Hey hey ho ho GCSB has gots to go!

The Palmy Panthers invited many of us on Facebook.  Goodness us and our associates are probably being e-trawled  (hi John Key!) as I blog!


Anyway if you wanted to be on the pulse, in your community, but didn’t make it down.  I took a few pics, they'll help you feel included.  Next time- get your own mask and get yourself down there...we can't just let the Government trump themselves when they break their own laws!



 



There were all sorts of people out.  This is a rights issue, a privacy issue. This is also a Maori issue cos, well, we all know the cops thought it’d be ok to treat a whole community like terrorists in Tuhoe. #not_the_one


The signs and the outfits were excellent.  A good mate wore a Pink Panther outfit- a onesie.  I'll try find the vine video and chuck it up, its hilarious and only about 4 seconds






The open mic was classic.  Lots of people got up with something to say which was remarkable to me, informing and at times funny.



 Despite TV3's lies, it was peaceful.  A complaint has been made regarding their erroneous broadcast, and I think they have to recant.

The irony was not lost on me,  how at a time I'm out marching around the square re-anti GCSB legislation- I'm trying my best to understand the whole social media network concept.  I guess thats the very reason we demand online privacy.

The setting up and linking in of this blog EcoMaori to a work Facebook page which is different to my personal Facebook, to an YouTube login I had from a contract I took a few years back, also utilizing my own Instagram page for photos.

I'll also create a more work related Instagram and probably a twitter and Pintrest eventually.  That doesn't even include guest bloggers and linkages to other work departments. Jingers just keeping my head around the logins is a bloody nightmare!  I’ll put up another couple of photos after I post…you understand…they’re not on this computer, I took them on my phone!

Blog post ideas

A list of ideas and inspiration for this blog, please feel free to contribute your suggestions by comment or message, I'm also keen to invite guest bloggers, if you are one or know of anyone
Here's a quick think tank- but only by myself.  Need more beds around this to have a good brainstorm.

• Maori science/ environmental education
• dire lack of Maori science teacher, science in te reo, resources, the hoha of translating and the cultural differences of perspectives.
• thats a big kaupapa, but maybe lesson plans and conversations about Maori education successes and lessons (being) learned
• dragging whakatauki into today, eg "He kukupa ki te hui, engari he kaka ki te ipurangi"
• Beekeeping
• honey
• pollination
• how to/ where to
• link to post of Minnie catching a swarm
• Weaving- linkages to other blog The flax kete
• 
  
• Sports- Te tinana Maori kaha ki te hakinakina
• our boys being enticed by the bright lights of the NRL- with not a lot of cultural support over there
• Sports academies like TUTOA
• Waka Ama- the revival of a Polynesian tradition that works WITH our whanau's natural tendencies. 
• Migratory waka
• star maps, navigation
• winds, currents, ia, au, tohu
• where is Hawaiki?
• How many wahine were on the waka that came here?
• Tuna- The eel, 
• its lifecycle, 
• its cultural importance, 
• migration, 
• decline, retiring quota to conserve.
• Waitangi Tribunal and OTS
• avenues of redress
• looking forward where young biculturals running multimillion dollar enterprises.  What skills will they need?
• New Zealand Frogs, Amphibians.  
• who are the experts
• mokomoko- tapu.  
• The local government- 
• Who's gonna stand for us?  Are the voices in there doing a good job? Do they need a hand or the boot?
• council elections coming up
• decision making
• who even votes?
• Maori wards & Maori seats
• Idiots guide to carbon credits
• The emissions trading scheme
• photosynthesis- Ahotakakame, 
• mining- kowiri i a Papatuanuku
• protests- Porotehe
• Maramataka
• the constellation, moon patterns
• A time of year when we need to come together and feast, celebrate, party
• tikanga- hi ika
• mara kai
• hue
• Kumara
• riwai
• huawhenua 
• huarakau
• pataka kai
• rua kumara
• kahawai
• kuku- kaimoana
• aquaculture
• Resource Management Act
• ammendments
• section 6,7, 8. 
• Kaitiakitanga- 1991, the year humans became kaitiaki
• National significance
• Iwi Management plans,"take into account,"
• DOC
• nga whenua rahui
• possums
• acoustic grounding to recover species
• Harakeke- (tera he blog ano mo tenei anake)
• kono, tikanga, konae, kete, kete whakairo, hapine, haro, te tipu, te rito, te tapahi, nga whakairo, whariki, hieke, tukutuku, dying
• ...Kua timata
• Nga iwi taketake
• The UN
• UNEP
• CBD
• UNFFF
• Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People
• Rongoa
• WAI262 claim
• Intellectual property legislation inadequacies
• Kawakawa
• Kumarahou
• Horopiko
• Paewhenua
• ...

