Category Archives: Pollution

Microplastics are everywhere, including in New Zealand’s rainfall

January 8, 2023 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

New research published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology reveals that in 2020 alone, some 74 metric tons of microplastics – that is, the plastic particulates released from waste into the environment – fell on the city of Auckland in New Zealand via rainfall.

The first peer-reviewed study of its kind to calculate the total mass of microplastics in a city’s air, the paper found that the pollution equivalent of three million plastic bottles falls on Auckland in an average year – a truly astounding level that is much higher than generally accepted estimates.

Researchers say the global prevalence of airborne microplastics appears to be much higher than previously believed. Most of these particulates are too small to be seen with the naked eye, though scientists were able to identify them using a colored, light-emitting dye.

For analysis, researchers also applied heat treatment, which allowed them to calculate an aggregate mass of the particulates in terms of volume and tonnage. (Related: The average person consumes a credit card’s worth of microplastics every week in tainted food.)

“The smaller the size ranges we looked at, the more microplastics we saw,” said Joel Rindelaub, the study’s lead author and a chemical scientist at The University of Auckland. “This is notable because the smallest sizes are the most toxicologically relevant.”

Chances are you’re inhaling microplastics right now and don’t even know it

The smaller the size of a microplastic particulate, the easier time it has being inhaled and entering cells. If small enough, microplastics can even build up in vital organs such as the liver and cross the blood-brain barrier, accumulating in the brain.

In one square meter in one day in 2020, the average number of airborne plastics floating around Auckland was found to be 4,885. Comparatively for that same year in the same amount of space, London’s count was just 771.

A 2019 study that looked at the cities of Hamburg and Paris found that airborne plastics in that same one-square-meter space were 275 and 110, respectively.

“The discrepancy is largely because of the Auckland study’s inclusion of smaller size ranges, which were not part of previous research,” noted Bloomberg.

Rindelaub says that while more work needs to be done to quantify precisely how much plastic the average person is breathing in, it is clear from what we already know that inhalation of microplastics “is an important route of exposure” that cannot be ignored.

Since the 1950s when plastics first started being mass produced, some 8.3 billion metric tons of it have been generated. Of that, 79 percent has ended up in landfills or been dumped in the wild where it gradually breaks down and turns into microplastics.

“Once they enter the natural environment, they can pollute soil, kill wildlife and find their way into the food chain,” reports indicate.

In Auckland, the most-detected form of plastic was polyethylene, followed by polycarbonate. The former is a common packaging material while the latter is used in electrical and electronic appliances.

Since Auckland is located near the ocean and gets heavy winds from the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand’s North Island, it is speculated that this could be a reason why more microplastics are being detected there compared to other more inland cities in other parts of the world.

“The production of airborne microplastics from breaking waves could be a key part of the global transport of microplastics,” Rindelaub explained. “And it could help explain how some microplastics get into the atmosphere and are carried to remote places, like here in New Zealand.”

The world’s growing microplastics problem is much more serious than many people realize. To learn more about the dangers and toxicity of exposure, be sure to check out Microplastics.news.

Sources for this article include:

Bloomberg.com

NaturalNews.com

https://citizens.news/688561.html

Photo: pixabay.com

Conservation, Pollution, Water

NZ’s Ruined Rivers are a National Disgrace (CORANZ)

December 8, 2020 Pam Vernon

Opinion by Ken Sims,
Life member NZ Federation Freshwater Anglers

The recently published article showing 65 percent of our rivers are “unswimmable” in a country of just 5 million people, should remind government that that the continuing state of New Zealand’s rivers is a national calamity.
It is a disgraceful, shameful reflection on the failure of successive governments to remedy a water crisis that has been worsening over decades. The report stated that the criteria used “looks only at bacteria levels.” Even there, we have one of the highest rates of zoonoses in the developed world. A zoonosis is an infectious disease that has passed from an animal to humans. Such pathogens may be bacterial, viral or parasitic, and can spread to humans through direct contact or through food, water or the environment. They represent a major public health problem around the world due to humans’ close relationship with animals in agriculture, exacerbated by large, concentrated populations. New Zealand’s water crisis goes far deeper. We also have one of the highest rates of sediment runoff, which smothers all life in a waterway. Sediment runoff is accelerated by land uses such as intensive agriculture and forestry clear felling, the latter immediately exposing the bare soil to subsequent rain.

LINK: https://coranz.org.nz/ruined-rivers-a-national-disgrace/

Environment, HDC, Horowhenua District Council, Maori, News, Pollution, Treaty of Waitangi

At least $2.6 million ratepayer funds being spent because Horowhenua DC refuses to determine mana whenua

September 19, 2020 Pam Vernon

By Veronica Harrod

18 September, 2020

At least $2.6 million ratepayer funds being spent because Council refuses to determine mana whenua. Horowhenua District Council has committed at least $1.4 million ratepayer funding to Te Rūnanga o Raukawa and $814,500 to Muaūpoko Tribal Authority and the Muaūpoko Lands Trust in two separate agreements over Levin’s Waste Water Treatment Plant called The Pot. The agreements, worth a combined minimum total of $2.6 million, were signed by all parties prior to a decision by Manawatu Whanganui Regional Council hearing commissioners on June 2, 2020 to grant the Council a 25 year resource consent to continue storing and discharging treated waste water to The Pot, situated on ecologically and culturally important sand dunes about 4 kilometres west of Levin. In both agreements the Council says it, “takes no position in relation to who holds mana whenua, customary interests and rights, and/or rights of iwi/hapu over any area.” An Environment Ministry document titled ‘Guidelines for Consulting with Tangata Whenua under the Resource Management Act: An Update on Case Law’ states that although determining who holds mana whenua “can be a controversial issue” that “reasonable steps must be taken to identify the correct tangata whenua group. “It is the third agreement Council’s chief executive David Clapperton has signed with Te Rūnanga o Raukawa without the matter being discussed around the Council table – and the second known agreement signed by Larry Parr who is listed on Council’s webpage as chief executive officer for Te Rūnanga o Raukawa. Mr Clapperton also signed lucrative financial agreements with Te Rūnanga o Raukawa over Foxton’s Waste Water Treatment Plant and the Levin Landfill. The latest agreement was signed on behalf of Ngati Raukawa hapu including, “Ngati Kikopiri (Ngati Huia), Ngati Hikitanga and Ngati Pareraukawa. ”Ngati Raukawa hapu parties to the agreement include Pataka Moore, David Moore, Rachael Selby, Ngatokowaru Marae Committee and Ngati Kikopiri Mori Marae Committee Society in association with the Kikopiri Marae Reservation Trustees. Te Rūnanga o Raukawa, Muaūpoko Tribal Authority and Muaūpoko Lands Trust all agreed to:

1 Inform the regional council within 24 hours of signing the agreement, signed by Te Rūnanga o Raukawa on 5 March and MuaUpoko Tribal Authority on 16 April, “that their position on the Resource Consents have changed and they no longer oppose a 25-year term.”

2 Inform hearing commissioners deciding The Pot application the agreement entered into with the Council responds to, “their concerns, in particular kaitiakitanga, whanaungatanga, manaakitanga and rangatiratanga.”

3 Support the Council in, “any further matters before the hearing commissioners or any appeals” including appeals by the Council if The Pot consent was refused or conditions were imposed which limited or negated the agreement.

4 “Not participate in any way (including supporting any other party) in any process relating to the resource consents being granted, including before the hearing commissioners.”

