The Wire with Alex

Forest & Bird appealed resource consents granted to Stevenson Mining in 2017, for a new proposed opencast coal mine at Te Kuha on the West Coast of the South Island.  

The Environment Court hearing begins in Christchurch on Monday 1 August and is expected to run for two weeks. Respondents to Forest & Bird’s case are the West Coast Regional Council, the Buller District Council, and Stevenson Mining Limited.  

Trishil spoke to Nicky Snoyink from Forest and Bird about the case, hoping to learn more about Te Kuha and their efforts to block the construction of a new mine and it’s potential damage to the ecosystem.

In the aftermath of the US supreme court overturning Roe v. Wade, the United States House of Representatives has been passing several bills in efforts to protect certain rights. 

These include protecting same-sex marriage, interracial marriage, and contraception. 

With the US House, the US Senate, the supreme court and the president all seeming to have different levels of power, it can be hard to understand the different levels of authority in the leadership. 

This prompted Liam to talk to UoA professor Maria Armoudian about the system and the recent bills the house have been passing. 

After long and hard efforts to implement predator eradication tactics. Predator Free Wellington has seen some major results. 

Bird rates have risen dramatically, up by fifty one percent across the Miramar peninsula.

The organisation has been celebrating this strongly, so Liam has spoken to their own James Wilcocks about the new results. 

Is "one man's terrorist another man's freedom fighter"? Scholars debate the phrase, but it has played out in real time, as democracy activists have been executed by the state in Myanmar, accused of conspiring to commit terror acts. Stella spoke to Dr Wendy Choo, (a teaching fellow at the University of Auckland in the school of education) on the events in Myanmar. She holds a masters in international relations and her research interests include Myanmar.