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In March, April and May of 2014, the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) held a number of public hearings throughout the North Island.  Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd. (TTR), an Australian mining company, plans to commence the largest seabed mining operation in the world off the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand.  The hearings are the last chance the public has to chare their concerns about the proposed project.  Sand on the west coast of the North Island is black and the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight is rich in iron ore.  Where TTR intends to mine, they will strip the top layer of the seabed and separate the iron ore from the sand.  TTR acknowledges that their operation will devastate the area of the seabed in which they will be mining.  Blue Whales, Southern Right Whales, Maui and Hector Dolphins all migrate and reproduce through this region.  Plume from the mining operation, the 24/7 sounds from the drilling machines and a number of other potential domino effects from this experimental operation may adversely impact these marine mammals and other types of marine life throughout the region.

In early April, I presented non-expert evidence to an EPA panel that will decide on whether TTR will be allowed to commence their mining operation.  The hearings where inspirational and many residents of Raglan, the small town where I live, showed up to submit their thoughts about the proposed operation.  Sometime in May of 2014, the TTR application will either be approved or rejected – the largest, most experimental seabed-mining endeavor ever to commence on this here globe.  Below is an excerpt of the evidence I presented that early April morning:

“In a recent article on ocean based mining in the March 28 edition of The Guardian Weekly, Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer and explorer-in-residence for National Geographic states, “It’s like a land grab.  It’s a handful of individuals who are giving away or letting disproportionate special interests have access to large parts of the planet that just happen to be under water.”  She continues, “What are we sacrificing by looking at the deep sea with dollar signs on the few tangible materials that we know are there?  We haven’t begun to truly explore the ocean before we have started aiming to exploit it.”  And in a March 2014 video report on BBC World News online, Nii A. Odunton, the Secretary General of the Kingston, Jamaica based United Nations governed International Seabed Authority stated in regards to seabed mining exploration, “Those interested and who can put together the resources, the finances and technology to go recover them (i.e. ocean based rare earths) will be able to get as much of it as they want.”  This statement, by an individual in power and given the authority of global oversight into the present and future of seabed mining and other forms of seabed extraction within international waters further reinforces one of my central fears about the core question of today’s hearing, “Should New Zealand, at this moment in time, allow seabed mining to occur off its West Coast?

How do we know what the negative impacts of seabed mining might be if we can’t see it or hear it or feel it or smell it or taste it or even begin to understand it?  Trans Tasman Resources has acknowledged that the immediate areas of the seafloor where sand extraction takes place will destroy that area of seabed.  Furthermore, they also concede that seabed mining has never taken place before on a scale they are requesting and never in a marine environment as we have off the west coast. They certainly don’t know what the future environmental impact of this mining will be.  Neither do we.  In fact, no one really does.  Perhaps most disconcerting in my mind and most probably for the marine life that lives and migrates through these underwater regions will be the constant plume that is bound to have multiple effects on the amount of oxygen in the water, as well as affects on the multi-layered food pyramid of that area of the Tasman Sea. 

Mining and the extraction of precious metals, oils, rocks, minerals and rare earths have overwhelmingly had negative effects on the environment.  The environmental damage has been astronomical throughout the globe.  The Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada have been shown to have future detrimental impacts on global warming.  The Marcellus Shale in eastern North America, where a boom in fracking, a natural gas extraction method, has impacted natural water supplies across the state of Pennsylvania has also brought profound negative impacts that were never predicted.  If one uses Google Earth to see the scars of these industrial methods of oil and gas extraction, it’s very evident, very clear, their impact on the surrounding natural environment.  What is scary about seabed mining is on that very minimal level, a quick Internet search with our naked eye, a bird’s eye view, we won’t be able to see nor critique the impact of seabed mining.  If one goes onto the New Zealand registered Internet homepage of Trans Tasman Resources, the tab one must click for further information on their proposed Seabed Mining is titled, “Iron Sands.”  This is disturbing and can only make me think of the devastation wrought by the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada.  Tar Sands. Iron Sands. There seems to be a parallel.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines an experiment as “a scientific test in which you perform a series of actions and carefully observe their effects in order to learn about something; or, something that is done as a test; or, something you do to see how well or how badly it works.”  What sort of experiment might this Pandora’s Box open up off our coasts?  José Marîa Figueres, former president of Costa Rica and co-chair of the Global Ocean Commission once suggested that the high seas be a no-go area for commercial exploitation (apart from shipping).  Figueres was recently quoted in The Guardian Weekly of March 28, 

Do we know enough about the seabed to go ahead and mine it?  Do we understand enough about the interconnection between the seabed, the column of water, the 50% of the oxygen that the ocean produces for the world, the 25% of the carbon that it fixes in order to go in and disrupt the seabed in ways that we would if we went in and started mining?  I don’t think so, not until we have scientific backing to determine whether this is something good or bad for the planet.