5 “Not take or be involved in any other proceedings against” the Council or “make complaints against” the Council, “in relation to the discharges at The Pot.”

6 Assist the Council, “to talk with other submitters to try and resolve issues before the hearing commissioners or on any appeal in a manner that achieves the outcomes of this Agreement.”

7 “Work together to identify, assess and, if appropriate, assist consenting potential new areas for irrigation of treated wastewater from the LWWTP on the ‘Tucker Block’ land adjacent to The Pot” owned by the Council.The Council also committed to work with MTA to negotiate and sign a Memorandum of Partnership, “as soon as reasonably practicable, but no later than 3 months from the commencement of this Agreement.”

Corona virus, News, Pollution, viruses

More on China pollution and the coronavirus cover story (Jon Rappoport)

March 6, 2020 Pam Vernon 4 Comments

By Jon Rappoport

First, I want to mention 5G technology, which, according to reports, has been widely deployed in Wuhan, “the epicenter of the China epidemic.” Readers have sent me links to articles and videos that highlight human damage caused by 5G.

I’m aware of this damage. I’ve written about it before, and, I revisited it in a piece I wrote a few days ago titled 5G and the China epidemic. What is creating illness and death in China is not an either-or situation. In my past research on epidemics, I’ve found several causes of disease in every “epidemic”—causes which have nothing to do with a virus.

In Wuhan, in addition to air pollution, we could certainly be looking at 5G, and other situations of damage—for example, water pollution, heavy chemical spraying.

I’ve also received communications asking about “all the other cases of the coronavirus” occurring in countries where air pollution is not a significant factor. To answer these questions, I urge reading all my articles on the so-called “China epidemic” (archive here). I’ve covered how “cases of the disease” are “discovered”—through entirely misleading and worthless diagnostic tests. It’s always been easy to invent case numbers using these tests.

All right. A reader has sent me a significant piece published, in 2005, in the British medical journal, The Lancet. It emphasizes the destructive nature of air pollution in Chinese cities. Here are several excerpts.

The Lancet, November 19, 2005; CHINA: THE AIR POLLUTION CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, by Jonathan Watt:

“Over 400,000 premature deaths a year in China are blamed on air pollution levels…”

“According to the European Space Agency, Beijing and its neighbouring north-east Chinese provinces have the world’s worst levels of nitrogen dioxide, which can cause fatal damage to the lungs.” [The so-called “coronavirus disease” is pneumonia.]

https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2020/03/03/more-on-china-pollution-and-the-coronavirus-cover-story/

Image by Hitesh Choudhary from Pixabay

Corporations, News, Pharmaceutical Industry, Pollution

Study: U.K. rivers are filled with fish that are coked up, high on party drugs, and loaded with pesticides

October 20, 2019 Pam Vernon

Pollution happening world wide – filth offloaded into waterways since day dot practically, I recall warnings not to eat the shellfish back in the 1950s. In NZ I noted, an application for consent to dump sewage into the Manawatu River was back in the late 1800s. What other ‘animal’ on the planet shits in their food basket except (some) humans? And corporations are never made to clean it up. Just kick the proverbial can down the road. EWR

(Natural News) Are your fish on drugs? New research from King’s College London confirms that river-dwelling wildlife in the U.K. are being poisoned with a laundry list of drugs and chemicals — ranging from cocaine to pesticides. The findings have left scientists in absolute shock and dismay, even though similarly grim scenarios have already played out in the United States. Indeed, it would appear that waterway pollution is a major problem for developed countries — especially for the wildlife that resides in such areas.

In the U.S., the primary drivers of waterway drug pollution are simple: Excretion and toilet-flushing. At least on this side of the pond, most drugs find their way into water systems after being excreted in human waste — or after someone has flushed their unused medication. In the United Kingdom, it’s suspected that legal and illegal ties to waste systems are behind the influx of waterway pollution.

Fish filled with cocaine

As Daily Mail reports, scientists from King’s College London and University of Suffolk joined forces to survey rivers from rural Suffolk County. In all, samples from 15 different river sites were tested — and all of them tested positive for illicit party drugs. In shrimp, the researchers even found traces of ketamine and other pharmaceuticals.

Fifty-six different chemicals were found in the fish and shrimp, with cocaine and lidocaine being the two most commonly found drugs, followed by ketamine. Lidocaine is a legal drug often used by the dental industry as a numbing agent — but as Daily Mail explains, it is also used for illicit purposes.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-10-17-uk-rivers-fish-coked-up-drugs-pesticides.html

Photo Credit: Naturalnews.com

News, Oil, Pollution

Deepwater Horizon Spill Created Horrific Mutant Creatures in the Gulf of Mexico

September 29, 2019 Pam Vernon

From uncensored.co.nz

As the 10-year anniversary of the horrific Deepwater Horizon oil spill approaches, the area’s ocean floor has been transformed into a fetid wasteland coated in tar and populated by handfuls of deformed, tumor-ridden crustaceans.

Elias Marat

The explosion on a BP oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 was one of the most catastrophic disasters to hit the ocean in human history, with the U.S. government estimating that 4.9 million barrels (210 million gallons) were discharged across hundreds of square miles.

But new video footage from a 2017 expedition has confirmed the worst fears regarding the catastrophic spill, showing that the Gulf is not only still reeling from the disaster but may have been rendered a permanent dead zone.

The footage was captured by a camera-mounted remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operated by a team at the Louisiana University Marine Consortium, or LUMCON. Their findings on the apocalyptic ruin lying extant across the once-thriving deep sea was recently published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

When marine researcher Clifton Nunnally first saw the footage uncovered by the ROV, he was blown away by the horrors that he witnessed.

As Atlas Obscura reports:

Nothing prepared us for what we saw, [Clifton said.] … a slick black wasteland, empty of all its usual denizens, such as sea cucumbers and giant isopods. Instead, the area had been taken over by strange crabs and shrimp, either tumor-ridden or eerily languid, as if sleepwalking across the seafloor. The typically white marine snow—detritus that had drifted down from organisms living above—was jet black and clumped up. It was clear that the site was toxic, and maybe irrevocably marred.

While the area had previously been known for its rich biodiversity, the zone surrounding the Deepwater Horizon site was devoid of such features as sea anemones, sponges and corals typical of that part of the deep sea.

“It was like visiting a graveyard. There were even slimey “webs” at the seabed that looked like cobwebs. It was the only time I’ve been in a submarine along the seabed and found myself sad and dreading what was coming next.”- UGA’s @SeepExplorer https://t.co/JBQ4hdYmol

— UGA (@universityofga) September 25, 2019

Instead, they found some shrimp and a number of deformed, mutated crabs with shells blackened by oil, covered in parasites. In many cases, limbs and claws were shriveled or entirely missing.

https://uncensored.co.nz/2019/09/26/deepwater-horizon-spill-created-horrific-mutant-creatures-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/

Photo: atlasobscura.com

Food, GMO, News, Pollution

Farmed Salmon — one of the most toxic foods in the world

February 21, 2019 Pam Vernon

“Aquaculture promotes itself as a sustainable solution to overfishing. But in reality, fish farms actually cause more problems than they solve. There’s really little difference, in terms of environmental pollution, between land-based feedlots and water-based ones.”

From Dr Mercola

Nicolas Daniel’s documentary “Fillet-Oh-Fish” takes a critical look at the fish industry, featuring exclusive footage from fish farms and factories across the globe. Many still have a rather romanticized view of fishing, but when it comes to large-scale food production, the picture is actually rather grim.

