Issue 17 - Environment

Salient ENVIRONMENT

Vol. 83

Issue 17

10 August 2020 1

Contents EDITORIAL.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 03 NOTICES

04

PODCASTS

05

NEWS Elections, Referenda, and Tattoos: A Sit Down with James Shaw.............................................................................................

An Apology from Salient and Wan Solwara....................................................................................................................................

Student Denied Studylink Due to Policy Discrepancies..............................................................................................................

Hall Resident Relocated At Hotel While Formal Complaint Investigated................................................................................

NZUSA Report Highlights COVID-19 Impacts on Students........................................................................................................

Panel Discussion on the End of Life Choice Bill...........................................................................................................................

Opinion.................................................................................................................................................................................................

Shit News.............................................................................................................................................................................................

06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13

FEATURES Growing Little Roots............................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Warrior Mentality, Ancestor Qualities............................................................................................................................................... 18 He Waka Eke Noa................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 CENTREFOLD

20

POETRY

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COLUMNS Going Nowhere..................................................................................................................................................................................

Green-splaining.................................................................................................................................................................................

Liquid Knowledge..............................................................................................................................................................................

To Be Frank.........................................................................................................................................................................................

Politically-Minded..............................................................................................................................................................................

Bachelor of Parenting.......................................................................................................................................................................

PSC: One Ocean...............................................................................................................................................................................

24 26 27 28 29 29 30

REVIEWS Hydroponic Salad................................................................. 32 Nothing Composts and Your Life is a Lie......................... 33

34 37

Salient is funded by VUWSA, partly through the Student Services Levy. Salient is kinda, sorta editorially independent from VUWSA. It’s a long story.

Salient is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA). The perspectives and opinions in any issue of Salient do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors.

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ENTERTAINMENT Occupation Station Horoscopes

Complaints regarding the material published in Salient should first be brought to the Editors. If displeased with the Editors’ response, the complaint should then be brought to the Media Council. Complaints should be directed to info@ mediacouncil.org.nz.

Editorial COMPOST THE RICH While this issue is a call-out to the big corporations profiting from degrading our futures, this is also a call-out to the Editors of Salient. (oh fuck, that’s us).

Unbeknownst to many, your Salient’s actually get produced in Auckland and driven down every week. According to Dr Ashley Bloomfield, a diesel vehicle can get from Tāmaki to Pōneke on one tank, and that’s our only gauge for our delivery emissions.

Other than that, we have no idea how our printing works, where the paper comes from, or how bad the dye is for the environment—judging by the hot off the press smell, it can’t be good. Hell, we aren’t even sure if this paper can be recycled in New Zealand. Shit’s fucked.

We both have degrees in environmental studies and are utter simps for the environment, but the irony of this industry has not escaped us. We figured we ought to see what we can do, so after some BA-level mathematics, we’ve decided to reduce our print by 20% for the rest of the year.

This week’s cover is an homage to what we believe is Salient’s first environment issue, dated 1970. We found it in our archive over the summer and just couldn’t shake the feeling this haunting cover gave us.

The opening line of the issue is as follows: “When some future historian shall summarise what the present generation has accomplished his conclusion could read, ‘Of the waters, they have made a cesspool; of the air, a depository for poisons, and of the good earth itself, a dump where rats rummaged in piles of refuse’.”

In 19 fucking 70.

The entire issue reads like poetry–dark and twisted though it may be. Of facing the sheer dismay of the environment at the time, one author writes, “I know you have your own life to work out and your own soul to care for first. I know also that you are doomed. You cannot order either your life or your soul because of the junk which fills both. What is outside enters in. What is inside must come out. In the end they are the same. Junk in one means contamination of both.”

Comparing 2020’s issue to the 1970 version reveals two truths. The first is that students have long been aware of the relationship between our environment and our wellbeing.

The second is that not only are students leading these conversations, but we’ve also been leading the action.

Penfield Jensen published a ‘Student Manifesto’ in the 1970 issue, listing students’ demands, “The phenomenon of student activism is as much a barometer of global crises as it is a manifestation of personal frustration and organized disruption.”

Organised disruption—it’s what students do best. We push back when the uni is fucking us over. We shut down cities in the name of climate change. We stand on whenua for days when it needs protecting.

This issue, like the 1970 one, is full of doom and gloom. But it’s also full of shaking up the status quo. You won't find any keep-cup, onus-on-the-consumer bullshit here. The 1970 issue has no mention of how the environment intersects with gender, ability, and indigeneity. At least one thing has changed in the last 50 years.

Just as an aside—another thing we don’t reeeeally get a say in is our advertising. Please send us letters regardless.

Kirsty Frame (she/her) Rachel Trow (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa | she/her)

Brought to you by Peoples Coffee Newtown

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Notices DISABILITY ISSUE The Disabled Students Association (DSA) are teaming up with Salient and are looking for content producers.

DSA is a group for students with disabilities and impairments at Victoria University.

We are proud of the diversity within the disability community, encompassing people with physical

CONTRIBUTOR CALL OUT

impairments, learning impairments, sensory impairments, neurodiverse folk, chronic illnesses/ pain/ fatigue, mental ill-health, and more! If you are interested in being a part of this issue of Salient, please email disabledstudentsassociation. vuw@gmail.com or editor@salient.org.nz

MINDFULNESS MEDITATION BY STUDENTS FOR STUDENTS We’re a new club that formed for the purpose of facilitating practical mindfulness sessions for students on campus.

Mon - Body scan 10 min + mindfulness 10 min 11am KK203 Tues - Mindfulness meditation 15 min 2pm SU219 Weds - Guided body scan breathing 5-15 mins 12pm SU217 Thurs - Tonglen 1pm MY402 Fri -

Breathing meditation 10 min

11am SU219 For more information contact practicalmeditationsangha@gmail.com

Did we do something right?

Something wrong? Enlighten us.

Best letter gets bean juice, thanks to our mates at Peoples Coffee Newtown

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NOTICES

Send your letters and notices to editor@salient.org.nz before 5pm Tuesday for the following week’s issue.

Salient Podcasts Stranger At Home Ever felt out of place in the country you come from?

Alex Marinkovich-Josey, a New Zealander who grew up exclusively in Asia, returned to New Zealand with almost no understanding of the local culture or what it means to be Kiwi. Join Stranger at Home every week for rediscovering home, with a variety of guests and topics.

Tripartisan Self-described as “three BA students that like the sound of their own voices”, Tripartisan is a show covering studentfocused political chat, unapologetically. With a wide range of guests and topics each week, this is your one-stop show to dissect national and global happenings.

Above Standard Flatmates Ella and Alice get together and dive into a wide range of above standard chats each fortnight. From girlchat to travels, Above Standard gets deep into the shit that you share with your flatties when hungover on a Sunday, or that one cool story you flex on your first-date. Tune in to remind yourself that most people are above standard.

Young Matt Show Ever wondered what Simon Bridge’s favorite beer is?

You’ll have to tune into The Young Matt Show. Host Matt Casey presents weekly episodes in an attempt at getting people engaged in politics, especially those completely uninterested in politics. Matt chats with a range of guests, from Chlöe Swarbrick to JessB, and an even wider range of topics.

The Biz Choose the biz. Choose big beats. Choose FM over Podcast. Choose French house over Chicago. Choose a show that aims to bring forth music most of us were too young to properly experience. Choose late 90s electronic.

Choose the sounds that you might have heard on Courtney place 30 years ago. Choose good bants, beats, and a sliver of charisma. Choose the biz. Come dig the trax every Friday or so. Listen on: www.mixcloud.com/SalientPodcasts

SALIENT PODCASTS

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News

MONDAY 10TH AUGUST 2020

Elections, Referenda, and Tattoos: A Sit Down with James Shaw FINN BLACKWELL | HE/HIM

Shaw speaking at the Black Lives Matter march in Wellington in June. Image by: Salient

Salient sat down with Minister for Climate Change, Green Party Co-Leader, and Wellington Central General Electorate Candidate, James Shaw, to talk carbon neutrality, Wellington’s Golden Mile, and native birds.

Climate and Environment Salient first asked Shaw to explain what it meant to be carbon neutral by 2050. “Because CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere, even the smallest amount adds to the stock of what’s already there.”

“What we do to draw CO2 out of the atmosphere is plant more trees. Your tree planting nets off against the amount of pollution that you’ve got, meaning you’re net-zero, or carbon neutral.”

Shaw commented that, should he be re-elected, the top three policies to be pushed were massive rollouts of rooftop solar panels, battery, and EV chargers. The Greens also intend to help companies like Fonterra transition from coal to renewable energy, as well as work on reducing emission from the agricultural sector.

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Shaw mentioned that there were new policies releasing soon that he couldn’t talk about. However, he stated that the Greens planned a lot of work around the marine environment and protecting biodiversity in forests and mountains.

The Zero-Carbon Act has been a major win for the Green Party, yet it did not come without sacrifice. Shaw commented that one of the concessions made to get the bill to parliament “the most obvious one we had was an emissions reduction target for biogenic methane which was set at a lower rate than other gasses” Election Run-up When asked how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the goals of the Green Party, Shaw stated that “If anything, it’s actually made us more ambitious.”

“What we’re saying is, given that we’re bringing forward next to 20 years worth of discretionary expenditure, what we should be doing is putting every dollar that we can of that stimulus money to work on reducing our emissions, adapting to the effects of climate change, protecting biodiversity, reducing

inequality, fixing our housing market, those sort of things.”

While discussing more general matters, Shaw elaborated the framework the Greens propose for a Universal Allowance. “What we’ve done with guaranteed minimum income, we’ve said ‘well actually, rather than have all these different categories of benefits, that actually there is just a guaranteed payment that you get if you’re unemployed or a single parent or whatever your circumstances are.”

“The framework is that once you’re a registered student, you’d get $325 a week”.

Looking to the upcoming general election, Shaw discussed the importance of the cannabis referendum. “I know it’s necessarily not people's top priority,” he remarked, “but it has wide-reaching impacts on health, inequality, incarceration, and prison rates.”

“The approach saying is actually, if you look at the evidence, having a legal regulated market, like we do for alcohol and tobacco, means that we can reduce harm right across Aotearoa New Zealand.”

“If you want to take a harm reduction approach, the evidence strongly says you should vote in favour of legalisation.”

Wellington Swapping from national to local politics, Shaw commented on Wellington City Council’s plan for the Golden Mile, saying “I’m in favour of the most pedestrianised option, and the reason for that is, when you look at what has transformed cities around the world, it’s that full pedestrianisation where they really turn over the street to a human-centric approach.

