stephen blyth’s blog

Even before George Monbiot started his interview with Sean Plunket as part of the 2008 Readers and Writers week, the British journalist and climate activist had made a big statement.
Monbiot declined to travel to Aotearoa to speak. Instead, he agreed to participate only by a video link. This decision was based on his conviction that […]

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Everyday this week I’ve bumped into references to environmental websites. I can’t help wondering if this is meant to mean something.
I chortled when I saw the reference to Unscrew America. I imagined a website all about people challenging such things as climate change denial, the Iraq war, etc. The zany, psychedelic website is actually […]

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I can’t decide if I liked the crumbed Plichard skewers with their strong oily flavour, or the ever-so tender seared Skipjack Tuna with mild wasabi. These fish, along with a couple of others, were served up by chef Martin Bosley at the launch of the 2007-08 Best Fish Guide today.
The guide ranks 75 fish […]

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After reading today’s announcements of the Webby Awards I’ve become the 45,297th subscriber to Greenpeace’s emails about their Green My Apple campaign. Not only that, but I’ve engaged in a cheeky bit of cyber activism by hugging my mac (which I could do from the comfort of our lounge). You can see a dodgy photo […]

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Yesterday deja vu struck me as Environment and Conservation Organisations of NZ (ECO) hosted a website launch. In the same room as the new SeaNet was unveiled, three years ago ECO launched a similar webite focusing on the resource management act.
The new website has been set up to “help people and communities and environmental […]

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Last June Roz and I spent a week exploring the rural hinterlands near Noosa and further up the coast at Rainbow Sands. It was our last trip together before our little one came along and transformed our lives (which Elsa since has done so, of course).
I was reminded of our trip after hearing a docmentary […]

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When I got a copy of Lisa Harrow’s book What can I do? Using the Internet to help New Zealand’s Environment (2005) I got more than I bargained for. Harrow is a New Zealand born actor best known for her Shakespearian acting.
Sure, the book is useful list of websites on almost everything green. There’s my […]

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I can’t imagine a more dificult situation for bloggers to be in than keeping a blog up-to-date from deep in the West Coast forest. But that’s exactly what the activists occupying the site of Solid Energy’s proposed open-cast coal mine in the Upper Waimangaroa Valley in the Ngakawau Ecological District, near Westport, are doing. The […]

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When I looked up from taking the photo of Mt Taranaki on the left, I saw that the rest of the tramping party had moved on. I stuffed my camera in its case, threw on my pack and raced to catch-up.
It was the first morning of a three day walk around the base of the […]

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I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people that turned up on a wintry Thursday to attend the launch of the RMAlink website. The 25 people assembled were introduced to a powerful online resource that has been developed by ECO, New Zealand’s environmental umbrella group.
The website is designed to make it easy for people […]

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