ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES

Name: ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES
Start: 2024-10-27T15:30:00+12:00
End: 2024-10-27T16:30:00+12:00
Location: SUTER THEATRE

Mike Joy + Dave Hansford

Writers + Kōrero

Conservation advocates Mike Joy and Dave Hansford both know what it’s like to raise their voices, especially when others disregard, or don’t agree, with scientific evidence. They discuss the role storytelling must play in triumphing over commercial and political agendas. Chaired by Debs Martin.

Mike Joy’s memoir, The Fight for Fresh Water, provides a rare first-hand look at the pressures and challenges faced by those who advocate for the environment, especially when debating issues as crucial as the health and future of waterways in Aotearoa. At a perilous time for our universities, it is also an inspirational account of staying true to academia’s function as ‘critic and conscience’ for our society.

In Kahurangi, Dave Hansford documents one of the most significant natural regions in Aotearoa: Kahurangi National Park, along with the adjoining areas of Whanganui Inlet, Wharariki and Onetahua/Farewell Spit. Together, they are home to the greatest variety of plants and animals in the country, with many not found elsewhere on the planet. Hansford, one of our country’s foremost science and natural history writers, is eloquent and uncompromising in his arguments for why and how we must urgently rescue these precious wild lands. Kahurangi is nature writing at its absolute finest.

Dr Mike Joy (he/him)

Dr Mike Joy is the Morgan Foundation Senior Research Fellow in Freshwater Ecology at the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Te Herenga Waka/Victoria University of Wellington. He has received several prestigious awards, including the Ecology in Action award, the Old Blue award, the Charles Fleming Award for Environmental Achievement, the inaugural Morgan Foundation River Voice Award, the inaugural New Zealand Universities Critic and Conscience award and the Callaghan Medal for his research and public communication on freshwater ecosystems.

Dave Hansford (he/him)

Dave Hansford has written about science and the environment for more than 15 years. He has covered 1080 stories for a range of media, and researched case studies for both the Department of Conservation and OSPRI. His work appears regularly in New Zealand Geographic, and he has reported for National Geographic News, The Listener, North & South, Good, Wilderness, Forest & Bird and many other magazines and newspapers, and fronted a regular environment slot on TVNZ’s Good Morning show.

Debs Martin (she/her)

Debs Martin has dedicated the past two decades to conservation efforts in Te Tauihu, at the top of the South Island. Formerly the Regional Manager for Forest & Bird, she now works for The Nature Conservancy, serving as the Programme Manager for the Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance, a 3.4 million hectare ecological restoration initiative. In her free time, Debs actively volunteers with the Te Hoiere Bat Recovery Project and, together with her partner, tends to a QE2 covenant on their North Nelson property. She is a recipient of the Queen’s Service Medal for her contributions to conservation. On fine days, she enjoys paddling in a waka ama crew, with one eye out for dolphins; or exploring the hillsides for some of our more cryptic plants and wildlife.