“You get way more foot traffic, so retail outlets go gangbusters, you get much more street life, you have cafes, restaurants, and bars opening out onto the street in ways

that they don’t when there’s this wall of steel that pulls through them” “I think it would be transformational for the city to have a main concourse through the CBD, which is a pedestrian concourse, I think it would be awesome”.

Good ol’ fashioned yarns A confidential source told Salient that Shaw had a tattoo, we investigated further. “It’s Tā Moko. At the heart of it is Papatūānuku and the binding together of people through this flax weave.”

“The rest of the symbology is to do with people in my family and where I hail from in the western Bay of Plenty.”

He also wished to note that he did not take off his shirt at this point in the interview.

"A confidential source told Salient that Shaw had a tattoo, we investigated further."

With the rise of electric vehicles across the country, Salient had one pressing question for the Green Party leader: Flamingo Scooters or Onzo Bikes? “I’m going to go with bikes because they’ll carry people over longer distances, that’s kind of a transport nerd way of answering the question but yes.”

Alongside the General Election, the New Zealand Bird of the Year awards are due to occur at some point, with the winner of last year (the Hoiho) coming up against formidable opponents. Shaw commented that his vote was going to the Pīwakawaka (Fantail). “It was the bird that Annabel and I associate with our wedding” he added.

An Apology from Salient and Wan Solwara Salient and the Wan Solwara Collective would like to apologise for a news piece published in last week's issue, Wan Solwara: Digging for Roots.

The news piece titled "Boycott: Demilitarise our Neighbouring Islands—Hawaii 2020" featured several inaccuracies that misrepresent the Cancel RIMPAC Coalition Aotearoa, those involved in resulting protests, and the open letter presented to the Prime Minister.

This piece has been removed from the Salient website until further notice. An amended version is forthcoming.

Salient and the Wan Solwara Collective would also like to apologise for the use of the term "Kānaka 'Ina" which was not only misspelt but the intended word was not used in the correct context. We are incredibly sorry to our Kānaka Maoli readers.

Salient hopes that this oversight does not diminish the mana of what is an incredibly special issue, one that has been a privilege for us to see come to fruition. The Wan Solwara Collective and their contributors have poured everything into this issue and they have been an absolute pleasure to work with. We hope the readers of Wan Solwara will enjoy this issue as much as we have, even more so now that these inaccuracies have been addressed.

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Student Denied Studylink

Due to Policy Discrepancies FINN BLACKWELL | HE/HIM

A VUW student has been denied access to Studylink living costs until next semester due to a serious disparity between Studylink and Victoria University of Wellington policies.

A student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Salient how greatly these hindrances impacted them.

This hardship stemmed from a Studylink policy that states if students don’t meet passing requirements and don't have a good reason, they can't get a Student Loan until these are met again.

Victoria University does not mark withdrawn papers as a fail grade, whereas Studylink does.

“You don’t know if you should be studying or working” they commented. “I couldn’t feed myself, I couldn’t pay rent. I had to go to WINZ”.

“It felt like I was in limbo”, the student stated.

This policy issue affects those who have withdrawn from courses due to personal reasons, such as this student. After being denied their loan based on this policy, the student lodged a formal complaint.

The student was told by Studylink, “If we need to work with others, it may take longer. You'll always be advised when it has been received and when it has been resolved.”

At the time of publication, this student had waited for nearly half a trimester to have their complaint seen to. This meant that courses for the 2020 academic year were already underway and course payments were overdue.

Not only this, but the student also reported that, during a conversation with their caseworker, the worker used racially charged language as the student attempted to explain their situation.

“They wouldn’t let me explain,” commented the student.

“They refused to empathise with me.”

Afterwards, the caseworker’s supervisor promised to call, apologising for the lack of care the student received.

The student requested information under the Privacy Act 1993. The enquiry launched by the student was to obtain all

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information on the student held by Studylink, including all notes and information kept on their electronic record.

The student has since received the information back under the Privacy Act, however, this comes approximately ten weeks past the proposed deadline.

“You don’t know if you should be studying or working” [...]

“I couldn’t feed myself, I couldn’t pay rent. I had to go to WINZ” In a comment to Salient, Centralised Services General Manager Simone Pringle stated: “All our clients have the right to request a copy of their records under the Privacy Act.” “We encourage the client to make contact directly so we can work together to ensure the information is provided securely and in a timely manner.”

In a conversation with Salient, the student commented that “when it comes to fighting the system, it’s always favoured towards the system.”

“Mine is not the only case”, they explained.

Salient also reached out to VUWSA to see what services students facing this kind of challenge to reach out to.

“This shows how a blanket rule can disadvantage a lot of student groups when a situation calls for more flexibility,” they continued. “We would like to see a way where Government decisions about Studylink can be implemented on a case-by-case basis.”

Salient will be following this story as it develops and as the Privacy Act information becomes available.

If you have experienced a similar situation with Studylink, please contact news@salient.org.nz.

Hall Resident Relocated At Hotel

While Formal Complaint Investigated KIRSTY FRAME | SHE/HER

CW: Sexual Harm

A resident in a VUW hall has reported feeling pressured to temporarily relocate while their formal complaint was investigated regarding sexual harm.

The victim-survivor recently spent 10 days in a self-contained hotel suite while their complaint was investigated by Student Interest and Conflict Resolution (SICR). The complaint was laid against another resident, who also lives in the hall and has remained there throughout the investigation.

Additionally, the student was left confused through communications regarding their food costs while they were relocated. They were initially informed that they’d have to pay for their own food while in the hotel, without clarity that their hall fees would be adjusted. They were later told by SICR that they would be reimbursed for their food costs.

"The victim-survivor reports experiencing a rapid decline in their mental health during their stay at the hotel."

The close proximity to the accused perpetrator was the main reasoning for encouraging the victim-survivor to relocate, the student reports.

The University commented that temporary relocations are offered on a case by case basis, through the halls’ critical incident procedures. Earlier this year the University introduced new policies and procedures for sexual harassment and harm, in which processes for students making a disclosure or complaint are outlined.

The offer for relocations is “often made to both the student who has made a complaint of sexual harassment and the student who has been accused of sexual harassment.”

Before relocating, the victim-survivor was advised more than once by SICR and hall staff to do so and reported feeling “pressured” throughout the process.

The University also added that the purpose of such procedures is to “support a student’s sense of wellbeing and safety while minimising, to the extent possible, any negative academic impact.”

The victim-survivor reports experiencing a rapid decline in their mental health during their stay at the hotel. While they had friends visit and provide support, the student still felt “incredibly isolated.”

“I didn’t have any motivation to do anything. I was removed, I didn’t have a support network. I felt awful.”

During these 10 days, the student reports being contacted once by SICR, via text message, and said their Head of Hall checked in with them over the phone.

After remaining for 10 nights, the student decided to return to the hall, stating they "didn’t want to be alone anymore."

The University commented that the costs related to relocation to non-university accommodation in these instances are at the expense of the University. A spokesperson said “provisions [are] made for meals, either through enabling students to eat at another hall or reimbursing their food costs so that they can self-cater.”

The student has since been reimbursed for food costs through their hall payments being deducted accordingly.

If you require support regarding sexual harm, you can contact: •

24/7 Support Lines

•

HELP: 04 801 6655

•

MOSAIC: 022 419 3416

•

Safe to Talk: 0800 044 334

VUW contacts: •

VUWSA Advocate, Erica Shouten: 04 463 6984 advocate@vuwsa.org.nz

•

VUW Student Interest and Conflict Resolution: 04 4635023

•

student.interest@vuw.ac.nz

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NZUSA Report Highlights

COVID-19 Impacts on Students TE AOREWA ROLLESTON | NGĀTI RANGINUI, NGĀI TE RANGI | SHE/HER

A report released by The New Zealand Union of Student Associations (NZUSA) is highlighting the immense impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tertiary students.

Parata said that “we were encouraged to carry out research and we wanted to have some type of report and document to support us when advocating for Māori university students.”

Over 400 students from across Aotearoa participated in a survey conducted by NZUSA. The results were used to discuss the adversity faced by students across key areas such as overall educational experience, finances, and well-being.

Similar to the bases of the NZUSA report, TMA also focused on critical areas like finances, well-being, and the education experiences of Tauira which all contributed to the overall hardships. One concern in particular was the accessibility of online learning which was crucial to the success of students learning during the lockdown.

NZUSA President, Isabella Lenihan-Ikin spoke to Salient about the findings in the report.

Lenihan-Ikin explained how the timing of the report and its findings were useful towards articulating the effects of COVID-19 on students.

These effects were being felt extensively and weren’t limited to one student, institution or region.

Lenihan-Ikin also stated that in relation to the three key areas covered in the report, “we have to centre our conversations around the cost of living.”

The report outlines the need for a Universal Education Income in order to assist students through-out the COVID-19 economic recovery.

“With 87% of students supporting a UEI, there is a strong mandate for the government to act in a transformative way in the wake of COVID-19” Access to reliable broadband and technology equipment was a major disadvantage faced by tauira and highlighted in the report following a survey conducted by TMA. Parata said that the pandemic was not necessarily the beginning of hardships faced by tauria, but instead catalysed the impact of inequities that were already present.

Many students throughout lockdown experienced job losses, increased work loads, and anxiety around the impact of the pandemic on their futures.

TMA have also expressed a continued focus on conducting further research which would expand to include other tertiary student communities such as Polytechnics and other institutions of learning.

NZUSA also found that a Universal Education Income, also known as Te Rourou Matanui-a-Wānanga (UEI), would give students “the ability to live in dignity and not be forced to borrow to live.”

“We decided to go with Māori university students first because TMA is made up of members who are predominantly University associations but it does not limit us from wanting to research further in the tertiary sector.”

“With 87% of students supporting a UEI, there is a strong mandate for the government to act in a transformative way in the wake of COVID-19,” commented Lenihan-Ikin.

“We are currently still in the process of producing an ITP report for Māori students and that is undergoing its final stages before being published. For the trades and private training establishments we’ve decided to team up with the Ministry of education.”

Salient also spoke to Nohorua Parata, the Tumuaki Takirua of the National Māori students Association, Te Mana Ākonga (TMA).

TMA also conducted their own comprehensive report specifically catering to the impact of the pandemic on the Māori University student population.

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Zaine Akuhata-Huntington who was the lead facilitator of the research said that, "this project was for our tauira. This was an opportunity for their voices and their stories to be seen and heard. Their lived-experiences matter and it is our duty to ensure that they have a platform to be listened to.”

