Dec 12, 2022 | Featured, Ngā Ara Whetū, Politics & Society
Photo by Tomas Sobek, Unsplash Nathan Cooper Thousands of delegates have gathered in Montreal, Canada, for a once-in-a-decade chance to address the accelerating pace of species loss and the dangers of ecosystem breakdown. COP15 brings together parties to the UN...
Feb 22, 2022 | Science & Technology
By Huw Joseph Horgan & Craig Stevens Exploring Antarctica’s hidden under-ice rivers and their role in future sea-level rise. Underneath Antarctica’s vast ice sheets there’s a network of rivers and lakes. This is possible because of the insulating blanket of ice...
Feb 15, 2022 | Arts & Culture, Politics & Society
In this two-part special episode of the Scholars’ Circle, Doug Becker explores the history of public land in the United States. Over 600 million acres of land is collectively owned by the American people. What is the history of public lands and how is the...
Jan 24, 2022 | Science & Technology
By Tiffany A. Kosch Conserving wildlife with breeding programs doesn’t help threatened species to adapt, but synthetic biology may be able to bring protection by adapting genetics. What if we could help threatened wildlife better adapt to the intractable threats many...
Jan 18, 2022 | Science & Technology
By Cate Macinnis-Ng New Zealand summers are getting hotter – and humans aren’t the only ones feeling the effects. It’s not a mirage, our summers are getting hotter on average and we are experiencing more extremely hot days. News from NIWA that 2021 was New...
Jan 11, 2022 | Science & Technology
By Maria Armoudian & Simon Thrush Oceans have already slowed the rate of global warming for decades, but unless we shift our approach to focus on them we will lose that capacity to solve the planetary overheating problem. As often happens with big meetings of...
Dec 13, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Enzo Rodriguez-Reyes Supporting local initiatives of conservation, such as, predator control programs, reforestation in regional parks, planting native trees in your backyard and keeping your cat indoors can make a huge difference for our native birds. Hiking or...
Dec 8, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Dana M. Bergstrom & Shavawn Donoghue Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms. We tend to think Antarctica is isolated and far away – biologically speaking, this is true. But the continent is...
Nov 11, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Anne Salmond The way the Government is investing in tackling climate change is scientifically ill-informed, and economically ill-considered. It needs a fundamental rethink, writes Dame Anne Salmond. My heart sank when I read about the commitments that New Zealand...
Nov 2, 2021 | Politics & Society
By Nathan Cooper How the new human right to a healthy environment could accelerate New Zealand’s action on climate change. Last week’s formal recognition by the United Nations Human Rights Council that the right to a healthy environment is an essential human right has...