Today’s fisheries are faced with a range of severe problems, from overfishing to chemical pollution and genetic mutation from toxic exposures. As noted by the producers of the film, “through intensive farming and global pollution, the flesh of the fish we eat has turned into a deadly chemical cocktail.” [1]

Despite that, the fish business is booming, in part due to efforts to keep the dirty underbelly of modern fisheries from public sight.

Aquaculture promotes itself as a sustainable solution to overfishing. But in reality, fish farms actually cause more problems than they solve. There’s really little difference, in terms of environmental pollution, between land-based feedlots and water-based ones.

Farmed Salmon — One of the Most Toxic Foods in the World?

The film starts off in Norway, looking at the chemicals used in fish farms. Kurt Oddekalv is a respected Norwegian environmental activist, and he believes salmon farming is a disaster both for the environment and for human health.

Below the salmon farms dotted across the Norwegian fjords, there’s a layer of waste some 15 meters high, teeming with bacteria, drugs, and pesticides. In short, the entire sea floor has been destroyed, and since the farms are located in open water, the pollution from these farms is in no way contained.

The world’s most evil chemical promoters and food POLLUTERS all exposed at one website

February 7, 2019 Pam Vernon

(Natural News) Just like in any federal prison, one can easily locate the dregs of humanity. The worst criminals, liars, thieves, and low-life scumbags always get caught, at least eventually, ruining other people’s lives in the wake of their own greed and indifference. Today, a new “cell block” has been identified, where all the shills, charlatans, hucksters, and journalistic hacks have been cataloged, along with their “mug shots,” so that hopefully their negative impact on human health and the environment can be “arrested” and brought to an end.

Unfortunately, in America, there are many more criminals still “on the loose,” but for now, the worst repeat offenders have been identified and exposed, and their “rap sheets” are available for viewing all at one website.

That’s right, the world’s worst chemical promoters and food polluters have been “jailed” at PolluterWatch.com, and you can take a tour of their “cell block” right now, so you know exactly who is insidiously spreading disease and disorder all over this country with their corporate-scripted propaganda.

Health enthusiasts now have JURISDICTION over the chemical-promoting thugs of America

How are the world’s worst “polluters” ruining so many innocent lives? These shills use all the language of the organic world to describe pesticides and GMOs in order to trick consumers and farmers into believing poisons are healthy and sustainable. They even get paid to post and regurgitate pre-scripted corporate propaganda written by Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Cargill, and all the other agri-chemical, biotechnology cartels.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-02-05-evil-chemical-promoters-and-food-polluters-exposed.html

Photo Credit: Naturalnews.com

Dairy, News, Pollution, Water

The Manawatu – it’s not dirty dairy – it’s dirty people

September 16, 2018 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

From the tasmaniantimes.com

An article by the late Bill Benfield.
See our article on the Manawatu River here.

The Manawatu

The Manawatu is an interesting comparison. Not only is it often cited as one of New Zealand’s dirtiest rivers, research by the Cawthron Institute in Nelson showed it to be one of the dirtiest in the western world. In an item from the Dominion Post of 26/11/2009, it cites Dr Young of Cawthron claiming that a system measuring oxygen changes in water (un-defined) show the Manawatu has a reading of 107, nearly twice that of the next worse, a river near Berlin just below a sewage outfall, where the reading was 59. Dr Young cited leaching farm nutrient and treated town sewerage, with agricultural use, i.e. nitrogen run off, being most of it.

Looking to maps Google Earth, it is obvious that there is a lot of human settlement, hill country farming, some forestry and, in the valleys, long strips of pastoral farming (including dairy). There is just not the weight of dairy to support Dr Young’s claims. As well, there are many significant towns, and they cannot be ignored, this is where the authors of this review exhibit a bias. It starts with the description of the sewerage discharges; they are described as treated. In fact, the city of Palmerston North is operating a non-complying system on a temporary consent till 2020; it is the biggest urban discharge consent and for up to 46,600 cubic metres per day of only partially treated sewerage. Horowhenua District Council has also admitted dumping 5.1 million litres of “partially” treated sewerage into the Manawatu which they also admitted contained tampons, condoms and toilet paper!

Untreated storm-water is not even mentioned. It is all the rubbish from the roads and gutters, fuel spills, dead animals, garden rubbish in the drains, sometimes even raw sewerage from old combined connections. There will also be leachates from landfill rubbish sites – it’s everything.

In all, from the towns, Eketahuna, Pahiatua, Woodville, Dannevirke, Ashurst, Fielding, Shannon, Palmerston North and so on have a combined sewerage discharge consent of 75,600 cubic metres per day. To that, we can add industrial discharges from milk processor Fonterra, New Zealand Pharmaceuticals and Tui Breweries.

By claiming “sediment washing into the river from overgrazed farms or eroding countryside”, the authors ignore some of the bigger generators of silt. Forestry is certainly a major contributor, both in clearing the land for planting and at time of harvest. Another is cross blading and bulldozer work in the river bed. I’m not actually championing dairy farmers, but I think it is reasonable to say that there is a lot more involved in the Manawatu than agricultural runoff – aka “dirty dairy”.

http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php/article/its-not-dirty-dairy-its-dirty-people

1080, Environment, News, Pollution

Petition to stop the aerial spreading of 1080 poison

July 22, 2018 Pam Vernon 5 Comments

Petition of Josephine Violet – Stop aerial release of 1080 poison

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petitions/document/PET_78808/petition-of-josephine-violet-stop-aerial-release-of-1080?signed=true

1080, Birds, DOC, Environment, Native Birds in decline, News, Poison, Pollution

Go into a 1080-poisoned forest, see for yourself says a NZ bushman of 35 years – non target birds are dying

July 8, 2018 Pam Vernon 3 Comments

NOTE: This is a burning issue in NZ currently, a nation advertised as clean and green is anything but. They are poisoning our environment with greater intensity under the guise of saving birds. Folk visiting here should be warned & not drink water from the streams as many tourists do. One tourist here died & her Doctor who arranged to send her heart for testing for 1080 was told to back off & the lab ‘lost’ her heart. Massive cover up going on. https://envirowatchrangitikei.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/could-this-healthy-23-year-old-have-died-from-exposure-to-1080-we-will-never-know-because-incredibly-the-nz-lab-lost-her-heart/
EnvirowatchRangitikei

From the Gisborne Herald

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

With regard to Grant Vincent’s comments on the benefits of 1080 poison. As a logging contractor and bushman for the past 35 years, I have seen my fair share of 1080 poison drops. Every year parts of the forest estate where I worked were systematically poisoned every three years.

In my experience this creates very low bird numbers, especially predatory birds like the falcon, morepork, weka and hawk. All these birds I have found poisoned after a 1080 poison drop.

1080 poison was first developed as an insecticide, so what effect does this have on the forest ecosystem as a whole? And then there’s the effect on poisoning our waterways which run down to our coastline.

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, TBfree and many regional councils backed by Forest and Bird support the aerial use of 1080 poison which indiscriminately kills all creatures that breathe oxygen through a slow, painful death that can take some animals days.

Then there is the crusade to have New Zealand pest-free by 2050, which includes deer and pigs. If you hunt wild game to feed your family, as most of my workers do, be concerned as this will affect you!

As I have always said to people who ask me about the effects of 1080 poison — go into a forest which has been poisoned by 1080 and see for yourself. Listen if you can hear any birds, and you will notice the smell of death.