Panel Discussion on the End of Life Choice Bill

KEANA VIRMANI & TE AOREWA ROLLESTON | SHE/HER

On Wednesday the 5th August Salient attended a panel discussion on the End of Life Choice Bill. The Bill is a part of one of two referenda coinciding with this year’s General Election.

The legislation according to the Act aims “(a) to give persons who have a terminal illness and who meet certain criteria the option of lawfully requesting medical assistance to end their lives; and (b) to establish a lawful process for assisting eligible persons who exercise that option.”

Three panelists participated in the discussion, including Dr Clive Aspin, a senior lecturer in health at Victoria University of Wellington, Paula Tesoriero MNZM, the Disability Human rights Commissioner, and Hon Ruth Dyson, veteran MP for the Labour party and a member of the Health Select Committee.

The panel, hosted by VUWSA along with VUW and led by One News journalist Mei Heron, critically analysed the meaning and purpose behind this piece of legislation.

Tesoriero stated that in a poll conducted by Curia Market research during 2019, the results stated that “70-75% of people did not understand this legislation.”

The same poll also stated how three quarters of participants also believed that the End of Life Choice Bill would enable patients to have life saving machines turned off as well as being able to refuse resuscitation.

However this is not the basis of the legislation as these things are already legal.

Renee Joubert, an executive Officer for Euthanasia-Free NZ said that the intent of the bill is to “legalise assisted dying.”

Māori have a lower access to palliative care at the end of their lives in comparison with non-Māori, said Aspin.

Aspin said “until such time as these disparities are eradicated, how fair is it to pose End of Life to the population.”

Dyson questioned the complex criteria that patients had to meet in order to access assisted dying medication.

“I want everyone to live their life the best they possibly can but also to die the best they possibly can.“ In relation to the current bill Dyson believed that “there would be people excluded which I personally would have liked to have been included as well.”

A key area of discussion during the debate were concerns around safeguards to ensure that the implications of the bill were safe and knowledgeable.

Tesoriero’s main concern around this legislation was in regard to the “adequate safeguards” in order to protect against “wrongful deaths.”

Dyson said “I believe there are much more rigorous safeguards than I would have had in.”

“I would like to be given the confidence that I as a Māori and anyone else in this country would have the same access as everybody else,” said Aspin.

"Dyson believed that “there would be people excluded which I personally would have liked to have been included as well”"

This includes patients from the age of 18 and according to the act itself “does not require an eligible person to have tried any pain relief or palliative care before requesting a lethal dose.”

In retrospect, all of the panelists encouraged a familiarisation with the legislation.

For Aspin, it was the inequalities present within the current health system that was most concerning in relation to the bill.

The act has currently already been passed but in order to be introduced as a law, the outcome of the upcoming referendum will decide this.

“We are dealing with a health system based on significant disparities.”

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Opinion Carbon Trading: A Little

Less Scary Than You Thought THEODORE STEPHENSON | HE/HIM

Welcome to a brief introduction about one of the least sexy topics on Earth, carbon trading. You may have heard it referenced as “greedy corporations buying the right to pollute,” which it is. But like anything, it’s a little more complicated than that. In this very brief opinion piece, I hope to explain what it is, how it works, and ultimately why it’s not so bad.

So... What is it?

A carbon trading scheme (otherwise known as emissions trading or a cap-and-trade scheme) is the primary tool used by some governments around the world, including New Zealand, to reduce CO2 emissions. This is how new Zealand hopes to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030—in line with our commitments to the 2016 Paris Climate Accords.

So… how does it work?

To explain the mechanism, it’s useful to compare it to a flat tax on CO2 emissions. A tax on greenhouse gas emissions makes it more expensive to pollute, thus incentivising businesses to move greener alternatives. A carbon tax sets a price on CO2 emissions but allows for any quantity of pollution. An emissions trading scheme sets a limit on the number of emissions but allows for any price.

So... how does this work in practice?

Well, in New Zealand (with the recent passing of the “Emissions Trading Reform Amendment” a month ago, credit to James Shaw), the government will auction off a set number of permits (called NZU’s) each quarter. Each NZU entitles the owner to emit one ton of CO2. For reference, one ton of CO2 is equivalent to driving 6000 km in a diesel car.

A company will buy as many NZU’s as it needs. If it pollutes less than anticipated it can then sell the unused NZU’s on a secondary market to companies that polluted above their allowance. Just as with a carbon tax, this incentivises businesses to voluntarily reduce their emissions so as to avoid purchasing more NZU’s.

Over time, the government then reduces the number of permits in the market, thus ensuring that emissions are capped. Over the next five years, the government plans to

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reduce the available NZU from 17.6 million in 2021, to 13.2 million by 2025, meaning that we will be well on our way to achieving our climate goals.

If you are still confused, think about it like this: Everybody buys a rubbish bin because they get a steep fee if they leave their rubbish in the street. At the end of the week, if you have some space left in your bin, you can sell it to your mate who needs a bit more room. In this way, both you and your mate have a financial incentive to continually reduce the amount of rubbish.

Over time, the government shrinks the size of the bin, forcing you all to be a bit greener.

So… does it actually work?

Yes. Yes, it does. According to the 2019 Harvard Study Carbon Taxes vs. Cap and Trade: Theory and Practice “…the symmetries between carbon taxes and cap-and-trade is perfectly equivalent or nearly equivalent across emissions reductions, abatement costs, possibilities for raising revenue, costs to regulated firms, distributional impacts, and competitiveness effects…”. When examining every major carbon pricing scheme of the last 30 years, the study found that the choice of carbon pricing model made little economic or environmental difference.

A question may have occurred to the perceptive reader—why go through all this trouble when you can just slap a carbon tax on and get the same result?

Well, a cap-and-trade scheme ensures that environmental goals are fully reached on time; when a company pollutes above its permits and there are no more NZU’s in the secondary market, the company then must purchase NZU’s direct from the government, who then plants trees that act as carbon sinks that offset the new emissions. This ensures that emissions are firmly capped at desired levels.

So there you have it. Carbon trading. A little less scary than you thought.

Shit News EACH WEEK OR SO, THE SALIENT TEAM RECAPS WTF HAPPENED LAST WEEK BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT TO GET SUED, WE'VE CALLED IT SHIT NEWS

OVER THE WEEKEND (1ST AND 2ND AUGUST) Judith Collins had a rough time at the polls this weekend, with a result of 32%. Judith has yet to brand this as ‘fake news’, but hey, we’re still holding out hope.

Labour MP Kieran McAnulty spent his Sunday repairing broken campaign billboards. Most believe that this has been the work of regular vandals, though some speculate that a rogue band of Kea (presumably stacked in a trench coat) target these billboards specifically “for the yarns”

his appointment as the moderator for the August 25th leaders debate. We had a previous reckon that it would be Jack Tame but were more than happy to see that JC will be running the show, huge improvement from Mike Hosking.

Māori Party, TOP, and New Cons were unimpressed that they didn't get invited on to the debates. Fair enough.

WEDNESDAY 5TH AUGUST

Our news editor and podcast manager went on a walk together to Oriental Bay. They held hands and it was cute.

Love that for them.

Mike Hosking said something… didn't really check it out but someone on twitter disagreed. Something about our Government.

MONDAY 3RD AUGUST

Choo Choo!! Nats announce more roads. This time it was for the Wellington and Hutt area. They’re wanting to speed up the Mount Vic tunnel and said the word cycleway somewhere in the announcement too. They also added more stuff with trains. Trains are pretty cool.

National releases more information about building roads, specifically in the Ōtaki area. Buuut, they also want to electrify the train line and bring it into the Welly network.

On the radio, the PM announced that one of Labours COVID recovery plans is underway. We don't actually listen to the radio, but the Labour twitter page said that this recovery is something they will carry through if they remain in power after the election. Big flex.

We got really bored at work and did something really fun and exciting. Went on over to Vote.co.nz and checked if we were enrolled, some were and some were not. After like 5 seconds we were all sorted.

TUESDAY 4TH AUGUST

A crazy mf came onto Kelburn campus, made lots of people uncomfortable and unsafe—he’s trespassed now.

THURSDAY 6TH AUGUST One of our staff members tried to debate the reasonings for Male-specific multivitamins. We concluded that marketing might be of influence, but ultimately there are some valid reasons for gendered vitamins.

FRIDAY 7TH AUGUST CLOSED: come back when you’ve enrolled to vote.

The majority of the Labour MP’s had their valedictory speeches in parliament, as well as Green MP Gareth Hughes. They were kinda like the head boy/girl speeches from highschool. A huge shout out to Ruth Dyson who did the first part of her speech in NZSL. TVNZ announced their team for election coverage. As lifelong John Campbell stands, we’re pretty chuffed with

NEWS: ISSUE 17

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Growing Little Roots WORDS BY SHANTI MATHIAS | SHE/HER

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Our natural environments soothe the mental illnesses their destruction causes. When I am afraid or anxious, I go for a walk and try to look for the sea. Some undulating waves; the shimmer of a fresh spider web; a fragile skeleton leaf; two kaka, creaking their beaks around their silvan food; the muddy footprint of a person who has been here before me.

Intellectually, I know wholesale environmental destruction is happening here and elsewhere, but I am restored in these details regardless.

Research backs this up: spending 30 minutes in green space a day is supposed to increase your quality of sleep.

Controlling for other factors, those who can see the sea regularly are happier than those who can not. 90% of people with depression have a higher self-esteem after going for a walk. They’ve done studies: new numbers, whenever we want them, telling us that nature is good for us.

Young people in Aotearoa have increasing rates of diagnosed mental illnesses, which are disproportionately high for Māori and Pasifika. The climate crisis is occurring alongside a youth mental health crisis. Our environment is in jeopardy: so are our minds and our futures.

“It’s not just climate change, it’s interconnected with colonisation, racism, […]classism. This is something that affects my mental health,” says Hannah*, a Māori and Pasifika student and climate activist. The psychological effects of climate change can be difficult for everyone, but for Indigenous people, the effects are compounded by dispossession, discrimination, and disconnection from their land.

Climate change does not just affect the natural world. Nature is not separate from people: social, political, and economic systems are tangled with the climate. It makes sense, then, that climate change is not experienced abstractly. Our minds respond to this great uncertainty, and it is our minds that help us to act.

interconnected thing,” says Raven Maeder, a law and environmental studies student who has been involved in activism and organising. To accept this invitation is to recognise the diverse forms of activism. “Activism [in the streets] is just one thing, but there are so many ways to contribute beyond that.”

