Activists bring Mataura River poo to the Environment Southland

26 comments on “Activists bring Mataura River poo to the Environment Southland ”

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1. Robert Guyton 1

   22 March 2018 at 7:24 am

   That councillor…looks familiar somehow…
   • mickysavage 1.1

     22 March 2018 at 7:45 am

     Heh.
2. esoteric pineapples 2

   22 March 2018 at 8:26 am

   This is a good bit of advice from American progressive media personality Thom Hartmann who argues that the best way to get the public’s and media’s attention is through “political theatre”. He gives the example that to encourage tighter gun laws in California a group of black activists turned up in front of then governor Ronald Reagan legally armed with weapons. Reagan was so freaked out that he immediately changed the laws regarding gun control.
3. Sparky 3

   22 March 2018 at 9:17 am

   We have a beach house in Foxton. The river next to the playground where our daughter plays smells like rotten eggs and last time I looked had a dead eel in it. Looks like nitrate soup. I would not put a toe in there. This is what both Labour and the Nats have allowed to happen and still allow. Can’t imagine it will get any better after we are sold out via the (C)ow(P)oo-TPP…..

   On that basis is it possible that those reporting on this site take a harder line with both parties….neither has served this nation well since 1980’s.
4. cleangreen 4

   22 March 2018 at 9:56 am

   Farewell to our once clean green NZ.

   It was wonderful when it was there.
   • Robert Guyton 4.1

     22 March 2018 at 10:02 am

     When, cleangreen, do you reckon “it was there”?
     • Grafton Gully 4.1.1

       22 March 2018 at 7:43 pm

       The “This is New Zealand” film from 1970 powerfully affected me when I saw it at the time when NZ was “cleaner and greener” What bashed me was seeing a maori driving a bulldozer through the bush in Grafton Gully to prepare it for the motorway. The place I roamed as a boy in the 50s. I saw my world through new eyes after and the hatred and despair formed then still haunt me.

       https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/this-is-new-zealand-1970
       • Robert Guyton 4.1.1.1

         22 March 2018 at 8:29 pm

         “a maori”?
         A human. Same. But yes, it hurt(s).
         Hatred and despair are the first feelings to visit, but beyond that, there’s determination to repair, yes? I take all attacks as invigoration to act; are you busy countering the stupidity? Go Grafton, GO! 🙂
       • Carolyn_Nth 4.1.1.2

         22 March 2018 at 8:56 pm

         T’is a beautifully put together 3 screen panorama of NZ. But I didn’t see any bulldozer driving through Grafton Gully.

         Very 70s though. NZ unself-reflectively sells itself on Māori culture and a pristine environment.

         pure NZ…

         Flick on to 1981 and
         There is no depression in New Zee-eeland – no racism, no poverty, no pollution….

         Needs a new verse – “there is no pollution in New Zee-eeland.
         • solkta 4.1.1.2.1

           22 March 2018 at 9:02 pm

           Why is that not the national anthem already?
           • weka 4.1.1.2.1.1

             22 March 2018 at 9:06 pm

             Anthem for the John Key years.
     • cleangreen 4.1.2

       22 March 2018 at 8:11 pm

       Hi Robert,

       I recall when I was a lad of 15 the Tutaekuri river in Clive was swimmable and very clean then in 1958 when whitebait would swim with us then and fish at the rivermouth was abundant.

       NCC municipal water supply was clean and drinkable to.

       So then the overuse of our land begun and all the rage as we see it is now,

       Heavy stock trucks rubble by all the time here now spewing their cattle and sheep urine and shit waste from the stock they have carried from long distances is rife.

       NIWA in Auckland some time ago warned that road runoff was going to affect all our waterways, so now it has come and now has ruined our water quality in all our rivers here.
       Come to the Clive river now and see the HBRC sign warning not to swim there and this is just the beginning of our degradation that will make this once clean land just like any overpopulated land use region elsewhere sadly.

       Sometimes my heart weeps because we have let the future become not a god pace for our children as it was left for us.
       • Robert Guyton 4.1.2.1

         23 March 2018 at 11:34 am

         The degradation has been visible, cleangreen, that’s for sure – us older greenies all have sorry tales of rock-pools, rivers, estuaries etc that have deteriorated markedly since we were young; those who don’t weren’t watching, I reckon. The problem though, is in our heads, or rather, our culture. If we believed differently in regard those “bodies” – pools, springs, lakes etc, we’d not damage them as we have. Sadly, our culture remains the threat – imagine if we truly believed the earth was our mother, the rivers her veins!
     • Graeme 4.1.3

       22 March 2018 at 10:06 pm

       I used to fish and swim in the Upper Clutha, between Luggate and Cromwell in the mid 80’s. Water was as clear as, you could see 10m plus underwater. Now it’s got an amber tint, you can only see a couple of meters and there’s lots of fine speck (2-3mm) suspended in the water column, algae of something. I got out smartly.
       • weka 4.1.3.1

         22 March 2018 at 10:12 pm

         hmm, do you think that’s from the lake, or from the nearby dairy farms?
         • Graeme 4.1.3.1.1

           24 March 2018 at 8:16 pm

           I don’t really know there, but it also goes back quite a while, say 10 – 15 years. And I’ve only noticed it downstream of Hawea / Cardrona confluence. At first I put it down to Wanaka sewage, which wasn’t good for a while but that was fixed. Lake snow could be an explanation as could intensification, I just don’t go over there much now.
           • weka 4.1.3.1.1.1

             24 March 2018 at 9:46 pm

             Downstream of the smaller rivers might make sense, given low flows and increasing algae in many rivers now. Could be farmers doing earthworks too on the day/week you were there.
5. adam 5

   22 March 2018 at 10:04 am

   Direct action.

   dIRECT ActioN

   DIRECT ACTION!!

   Love it, well done to everyone involved.
   • weka 5.1

     22 March 2018 at 11:12 am

     I felt very heartened by this and who did it too.
   • Ad 5.2

     22 March 2018 at 11:56 am

     +100
6. Siobhan 6

   22 March 2018 at 11:17 am

   Excellent, unfortunately not a protest we can replicate here in the Hawkes Bay where our cows politely poop directly into the river……though one year we did extend an open invite, via street posters, to our pro dam councillors to come swim in the Tukituki to ‘celebrate’ our swimmable rivers, unfortunately they all appeared to be busy that day…
7. Kevin 7

   22 March 2018 at 12:01 pm

   This is enough to make me cry.

   I grew up in a town on the Mataura and when I lived in Southland up until the mid 80’s, it was renowned as the finest brown trout fishery in the world, not just New Zealand.

   Anglers came from all over the world to fish in Southland, but now?

   The farming community have a lot of questions to answer about their farming practices and really need to question why they are in farming in the first place.
   • tracey 7.1

     22 March 2018 at 12:12 pm

     If only English were still in politics. He woukd never let this happen. Oh wait…
   • weka 7.2

     22 March 2018 at 10:10 pm

     Do you know where they were filming Kevin? Coffey said the upper Mataura, but it’s not clear to me how far up.

     The regional council’s goal of 10% improvement in 10 years, or whatever it was, is pathetic.
     • Robert Guyton 7.2.1

       23 March 2018 at 11:29 am

       Near Athol, weka.
       • weka 7.2.1.1

         23 March 2018 at 1:41 pm

         cheers.

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