Mark Nyhoff

Pakiri Logging

READ COMMENTS ETC AT THE LINK

http://gisborneherald.co.nz/opinion/3124914-135/go-into-a-1080-poisoned-forest-see

For further independent science & info on 1080 see our 1080 pages at the main menu. You won’t find that info in mainstream media. Also search 1080 in categories at left of news page.

Aerospace industry, Corruption, Health, News, Pollution

Aerotoxic – An Inconvenient Truth of Flying

July 4, 2018 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2018

A seven decade old cause of mysterious public ill health will eventually be solved with solutions which exist – today

Anybody lighting up a cigarette in an airliner these days would be rightly judged by society to be on the wrong side of the law – as it has finally been proven beyond reasonable doubt that exposure to toxic chemicals from tobacco smoke is dangerous.

Yet being exposed to nerve agents contained in jet engine oil in a confined space, according to the aerospace industry, somehow doesn’t cause chronic ill health effects in humans, when repeatedly exposed?

How can nerve agents even get into an airliner cabin? In around 1962 the entire airline industry stopped using pressurised ‘Outside air’ and went over to using ‘Bleed air’ which is piping the pressurised air from the jet engines, unfiltered, into the cabin. But worse still, there are no monitors to detect the deadly contaminants, only human noses.

Back in the 1950’s, the tobacco companies realised the dangers of tobacco smoke and wisely put filters in virtually all cigarettes. Yet the airline industry is effectively back in the 1950’s, as it is only now, that carriers such as Spirit Airlines and Easyjet are planning to place both filters and nerve agent detectors in their modern jet fleets, such as PALL Aerospace’s “PUREcabin solution” featured below.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/aerotoxic-inconvenient-truth-flying

© [3 July 2018] GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.”

HDC, Lake Horowhenua, News, Pollution, Water

“Lake Horowhenua is on private land – it should not be seen in this century to be the local sewer for everyone else’s rubbish and pollutants”

May 12, 2018 Pam Vernon 3 Comments

From Vernonica Harrod

A range of historic firsts have been taking place at Horowhenua Lake Domain Board meetings in Levin since new board chair Jenny Rowan took up the role earlier this year.

A former mayor of Kapiti Coast District Council Ms Rowan, who represents the Board on behalf of the Director General of the Department of Conservation, delivered an historic first when she made a verbal submission in response to Horowhenua District Council’s first 20 year Long Term Plan consultation document last week.

She said the Board, “has responsibilities for the Domain land, buildings, and the surface waters of the lake for recreational purposes, so has an interest in what water (mostly storm water) enters the lake.

She said Lake Horowhenua is, “on private land – it should not be seen in this century to be the local sewer for everyone else’s rubbish and pollutants. The responsibility surely lies with other private land owners to be managing their own properties in a way that protects the lake from their pollutants such as nitrates, heavy metals and sediment run off. We would expect the HDC to invest in educating industry and agricultural operators better on their obligations around runoff and farm management.”

Then there was another first when the Board chair stated an intention, “to have meetings at a venue he [Philip Taueki] can attend” as there is a trespass notice preventing Mr Taueki from entering the council building in Levin. This means he cannot attend Board meetings. Mr Taueki is the great great grandson of paramount chief Taueki who signed the Treaty of Waitangi, and he is an owner of Lake Horowhenua.

Ms Rowan also said the fact that water to Mr Taueki’s residence at Lake Horowhenua has been turned off raised questions about the “human rights and morality of the decision.” In a verbal submission to the Board former councillor Anne Hunt said Mr Taueki has lived in a residence with no water supply for over 500 days. Horowhenua District Council chief executive David Clapperton has refused to turn the water back on.

Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen said he found the decision to turn the water off, “a breach of human rights…concerned about HDC taking the action it has and what it might lead to further down the track.”

Ms Rowan reiterated, “We need to have more conversations with Phillip. I am very committed to sorting this out. I find it unacceptable. He is down there. The Toby for the water is on Domain Board land. Need to think about this team,” she said to the other board members seated around the table. “We have a responsibility to turn that water on.”

Chemicals, defense, Environment, Horizons, News, Pollution, Water

Official Information requested by Horizons from NZ Defence Force about an environmental hazard at Ohakea Air Base was not disclosed for more than a year later

March 31, 2018 Pam Vernon 1 Comment

Becoming a familiar story isn’t it? (They legally have around 21 days to come up with the requested info).

Recently we saw they’d declined to notify the public of the presence of 1080 in storage which they should be doing (remember Whitianga?). Or if it is burnt which they also recently declined to do in Levin. And increasingly, info is declined in the OI requests. I’ve also been hearing lately information about the burial/dumping of 1080 & also of asbestos in ‘unknown’ locations! If folk know anything they need to blow the whistle. This is an area of total cover up in more ways than one. Yet another illustration that the ‘sustainable’ verbiage on the council websites is just that & of no particular use except to pull the wool as the saying goes. Sustainable practices stopped with Rogernomics. The history is long and damning. EnvirowatchRangitikei

From stuff.co.nz

Horizons Regional Council’s chairman has blasted the Defence Force for keeping his organisation in the dark about contamination from firefighting foam used at Ohakea airbase.

The regional council was not told groundwater and water supplies might be contaminated until December last year – many months after the Defence Force knew of a potential problem.

“We are the environmental agency and they wanted to keep it from us,” Horizons chairman Bruce Gordon said.

“We found out from the media [about the contamination] because the Defence Force didn’t want to share it with us.”

It was revealed last week Horizons Regional Council was asked for information about water systems near Ohakea Air Force Base in Rangitīkei three times before it was told there was a contamination problem involving firefighting foam.

The first request for information came as early as April 2016 – a year after the Defence Force received the first results of tests – but officials didn’t let on to the regional council that some water was contaminated until December 2017.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/102503823/information-requested-but-reasons-not-disclosed-for-more-than-a-year-later

Photo: PN Airport .. Wikipedia

Corporations, Dairy, News, Pollution, Tourism, Water

Petition: Save Golden Bay’s Te Waikoropupū Springs from a proposal to take more water for dairy farming – please consider signing

March 19, 2018 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

Save Te Waikoropupū : Tasman District Councillors

Campaign created by

Save Our Springs

Stop big irrigation and Save Our Rivers

We call on the Tasman District Councillors to ban taking any more water from Te Waikoropupū springs for industrial dairying.

Why is this important?

Te Waikoropupū (Pupū) springs in Golden bay has some of the clearest waters ever measured on earth.

And right now they are under threat from an extreme proposal to take water from the rivers that feed the springs and use it to water grass for more dairy cows. More cows would mean more pollution in these pristine springs.

If accepted the proposal would allow the springs to lose at least 20% of their world renowned clarity. It would also allow the level of nitrate pollution go above what National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has recommended is the safe upper limit. (1)(2)

The springs are of immense cultural, ecological and spiritual importance to New
Zealanders and are also visited by tens of thousands of tourists every year. They are Wahi Tapu (sacred place) for local iwi.

But in the coming months, Tasman District Councillors could accept this drastic proposal from a group called FLAG – the Takaka Freshwater Land and Advisory Group. This would be a disaster for the springs, for New Zealanders and for the local economy that depends on tourism.

Our international reputation and one of our cherished places of unique natural beauty destroyed forever.

These councillors have a choice to make. They can either protect the springs, or they can choose more dairy cows.

We the undersigned call on them to protect and safeguard this national and international treasure for current and future generations.