Why take advantage of an area of the world that is so critical to our well-being only for private profits?  The economic gains are still unclear and if anything, what the New Zealand government will receive will be petty in comparison to the returns that Trans Tasman Resources will be reaping.  As a student in this country, I say let us re-think this “deal” more clearly and methodically. 

I stand here unwilling to put my support behind an extraction technique that undoubtedly has the potential for numerous and long lasting negative impacts on our environment and future generations of New Zealanders and the 195 or so other countries on this planet that we call our neighbors.  An April 17, 2013 TV 3 report on seabed mining titled, Stripping the seabed: Bonanza or disaster? made clear that much of this iron ore will make its way to China and specified that this ore, New Zealand’s ore, it’s earth, will likely be used in China’s defense industries.  I ask you, do we want iron ore off the coasts of New Zealand to be contributing towards the further militarization of this planet?  Because should we agree to allow seabed mining take place in New Zealand, these global inter-connections will be difficult to refute. 

We as global citizens are at a crossroads.  Do we as a society give the green light for companies to pursue the extraction of rare earths at environmental costs to the planet that we have yet to ascertain?  Do we, one day as grandparents, want to tell our grandchildren that we supported seabed mining or that we decided to take the high road, the moral and ethical path forward and that we decided to take a stand in 2014, that in fact our seabed is not for sale, that money and industry and economics is not what our pivotal values are centered around.”

For more information on the issues surrounding seabed mining off the west coast of New Zealand, check out the homepage of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) 

For further information on the EPA hearings 

More Resources:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/02/underwater-gold-rush-marine-mining-fears-ocean-threat

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26611073

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/02/underwater-gold-rush-marine-mining-fears-ocean-threat

In May 2014, in celebration of the “Animal Issue”, Red Flag Magazine hosted a dinner party where each guest was required to arrive dressed as a creature of their choice. 50 guests in total sat at one long dinner table where they were invited to embody and represent that creature for the evening.  A five course vegan dinner was served as each guest stayed in character to shed light on their creature’s special traits and on what each species needs to thrive in a world that is losing a piece of its natural habitat to human intervention every second.

A woman dressed as a snow leopard spoke her turn: ” I am a solitary creature. I live in high elevations, in cold craggy mountains. I am crepuscular, which means I am most active at dawn and dusk. I cannot roar. Instead, I hiss, and growl. When the wind blows hard I use my long fluffy tail as a blanket to shield my face. I am endangered and you will likely never see me in the wild even if you seek me out your entire lives.” The shark sitting next to her nods, he has his own burdens to bear. He may not be endangered, but not many seek him out. After media coverage the likes of “Jaws” and “Shark Week” most people are happy to never see a shark in their lifetime. For this reason people are also slower to stand up for their rights, and shark fining trade continues to decimate millions of sharks in our waters every year. Meanwhile, on average, only one human is killed from a shark attack off American shores every two years.

Many species are endangered and some of the dinner guests represented those who have already passed into extinction. Animals in their wild native habitat are becoming rarer and rarer, and it was clear from the joy on the faces of all the hooved, clawed, winged, and furry guests that it’s also becoming rare for humans to be the wild creatures that we are. “Wild” is more a concept than it is a real flesh and blood thing in the world. We have sectioned off patches of land and designated them as “wilderness”, but then we build roads, parks grounds, surveillance, dams and drills within those lines. The wild places are nearly gone and all the wild things must conform to the ways of the altered world we’ve created.

One guest, a very wise owl, addressed the table: “I believe those humans have many habits and what they call “rituals”. For example, sometimes before they eat they light candles and say blessings. I don’t know what that means, but I was hoping we could try it.” And so, in the soft candle light 50 creatures held hands and shared the ritual of a blessing.

Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula attracts tourists each year mainly to visit endless stretch miles of coastal beaches and their ancient Mayan temples and ruins. Once you arrive the and their unique cave system, or cenotes, formed by natural sinkholes occurring within the layer of limestone that separates the land from the aquifer. It is said that the Mayans believed the cenotes were entrances to the underworld.

