Extreme birder James Currie sets out to find the sky wolves of Arizona, the Harris Hawk – in the depths of the Sonoran desert.
Final presentation for the Photo Aotearoa photojournalism workshop, hosted at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngāruawāhia, May 2022. Edited by Melanie Burford. Photographed by Edith Amituanai, Te Rawhitiroa Bosch, Tatsiana Chypsanava, Mattheus Elwood, Tash Hopkins, Jodie James, Rachel Mataira, Joshua McCormack, Adrian Malloch, Andrew MacDonald, Cameron James McLaren, Becki Moss, Vanessa Parker, Ralph Piezas, Mike Scott, Erica Sinclair, Scott Sinton, Aaron Smale, Maine Tito, Dominico Zapata and Julie Zhu.
In 2021, Better Ancestors produced 50 stories profiling people and organisations doing their bit to find solutions to some of the world's most pressing environmental issues. So what did they learn through that process? As executive producer Warren Begley says: "If individually and collectively we act as long-term thinkers, as if we wanted to be regarded as a better ancestor, then we will find the answers together." betterancestors.org
The Ngā Mōtū Marine Reserve Society was set up in 1997 to support a network of small marine reserves on the Taranaki coast - Parininihi in the north, and Tapuae near New Plymouth. The society is made up of locals who are interested in the study and preservation of local coastal and marine biodiversity and their efforts to protect kororā (little blue penguin) have helped us understand what we can do to protect other taonga species in Aotearoa. betterancestors.org
After Sir Peter Blake's death, The Blake Trust was set up to continue his work educating people about the state of our oceans and getting them to do more to protect the marine environment. NZVR, a partnership between Blake and New Zealand Geographic, does just that by bringing the ocean to our country's classrooms. It uses virtual reality to show rangatahi what it's like under the surface, introducing them to issues like over-fishing and pollution and, ideally, inspiring them to take action. As Blake's Alice Ward-Allen says: "Often they ask us stuff that I have never thought of. Kids just think in such different ways. The reactions we get every day are completely different. The questions we get are always different as well. They're the next generation, the ones who are going to have to step up and take care of our environment." www.betterancestors.org
Untangled Landscapes started off working with domestic jungles, transforming them into well-manicured ornamental spaces. None of what they did was regenerative, however, and eventually the weeds would return. Since then, their approach has evolved and it's more about untangling people from the need to use chemicals and industrial materials in their gardens. They have stopped using poisons and weed mats - in part because they just don't work very well - and have instead started using natural principles and techniques borrowed from regenerative agriculture. As Matt Bates Cummings says: "Too often we see a symptom of something and we go 'I can't have that. I need to stop this.' And then you stop the regenerative process. We need to let things play out a lot more. It needs a bit of trust. You need to trust the process and watch it and observe it until we understand it completely." www.betterancestors.org
Dave Lowe's journey with the atmosphere began in 1970 as a 23-year-old physics graduate, where he made the first measurements of carbon dioxide levels in New Zealand. The data he collected at Baring Head became an important part of David Keeling's research into the seasonal changes of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere - and, due to the steadily increasing levels he charted over the years, an inescapable record of what humans were doing to the planet. "I think everyone's aware now that the climate is changing very rapidly, but this is a horror I've had to live with for over 50 years," Lowe says. So can we turn the tide? "The thing that Covid-19 has taught us was that when there's an existential threat that's in your face, human beings can collectively get up and do some remarkable things. And in the same way, human beings can get to grips with global heating and dramatically reduce carbon emissions. We know how to do this." www.betterancestors.org
What was once a mess of mud after being chomped and stomped by cattle is now teeming with tūī after flax and cabbage trees were planted on the land more than ten years ago and pest control was undertaken. "The wetland has returned to its original function of being the kidneys of the land," says Dean Baigent-Mercer. "It slows down water during floods and cleans the water as it goes through." www.betterancestors.org
Forest & Bird's annual campaign to give a voice to New Zealand's native birds* has grown from a small-scale promotion to a national obsession. Led by teams of volunteers who employ creative - and occasionally fraudulent - methods to drum up votes for their chosen bird, the 'country's most anticipated election' is fun and engaging, but it also aims to draw attention to the serious plight of many of our most-loved birds. As Forest & Bird's Lissy Fehnker-Heather says: "They disperse seed, they pollinate our native trees, they recycle nutrients and because humans are interconnected with nature they're part of our extended family. It's really important that lots of people are fighting for nature." *Controversially, in 2021, the long-tailed bat / pekapeka-tou-roa was also added to the list.