(1)http://www.tasman.govt.nz/document/serve/Summary%20of%20Takaka%20FLAG%20process%20and%20interim%20decisions%20-16%20Dec%202016%20v41.pdf?path=/EDMS/Public/Other/Environment/Water/WaterManagement/000000709026.
(2)http://www.tasman.govt.nz/document/serve/RM130269_HearingDocument6_FriendsGB1.pdf?path=/EDMS/Public/Other/Property/ResourceConsents/NotifiedResourceConsentApplications/Gunsboro/RM130269_Gunsboro_HearingDocuments/000000442707.

How it will be delivered

In person to the council 5th April

SIGN PETITION AT THIS LINK:
https://www.toko.org.nz/petitions/save-te-waikoropupu-springs-tasman-district-council

1080, Health, News, Poison, Pollution, Water

DoC continues to drop 1080 into waterways with impunity, in spite of the manufacturer’s warnings – this time into a Coromandel dairy farmer’s supply that feeds his stock

March 17, 2018 Pam Vernon

From the GrafBoys’ TV-Wild channel:

TheGrafBoys

Published on Mar 16, 2018

Dairy farmer Bevan Fox talks about 1080 poison in his dairy shed water supply (footage from most recent aerial 1080 poison operation across the southern Coromandel Peninsula) …

The the NZ poison manufacturer’s warning label states not to drop pellets into the waterways!

chlorine, Health, News, Pollution

Linked to chlorinated water consumption are heart attacks, lowered sperm count, asthma, liver problems, stillbirths, headaches & MORE … learn the health risks & be proactive

March 16, 2018 Pam Vernon 3 Comments

According to the U.S. Council of Environmental Quality…

“The cancer risk to people who drink chlorinated water is 93 percent higher than those who don’t”

Dear friend concerned about chlorine,

What if that clear, clean-looking liquid you use every day – to quench your thirst, to bathe and shower in, and to wash your dishes and laundry in contributed to dozens of everyday ailments, including…

Heart attacks… page 4
Tiredness, dizziness or headaches… page 9
Eye, sinus and throat irritation… page 7
Your sperm count (men)… page 5
Your risk of a miscarriage (women)… page 5
Childhood asthma… page 9
Damaging hair cuticles and the cause or worsening of dandruff… page 7
Skin rashes, headaches, gastrointestinal difficulties and arthritis… page 5
Liver problems… page 6
The drying out of your hair and scalp
A toxic cocktail of indoor pollution in your home… page 7
Spontaneous abortion, stillbirths and congenital formations… page 8
Kidney problems… page 9
Your odds of having a child with spina bifida… page 5
A weakened immune system, significantly impacting your body’s ability to fight disease… page 4

Truth is, the water we use in and around our homes is far from the fresh, pure resource you might assume. And the worst part is…

Americans are ingesting from 300 to 600 times what the Environmental Protection Agency considers a “safe” amount while chlorine itself is relatively benign, and was created to help keep us free from infectious diarrheas, it reacts with organic materials which already dissolve in water, forming chemicals (known as DBP’s) that are over 100 times more toxic than chlorine.

Sounds pretty scary, doesn’t it?

And considering the negative impact it is probably having on your family’s well-being, wouldn’t you want to know everything you can about this toxic cocktail in your water supply? Of course!

Well, the good news is world renowned physician and multiple New York Time’s Best Selling author, Dr. Mercola, has gathered all the research about chlorine together in one place – and created one of the most important and time-sensitive reports ever released to the public.

So what are the documented side effects of chlorine? The startling evidence could shock you into making choices which might just save your life…

According to the U.S. Council of Environmental Quality, the cancer risk to people who drink chlorinated water is 93 percent higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine.
The residents of a small town in Pennsylvania who ate diets rich in saturated animal fats and milk had no heart attacks – until they switched from mountain spring water to fluoridated water.
Research from the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands discovered that people who swam in chlorinated pools or polluted waters as children had 2.2 to 2.4 times the risk of developing melanoma compared to those who did not swim in chlorinated waters.

https://www.mercola.com/downloads/bonus/chlorine/default.htm

Chemtrails, Environment, Geoengineering, News, Pollution

More Pollution over Aotearoa’s beautiful Akaroa Harbour

March 4, 2018 Pam Vernon 1 Comment

We featured recently reports on the pollution created by the cruise ships, with concerns raised by a local fed up with breathing their fumes. Here we have the familiar chemtrail/geoengineering pollution in the skies as well, a regular sight both globally and the length of Aotearoa.

WP_20171211_021[1] — Air pollution by cruise ships in Akaroa’s harbour NZ

Fukushima, News, Nuclear, Nuclear Energy, Pollution

AUSTRIA SUES EU OVER HUNGRY NUKE ENERGY EXPANSION

March 1, 2018 Pam Vernon 1 Comment

kevin blanch

Published on Jan 23, 2018

https://www.gofundme.com/sdc76s blanchblanch2@gmail.com https://www.reuters.com/article/us-au… as AUSTRIA STANDS UP FOR THE WORLD,, thank you AUSTRIA kevin d. blanch https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-…

Herbicides, News, Poison, Pollution, Rangitikei, Water

Rangitikei farmers’ ‘spray and pray’ activity is grossly polluting the waterways

January 29, 2018 Pam Vernon 1 Comment

Kiwis love herbicides and poisons, particularly Kiwi farmers. They spray roundup over their pastures because the text books recommend it and they believe it’s safe. They won’t read the independent research either. Not in my experience. Still that’s what we’re up against. The corporations particularly Monsanto in this instance, have control of the media so they control the public perception. Their methods aren’t working & they’re not sustainable witness the filthy state of our waterways now. Can’t even swim in them any more. A total shame & total hypocrisy to be calling our country clean and green. See our Glyphosate pages.
EnvirowatchRangitikei

From Radio NZ

An intensive farming practice taking off in the Rangitikei, known locally as spray and pray, is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, according to Fish and Game.

The method involves aerially spraying steep hill country with herbicide, then sowing a winter crop and aerially spraying with fertiliser.

Stock are then fed in mobs on the crop during winter, which strips it back to bare land.

It has locals, including farmers, worried about what it is doing to waterways, particularly the protected Rangitikei River, which is one of 15 rivers in the country with a water conservation order on it.

Fish and Game chief executive Bryce Johnson said he first heard about the practice from a fishing guide in Rangitikei, who was noticing the river was clouding with sediment on fine days and becoming increasingly discoloured.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/329000/spray-and-pray-‘just-asking-for-an-environmental-disaster’

https://www.radionz.co.nz/programmes/water-fools/story/201840326/water-fools-spray-and-pray

Photo: Radio NZ (Rangitikei River)

Agriculture, News, NZ, Pollution

Clean, green New Zealand is a lie – and a warning for Britain’s countryside

December 10, 2017 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

If you don’t believe NZ is polluted to the hilt type pollution &/or water into the searchbox. Or go to categories. We are also slathered relentlessly with toxic poisons including 1080 and glyphosate. The headline is correct, clean and green is a complete and utter lie.
EnvirowatchRangitikei

From theguardian.com

Michael Gove plans to cut farmers’ subsidies while enhancing the environment post-Brexit. New Zealand’s cattle-wrecked land shows the folly of his thinking

There can’t be a more successful tourism marketing campaign than “100% Pure New Zealand”. And New Zealand is seen as a world leader in another respect: how its farmers sell their food globally without government subsidies. But the tension between these two successes has been exposed by Sir Tim Smit, the co-founder of the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Smit has sparked a minor international incident by declaring that New Zealand is “so pure the people of Christchurch won’t even swim in the river Avon. Most of the lakes are full of algae. It is like a beautiful person with cancer.” He was speaking to British landowners pondering the New Zealand model for post-Brexit agriculture. British farmers currently receive £3bn in subsidies each year; environment secretary Michael Gove must design a much smaller subsidy system – or scrap it altogether.

