Red Earth: Shane Jones

Wednesday, 04 November 2009 21:24 |

A Thursday night saw the first meeting of the Port Hills environmental branch Red Earth. We had an enthusiastic turn out of mixed ages, backgrounds and work environments. It was so refreshing to see so many people keen to get involved in a group that is actually able to help shape our future environment.

The Red Earth Branch was very lucky to have as our first guest speaker the Hon. Shane Jones who provided a thought provoking discussion on the types of environmental challenges facing New Zealand now and into the future.

Red Earth’s vision is to become a place where everyday people of the community can come together to discuss environmental issues of importance to us, and use these ideas to formulate what will hopefully become future Labour Party Policy.

It became quite apparent after much discussion that the primary focus for Red Earth should be water, and not just the obvious water distribution and pollution that faces Canterbury but also the very real possibility of privatization of water under the National/ACT government.

For Red Earth to become a strong policy making player we need a strong membership base that can become a sounding board of ideas, discussion and even debate. Are you interested in the environment? Do you care about water in Canterbury? Do you know of other issues that need addressing in the Canterbury region, both rural and urban?

If so come along and join Red Earth, voice your views, listen to those of others, get involved in policy making, listen to what will hopefully be regular guest speakers, and most importantly make a difference.

After all, as one of our members said: "It’s not just our future we are talking about here; it’s that of future generations to come also. A lot of questions will be raised and it's how our communities answer them that will determine our future and the future of generations to come."

So come on and get involved, send Martin Ward an email to find out more, or join Grassroots Labour to find out when the next meeting will be held.

Red Earth First Meeting

Thursday night (29^th October) saw the first meeting of the Port Hills environmental branch Red Earth. We had an enthusiastic turn out of mixed ages, backgrounds and work environments. It was so refreshing to see so many people keen to get involved in a group that is actually able to help shape our future environment. The Red Earth Branch was very lucky to have as our first guest speaker the Hon. Shane Jones who provided a thought provoking discussion on the types of environmental challenges facing New Zealand now and into the future.

Red Earth’s vision is to become a place where everyday people of the community can come together to discuss environmental issues of importance to us, and use these ideas to formulate what will hopefully become future Labour Party Policy. It became quite apparent after much discussion that the primary focus for Red Earth should be water, and not just the obvious water distribution and pollution that faces Canterbury but also the very real possibility of privatization of water under the National/ACT government.

For Red Earth to become a strong policy making player we need a strong membership base that can become a sounding board of ideas, discussion and even debate. Are you interested in the environment? Do you care about water in Canterbury? Do you know of other issues that need addressing in the Canterbury region, both rural and urban? If so come along and join Red Earth, voice your views, listen to those of others, get involved in policy making, listen to what will hopefully be regular guest speakers, and most importantly make a difference.

After all, as one of our members said: It’s not just our future we are talking about here; it’s that of future generations to come also. A lot of questions will be raised and its how our communities answer them that will determine our future and the future of generations to come. So come on and get involved, send Martin Ward and email to find out more or join Grassroots Labour to find out when the next meeting will be held.