The Green Desk

This week Bronwyn spoke to Dr Daniel Hikuroa, a senior lecturer at the Te Wānanga o Waipapa, Māori Studies, at the University of Auckland who has just been appointed the UNESCO Commissioner for Culture for Aotearoa, New Zealand. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was founded in 1946, and New Zealand was the second country to ratify the constitution. It mission is to build peace, eradicate poverty and foster sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, sciences and culture.

Hikuroa will replace the previous comissioner, Arapata Hakiwai, and hold the postition for three years. Bronwyn spoke to him about his expertise that he brings to the table, as well as his aspirations for the role.

Today on the Green Desk, Bronnie speaks to Liam Prince, co-founder of Takeaway Throwaways, an organisation seeking to ban single use disposable plastic service ware for food and drink and replace them with reusable alternatives. The closure of cafes during Alert Level 4 meant that more than 20 million takeaway coffee cups that would have otherwise gone to the landfill were avoided. However, with businesses reopening under Alert Levels 3 and 2, many have been hesitant to bring in their reusable cups. Takeaway Throwaways have been vocal in dispelling hygiene myths around BYO reusable containers, and that was the topic of today’s interview. 

You can Takeaway Throwaways on Facebook, Instagram, or check out their website - www.takeawaythrowaways.nz - and sign their petition to ban the use of single use plastic serviceware. 

Today on the Green Desk Bronnie spoke to Philip Solaris, the CEO of Xcraft, a company who develop UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) for environmental and humanitarian use in New Zealand and the Pacific. As well as drones, they have more recently begun work on unmanned seacraft, one of which, named Proteus, was the topic of the interview. Along with its many functions for emergency rescue and scientific data collection, it also has the ability to identify and report illegal fishing vessels. Solaris begins by talking about the difficulties posed by fisheries regulation. 

Last week, Oscar Perress was able to talk to Samuel Miller McDonald, a journalist, writer and student currently based in the UK for his studies at Oxford. Though talking for over an hour, their discussion around Covid-19 can be understood as a discussion on a need for systems change.

Miller McDonald’s studies are focussed in Climate and Energy Politics, so a large section of their discussion was around conceptualising a response to the climate crisis from how our world has reacted and responded to Covid-19. Oscar started by asking Miller McDonald for his intial reaction to the global response to Covid-19 and what we need to take from it to start a response to the climate crisis.

They also discussed the effect that national emergencies have on our every day structures and politics’ place in creating our reactions to Covid-19. You can find the rest of this series written by Oscar Perress, online by bCast and on air through out the next 2 weeks. Miller McDonald’s other work is accessible on https://www.samueljmm.com/