On September 19, 2013,  30 men and women aboard Green Peace’s ship Arctic Sunrise were seized by Russian Federal Security Service agents for attempting to climb onto a Gazpam owned oil rig. Arctic Sunrises’ mission was to peacefully protesting against drilling in the arctic sea. The Arctic Sunrise had arrived a day prior to the site of Prirazlomnaya, the first oil rig to start oil production in the Arctic. On September 18, 2013 members of the Arctic Sunrise team boarded inflatables and attempted to climb onto the rig to make their presence known. A nearby Russian Coast Guard vessel and security on board the rig launched an immediate attack, including several gun shots and the release of water cannons to abate the intrusion. Two of the Green Peace activists were seized by the Coast Guard without communication or explanation. The following day the Coast Guard returned blank and blank  once a helicopter team sent by the Russian Federation Security Service (FSB) was in place to board and seize the entire vessel.

A statement from Green Peace rep Kumi blank, “Our ship was arrested during an entirely peaceful protest against Arctic drilling in international waters. There was absolutely no justification either for boarding the ship or keeping her for eight months.This whole affair was a brazen attempt to intimidate those who believe that drilling for oil in the melting Arctic is reckless and unsafe.”

Off the coast of Washington, the Olympic Peninsula diverges from the mainland and slips into the Pacific Ocean – surrounding itself on three sides by the cold northern waters. On the western edge, shielded by the Olympic Mountains is a strip of temperate rain forest, the only of its kind in the continental U.S. As you wander through these woods you will meet Maple trees, Alders, Spruce and Cottonwood covered in blankets of moss and fern. Their shapes resemble tree gnomes and hobbits – the type of lure we only know through fairytales. There was a time when much of the land was covered in these forests and human life was established on its fringes. The medicines, food, resources, and refuge these forests offered was taken in small amounts and only as needed.

Today almost all of original forests in the U.S. have been logged or otherwise disturbed. Less than 1% are left in the east and 5% in the west. The majority of Americans will never get to see an old-growth forest. There is no national organization or government agency working to protect the remaining ancient forests nor to preserve recovering forests.

The forests on the Olympic Peninsula are protected as part of the Olympic National Park, but both nationally and globally, old growth forests and forest ecosystems are under threat. Through awareness campaigns the public has become somewhat familiar with the importance of standing up against deforestation, especially the global campaign to protect the world’s tropical rain forests.

The important piece for us to understand is that an old growth forest is very valuable. In fact, it’s irreplaceable. Like an elder, it carries knowledge from earlier eras. It has learned from years of life on this planet how to live on this planet. Imagine the internet 10 years ago. Now imagine it in 100 years. What the internet will be able to provide to humans in 100 years is unfathomable. It will likely reflect back to us billions of our expressions, desires, communications – our dreams, our stories, our facts and information plus a multitude of resources we can’t even imagine at this time. This is what an old growth forest holds beneath its shaded canopy. There is complex knowledge held by the vast network of mycelium under the soil that has been developing for centuries as each leaf, branch, bark and forest creature has made its way to the forest floor and returned to the soil – to the humus from which it came. The trees, shrubs, ferns, flowers, mushrooms, insects, mammals and other creatures have evolved together to a state of perfect balance after years of practice.

There is so much to be learned from old growth ecosystems. The conservation of these forests needs a collective voice and in time that voice needs to get louder.

A place to add your voice is among those who are part of The Old-Growth Forest Network, an organization created in 2007 by Joan Maloof, Professor Emeritus at Salisbury University in Maryland. The organization’s mission is to identify and help protect one forest in each county of the U.S. where forests could grow (approximately 2,370 counties out of 3,140) and let people know where they were located. “In this way, I believe, we could help stop the destruction of what old-growth remained, help some forests recover, and enable more Americans to experience an old forest.

The Joshua Tree is a high desert plant, that dates back over two million years ago. Mormons gave the Joshua Tree its name in the early 19th century –  because it reminded them of the biblical prophet Joshua with his arms upraised in prayer. They saw this plant as a spiritual sign of welcome into the Promised Land and used it as a guide to find their way from California to Utah.

The tree is believed to be a relic of a time that was more moist, but today has adapted to the arid desert climate. As part of its adaptation the Joshua Tree has a special relationship with the night. The leaves actually remain dormant during the day, and save their respiration cycle  for the night-time hours when the air is cooler, and moisture can be conserved. It is also at night when the Pronuba moth pollinates the flowers. A number of observers have noted that the Joshua Tree flowers, which never appear fully open, reveal themselves more to the night, as well as releasing their fragrance into the night air. Joshua Tree is in its full glory in a moonlit desert night, as its white flowers glow in the eerie luminescence of reflected light.