In California, the Sutro Stewards blend conservation, recreation and the concept of stewardship in an intense urban environment. By mobilising volunteers to build trails, remove invasive species, and grow and establish native plants, a severely degraded ecosystem is being restored. "When you restore the plant communities, you're restoring the base of the foodchain that other animals can participate in. It all starts with the plants," says Ildiko Polony, the director of Sutro Stewards. The story of the area's restoration provides hope that when we make the choice to give our natural spaces more love, we can reverse some of the damage we've done to them. www.betterancestors.org
The Toroa or Royal Albatross is the world’s largest flying bird - and an endangered species native to New Zealand. When one of the majestic birds washed up on the East Coast in obvious distress last year, the family that discovered it took it to the vet, but the three-year-old bird died a few days later. It had swallowed a 500ml plastic drink bottle, which it probably mistook for a squid. Nine out of ten seabirds have eaten plastic and eight million metric tonnes of plastic make it into the ocean every year. So is there anything that can be done to stop the problem? www.betterancestors.org
The health of the soil plays a crucial role in water quality, food quality and carbon sequestration but the pressures placed on it from industrial agriculture and excessive fertiliser use means it's currently not in the best shape. There are some farmers who see a return to nature as the smartest approach, however, both to create a more efficient business and to reduce their impacts on the environment. As Nicole Masters of Integrity Soils says, if we want to feed the world and still have a habitable planet, the only way to do it is through regenerative agriculture. www.betterancestors.org
Whether it's climate change, microfibres in the ocean, or loss of biodiversity, the impacts of human activity are also being seen in Antarctica. Scientists, researchers and organisations like Greenpeace are monitoring these changes in an effort to create a baseline but, as University of Exeter marine scientist Kirsten Thompson says: "It's time we put conservation first. Seems obvious to me." www.betterancestors.org
Robin Curtis of Health Based Building and John Dronfield of Forever Beech believe it is possible to harvest from a forest and build homes that are not only genuinely sustainable but are beautiful, healthy spaces in which to live. www.betterancestors.org
Plants have been used continuously as medicines for 60,000 years and 80% of the world’s population uses plants for health care and natural remedies. Dr Sandra Clair, the founder of Dunedin-based company Artemis, is keeping the knowledge, skills and experience of traditional plant-based medicines alive and believes they are as relevant for health care as they have ever been. betterancestors.org
Adrienne and Robert Scott of Reclaimed Timber Traders (RTT) in Palmerston North lead a team pioneering a sustainable business model that not only repurposes our precious timber resource but also provides employment opportunities and a sense of purpose for those who are disadvantaged or struggle to find a role in the system.
The plants and animals that are native to Aotearoa have evolved away from large landmasses, which means we have some of the highest numbers of endemic species on earth. Unfortunately, the sometimes accidental and sometimes deliberate introduction of tens of thousands of exotic plants and animals has pushed many of our unique species to the edge of extinction. With the widespread destruction of ecosystems, the ecological requirements for endemic species often no longer exist, but by nurturing and propagating at-risk species and making nursery plants available to restoration projects, Jeff McCauley is helping to turn things around at the Native Plants Nursery in Piha. www.betterancestors.org
New Zealand is at a tipping point. The cumulative adverse impacts of our land use and the impact of synthetic fertilisers and industrial agriculture are harming our freshwater ecology, driving species to the brink of extinction and impacting human health. But we have the capacity to change and now is the time. If we can respect our unique natural world; if we can change the way we farm, reduce the number of animals and our dependence upon synthetic inputs; and if we can reclothe the land with appropriate plants and stop sedimentation, we will give the natural world the opportunity to heal. www.betterancestors.org
By re-purposing second-hand fabrics, using eco-printing and dyeing techniques Seonaid Burnie reveals art from within nature.
Christchurch entrepreneur Brianne West is taking on one of the world's most wasteful industries with her world-class, zero-waste cosmetics brand, Ethique. The company's first solid shampoo bar was made in 2012 and it provided an alternative solution to minimise the 80 billion plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles thrown out globally every year. Since then, she has continued on her mission to be the world's most sustainable cosmetics company. As she says, business created many of our environmental problems, and business can help fix them. www.betterancestors.org
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