Smit argues that New Zealand is no inspiration despite its farmers surviving the removal of subsidies in 1984. Their response has been to intensify, and export milk to China.

Landscapes that George Monbiot might describe as sheep-wrecked are now cattle-wrecked; the cost, argues Smit, is water quality, as nitrates from fertilisers flood into rivers. Smit’s critique has been endorsed not only by Greenpeace New Zealand but also by the chief executive of New Zealand’s fish and game council, Martin Taylor, who calls the country’s clean, green image “a facade”. Brexit marks a crossroads for the British countryside. Gove believes we can boost agricultural productivity while also enhancing the environment. His vision isn’t so dissimilar from some environmentalists’: subsidy-dependent upland farming will cease (and some land even rewilded) while production is intensified on surviving lowland farms.

But the idea that we can have it all – cheap food, pristine environments and profitable farmers – is naive.

Environment, News, NZ, Pollution

A pollution problem you probably weren’t aware of – concern expressed by an Akaroa resident, a problem dubbed an “international embarrassment” by Victoria University Law Lecturer

December 9, 2017 Pam Vernon 6 Comments

Here is a topic that’s slipped somewhat under the radar and is affecting beautiful Akaroa in the South Island … the pollution from cruise ships. An Akaroa reader affected by this issue to the extent they sometimes wear a mask, contacted me recently saying they’d tried both government and media channels with a largely ‘not interested’ response. Turns out the issue’s been written about by a University lecturer Dr Bevan Marten (link below the reader’s piece) who says:

New Zealand’s lack of action over air pollution from shipping is an international embarrassment… Dr Bevan Marten

Copy of WP_20171120_004 — Cruise ships in Akaroa’s harbour with engines pumping all day [Photo supplied]

So from Akaroa:

It is with a heavy heart I farewell the winter … cold, clear, cleansing southerly winds blowing through the harbour heads straight from the Antarctic.

Today, as dawn breaks , the onslaught of mighty tourism blows through the heads. Just one of 80 ships to visit this season.

Another season of poisonous sulphurous emissions … 12 hours day … often 2 or 3 ships per day … 7am to 7pm.

The air is sharp … stings the throat … wear a mask outside and keep windows closed.

Because of the shallowness of the harbour these floating cities moor out in the open harbour. The engines are pumping all day, swinging 360 degrees on their mooring to stay facing the prevailing winds.

The sediment disturbance turns the harbour a milky grey.

What does this do to the Hector dolphins, the paua beds?

Atmospheric pollution. Ocean pollution.

Seven pm and the engines ramp up for departure. The smoke spreads, the sediment spreads. The bilge water pumps out into our harbour.

Gone … ’til tomorrow. Here til March 2018…

Our council bans woodburners in Chch for home heating. Our council plans to have electric cars. Why bother?

Six months of poison pumping into our air negates all such clever initiatives.

24282037_1655573811159365_1908002011_n — Swinging 360 degrees on their mooring what are these cruise ships doing to the marine life – the hector dolphins and paua? [Photo: supplied]

NZ’s ignoring dark cruise ship undercurrent

Dr Bevan Marten is a Senior Lecturer in Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Law, specialising in maritime and transport law. He is scathing about the damage those gleaming white cruise ships are doing to the environment.

New Zealand’s lack of action over air pollution from shipping is an international embarrassment. This is true of both the country’s commitment to addressing global climate change and the safeguarding of local air quality. Walking along Auckland’s waterfront, that gleaming white cruise ship may look spotless but the fumes coming out of its funnel might be anything but. It’s time to tell the Government to get serious.

Larger ships mostly burn “bunker” fuel, a grade of oil closer to Marmite than anything the local service station will pour you. It’s also a key source of pollutants such as sulphur dioxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

Sulphur dioxide in particular creates a risk to human health, despite not having the telltale smog we associate with the problems faced in cities like Beijing. And while we have largely removed sulphur dioxide emissions from road vehicles and some industries, shipping remains a major source of this pollutant.

The global community has long acknowledged this issue. In 1997, countries agreed to Annex VI of the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (known as MARPOL, short for marine pollution). In addition to rules improving ship engine efficiency, this included a promise to reduce the maximum sulphur content of ships’ fuel to 3.5 percent in 2012 and 0.5 percent in 2020. Between 2006 and 2014, special emission control areas covering much of Northern Europe and North America entered into force, bringing sulphur content there down to just 0.1 percent.

Although 86 other countries are party to the Annex VI agreement, New Zealand has never signed up. This makes us a real outlier internationally. The only other OECD countries in this position are Iceland, Israel and Mexico. The only other countries in the South Pacific Commission to ignore it are Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

cancer, Carcinogen, Corporations, Food, heavy metals, Mining, News, Oil, Pollution

Rare & deadly cancers found downstream from Canada’s oil sands – the ongoing rape & pillage of the environment by corporations at the hosts’ expense

November 11, 2017 Pam Vernon

Yet another example of how corporations ruin environments and community health by their ongoing rape & pillage pretty much with impunity. Another David & Goliath scenario. What of the lives of these people affected? Shameful. The plunder has to stop.
EnvirowatchRangitikei

Photo: Waking Times

Study links oilsands pollution to higher cancer rates

By DEAN BENNETTThe Canadian Press

Mon., July 7, 2014

“Cancer occurrence increased significantly with participant employment in the oilsands and with the increased consumption of traditional foods and locally caught fish,” said the report.

It also found total levels of carcinogens in the traditionally hunted foods were higher compared with similar studies around the world…” thestar.com

EDMONTON—A new study by two Alberta First Nations and University of Manitoba scientists says there is a link between oilsands pollutants and higher levels of heavy metals in wildlife, and higher cancer rates in residents.

“There’s something unique that is happening in Fort Chipewyan,” Stéphane McLachlan, the lead researcher from the university, told a news conference Monday. “It’s a situation that is alarming and demands attention.”

The report — titled Environmental and Human Health Implications of Athabasca Oil Sands — is the result of three years of research. It was funded by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation.

The study says it found 23 cases of cancer in 94 participants.

“Cancer occurrence increased significantly with participant employment in the oilsands and with the increased consumption of traditional foods and locally caught fish,” said the report.

It also found total levels of carcinogens in the traditionally hunted foods were higher compared with similar studies around the world.

But it found the dietary intake was low because community members were turning away from the traditional foods in favour of store-bought sustenance.

The methodology combined scientific methods with anecdotal information from community members.

10 REASONS CANADA NEEDS TO RETHINK THE TAR SANDS

Kevin Grandia, DeSmogBlog
Waking Times

As a Canadian it blows my mind that we can have the second largest deposits of oil in the world, but our government remains billions in debt and one in seven Canadian children live in poverty.

I feel like we are being played for fools here in Canada, because foreign owned oil companies like ExxonMobil,

British Petroluem and PetroChina (71% of oil sands production is owned by foreign shareholders) are making billions exporting raw tar sand from our country, while us citizens are dealing with all the nasty downsides.

Time for a tar sands reality check.