Lindi Louw, an Anthropology honours student doing research on the climate crisis, says her research has shown that despair can lead to solutions. “What are the possibilities, how can we deal with this anxiety but also do something positive for the environment? We don’t have to ignore the conversation.”

Noticing the interconnectedness between self and system and climate is instinctual before we develop language for it, especially for Indigenous people. “When I first learnt about [climate change], how it affects our community made sense to me. I felt like the environment, it is my base,” said Hannah.

“I feel a connection [to the land] but because of colonisation I think being away from my homeland, not knowing 100% where I came from—there’s a lot of intergenerational trauma and pain.”

The climate crisis is both alarming and unknown. This is difficult for human minds to reconcile, according to Dr Wokje Abrahamse, a senior lecturer in Environmental Studies with a specialisation in environmental psychology. Recognition of the interconnected systems involved can be overwhelming: as she told me, “a lot of environmental problems are social problems.” Yet there are still ways to act.

The English language has developed various neologisms attempting to capture the knit-together desire to relate to the environment. Eco-anxiety is a manifestation of “people grieving over the land because of climate change,” says Lindi, noting that Indigenous people have experienced this long before white people named it. Solastalgia means our tendency to find that a place we thought was home cannot come back, because of environmental change.

Biophilia theorises our innate tendency to seek out natural places. Of course, Indigenous people have expressed this for generations, and it is only recently that non-Indigenous officials and institutions have recognised how our minds and matter are intertwined.

Climate change activism tends to focus on action in the streets, making demands of people with little inclination to listen. “There’s an invitation to see the climate as an

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) acknowledged eco-anxiety in a December 2019 press release. “[Climate change] can lead

FEATURE: GROWING LITTLE ROOTS

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to a wide range of direct and indirect negative health effects including mental health problems and mental disorders, health risk behaviours and effects on other social and lifestyle opportunities, health perceptions and physical health.” They added that young people and those with “close emotional and ancestral ties to the land” are particularly vulnerable.

“There needs to be a backbone of Indigenous voices, pulling up other people [to talk about climate],” Hannah says.

There are Indigenous climate spaces, although they can be hard to find. One example of this is the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCW), “a youth led grassroots network working with communities to fight climate change from the Pacific Islands,” according to their website. Finding indigenous climate spaces can be transformative for indigenous activists.

Activism—broad activism, beyond marches—is a way to respond to the climate crisis. “People have a sense that they have no control. When people start to do small things, it gives people a sense of control that they’re starting to work on a solution,” says Dr Abrahamse.

There are 413 parts of carbon per million molecules in the atmosphere. The sea level could rise 1.5 metres by 2100.

46% of the world’s forests have been lost since industrial felling began. Every day, there are new numbers declaring that the climate is changing and everything we know could be destroyed.

The reduction of the complex social, cultural, and biological relationships which construct an environment to a set of doomsday numbers serves to further alienate people from the land and ocean, and makes them feel helpless. Small, perceptible actions can change that feeling.

Climate advocacy tends to “treat the environment as a detached thing,” says Raven, seeing climate change as “ppm [parts per million] of greenhouse gases... Tangibly as an individual person, what am I going to do to change that?”

“The environmental science stuff, I thought it was interesting but I didn’t think I was good enough [to contribute]—like I know nothing about the environment,” says Hannah.

The mainstream environmental movement often makes Indigenous activists feel sidelined and tokenised. It took time for Hannah to recognise that their social and cultural position was vital to respond to the climate crisis. The work of PCW, as well as other Indigenous activists around the world, has been vital in broadening the view of what activism means—and how it begins with decolonisation.

Part of the struggle of activism is that it is difficult to quantify.

“It’s hard to measure tangible change,” Raven says. “If we mobilized 40,000 people [for the School Strikes for Climate], tangibly what has that done?”

Dr Abrahamse, as a researcher, sees the complicated factors that go into change. “It’s hard to say for sure…but the climate strikes changed the conversation,” she says. “The

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WORDS BY SHANTI MATHIAS

school strikes [showed] that it is possible to act collectively.”

Knowing intellectually that your action has made a small difference can be frustrating, even if it is true. “I know that [the strikes] contributed to the social environment which allowed the Zero Carbon Act to pass, but it’s just so incremental,” says Raven.

Legislation such as the plastic bag ban can change norms overnight, Dr Abrahamse says. “Small and tangible” behaviours are easy to change, and a good place for environmental action to start, as well as sweeping policy and societal transformation.

Physical things are easier to notice. Raven namechecks art and gardening as a way to act against the climate crisis. Most important, she says, is to “build the kind of community where if you take the issue away the community is still there and it’s something you want to be a part of.” Lindi and Hannah agree with this: it is a sense of collectivity that inspires action, as well as an ideological commitment to the issues.

Dr Abrahamse’s research has looked at how environmentallymotivated behaviour and emotion is experienced socially, meaning that communities are even more vital. “Social [action] gives a sense that everyone is doing their part,” she says. Small, perceptible actions are much more meaningful and transformative if they are done collectively.

The social aspect of activism makes it particularly difficult for climate activists whose communities do not share their goals. Lindi’s research has shown that for isolated activists “there’s definitely more negative impacts [to mental wellbeing] there because it doesn’t feel like you can do anything, even if you try if you’re the only one trying in your community.” Isolated activists are particularly at risk of negative mental health outcomes.

I walked in a SS4C march, because climate change matters to me. I had a sign I’d made; it felt like I was participating in a bigger thing, like something was possible. And yet the event

"Connection is built from memories, from having parts of the natural world that feel like home: recognizing plants and skies, returning to natural landscapes that feel familiar to you."

itself was exhausting. I lost the people I was with and my energy with them, clutching my sign with fading conviction: this flood of people, nauseous, overwhelming. I listened to people talk. I ate my lunch on Parliament lawn. There were many people with me, many of them feeling the same way I did. But I had no friend beside me to talk to, just thousands of worried, happy strangers. And then I went home, and everything was the same, with a sign leaning against my wall, reminding me that my earth is in anguish.

“Climate change affects [Indigenous people] more through generations through colonialism, our lands, our oceans, our people,” says Lori. As the effects of the climate crisis worsen, perhaps more people will understand the devastation of dispossession, the complex web between land and air and people.

Is it easier, then, not to think about climate change; to go about life, as Lindi says she used to, not paying attention to the climate and thinking “lah-di-dah, everything is fine?”

I think, uneasily, of my own dreams: topsoil loss, barren ground, waterfalls rushing where I don’t expect them. Even when we try not to think about climate change, it creeps in.

It is no coincidence that the climate crisis is happening at the same time as a youth mental health crisis—but it is possible to respond to both at once. “Connection to nature is [also] about connecting to other people,” says Wokje.

We can hold each other through the shared fear, reaching towards a shared conviction that things can get better.

The reason that the climate crisis is impossible to avoid is because we are connected. One of the determining factors in if someone takes climate action, Wokje says, is how connected they feel to nature. Connection is built from memories, from having parts of the natural world that feel like home: recognizing plants and skies, returning to natural landscapes that feel familiar to you. Lindi has found in her research that youth climate activists are often building on memories of the environment they grew up in. Seeing that environment be destroyed—experiencing solastalgia—is often what spurs them into action.

I long to be connected to this place where I am, this place I am learning to love: a place ruined, a place thriving, where kawakawa leaves feel supple against my fingers, and the winters are warmer than they used to be. I am learning to love the people around me: perplexing, frustrating, courageous, our futures shared. I am learning to be curious about the possibilities of change: not the kind of change that waits on politicians, but change that makes the present resilient against every kind of future. We—together, stronger, every true cliché—are learning to hope.

If action can come from fear, it creates hope. These two are entangled: Lindi’s research with young activists has shown that people take action before they talk about hope. It starts small; intangible, individual. But if that difference is real then “there’s hope that maybe I can do something more, maybe our whole generation can do something.” Activism—like hope—grows.

I ask Hannah what gives them hope. “Decolonisation.

Bringing our communities together and having these conversations.” Talking about climate change, how we live with fear, is difficult, especially for dispossessed people.

But it is also vitally important, because it demonstrates that these feelings are experienced with other’s.

Raven tells me about the slogan of the Climate Justice Alliance, an Indigenous activism group: “It Takes Roots.”

It speaks, she says, to the connection that we long for, to the people and environments we all live beside and within: this nested, tangled system. “You need to be connected to something to drive what you’re doing, otherwise you’re easily going to be swept away by some wind. For some people that’s intergenerational but—we can put down little roots.” *name changed.

FEATURE: GROWING LITTLE ROOTS

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Warrior Mentality, WORDS BY LOFA TOTUA | SHE/HER

“The Pacific Climate Warriors are a collective of young activists, artists, educators, community organisers and overall passionate Pacific people who are working towards a common goal of protecting our islands from environmental harm and fighting for climate justice.”

- Brianna Fruean, Climate Activist To be a Pacific Climate Warrior is to have the Warrior mentality—to dream, plan and serve through actioning hopeful, creative solutions. Know your why. Come as you are. Be ready to do the work.

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Where do we come from?

On maps of our common home, the Pacific is minimised to a series of dots on a great blue canvas. Some of us live in the islands and others are a part of our diasporic communities.

We are a collective of skilled, passionate navigators from an ocean with hundreds of languages, rich cultures, and traditions.

Anthropologist Judith Huntsman wrote about the necessity of cultural specificity and points out that no collective is ever homogenous across space and time; “both writers and readers should be alert to the dangers of unwitting generalisation or unacknowledged specificity, which invite separate societies… [Tonga, Cook Islands, Kiribati etc] but also at the micro-level within them: as from one island or village to another.” In short, we are all different but linked by the same cause. The Pacific Climate Warriors are recognised internationally for peaceful protesting. Our message is simple: we are not drowning, we are fighting!

Existence is Resistance The Indigenous strength that comes with the Warrior mentality has meant that Pacific folk are the most resilient when it comes to dealing with the impacts of climate change, a present reality for the Pacific and an impending future countries like the U.S and Britain, are dreading.

The word ‘activism’ often creates connotations of individuals screaming into microphones, making unrealistic demands and disrupting society. For a Pacific Climate Warrior, this word has been reclaimed with new meaning and thus healing through decolonisation. It is so much more than what we see; instead it is about being a good ancestor, leaving behind a healthier environment, and history books worth repeating. It is about less talk, more action. It is about holding space for your whānau, creating opportunities to listen. Ultimately, it’s about being true to who you are, where you come from and honouring the villages that shaped you.

Existing in today’s environment is activism itself.

