Russel Norman, Green co-leader has been out on the water.
Not to lounge about on the deck of a yacht as those who holiday on Pacific islands might do, but in a kayak, on a river here in New Zealand. The Nevis river in fact, here in the South Island. Russel has made the considerable effort to see for himself the river that is threatened with exploitation in the form of damming for hydroelectric generation. He was looking too, to see the tiny, endangered gollum galaxiis native fish whose habitat is threatened by Pioneers proposal.
Russel writes: "The mystery is that Department of Conservation have stayed neutral, even though the dam could result in the extinction of a species of fish. Surely if DoC have any responsibility it is to try to prevent extinctions of NZ species. Unfortunately, DoC come under a lot of political pressure to pull their heads in, especially under this government.
Good on you Russel, doing the groundwork for the sake of the environment.
Russel writes: "The mystery is that Department of Conservation have stayed neutral, even though the dam could result in the extinction of a species of fish. Surely if DoC have any responsibility it is to try to prevent extinctions of NZ species. Unfortunately, DoC come under a lot of political pressure to pull their heads in, especially under this government.
Good on you Russel, doing the groundwork for the sake of the environment.
9 comments:
Speaking of Green Party MP's and how they get in to parliament...
Have got a discussion going on MMP over at my site.
Come on over and comment on it
I am sure it will add some spice to the discussion
We vote for them Who, that's how they get there and we do that because they are honest and sincere and can see more clearly than other candidates how important is the role of the environment to our well being.
You admire Russel for getting out into that environment and seeing up-close what the issues are?
Can't remember seeing Brownlee jammed into a kayak before (I know he's not officially Minister for the Environment but everyone knows Wilkinson's his puppet).
Not willing to come over and share your thoughts?
Worried they might get challenged?
Thoughts on MMP?
Good system, could be improved.
MMP will easily survive the referendum, despite the ancient crusts that will try to topple the democratic system and the sneakey politicians that will try to game it to suit themselves.
I'll pop over and settle the issue with you shortly :-)
Russel Norman wearing a dry suit on a river in summer!!
Big Sook.
How can you "feel" for a river without getting wet.
Yeah!
And the guy behind him, Glenn Murdoch from Whitewater NZ, what a sook!
Whitewater rafting and kayaking - sooks' game!
Some of the Central rivers are still quite cold for this time of year (we've had snow in the past month and not as many hot days). Some days the air temperature's been very cool too. What's the source of the Nevis?
The Nevis is a high-up river and its source must be the peaks to the east - mighty impressive they are to. Iron Ridge (I think) is one name I remember. Once, when I was walking through the Nevis valley in summer, it snowed, trapping me there. Exciting it was!
Lucky you! It could be spring fed too, which would make it colder.
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