The Wire with Sara

Micro plastics are an issue of growing concern, having been found in environments around the world while the impact on animal and human health has only just started to be quantified.
 

A team at Flinders University recently completed a study which found concerning levels of microplastic pollution in mussels in South Australia. Alex spoke with the leader of the research Janet Klein earlier today.

The government of the Pacific island nation Tuvalu has recently reversed its decision to sponsor a deep sea mining company. This decision has been met with support from environmental activists. On the Tuesday Wire, Christina spoke to James Hita, a Greenpeace seabed mining campaigner, about the impacts of deep sea mining.

Producer Joe Wickins spoke to Professor Amanda Black, Director at Bioprotection Aotearoa and Rutherford Discovery Fellow, as well as Dr. Dan Hikuroa, Senior Lecturer, at the School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, on the triennial report on the state of the environment in Aotearoa and how it has changed the framework for how it reports its findings.

Christina had her regular catch up with AUT Professor Marcus Jones for Dear Science. This week, they discussed a new thermal battery that could efficiently store renewable energy, the search for Earth 2.0, and how monkeys can sense their own heartbeat.

Christina also spoke to James Hita, a Greenpeace seabed mining campaigner, about the impacts of deep sea mining, and Tuvalu reversing its decision to sponsor a deep sea mining company.

And News and Editorial Director Aneeka Moheed caught up with Dr Shane Reti from the National Party about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern heading off to Asia and the country’s recent move down to the orange traffic light setting.

Widowed Syrian women who are fleeing war zones with their children are ending up in “widow camps”, where they face chronic violence, and their children are exploited and abused.

Since the start of the civil war in 2011, nearly 7 million Syrians have been displaced internally, and about 2.8 million are living in an estimated 1,300 camps for internally displaced people in the north-west of the country.

World Vision has released a study titled “Women and Children of Syria's Widow Camps: Hardest to Reach, Most at Risk” which illustrates the physical and psychological violence that these vulnerable people are facing, and the barriers to providing humanitarian aid. 

Emilia Sullivan spoke to Grant Bayldon, National Director of World Vision New Zealand about the issue.