Learning and Teaching In my short journey of being a Pacific Climate Warrior, I have learnt the importance of being teachable. There are many who have fought and organized before me and alongside me—mentors to learn from and acknowledge as the ones who paved the way for us to fight and organise today. Giants we stand on, in this long journey to achieving climate justice.

Our islands may be small, but the actions and successes of our people are huge—and not just in climate spaces. To know our people is to know the fanua, the land on which our ancestors are buried.

A Native Daughter by Hawaiian storyteller Haunani-Kay Trask taught me that people cannot exist without the land and the land cannot exist without people. Trask pointed out the ignorance of the historians who had written the history of Hawai’i (forcefully stolen land from Kānaka Maoli, colonised as a U.S state). The two sound variations employed to show

possession: “a” being material objects or acquired status and “o” being inherent status—“Ko’u aina” meaning land, “ko’u Makua” meaning my parents; highlight the significance of land to the natives. She points out that Chiefs were not selfish and primitive landowners as described by historians.

Instead, there was a sacred and honoured relationship between land and people, a shared truth by Samoans reflected in our gagana (language), where the word for land is the same word for placenta: fanua. Both protect. Both nurture.

Being a Pacific Climate Warrior has also taught me that age is not a requirement to lead a revolution. If you have passion and a willingness to serve, then climate activism is for you.

At age 11, Samoan activist and environmental advocate Brianna Fruean became one of the founding members of 350.Samoa, and leader of environmental group, Future Rush. At the age of 16, she became the youngest ever recipient of a Commonwealth Youth Award. South Auckland youth leader, Aigagalefili Fepulea’i-Tupa’i, is an empowering storyteller. She is the founder of 4TK, an indigenous South Auckland high school environmental group who had a strong presence at the second climate strike, in May last year. Pacific youth, often oceans away from our fanua, pull up to these strikes for our islands.

How to be a Good Ancestor The development of wasteful, consumerist culture has resulted in an acceptance of the ongoing injustice and environmental racism. Equity becomes the opportunity cost in a system that values profit over people. We know that Black Lives Matter is more than just a moment, it’s a movement. Uplifting BIPOC communities across the globe must go hand in hand with caring for our planet. Every day human beings experience the effects of environmental damage, but it is the poor who are forced to shoulder most of the burden. You don’t need me to pull out stats to prove to you which communities are poor. Limited financial resources and access to social services—the necessities!—result in an uncertain future, if there is any chance for a future at all.

Combating and understanding climate change is no easy feat. It cannot be carried out by a select few or understood only by scientists. It is a human rights issue that concerns the collective wellbeing of all who inhabit our planet. The solutions to environmental justice have always been the reciprocal, regenerative, everlasting, and equitable Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Groups like the Pacific Climate Warriors and Indigneous communities must be the ones to lead and be listened to.

Understanding our world is not easy. Pacific academic Albert Wendt says: “the vā is the space between, the betweenness, not empty space, not space that separates but space that relates… the meanings change as the relationship/ context changes.”

To be a Pacific Climate Warrior and to be a good ancestor is to cherish the vā between us and our earth.

FEATURE: WARRIOR MENTALITY, ANCESTOR QUALITIES

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EMMA EVANGELINE GUSTAFSON, AFLOAT IN NATURE (1), THE SWING (2), ACRYLICS ON PAPER, FEBRUARY 2020 21

He Waka Eke Noa RACHEL TROW | KĀTI MĀMOE, KĀI TAHU & NGĀTI HINE, NGĀTI TŪWHARETOA | SHE/HER

Time slows down on Rakiura. There’s no running water or power during the day. Not where we live. For hundreds of years, my whanau have returned to the remote islands surrounding ‘Stewart Island’ to harvest Titi.

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Most are only contactable by radio. The emergency call to return to the mainland in March came just a week into the three month harvest season. Many were reluctant to return.

The journey to the islands isn’t just about feeding whānau.

It’s about feeding wairua—that of our own, and that of our whenua.

Ask most Kāti Māmoe and they’ll tell you it’s the same thing.

All In This Together?

In Hawai’i, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise is gearing up for its 2020 rendition. Rim of the Pacific is somewhat of a misnomer.

RIMPAC invites militaries from far beyond the Ring of Fire

to participate in maritime and terrestrial war exercises.

It’s the largest maritime warfare exercise in the world and New Zealand has long played a part in it. Organised by the United States Military, the exercise is intended to “sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans.”

Mana whenua tend to disagree with this assessment.

When Dr Emalani Case (Kanaka Maoli) isn’t lecturing Pacific Studies at Vic, she’s fronting Indigenous environmental kaupapa. Dr Case tells me that she is, of course, worried about the pandemic. However, like a lot of Indigenous people, she can’t help but worry about the issues that persist despite everything else coming to a halt.

“I've actually just been really asking myself what it means to be Indigenous during a pandemic […] Despite the rhetoric of being all in this together […] we're not all standing on equal grounds.”

If the pandemic has highlighted anything for marginalised communities, it’s that we are not all in the same boat. Just like the climate crisis, the pandemic is affecting some people harder and faster than others. When inequalities are compounded with contested and unstable environments, it highlights that “colonialism doesn’t stop in a pandemic,” as Emalani puts it.

Overpopulation and Eco-Fascism Saying that ‘humans are the real virus’ isn’t a hot take. It’s eco-fascism.

Michael E. Zimmerman characterises eco-fascism as “portraying ecological despoliation as a threat to the racial integrity of the people.” Essentially, eco-fascists believe land is spoilt by the mixing of blood between those who live with it. Additionally, it “would have to urge that society be reorganised in terms of authoritarian, collectivist leadership principle based on masculinist-marital values”, meaning the forceful movement of people based on blood quantum was a justified means to meet an ecological end.

This is why environmental academics, or at least, those who know better, are not talking about the dangers of overpopulation.

Dr Amanda Thomas is a lecturer of Environmental Studies at Victoria University. Having graciously agreed to repeat the environmental justice section of GEOG314 for me, Amanda explains the narrative of overpopulation. Essentially, the overpopulation rhetoric dictates that it is the sheer size of the human population that is “causing the destruction of the climate.”

“The thing that really annoys me about that narrative is that it misnames the problem. It evens out blame for things like climate change as evenly shared across the planet and that’s not the case.”

The inherent danger of the overpopulation narrative is that it implies that individuals contribute equally to environmental problems. In reality, the biggest contributors to environmental degradation are mega-corporations and settler-colonial governments.

“We are really lucky to have a high degree of trust in our government and in the science advice that we are getting,” Amanda says. However, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword.

As she tells me, “there’s also a reliance on the police without an acknowledgement of the way policing is highly, highly racialized, and is a racist organisation.”

Environmental Justice Emalani has been thinking about her home a lot throughout the pandemic. She tells me about a highly contentious construction project in the Waimānalo area authorised by the Mayor of Honolulu. After issuing the stay at home order, the local government began construction over known burial sites. The construction was halted when bone fragments were found, and protestors travelled to the site.

“When I read the news about the bone fragments sitting here, [I was just] weeping, thinking, God, that's what it means to be Indigenous in a pandemic. It means wearing a mask and showing up to a protest so you don't have to see the desecration of your kupuna, of your ancestors” While others celebrate marine life returning to the canals of Venice, Indigenous people are reconsidering their kuleana, their kaitiakitanga, their responsibilities. How do we manage them with the restrictions of the settler-colonial government? It’s not just tangata whenua, tangata moana that have to ask this question.

When I asked Amanda what environmental justice meant to her, she highlighted just how “tightly linked,” experiences of gender, class, race, and ability are to the environment.

“If we’re talking about environmental justice, it means addressing all of those things at once.”

Not only do the arguments of overpopulation and ecofascism violently impact Indigenous peoples, but they remove us from our lands, our waters. Emalani reveals the implications of this succinctly: “Papatūānuku is an essential worker, you know? She’s an essential being right now. And we need to be tending to her and caring for her.”

When the boats return to Rakiura, they’ll find as much plastic on the shores as they did the year before. The tracks will be overgrown and the gutters of the houses will be full. But we will return. We’ll clear the bush and the Tītī will return to their burrows. We’ll return the Tītī innards to the sea and the kaimoana will flourish. The islands will be fed, and so will we.

FEATURE: HE WAKA EKE NOA

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Going Nowhere VIC BELL | KĀI TAHU | SHE/HER

GOING NOSOMEWHERE Whangārei As an alpha male, I did not ask for directions out of Auckland airport. This resulted in me taking the wrong goddamn highway and ending up in butt fuck nowhere, surrounded by terrifying horses. Admitting defeat, I consulted google maps, and after an hour of fucking around we were off!

It’s a two and a half hour drive to Whāngarei, but I made it three and a half when I accidentally crashed an anniversary party at the Puhoi pub. People up this way are friendly in a way that makes townies like me suspicious. An old farmer offered to put me up in a container on his land but I thought he gave off “definitely has a hidden camera in the shower” vibes.

bought a present for my Dad, then promptly ate it all. With a $10 entry fee, I thought the Clapham Clock Museum was taking the piss. But it was brilliant. Lead clocks, water clocks, clocks that boil the kettle and make your toast in the morning. The history of household objects tells you about the history of that culture, and clocks are no different. Highly recommended.

Bay of Islands

Ahh, Kororāreka. “The hellhole of the Pacific.” Men with faces like curdled milk gave me a dirty look when I said Kia Ora, one resident had hung a Police Lives Matter banner from their balcony, and the town’s website doesn’t even spell Kororāreka properly. But the historical buildings are beautiful and the local market sells high grade mānuka honey for I pulled into a hostel in Whangārei’s industrial area just after only $40 a punnet. I hauled my ass up Maiki Hill to see the the sun went down. I thought The Cell Block was just a cheeky flagstaff Hone Heke cut down not once, not twice, not thrice, name, but really I was staying but quadrice. At the top you’re in a twin jail cell, complete with "I hauled my ass up Maiki Hill to greeted with a beautiful view of a metal toilet, solid iron door, see the flagstaff Hone Heke cut the Bay of Islands, but little to and concrete cots. Almost no historical information. down not once, not twice, not all of the residents had been thrice, but quadrice." here for over a month, tourists Got an almost private tour of stuck in New Zealand during lockdown. Two French girls Waitangi, aside from a fairly annoying couple in matching who smoked weed all day, a group of rude Germans, and an polo shirts who would interrupt and ask for a translation of American zoologist who worked at the local kiwi farm. every goddamn word the tour guide and I exchanged that wasn’t in English. When they ran off to take selfies, matua Day one was off to a good start when I was woken at 5am and I wandered through the forest, talking about the balance by construction workers and someone drank all my orange of educating and being apolitical. juice from the communal fridge. I elected to walk to the old quarry. There is a pottery co-op, pā site, mini waterfall, and “My family sometimes question my motives, but I think the gardens. The semi-tropical botanic gardens are the only only way to move forward is to be at the table. It is rough time I’ve ever wanted a refund for something that was a sometimes, when someone is spouting racist views and you gold coin donation. You see more interesting plants on the have to be quiet and smile. There’s still a lot of mamae and roadside, so I’d give it a miss. we’ve got a long way to go.”