Here’s the top 10 reasons Canada needs to rethink their unrelenting desire to expand tar sands operations:

1. The Canada tar sands isn’t just an environmental issue, it is also a social justice, human rigths and health issue. A higher incidence of rare and deadly cancers has been documented in First Nations communities downstream of the oil sands by doctors, the Alberta Health Department and First Nations since 2007.

2. Like birds? Me too. Did you know that over 30 million birds will be lost over the next 20 years due to tar sands development?

3. 95% of the water used in tar sands surface mining is so polluted it has to be stored in toxic sludge pits. That’s 206,000 litres of toxic waste discharged every day.

4. Canada’s tar sands make Hoover Dam look like lego blocks, because we are home to 2 of the top 3 largest dams in the world. The dams are used to hold back all that toxic sludge produced by mining tar sands.

Carcinogen, Chemicals, News, Plastic, Pollution, Water

Microscopic plastic fibers are flowing out of taps around the world with no known procedures for filtering

October 31, 2017 Pam Vernon

Scientists say these microscopic fibers might originate in the everyday abrasion of clothes, upholstery, and carpets. They could reach your household tap by contaminating local water sources, or treatment and distribution systems. But no one knows, and no specific procedures yet exist for filtering or containing them.

It is everywhere: the most enduring, insidious, and intimate product in the world.

From the soles of your shoes to the contact lenses in your eyes, the phone in your pocket to the food in your refrigerator, the evidence is unmistakable: We are living in The Plastic Age.

Plastic frees us, improving daily life in almost uncountable ways.

13-million-tonnes-ocean-plastic-2010-2-537x358

And plastic imprisons us in waste and microscopic pollution.

Recent studies have shown the shocking extent of plastics in the world’s oceans and lakes. Orb Media followed with a new question: If microscopic plastic is in oceans, lakes, and rivers, is it in drinking water as well?

In the first public scientific study of its kind, we found previously unknown plastic contamination in the tap water of cities around the world.

Microscopic plastic fibers are flowing out of taps from New York to New Delhi, according to exclusive research by Orb and a researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. From the halls of the U.S. Capitol to the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda, women, children, men, and babies are consuming plastic with every glass of water.

More than 80 percent of the samples we collected on five continents tested positive for the presence of plastic fibers.

Microplastics — tiny plastic fibers and fragments — aren’t just choking the ocean; they have infested the world’s drinking water.

Why should you care? Microplastics have been shown to absorb toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other illnesses, and then release them when consumed by fish and mammals.

Scientists say these microscopic fibers might originate in the everyday abrasion of clothes, upholstery, and carpets. They could reach your household tap by contaminating local water sources, or treatment and distribution systems. But no one knows, and no specific procedures yet exist for filtering or containing them.

If plastic fibers are in your water, experts say they’re surely in your food as well — baby formula, pasta, soups, and sauces, whether from the kitchen or the grocery. Plastic fibers may leaven your pizza crust, and a forthcoming study says it’s likely in the craft beer you’ll drink to chase the pepperoni down.

HDC, Horowhenua District Council, Lake Horowhenua, News, Pollution

Horowhenua District Council boss ignores pleas to turn on water supply

September 30, 2017 Pam Vernon 1 Comment

Learn more about the historic interactions between the Horowhenua District Council and Mr Taueki (whose supply has been cut) by reading former HDC Councilor Mrs Anne Hunt’s recent book titled ‘Man of Convictions’ (free download). Also go to this link to see a report by Marae TV and here for a recent article about Mr Taueki being charged for trespassing on his own land. You may also like to check out our Local Govt Watch pages at the main menu. Note Mr Taueki is frequently labeled ‘protester’ a word with clear overtones of dissidence … whereas, he is simply a man who is defending his own land. Since when was it a crime to defend one’s own property?
EnvirowatchRangitikei

From Radio NZ

A district council chief executive is keeping the water to a Māori land protester turned off despite health officials telling him it’s illegal.

David Clapperton, of Horowhenua District Council, is also resisting the demands from his own mayor, Michael Feyen – who he has had several run-ins with already – to turn the water back on.

Protester Phil Taueki has lived in a nursery building beside Lake Horowhenua for 13 years.

His long-running protest at the lake received a boost in June from a Waitangi Tribunal finding that the property rights of his iwi, Muaūpoko, were usurped at the lake and that the Crown was complicit in degrading the lake to the point that it was among the most polluted in New Zealand.

The water was cut off last November, and Mr Taueki said his attempts to reconnect it since he returned there at Easter have failed.

“Where does that leave a person like me?” he said.

He has been getting his water from an outside tap and using a bucket to flush the toilet.

When he tried to get the water reconnected in August, he was trespassed from the council offices in Levin. He has previously had at least 30 charges against him withdrawn, dismissed or quashed on appeal.

A letter released to Mr Taueki this week under the Official Information Act shows the region’s medical officer of health, Dr Rob Weir, told Mr Clapperton in late August that the council was not allowed to create an unsanitary situation, no matter what the circumstances.

245T, Chemicals, Glyphosate, Herbicides, News, Pesticides, Pollution

Our Children are Born Pre-polluted – hear how pesticides are killing us all – Dr Meriel Watts

August 31, 2017 Pam Vernon

Farmers, local councils, schools, people in general slather everything in glyphosate (found in Roundup & most other household herbicides). That’s NZ’s no. 1 choice for keeping everything neat & tidy meanwhile, their health is a silent ticking cancer timebomb. Generally folk won’t read the research, they don’t want to know. They’ve been told it’s safe, end of story. (See our Glyphosate pages on that one at the menu). There are 80-100,000 chemicals in our environment says Dr Watts many (most) of which have never been tested adequately for safety around humans let alone the rest of the ecosystem. This is thorough (yet shocking) info. I phoned Forest & Bird one day to alert them that one of their small reserves was being literally hosed with glyphosate, assuming they were into protecting birds & forests. They didn’t even know what it was! The image above was captured in NZ. Educate yourself & speak up against its use.

EnvirowatchRangitikei

Published on Aug 30, 2011

You can buy this on DVD here: http://www.thevinnyeastwoodshow.com/dvds.html
Real environmentalism is about keeping our air, food and water clean. Our planet is now awash with pesticides and we’re all getting sick because of it, regardless of how you feel about climate change or deforestation, pesticide contamination is a far greater danger and yet it is ignored by mainstream environmentalists. Why? I filmed and edited this presentation purely out of my personal admiration for Meriel Watts and her tireless efforts to bring the explosive yet little known truth about pesticide contamination to the people. Vinny “MR NEWS” Eastwood

Support Vinny on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/13997609

1080, Corporations, News, NZ Government, Pollution, Water

The latest ‘100% pure’ lies from the NZ corporation masquerading as a government

July 15, 2017 Pam Vernon 4 Comments

Well it must be getting very bad when mainstream media is concerned about the image of a woman drinking from our toxic (oops 100% pure) rivers. Seriously. Horowhenua has one of the top 10 worst polluted lakes in NZ, so toxic that ingesting it could potentially kill a small child or an animal. Then we can only swim in 40% of our rivers, how ever is the tourist going to discern which 40% they are? Signs up everywhere praps? Drink this but not that? Then there’s the 1080 issue (non issue according to the corporation) with the pellets landing in our drinking water. Ever join any dots about the soaring cancer stats? Isn’t one in 3 or less a bit high? Anyway, a warning to tourists, don’t believe the spin. Our esteemed authorities even dump sewage into the waterways here. Buy bottled water like you do in third world countries, just to be safe. We really are getting into third world status in my opinion with some places bringing home bottles from the water fountains. Oh, and on the spin, NZ is not the least corrupt nation on the planet at all … sadly that is all spin as well. (See here also). Along with the not so well known fact that we are actually a corporation and not a true government.
EnvirowatchRangitikei

Copy of 534553_274675442608748_921230410_n.jpg — This would be more like the truth from our ‘protective’ authorities who place profits over health, being a corporation and all … a young man contracted trench mouth from oral contact with the water this sign guards

The article anyway, is from stuff.co.nz

New ‘100% Pure’ campaign shows tourist drinking river water

While concerns grow about the health of New Zealand’s waterways – including the potential for reputational damage – it has not changed the way the country presents itself to the world.

