the consequences of intensive dairying: environmental, social, cultural and economic. https://northandsouth.co.nz/2021/08/25/dairy-cows-nz-methane-emissions/ https://northandsouth.co.nz/2021/08/25/dairy-cows-nz-methane-emissions/

It’s a hard road taking on the critic and conscience role as an academic As a scientist I am often accused of the heinous crime of being an advocate. As a “scientist” I’m supposed to be ‘value-free’.  Like a robot or an automaton. I must stick only to the “science” So as a scientist I... Continue Reading →

from a podcast by The PolicyObservatory, AUT mike-joy-on-the-freshwater-crisis-edited-transcriptDownload

·  The NZ freshwater crisis indicators reveal the massive impact on freshwater and atmosphere of current intensive farming systems ·  The $ cost (externalities) of intensive dairy farming exceed the income, and allowing these externalities are left to be absorbed by the rest of society and future generations they are effectively a subsidy ·  This... Continue Reading →