The next day I went to the small but impressive art gallery.

Off season local tourism beats Paris anyday when you hate queuing. There was a fudge factory by the marina, where I

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ISSUE 17: COLUMNS

“Ka whawhai tonu mātou.” “Āe, ake ake ake.”

The author at Cape Reinga

Far North “He rāte koa.”

This is the “open sesame” to the far north. Tripping over my kupu at the front of pubs, cafes, and bakeries got me invited out the back into the kitchen, where I’d sit with the owner’s grandparents for a smoke and a history lesson. On the drive to Cape Reinga I met kaumatua who told me all about the checkpoints of COVID-19 and his son’s offer to one-outs a certain politician.

“Our local MP kicked up a huge fuss. We told him to stop talking to the press and say it to our face, so he turned up one day, brought cameras and everything. But he ran away scared when my son let him know if he stepped one foot across that line he’d get his block knocked off. That’s the thing with us Ngāpuhi—if we say we’re going to do something, we mean it.”

I’ve heard spooky stories about the mists parting below the cliffs at Cape Reinga, a clear channel visible as far as the eye can see that stretches back to Hawaiki. There were no mists when I visited, but I got a little tingle in my spine when I saw the pōhutukawa that never flowers. The landscape up here reminds me of New Caledonia or northern Australia—the soil is bright red clay, lush native forest replaced by scrubby mānuka.

for the off-season. Visited Tāne Mahuta (the giant tree) and embarrassed the DOC ranger who was telling a group of tourists the story of Tāne and Hineahuone. I helpfully picked up the story where he left off, i.e. the bit with incest and her fleeing to the underworld.

By the end of the trip I was breaking out pretty bad from eating too many hot chips, but I was sad to drive back south.

Staying with my friend in a particularly posh part of Auckland gave me severe culture shock. I learned it’s possible to feel homesick for a place you’ve only visited twice.

Price List •

Accommodation: $30-100/ night (hostel price - motel price)

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Car Rental: $18/ day

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A bag of tamarillos: $6/ kg

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The toll road you forgot to pay ontime: $14.60

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Karaoke in Paihia hosted by a fisherman called Sagittarius: priceless

Kaitaia is everything I love about small towns rolled into one. Cafes that still sell sally lunn buns, footwear optional, atrocious public art, and everyone knows each other (for better or worse). Visit their free museum, sit in the sun and chat shit, and drop a coin on the pavement beat-boxers.

Hokianga Harbour Beautiful, but a bit boring in winter. Of the four days I was in Opononi it hailed three. The town’s main draw cards are the forests and beaches, and the museums were all closed

ISSUE 17: COLUMNS

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Green-splaining CELINA MONKHOUSE | SHE/HER

2020’S HOTTEST (LITERALLY): THE ENVIRONMENTALIST AGENDA. Where does someone who cares about the environment focus their energy in 2020?

I don’t think there’s a clear answer to this. Despite that, one thing has become abundantly clear after the horrifying and, quite frankly, disturbing year we’ve had so far: we can’t tackle sustainability if we don’t tackle inequality. And by inequality, I’m talking about the Big Evils of the world —colonisation, capitalism, racism, and poverty. They’re things that have always existed but have manifested themselves very visibly. One thing is for certain—conversations about the environment need to start recognising the way in which the environment intersects with other longstanding inequalities.

If you haven’t realised yet, I’m more than happy to break it to you: climate change is a product of broader structural oppression. That’s non-contestable, and while it’s extremely complex (I certainly don’t claim to fully understand it), there’s a basis to it which is hard to ignore. Climate change is, first and foremost, an intensification of colonialism. The worldview and values that underpin colonisation also underpin climate change: an anthropocentric, individualistic understanding of the world. Consumption and exploitation are regarded as synonymous with living a better life, and in turn, nature is commodified as a rightless resource. Moreover, colonial expansion into Indigenous peoples’ lands in the name of capitalism has led to further environmental destruction.

Climate change is thus very closely tied to colonialism and capitalism. We have to understand that every action we take under our current system will continue to oppress those who are already disadvantaged under it. In light of the BLM movement, it’s become urgent that we understand the junction between climate and these broader systemic issues which always disadvantage people of colour (not talking about you @Judith Collins).

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2020 also saw the arrival of COVID-19 which made things a lot more complicated. For most of us, lockdown gave us a lot of spare time and a collective passion to be fit, artistic, and emerge as our hottest selves. This meant going outside and taking advantage of Papatūānuku’s luscious lands (I personally found a renewed love for Te Ahumairangi). But this wasn’t possible for everyone, and the disparity (which still continues) in how people were able to enjoy their lockdown is an accurate microcosm of how climate change will affect different groups of people and why.

Basically, there’s a lot more to consider when thinking about climate change than just the environment itself. We have to think about the current social and political climate, and in 2020, it’s more disheveled than ever before (exhibit A: see the above). This is all overwhelming—but it’s also necessary.

You may be asking yourself: what can I, a humble but dedicated Vic student do?

For a long time, I identified as someone who cared about the environment but only made superficial attempts to interrogate, analyse, and deconstruct my idea of what environmental justice was. “But I’m vegan hehe ;P,” I would say to people. Not a lie, though deep down in my heart I knew that really, being vegan had little to do with, well, anything. It’s uncomfortable to contest the deeply entrenched western hegemonies that we’ve been conditioned to believe and only take action when it’s comfortable. But, it’s necessary to do so if we want to make meaningful change.

There is a pervasive narrative in society that our current system will be able to fix climate change. It won’t. Capitalism spins a narrative that destroys our imagination and our ability to dream of any alternative. We need to step back, critically examine our own systems and practices, and challenge the status quo.

Liquid Knowledge CAITLIN HICKS | NGĀTI RANGINUI | SHE/HER

DOWN TO EARTH After a particularly big night in the Newkor karaoke rooms, I'd sooner shoot myself into space to gentrify Mars with Elon than exist on planet Earth. While space travel remains out of my budget, the next-best Martian landscape upon which to self-reflect is at Red Rocks.

When I'm hanging, I feel kinda John-from-Brave-NewWorld-esque. You know the bit where he does all that selfflagellation because he can't reconcile himself with the dystopian society's loathsome vices? For me, it's throwing myself into the ocean to atone for sins committed on Courtenay Place.

Riddled with Hangxiety and eating the cold Big Mac that I purchased at 4am, I'd happily trade my first-born to teleport to the grass by the Botans’ Sound Shell. That deliciously squishy spot, where your legs can be in the sun and your face in the shade. Flashbacks to dropping it low in El Barrio the evening prior melting away as Papatūānuku embraces me.

Deep in the subsoil of Google, I found scientific research which elaborates on how direct physical contact with the earth is actually, medically, good for you. Being in nature for up to 30 minutes at a time can stimulate better physiological function and overall wellness. Reconnecting with the Earth's electrons, through 'grounding' can cure a range of ailments and promote better sleep, reduced pain, and gentler hangovers—the last of which I have confirmed through a series of rigorous weekend experiments, in the name of public health.

Walking barefoot, sitting, working, and sleeping outdoors enables us to connect to the systems that conduct Earth's electrons, channelling them from the ground into the body.

Electrical conductivity is one part of the matrix that makes up our immune system, and grounding can help restore the natural defenses of the body.

The finer science is that Earth's negative atmospheric electric circuit (say that ten times fast) can help to regulate body rhythms and manage cortisol secretion. Cortisol is the stress hormone that we can thank for anxiety, depression, irritability, ill health, and acne. Some researchers attribute the rise in chronic illnesses, immune disorders, and inflammatory diseases in the 20th and 21st centuries to our increasing disconnection with Earth's surface.

In the late 19th century, a German 'back-to-nature' movement claimed that being barefoot outdoors, even in cold weather, had positive physiological effects. At the end of the 1900s, independent experiments in the United States and Poland showed health benefits where patients slept outside. In various grounding experiments, patients reported improved health in relation to their stress levels, muscle soreness and chronic pain, heart rate, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease.

We can ground ourselves in a number of ways, through direct or indirect contact with the earth. The simplest method is walking barefoot, followed by sophisticated medical techniques such as lying on the ground or getting in the sea. If you want to up the ante you can use grounding rods which you shove into the ground and trail thin wires from into your house. You can attach the wires to any conductive item that you want to use for grounding, like a bed or desk chair. If you're still bed-bound at 2pm on a Sunday, just plug your mattress straight into Earth and get your nature fix. Be wary of the risk of electrocution.

I'm not trying to get all Pete Evans on you. Walking barefoot down Lambton Quay is not going to protect you against [redacted pandemic]. Try as I might, a daily pilgrimage to Oriental P will not cure an achy heart. But, getting out into nature is not not going to help. Next time you're feeling blue, go give Papatūānuku a hug.

ISSUE 17: COLUMNS

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To Be Frank FRANKIE DALE | SHE/HER

‘ICK’Y ENVIRONMENTS On paper, he was the dream: tortured, emo, and completely unavailable. We were both pretending to be spontaneous, going on day trips to beaches and skinny dipping in the early hours of the morning. He was the catalyst for my somewhat problematic possessive boyfriend fantasy. The red flags that were his anger problems and daddy issues seemed unimportant in the throes of our passionate trist.

About three weeks into our fiery yet disturbing affair, I started to question why his duvet was wrapped up with duct tape to cover up the gaping holes, and why he insisted on doing nangs on a quiet Tuesday night.

When he would stand up after a moment of post-nut clarity and serenade me with his acoustic guitar, I realised something terrible was happening.

The ‘ick’.

It’s a phenomenon. An overwhelming feeling provoked by something so ridiculous. For me, it’s watching him apply chapstick, or seeing him put his shoes on sock-shoe, sockshoe. It’s his intense eye contact while he’s going down on you, or it’s as simple as imagining his Subway order.