The latest “100% Pure” campaign, released last week, shows a tourist drinking water from a river, something that would be dangerous in parts of the country.

The Government-funded ad was released last week by Tourism New Zealand (TNZ), and will be broadcast around the world over the next two years.

The campaign is titled “where one journey leads to another”, and anchors on a dream-like video following two tourists tramping, diving and kayaking in various locations throughout New Zealand.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/94662163/new-100-pure-campaign-shows-tourist-drinking-river-water

RELATED:

Swimming in a river? Be ‘vigilant’, scientist says

Why you shouldn’t swim in the Manawatu River or any NZ river

“Be Very Clear – Central Govt, Horizons and Horowhenua DC are Serial Polluters of our Water-Ways” – Film Footage From a District Cr

Chemicals, District Councils, Horizons, News, Pollution

Wellington stream a brown, bubbly industrial dump that is killing the eels

April 21, 2017 Pam Vernon 4 Comments

More sustainable development from our LG folks. I challenge you to examine LG websites (Councils, Regional Council, Horizons) – they’re replete with a ton of rhetoric about sustainable this and sustainable that … all of which they pay mere lip service to. Note the comment from them in the article when whose responsibility it is is being followed up:

“T&T Landfills manager Sophie Gray said all information was available on the council’s website. When asked when the drainage problems would be fixed, she said it was a matter between “me and the council” before hanging up.”

In my opinion placed there to lull you into thinking all this toxic pollution is not their fault. One gets the impression these DCs are fully in bed with the respective industries. Examine also though some of the events that transpire in the various other regions where the life in the waterways is dying off. Recently we had a huge die off of pipi and tuatua at Waitarere Beach. We hear a flurry in the news of ‘yes we are testing’ etc etc etc, and unless you pester them you’ll likely hear no more of it. Or when you do it is some curious thing to blame like I read recently, ‘pine pesticide’. Then they blame floods or high temps. All ‘natural’ phenomena of course so industrial pollution can’t be blamed. But here in this video, the stream is said to stink of chemicals, to which the likely reply will be the usual mantra of ‘it can’t be proven’. Not without extensive and expensive testing at least. Which predictably nobody will feel responsible enough to stump up with the costs for. Industries/corporations manage to let themselves off the hook in terms of responsibility for clean up. They have succeeded in reframing all of that by calling the damages externalities and making the public pay. Really the must watch as I always recommend is, ‘The Corporation’ doco. The profits of corporations are generally so large they pay for any fines out of their lunch money. If they get any fines that is. Largely they create carnage then move on leaving the locals to suck it up … get poisoned … whatever. They are rarely made to pay. So here we have dying eels as the canary in the coal mine. How long will it be before there is nothing left? We can’t swim in these streams and rivers any more, many more we can’t even wade in they’re so toxic. So why would we be expecting eels to survive in them? The regional authorities need to step up & enforce their consents properly instead of turning the proverbial blind eye.

EnvirowatchRangitikei

Forget clean and green – this Wellington stream is brown, bubbly and litter-strewn

As Jane Poata walks beside Wellington’s Owhiro Stream, the toxic stench rekindles childhood memories of holidaying beside New Zealand’s most-contaminated site.

It is a metallic smell she described as ammonia and lime, rising from the brown and bubbly stream, a tributary of which passes through T&T Landfills before running behind a primary school and homes then into Taputeranga Marine Reserve off the capital’s south coast.

Greater Wellington Regional Council has confirmed the contamination came from the T&T Landfills, which was in the process of diverting the tributary to Owhiro Stream and creating a filtering wetland so it no longer picked up debris and contaminants when flood water rushed through.

“Any contaminant can be toxic and harmful to the stream ecology and people coming into contact, but it depends on the levels we find.”

The landfill was fined following a similar incident in November. Cross said further fines had not been ruled out but the council was more focused now on fixing the problem.

T&T Landfills manager Sophie Gray said all information was available on the council’s website. When asked when the drainage problems would be fixed, she said it was a matter between “me and the council” before hanging up.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/91441533/Forget-clean-and-green-this-Wellington-stream-is-brown-bubbly-and-litter-strewn?cid=app-iPad

Geoengineering, News, Pollution

Geoengineering: from a neurosurgeon … nanosized aluminum being sprayed in the atmosphere, causing degenerative disease

April 20, 2017 Pam Vernon 3 Comments

Back in the 1960’s, quiet scientific dialogue began about global climate change and how it can be manipulated.

What might have turned into a productive discussion of responsible protection of Earth’s climate and ecosystem had eventually evolved into a mad, controlling science experiment.

By the 21st century, jumbo jets were being deployed to drop billions of dollars of nanosized aluminum and other particles into the skies. In attempts to reflect sunlight away from the Earth and cool climate temperatures, this science experiment has exploited populations of people to mass amounts of airborne metals that are literally raining down and poisoning everyone, slowly, subtly.

According to neuro-surgeon Russell L. Blaylock, the nanosized aluminum particles found in chem-trails are contributing heavily to degenerative disease today.

Like in bio-engineering, where scientists rewire the DNA of crops, creating genetically modified foods, geo-engineering is the global attempt to manipulate the sun and Earth’s climate. In both mass engineering operations, “professionals” try to play “God,” but it’s a given – nature and natural processes cannot and were never meant to be controlled. Hence, we see the unintended consequences of degenerative disease occurring today due to GMOs and geo-engineering. All the disease statistics are neglected, however, as controllers justify their means.

For further info & links check out our Geoengineering pages. Use categories for further articles on topic.

EnvirowatchRangitikei

1080, Chemicals, DOC, News, NZ Government, Pollution

Kiwi are dying in large numbers at Mt Bruce OIA reveals & evidence points to pesticides including 1080 in spite of claims to the contrary

April 17, 2017 Pam Vernon 4 Comments

More disturbing discoveries on the supposed effectiveness of the pest eradication programs our once clean green paradise has to offer … from the GrafBoys.

“Mt Bruce’s Pukaha claims great success in the recovery of re-introduced bird species like kiwi – but the dark truth is, that kiwi are dying in large numbers, and the decline is directly pointing to pesticides like the aerially spread 1080 poison, or their failure to kill targeted species.”

TheGrafBoys

Pukaha – Mt Bruce is a 942 hectare, un-fenced wildlife project situated in the Wairarapa Region of the North Island of New Zealand.

It claims great success in the recovery of re-introduced bird species like kiwi – but the dark truth is, that kiwi are dying in large numbers, and the decline is directly pointing to pesticides like the aerially spread 1080 poison, or their failure to kill targeted species.

This clip investigates the claims and catastrophes that are Mt Bruce …

See the TheGrafBoys YT channel and website for more videos. Educate yourself on 1080 poisoning. See also http://1080science.co.nz/

Go here for other links to information.

Use the share buttons to help spread the word on all the untruths we have been told. Thank you!

EnvirowatchRangitikei