In recent years, with the onset of more frequent and longer lasting droughts the tree has almost halted it’s reproduction cycle. At a study site in Wickenberg, Arizona, there have been no new Joshua Trees in over 30 years. Yet, each year in the spring they still produce their fragrant blooms. This past spring the Joshua Tree flowering was considered by locals and park keepers at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California to be the showiest in recent memory. Scientists hypothesize that the severe drought suffered by California and other states in the western United States triggered the trees to produce more flowers and in effect more seeds as a desperate attempt to survive as a species.

This is just one story of one unique species of life on earth trying to survive the changes happening on our planet, be it climate change, habitat loss, scarcity of vital resources or facing competition instead of cooperation between humans and their own kind.

Nearly 73% of children in Miami-Dade County live at or below the poverty line, with over 3,300 of those and their families currently homeless. Didn’t someone once say that you must be the change you wish to see in the world?

While on my honeymoon to Southeast Asia, my husband and I traveled to places like Chiang Rai, Thailand and Siem Reap, Cambodia, where I was exposed to a level of poverty that represented a world previously unknown to me. I knew that extreme destitution existed in the world, but coming face-to-face with the sad truth that most of the children I met would never know a different reality, seemed cruel. This firsthand understanding sparked an overwhelming eagerness in me to play an active role in the future of children without the opportunities of those who are more fortunate –And I didn’t have to look very far.

Upon returning to Miami, my hometown, I connected with Rachael Russell, a FORD fashion stylist and the Founder of Style Saves. At age 23, Russell started the organization after going back-to-school shopping with her younger siblings. It occurred to her that not every child is afforded the opportunity to begin the school year with stylish new clothes, and that just didn’t sit well with her. Soon after, Style Saves was born.

During our initial meeting, I knew that Rachael was someone I wanted to spend time with—she was equal parts driven, ambitious and knowledgeable about the non-profit world, and I wanted to learn everything she knew. Since then, and together with a well-rounded Board of Directors, we were successful at dressing over 700 students with brand-new, back-to-school outfits and uniforms.

The fourth annual Style Saves Back-to-School in Style initiative took place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts on August 16 and 17, and welcomed families from local organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Lotus House, Mentor Network, Irie Foundation and The Guatemalan-Maya Center. Aside from shopping, the day included interactive activities like eye exams by Visionworks, manicures, pedicures, haircuts and yoga lessons for kids.

Style Saves has doubled its reach with each installment; a challenging feat accomplished through generous in-kind donations, fundraising efforts and the selfless dedication of each unpaid volunteer. In the spirit of the aforementioned words declared by Gandhi, the presence of change first comes from within.

For our first installment of Coats for Kids, we partnered with IMG and William Morris Endeavor to outfit over 250 students from Brooklyn’s The Fresh Creek School with brand-new outerwear and winter coats. Taking place on Martin Luther King Day, Style Saves provided a fun-filled, fashion-focused event that promoted health, fitness and the spirit of giving back.

Youth Advocate and pro-athlete Tanyka Renee of Dunk360 co-hosted the interactive day and entertained students with squat races and freeze dance competitions, providing a fun spin on fitness. And when they weren’t working out, students were encouraged to tap into their inner creative genius and engage in arts and crafts projects. Perry Ellis and Nautica sponsored some of the winter gear and accessories provided to students, while industry pro and Style Saves President Rachael Russell gave individualized styling advice to each child. Together with the support of several members of the Style Saves family, each lucky attendee walked away with new duds to brave the coldest months of the season, a full belly courtesy of Nuchas empanadas and memories they’ll never forget.

Coats For Kids marks Style Saves’ first event in New York City made possible by the overwhelming support and fundraising efforts of our patrons. Recent events and activations including a luncheon hosted by Larsa Pippen at Fendi Chateau Residences in Miami Beach, an online auction on Charitybuzz.com and a in-store shopping experience at Vince in Bal Harbour Shops all contributed to the wildly successful outcome of this inaugural New York-based event.

Style Saves, now in its 4th year, is lead by FORD fashion stylist Rachael Russell and a team of fashionable philanthropists, in conjunction with The Miami Foundation. The organization raises funds through fashion and health events and is most recognized for its annual Style Saves Swim Fashion Show during Miami Swim Week. This year, the fashion show raised over $150,000, allowing Style Saves to host over 800 local students at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County for its fourth annual back-to-school event. Students were gifted with brand new back-to-school uniforms, outfits and accessories. In three years Style Saves has styled and dressed over 5,000 students and now operates in Florida, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York.

To learn more or get involved with Style Saves please visit www.stylesaves.org.