The ick is something we all have to go through at some point or another. My friend Rosa, long time fellow-sufferer, finds that despite countless entries in her manifestation journal —once the ick is set, the deal is done. Even when you can objectively appreciate that there is nothing wrong with the person you’re talking to, the ick is too strong to deny.

One of my more memorable trysts came with an ick that I'll never be able to shake. After about 45 minutes of him talking at me about how much the Beatles suck and all the different ways I could improve my writing to be more vulnerable, he started playing his ‘original’ songs to me at 3am. This was our second or third sleepover that week, and the last.

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Let it be known that I am fully aware people also get the ick from me. Kinda like when a guy doesn’t text me back after I said I wanted to use a condom—he said he didn’t ‘believe’ in them...

Crushes are irrational, in a way. We have no idea who they are, yet we paint this sexy picture of them in our mind—only to be disappointed when we find out they brew their own vape juice. Our new dating culture is essentially this: you either fuck on the first date or you never will. Things are so rushed that you’ll be aware of the fungal infection in between their toes before you know their middle name.

The thing is, falling for someone is fun and the wave of serotonin we get is addictive. For my intense lovers out there, you’ll know that slow just isn't in your vocabulary. You’re always chasing that love high. What comes with this is often a world of hurt. Maybe the simple answer to avoiding this phenomenon is by taking it slow and not intimately getting to know someone ASAP. There’s something beautiful about a relationship built on a foundation of friendship first. Realistically, we don’t always have the patience or sober-minded clarity to play the long game.

But for some, that’s tedious. Follow your big heart and if the ick comes, take it as a sign from the universe that it wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes, the ick can even act as a more virulent warning beacon than a red flag (which we all love to ignore).

We are all gross at the end of the day so why wait to find out?

Politically Minded

Bachelor of Parenting

NIVA CHITTOCK | SHE/HER

ROSIE AND MIIA VAN BEUSEKOM | SHE/HER

ENVIRONMENTALLY CORRECT?

ECO-WORRIERS

No two places are the same when it comes to political issues. Some put importance on security, while others think education is salient (pun intended), yet, more still think the economy should be a top priority.

It's hard to balance having young children and the environment. Especially when having children in this capitalist hellscape is probably one of the least environmentally friendly things you can do.

Here in Aotearoa, the environment is one we hold dear.

Perhaps it’s down to our classic marketing as being ‘100% clean, green and pure’ or our desire to preserve the natural resources we have—either way, the environment gets centre stage. Yet there remains a balance to be struck between whenua and tāngata—preservation of our landscape managing sustainable lifestyles for us.

This isn't to say overpopulation is the problem. It isn't. And the recent narrative of "hUmAnS aRe ThE rEaL vIrUs" exemplifies this narrative. The way we produce and distribute resources is environmentally unsustainable and having children increases the demand for these resources.

This week, for the first time, the Waikato Regional Council have given water quality monitoring of Lake Taupō entirely to the Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board. Māori have long believed in caring for whenua through their status as kaitiaki. This move has increased their involvement in managing assets as well as creating jobs for their community.

‘Shovel-ready projects’ have also been a hot topic in the wake of COVID. Essentially approved large scale construction projects, all they need are some ‘shovels in the dirt’. Often those employed for these jobs are from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, travelling from project to project.

They are dependent upon this for their income. But the environmental impact of these projects is now more heavily scrutinized. Do we really need a second motor pass? Is it a carbon-neutral project?

Right now, we are trying to hit that sweet spot between economy and environment. Asked whether he believed NZ should be labelled ‘100% clean, green and pure’, Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw stated: “I view it as an aspiration… I use that and say ‘if we want to live up to that idea that we can be 100% pure, clean, and green’, we’ve got work to do.”

Sure, on the surface, we look like we are doing everything right: we have a hefty stash of cloth nappies, our baby has been exclusively breastfed, our eldest helps us with recycling, and we have dramatically reduced the weekly distance we travel by car. But none of this will do more than slightly increase our time on this planet while corporations continue to operate the way that they do.

Having children (admittedly, accidentally) has forced us to battle with the guilt of bringing children into a world that may not last another 20 years. It has also shown us that that same guilt you have about having children is utter bullshit.

We aren't bringing children into a crumbling environment, we are bringing children into a capitalist sharknado. As such, we need to teach them environmental responsibility. But how do you explain that we still need to do our part to look after the land even though a single billionaire could offset this whole country's impact? What's the easiest way to say that the planet was doing great until our white ancestors rolled in and stole the land from the Indigenous people that so lovingly cared for it?

Does that mean we shouldn't have kids? No. It means we need to overthrow capitalism to build a more environmentally sustainable future. At the end of the day, people stopping having kids a. Isn't going to happen, and b. Isn't going to save a world in which the 1% are hell-bent on extracting every last cent of profit from the world with no regard for the longer term effects on the environment or others.

ISSUE 17: COLUMNS

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PSC: One Ocean JOHN PHILLIPS

This particular issue is of direct importance to Pasifika people. It is incorporated into the very fibres of our values, our sense of belonging, our communities, and in turn, our perception of the world around us.

With that perception, it has occurred to me that there is a greater need for us to take environmental issues a little more seriously than what we currently do. Not only as a People, but also as a Nation. For the Pacific Region, low lying island nations such as Kiribati and Tokelau, my home, are projected to lose the majority of its land by the end of the 21st Century. New Zealand is great at making face in the most consequential moments pertaining to the vulnerability of the Pacific. This can be anything from constitutional crises as a result of failed democracy or coup, or in maintaining strengthened relations and building the necessary structures and faith in our relations with the Pacific.

In reciprocation, the Pacific population living in New Zealand is projected to be the fastest-growing minority group, with one in four of the country’s youth population identifying as ‘Pasifika’ today, including Māori. They contribute to a growing labour force and represent the richness of Pasifika history since the days of voyage and later, indigenous settlement on this sacred land. However, this new emerging reality is something that we as a community cannot bear alone and demands an all-in approach. New Zealand’s commitment is required to resolve historical injustice for the small but proud population that call this country their new home.

If the circumstances were desirable, I would not be writing this column on behalf of the office which I serve. Nor would I be writing this as an advocate for Pasifika issues pertaining to the wellbeing of our students at Victoria University of Wellington. I would very much be interested in spending the remainder of my years securing my degree and moving into an ever increasingly competitive job market—doing what’s necessary to survive on a sustainable life for myself and my family and with that, provide my skills wherever they may see fit. It would also be desirable for me to work toward my

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family’s own success. In that time I hope to inspire my family and my community that anything is possible, no matter the circumstances that may set you back based on your culture, language, or the colour of your skin. I’ll, being the first in my family to graduate when I do. That is the honour that I bear bringing myself in this University.

But the reality is, I cannot forgive myself without making my concerns heard to you today. You feel it, you know about it. But, seriously ask yourself: are you doing enough?

I’m not. I’m certainly not. Every day more and more of our Home is being swallowed by the profit decisions made by decision-makers, not in tune with the beating heart central to the Pasifika Way of Life. But even more so, the ignorance of ourselves as the future too needs to be called out. The Pacific region is drowning, but the Pacific people are fighting every single day to protect our Home.

We belong to the environment, and the environment belongs to us—to all of us. The roaring of the open Moana of which famed navigators once sailed. The leaves of the palm trees, woven into the most intrinsic and delicate fibres of our being. As well as bearing the fruits of which generations have passed on to us. The bountiful land which we belong to, bearing the footprints of which our chiefs once stood as well as being the very foundation where our culture thrives and is immersed in us—giving us all a sense of purpose and belonging. We have an obligation to protect the imagined community, bound by legends, customs, folklore, tradition, and us. It’s a culture, a language, a Way of Life.

We’ve work to do.

Wellness

What does it mean to be well?

Guess that really depends On who is the one to tell As to what wellness portends An objectivist asks for data On physical and mental fitness But even the best automata Cannot measure intrinsic stress Interpretivists may interpret Using in-depth interviews But need to be circumspect About their self-indulgent views A critical theorist questions The construct of wellness But a debate of definitions May still leave us clueless

Sashi Mohan Athota

Send your poems to poetry@salient.org.nz

Wellness is too personal For someone else to say Only I can say if I am well And that varies by the day

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Hydroponic Salad SALLY WARD | SHE/HER

On the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Marjorie Banks there is a building that used to be called ‘The Sandwich’.

It was a multi-level nightclub. Now, the space is used to grow sandwich fillings. When you step downstairs into the sunlight-less basement it smells earthy, which is an odd experience at the end of Courtenay Place. It’s also warm in the way that your heat pump is supposed to work. It smells earthy but there’s no soil.

What’s going on in this inner city basement is hydroponic farming. Shoots Microgreens is one of New Zealand’s first urban farms. I visited for a quick tour and to taste leaves.

They grow produce for salads, garnishes, smoothies, and sandwiches (not a closed list). The seeds are germinated in ‘reverse fridges.’ This is a fridge that looks like it used to belong to a dairy and now has been installed with heaters, which is called upcycling. The trays are then put onto computer automated racks and watered on a timer system.

Even in a basement, there are microclimates of hot and cold to be managed. It’s a science experiment. It is odd seeing plants grow around whirring computers and LED lights. But that is the nature of it.

‘Sustainability’ is a big word. People will slap it on any which way product to make you dream of the Garden of Eden. So what impressed me about Shoots is that I believe them when they say they’re sustainable. Here’s why: •

They supply local businesses and carry out most deliveries by e-bike (see you later, food miles).

•

The water is recycled.

•

Indoor growing uses 6 times less land and the plants are grown without soil. Soil degradation is a big concern for the sustainability of farming.

•

No pesticides—there’s no bugs in the basement.

•

The greens are grown in biodegradable wool mats and reusable plastic trays.

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REVIEWS: MICRO-GREENS

If you’ve been out for brunch anywhere in Wellington, you’ve probably had their pea shoots; the spindly little green garnish on top of any eggs benedict that takes itself seriously. Shoots supplies 50+ local cafes and restaurants.

Hydroponically farmed produce is a bit more expensive than soil counterparts. What you’re getting for your penny is more sustainable. nutrient-dense and tasty. This is because none of the nutrients contained in the seed get lost in the soil. And because they are sold while they are still growing, you can harvest them yourself at the dinner table like you’re dining at Noma. It does not get fresher.

I tried most of the shoots available—sorrel, lemon balm, radish, purple basil, coriander, and some microgreen mixes.

I had never tried sorrel, which belongs to the spinach family.

It was fucking delicious. I do not say this lightly about a leaf.

