Insert catchy title here

I am building up thoughts for a reflection on environmental practice and consciousness in NZ (I’m sure you are all on the edge of your seats ^_^ ) but classes have picked up and I have a fresh slew of essays and presentations to complete. So…it probably won’t get done for a couple of weeks. In preview – climate change is recognized as fact (sooo refreshing!) and there is widespread public reaction to things like opening up national parks to mining. On the other hand, government environmental policy is effects-based, short on pollution standards/policy plans, and largely successful thus far because of the high ratio of resources / people. More later….

Other doings:
1. walked into the hills around Dunedin again on a spectacular day. Though I am starting to get normalized to the tremendous scenery around here, I don’t think I will ever get tired of the view from Flagstaff/Swampy/Cargill!! I was hiking by myself and had some interesting times trying to navigate with a topo map that had a severe lack of road names and trailheads that had a severe lack of signage. I think I may have been on a trail that didn’t officially exist for most of the climb up….. Wandered through Ross Creek Reservoir and Woodlaugh Gardens on the way back.




2. discussion about abortion with my flatmate from the Bible Belt and my flatmate from Denmark. And I am amazed once again at how strongly the communities we live in influence what we take to be common sense!

3. avoided the Undie 500 insanity as much as possible. Students from Christchurch pubcrawl to Dunedin in cars costing $500 or less, usually decorated in some fashion. This typically leads to drunken mayhem and, a few years ago, caused a “riot.” (students debate how bad it was) Last year they tried to cancel the event but people came anyway, repeating past behaviors. This year there were calls to have organized activities to control the crowd but the district council instead just put liquor bans on North Dunedin and declared a “no diversion” policy on anyone arrested for disorderly behaviour. And things got out of hand again…as expected. Here's a video. My flat is two streets away, so I got to smell burning sofas and listen to people making a ruckus. I wish the streets between me and uni weren’t littered with glass shards….

4. spent heaps of time contemplating representations of the South Pacific, kaitiakitanga (stewardship), NGOs and international policy making agency