Featuring Marijuana Media with Chris Fowlie, thanks to The Hempstore, and this week's Cocktail Corner is mandarin extract twist on a michelada, thanks to Black Sands Brewing.
Ever wondered what it would be like to bike in an Art Gallery? Well now you can, for the city is your gallery. In collaboration with EcoFest 2025 and various New Zealand artists, Bike Hubs have set up a Street Art Bike Challenge. Now, anyone can ride around the city, discover amazing works of art and win great prizes.
This week, Green Desk Producer Liam speaks to Brent Bielby, manager of EcoMatters’ Bike Hubs, a community project aimed at encouraging more people to take up cycling. He explains the goal behind the challenge, as well as how cycling can contribute to a healthy lifestyle and provide a source of freedom and fun.
You can take part in this challenge yourself. All you need to do is take out your bike, pedal over to the artworks, and upload a photo of you and your bike. The challenge will run until the 22nd of April, and you can find a map of all the locations and trails on the EcoMatters website.
After an incredible Breakfast show due to a live performance by the one and only Reb Fountain, Elle attempts to match that freak with her show today. Listen back to see if she was able to do so.
A petition was launched by Te Taiao o Kawhia Moana, a group dedicated to the protection and conservation of the Kāwhia harbour, calling on the Ōtorohanga District Council to remove vehicle access from vulnerable areas of the inner harbour and to Support the development of new alternative access infrastructure.
The group says that local taonga species and ecosystems are being put at risk by current vehicle access and that The proposed Ocean Beach access way would provide a sustainable alternative that balances community access needs with environmental protection.
For this week’s Gert Action! Oto spoke to John Forbes, founding Chair of Te Taiao o Kāwhia Moana, to discuss the petition and the importance of protecting the harbour.
If you're interested in signing this petition, you can find it here:
The free school lunch program has been in the headlines here in Aotearoa for several weeks after facing significant impacts to their quality and delivery following a complete restructure of the program led by associate education minister David Seymour.
Many schools have reported late deliveries of meals beyond the lunch period, plastic packaging melting into the food and one student even experiencing burns from the packaging that required medical attention.
This, of course, has the greatest impact on the more than 150,000 Tamariki living in severe poverty, who relied on programs like Ka Ora Ka Ako to receive daily meals.
In response, the Child poverty action group has made a call to senior government ministers and Finance Minister Nicola Willis to restore the funding that was cut from the school lunches program so that schools across the motu could receive meals from local community suppliers.
Oto spoke to Rich Greissman - Deputy Chair of the Child Poverty Action Group's Governing Committee, to discuss the group’s call and why it’s important for the government to ensure the provision of healthy school lunches to Tamariki.
For their weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Ricardo Menendez-March about the government's new replacement to the Resource Management Act, The Green's call for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, and renewed calls for executive MP support of Chloe Swarbrick's members' bill to Sanction Israel
For this week’s Green Desk, producer Liam speaks to Brent Bielby, manager of EcoMatters’ Bike Hubs, a community project aimed at encouraging more people to take up cycling.
Oto spoke to Rich Greissman - Deputy Chair of the Child Poverty Action Group about their call to senior Government Ministers and finance Minister Nicola Willis to restore funding to Ka ora Ka Ako, the healthy school lunches programme.
And, for this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to founding chair of Te Taiao o Kāwhia Moana - John Forbes about his group’s petition to remove vehicle access from vulnerable areas of the Kāwhia harbour.
Just two days ago, the government announced a complete overhaul of the Resource Management Act.
The RMA as it is would be dismantled and then split into two acts; a planning act regulating the use and development of land, and a Natural Environment Act focusing on the use and protection of land, air, water and other natural resources.
Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court said that the reforms were intended to streamline development more efficiently while also protecting the environment.
The week before, the Greens issued a call for the compassionate release of 77-year old inmate Dean Wickliffe, who is currently on a hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility after being arrested for being made houseless in violation of his probation conditions.
And Green Party Co-Leader Chloe Swarbrick made a renewed call to the government calling on them to support a members bill of hers that would sanction Israel for their occupation of the Palestinian territories.
For their weekly catchup, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez March for the party’s take on all of these issues.