It tastes like freshly cut apples. It tastes like health. Salad is something I eat because I have to, leaves are usually best covered in lemon juice and olive oil or aioli. I’d eat sorrel on its own. The lemon balm was another highlight. It is exactly like its name, zesty yet calming. I’d like to get some to make fresh leaf tea.

You can buy trays of Shoots Microgreens at Thorndon New World, Moore Wilson’s and soon, Chaffers New World for about $8 to $10. Or next time you’re somewhere like Prefab or Loretta, say thanks for hydroponic farming.

I did not think salad bits could be so exciting.

Nothing Composts and Your Life is a Lie GRACE CLARKE | SHE/HER

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re a student at Vic who cares somewhat about the environment. Chances are also that you have (or are) a flatmate who cares soooo much about the planet that they decided it would be a good idea to get a flat compost bin, for all those home compostable plastics you use. Well, buckle up, because I’m about to ruin your life.

For the record, this isn’t actually an attack on people like you (and me) who want to make better choices; naturally, this is an attack on corporations using green branding to get your coin.

to call the cup his home. The cups are only commercially compostable, and so require very specific conditions within an industrial composter to break down. The lining of these cups are made of PLA, which is essentially plastic made from plants. This may sound all well and good, but due to Wellington Council wanting their composts to be certified ~organic~, PLA is banned from all industrial compost sites in Wellington—the only site that accepts PLA-containing products is in Auckland. And so, unless you have the misfortune of living in Auckland, the containers of your lattes with caramel syrup are getting chucked in the landfill along with your ‘compostable’ bin liners.

Compostable Bin Liners: -2 out of 5 stars

Capitalism: 0/5 stars

If you’ve ever used one of these bin liners in an attempt to save the turtles, I’m so sorry. They’re so flimsy that it’s nearimpossible to lift a full bag of rubbish without spilling noodle packets and the leftover beans you drunkenly made the night before all over the floor.

I’m sorry to those who, like myself, have used these products in a genuine effort to save the planet. If it makes you feel any better, the greenwashing of these products in order to get you to purchase them isn’t your fault, it’s our neo-liberal hellscapes supporting free-market capitalism. As evil as they are, the marketing people at these companies really do an incredible job at convincing conscious consumers that their products are actually environmentally friendly. All I can really say is, maybe stick to shitty old single-use plastic bags for your landfill, but just try and reduce what you’re throwing away.

But, these don’t just suck on a practical level. I also love the turtles, and would probably be complaining far less if these things actually composted. After all, this is the selling point that makes them cost so much more. Sure, they’re “home and commercially compostable”, but if you’re using them to line your rubbish bins that go to landfill, that’s kinda besides the point. These little fuckers do not, and cannot, compost in a landfill environment, so they’ll be as good as plastic in there. And while yes, it’s great that we’re reducing demand for plastic, we’re not addressing the contents inside these ‘eco’ bags.

Compostable Coffee Cups: 0/5 stars Don’t get me wrong, I love wasting my hard-earned minimum wage on $6 coffees as much as you do, but don’t think that by paying extra to go somewhere that uses compostable cups means you’re saving the planet. These guys aren’t home compostable, which I know because we’ve had one sitting in our compost for over 3 months now. Pete, the rat the size of a cat that lives in our compost bin, has now decided

REVIEWS: CCOMPOSTING

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Crossword: Setting the VCR

ACROSS

1.

4.

10.

11.

13.

14.

18.

20.

21.

23.

24.

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DOWN

'American Horror Story' creator Ryan (6) Diacritical mark seen ironically in some metal band names (6) Line in a disaster movie starring Dwayne Johnson? (3,7,5) Someone with a dairy-free diet might not tolerate it (7) Kitchen appliance; one raising a glass (7) Device you'll find 8-Down and 9-Down on (6,7) Cowhand who owns cowland (7) With reduced HP, maybe (7) Loony, like one of Carroll's tea party attendees (3,2,1,5,4) 'Gravity Falls' character named for his constellation birthmark (6) Christian period in December; beginning (6)

OCCUPATION STATION

1.

2.

3.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

12.

15.

16.

17.

19.

22.

"Allow me to introduce ____" (6) Hurried; classic Kurosawa film (3) Space pilot who appears in four episodes (3,4) Word that is never spoken in 'The Godfather', weirdly (5) Time when one is of age (9) University employees who probably already have a backlog of assignments to mark (6) 'FF' on a 14-Across (6,5) 'FF' on a 14-Across (4,7) Came in to finish; got ready for guests (7,2) Laid a finger on (7) Like some suspects or photos (6) Most bizarre (6) Speed; recklessness (5) D&D weapon in 'hand' and 'great' varieties (3)

Jaylient's Solution

Word of the Week: ‘environment’

Te Reo Māori

NZSL

taiao

NZSL:https://www.nzsl.nz/signs/6018

Sudoku

Climate Change

System Change

35

SA VUW Elections For the 2021 Student Executive Nominate yourself to be on the VUWSA Exec today.

Nominations close Wednesday 19 August at 4pm.

Find the form and position descriptions at: vuwsa.org.nz/elections

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Horoscopes MADDI ROWE | SHE/HER

Marie Kondo has this incredible way of making us all feel like we have the organisational capabilities of a single grape. Living para kore (zero waste) is important, so peel out (haha) n dig up your filthy, miserable life.

ARIES The single mint that has been residing in the footwell of your car is definitely not good for a rainy day, please throw it out before you get E.Coli. Tepid minty fresh breath for 15 minutes is not worth the anguish your small intestine will endure.

CANCER Throw out the bottle-cap ring given to you by your Year 3 crush. I’m sure Brodie from ur netball team doesn’t fucking remember you.

LIBRA Sell the shoes. Please. DEAR GOD. WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY SHOES?

TAURUS Remove literally anything in your house that doesn’t remind you of a Soviet brutalist architecture phase. If your room doesn’t look like a place for you and your comrades to rest after a long day of redistribution of wealth, you’re not doing it right.

LEO Okay like I totally understand the whole ‘I still fit these underwear’ thing, but they’re three years old. THROW THEM OUT. Ur butt deserves better.

SCORPIO That vial of blood that you saved to create a voodoo doll? Probably incriminating. Do a sacrifice and be rid of that bad energy.

GEMINI That single pop-rock playlist you’ve been listening to is slowly destroying ur ears and all subsequent relationships of yours. There’s a time and a place for Hayley Williams, and during sex is NOT IT.

VIRGO That Christmas wrapping paper from 2010 isn’t serving you any purpose except being a painful reminder of the fact you’ve aged.

SAGITTARIUS That single line drawing of a pentacle that you’ve kept for the right wall to Blu-Tack it onto isn’t doing you any favours, spiritually.

Keep ur aura clean, and also get a new aesthetic.

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Stop buying new diaries.

Just use the one you have.

Moleskine-eating bitch.

Get rid of those salty feelings you have for your ex. Even if they drive a Moped, or just got married.

The mushrooms growing in the corner of the bathroom aren’t your friends. They’re giving you that smoker's cough.

HOROSCOPES

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THE 2020 GENERAL ELECTION AND REFERENDUMS

Enrol by 16 August to make voting quick and easy.

Do it online with your NZ driver licence or passport at vote.nz 0800 36 76 56

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The Team EDITORS Kirsty Frame & Rachel Trow DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION Rowena Chow NEWS EDITORS Te Aorewa Rolleston & Finn Blackwell

CHIEF REPORTER Annabel McCarthy

SUB EDITOR Alfred Dennis SOCIAL MEDIA & WEB MANAGER Kane Bassett PODCAST MANAGER Matthew Casey

FEATURE EDITOR Shanti Mathias

STAFF WRITERS Lofa Totua Sally Ward Shanti Mathias

FEATURE WRITERS Shanti Mathias Lofa Totua Rachel Trow

COLUMNISTS Maddi Rowe Puck Taylah Shuker Grace Clarke Sally Ward Keana Virmani Theodore Stephenson

CONTRIBUTORS Vic Bell Celina Monkhouse Caitlin Hicks Frankie Dale Niva Chittock Rosie and Miia van Beusekom John Phillips

POETRY EDITOR Janhavi Gosavi poetry@salient.org.nz

POETRY Sashi Mohan Athota

CENTREFOLD Emma Evangeline Gustafson @emma_evangeline_g

CONTACT US editor@salient.org.nz designer@salient.org.nz (centrefold artwork) news@salient.org.nz socialmedia@salient.org.nz

REVIEWS EDITOR Brock Stobbs reviews@salient.org.nz

FIND US fb.com/salientmagazine instagram.com/salientgram twitter.com/salientmagazine salient.org.nz

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Sustainability Week August 10 -14

Sustainable Flatting Workshop

Mon 10

Learn how to flat sustainably w/ Plastic Diet + Climate Clinic 1.30-3pm, The Hub

Ask Me Why I'm Angry: Elections for the Environment

VUWSA, Roots and Shoots + Gen Zero are hosting a panel discussion on what sustainable policy for climate change and the environment looks like & how your vote can count.

3.30-5:30pm, The Hub

Make it Forward - Pipitea

Tue 11

A pop-up stand of micro volunteering goodness w/ VUW Green Team 10am-12pm, RH Library

Pacific Climate Justice Panel

Victoria Development Society + Pasifika Students’ Council 2pm, The Hub

VUWSA Sustainable Market

Does the world of sustainable living all seem a bit overwhelming? We’ve invited local & sustainable clubs, businesses and organisations to help you find your way.

10am-2pm, The Hub

Wed 12

Post-Grad Sustainability Talks

Conference-style presentations on sustainability-related research w/ PGSA 2-4pm, TTR104

Mend it don’t Spend it

Mending & upcycling workshop w/ OpSoc 5.30-6.30pm, The Hub

Make it Forward – Te Aro

A pop-up stand of micro volunteering goodness w/ VUW Green Team 10am-12pm, Te Aro Library

Plastic Diet Bottle Drive

Thu 13

Bring down your clean plastic or glass bottles and aluminum cans/tins, and for every item Plastic Diet will give you 20 cents!

11am-2pm, The Hub

Chai & Chats

A korero on coping with climate change w/ GenZero & Mauri Ora. 3pm, Location TBC

The Right to a Sustainable Environment – Legal Panel

What would a Right to a Sustainable Environment look like in New Zealand, and how could it change the status quo? Hear from the experts.

7pm, Pipitea Campus (details TBC)

Fri 14

Make it Forward – Kelburn

A pop-up stand of micro volunteering goodness w/ VUW Green Team 10am-12pm, The Hub

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www.vuwsa.org.nz/sust-week