Whistling tree frog

Te Manawa has these tree frogs which are quite small. They originally came from Australia but have became naturalised in Manawatu & a couple of other places in New Zealand. I just videoed one eating mealworms. ( I've gotta master all the ways to link & hyperlink & make blogs interesting with the different apps, entities, wireless & other techy considerations before I can get down to nitty gritty issues!).

Here's a very amateurish video I took to show you a frog eating a mealworm.  You can be patient or just skip to about 46 secs.

http://youtu.be/c4ptrD1lq84

That said, 

What do you think about having Australian frogs? Should we use them to profile NZ native frogs in a museum ?(frogs world wide are in decline). Is it good to have live Aussie ones to see, but would be good to also have video footage of native frogs? (which are nocturnal- so dont exactly scream visitor experience) or despite their totally unpretentious way- we should only push for natives? 

Theoretically, & perhaps idealistically I might say native, conservation, protection all day... But who would see them? Are the overseas species, showy & exotic drawcards to get people to hear the story of cute little native frogs? 

Does this apply to all species- like birds, reptiles, tropical fish, mammals? 

Biodiversity personified

Do you know much about Biodiversity policy? 

Well I dunno about you, but policy can get a bit clunky for me, its a whole genre or language and I have to be in the mood to cope with it- so as usual I chuck my own spin, to keep a sense of humour in the policy speak bits.



The International Framework
Biodiversity talk comes from the United Nations Convention on Biodiveristy.  You can catch up on the the history of the convention here http://www.cbd.int/history.  Its pretty huge and pretty full on but basically about 170 odd countries ratified (agreed to) its text at the Earth Summit in Rio, in 1992.

Blah blah blah, so

Imagine if the CBD was a girl, a brazilian girl, now she'd be 21 years old.  She's travelled to lots of places and has been well considered by heads of states. How they will protect her, how they will fight for her.  She's probabaly done a bit of rebelling herself.  Have we looked after her? Does she have fillings in her teeth, artificial nails and a string of broken relationships?  Or is she a stunning diplomat, fluent in many languages, with thousands of followers on social media?

The New Zealand scenario

Now she has a younger half sibling in Aotearoa, The New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy.  He could be a bilingual Maori boy, he's about 13 years old now, born in 2000.  He's got whanau obligations to his glorified older internationally travelled sister, but he's grounded in just about every government department in New Zealand.  Do any of them care or do some have a way bigger stake than others? Well it turns out this munty big fund to fulfill the Country's obligations to the CBD, was set up by the government and the Government gives DOC most of it.  Are they doing a good job?  have they sorted out how article 8(j) applies to the intellectual property in the Wai262 claim?  Have we lost any biodiversity in the last 21 years?  Have we protected more areas...these are the questions. http://www.biodiversity.govt.nz/picture/doing/nzbs/index.html

OK...chop right down to the local level,

and now there is a draft Biodiversity Strategy, still in gesteation,  thats to be born out of the Palmerston North City Council. 
http://www.pncc.govt.nz/media/2086423/draft_biodiversity_strategy_consultation_document_pdf_june_2013.pdf

Here Im wondering if the family is still related, or if they are- but they dont really know they are, dont really know their relations, or twice removed sorta thing. 

Does the family need a reunion to really talk about their history and whakapapa.  Will the new babay be a girl or a boy?  The bookies are probably taking bets on the name; biodiversity or biological diversity, or will it be James?

Manawatu Gorge filming

Ok, so we're making a video to "sell" the idea of doing the Manawatu Gorge walks. 

Great idea,
get out there in the environmental for all sorts of reasons, environmental, educational, social, exercise wise, for peace and quiet...and all the reasons we already know.

I'd better go back to why and how we got there; Te Manawa is collaborating with DOC (dept of Conservation) and Horizons (regional Council) to launch Conservation Week in town in Palmerston North.  There's going to be a kids photo competition (around a conservation theme) which is going out to the schools soon, and we're also launching the Kiwi Ranger programme, which is an activity book to get kids ( and families) to enjoy the environment. 

So yeah, DOC have videos on their website of lots of different walks, trails, tramps, campsites etc...and we're doing one for the Manawatu Gorge- I sometimes wonder how I get myself roped into these things! lol.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/manawatu-whanganui/manawatu/manawatu-gorge-tawa-loop-walk/
Look here for some of the stuff they've already done.

We had a meeting today to suss out the plan...and omg its getting bigger and bigger.

So we've got the target audience (kids and families) cos they are the ones who will do the Kiwi ranger programme.  Then we've got to get the kids.  hmmm.

Then there's the weather- did I mention this is mid winter!  flip