By 2050 Almost every seabird on the planet will be suffering because of it, Earth's most precious and incredible life support system is choking right now because of it and yet massive corporations continue to dump the equivalent of a truckload of it into our Ocean every minute! I deeply care about the protection of our Marine Life and preservation of our planets most important life support system The devastating impact of discarded plastic packaging has now reached every corner of the world's oceans. The tide of plastic bottles and bags continues to roll in yet the shores it has to wash up on are fast depleting and sea creatures like turtles and seabirds are been forced to ingest this senseless waste. It makes sense to demand that those corporations responsible invest in sustainable packaging solutions. If we don't do our best to give our planets health the protection it deserves...who will ?

With China rejecting our plastic recycling and limited facilities to deal with the problem in NZ, there is far more waste being created than can be dealt with. Many of us have seen the news stories of plastic piling up in collection facilities - with nowhere to go - and floating in our oceans and waterways. Our beaches, streams and walkways are being trashed and there is an urgent need to reduce single-use plastics which are a huge contributor to this problem. Most milk available to consumers comes in single-use plastic bottles and switching to glass for such a staple product would significantly reduce our volumes of plastic waste. Fonterra states that they stand for "Sustainability is core to how we operate across our business. From delivering the most nutritious dairy products, connecting meaningfully with communities, caring for the environment not only for now but also the future." Truly living up to this statement means caring about how your products are manufactured and where they end up. Continuing to put milk in plastic bottles when there is nowhere for them to go is unsustainable and irresponsible for a market leader. For the health of our environment it's time to get rid of the plastic and return to a cleaner and greener New Zealand.

Waikato Regional Council has failed to use its power under the Resource Management Act and has allowed Matamata Metal Supplies to operate un-consented for the past 5 years and in a manner not consistent with modern standards over decades. As tangata whenua and kaitiaki of the area our role is to protect and preserve the essence of our awa, maunga, waahi tapu and whenua. When the essence of these taonga are compromised this impacts the spiritual and cultural well-being of our people. Our stories, traditions and identity stem from the relationship we have with the land and are at risk of being lost forever. It is important to close down the Matamata Metal Supplies Quarry Operation and restore the quarry area. People should care because Matamata Metal Supplies Operation of the quarry has been below the modern standard of environmental practice and water protection and is one of many operating in the areas. As people who live in the environmental shadow of the quarry operations we are the first and worst affected and the environmental impact of the quarry effects water quality stretching to the Firth of Thames. Let’s Give a Voice for our sacred mountain and river and start enforcing stricter regulations and controls to protect the Waikato.

Many kiwi are being caught in possum leg-hold traps. At the moment anyone can walk into a shop and buy possum leg-hold traps. These traps should be set 70cm off the ground because we have many flightless and ground dwelling birds in Aotearoa, however because anyone can so easily buy them without even knowing the rules or recommendations, many people set them on the ground and catch kiwi. Many of these kiwi end up suffering massive trauma to the leg, and have to be killed. These traps are often found set on the ground in forests and along the sides of tracks and roads, but there is no easy way to find out who owns them. Recently someone we know stopped on the side of the road and there was a big female kiwi in a leg hold trap that was set on the ground. The owner of the traps was never found. Last year over 20 traps were found in a kiwi sanctuary set on the ground. Some still had dead possums in them. If all traps were branded with a number and registered to the trapper this illegal activity would stop.

NZQA distributes thousands of exams each year and each is wrapped in plastic. This plastic is biodegradable according to NZQA, however research shows that biodegradable plastic can not break down without UV rays and high temperatures. Most, if not all, of this plastic will end up buried in landfill, killing our sea life or marring our parks. We should be teaching the younger generation the importance of sustainability and being conscious of the environment, and when their education provider does not adhere to these values, it does not bode well for the future of this planet. Sign this petition to show your support of the environment and to urge NZQA to switch to recyclable paper envelopes or reusable zip lock bags. Together we can make a change!

Sundarban is the world’s largest mangrove forest and a UNESCO world’s heritage site.The construction of this coal power plant will definitely have a devastating and irreversible impact on the Sundarbans, its ecology and biodiversity.This project violates the environmental impact assessment guidelines for coal-based thermal power plants. Large amounts of fly ash, coal dust and sulphur, and other toxic chemicals are released throughout the life of the project.

This new road will damage the "physically, spiritually and socially significant" Mimitangiatua River and Mangapēpeke Stream of Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama and Poutama. It will destroy 44.4 hectares of indigenous forest and wetlands that are home to dozens of threatened native species such as the North Island Brown Kiwi, Archey's frog, Long-tail Bats, Fernbirds, North Island Robins, Giant Kōkopu and Shining Cuckoo. This proposal is opposed by the Department of Conservation, Forest & Bird and landowners who are being forced from their homes. Some iwi are yet to be fully consulted and other iwi are still deciding, being so far unsatisfied with mitigation offers. Mangapēpeke means 'frog stream' and frogs are a well known environmental health indicator species. No amount of proposed tree planting and pest control can mitigate the damage actual forest removal and pest introduction this road will cause. The 'bypass' should not go ahead. It makes no sense to destroy ancient forest communities just so cars and trucks can get from A to B a few minutes quicker. The touted safety improvements do not stack up when well-known fog and black ice in the proposed area is taken into account. Nor when increased speeds will also increase accident rates. The age of large truck transportation is coming to an end as fossil fuels become ethically unaffordable. So let's be practical, do we really need a brand new $200million road? It is time to move on from fossil road projects and create a vibrant, sustainable Taranaki economy. An upgrade of the existing road makes far more sense.

Auckland Council is proposing to destroy all of the Pines together with “up to 70%” of the regenerating native bush using industrial-scale clear felling. Council plans to replant a native forest that will take 30-50 years to establish, providing it is properly maintained. Council plans to run an 8m-wide track into the under-storey, flattening a natural knoll in the process, to bring in heavy equipment to clear fell. Council plans include three skid sites up to 40m wide for dragging logs. The three skid sites alone will totally destroy any vegetation and soil structure. This site will become at very high risk of erosion and instability. The historic Western Springs Monterey Pine Forest, planted in 1923, is the only urban forest of its size in central Auckland, containing some of the tallest trees in Auckland. The under-storey is a 90+ year old regenerating native forest. It provides habitat for native and exotic birds (including Morepork, swallows, tui, fantail and heron), insects (including huhu) and other fauna. This forest offers one of the very few Auckland habitats suitable for the long-tailed bat, a threatened nationally vulnerable species. Historically this forest was recognised as an area of special ecological significance and is currently a Significant Ecological Area (SEA). No ecological studies have yet been done by Auckland Council in relation to this plan. This site will become at very high risk of erosion and instability. Auckland Council, which lacks skills to manage this forest safely, have been damaging its integrity for years with inappropriate felling and topping. Council have also failed to re-plant, despite promises to residents. The pines predisposed to failure can be surgically removed, by skilled arborists, with minimal damage to the native under-storey. Council appears to have failed to consider many issues and risks in their planning - most especially the key issue of lack of maintenance. The new native plantings will require even more maintenance than now. Local residents have never been consulted on this proposal. They are really worried about the potential risks to their concrete houses and the possible consequences of this project destabilising the hillside. Residents are still waiting for Council and Waitemata Local Board to provide the detail of the plans. Council and the Board are not being open and transparent nor will they provide copies of all the expert reports, including safety plans and geotechnical information, being relied on to support their decision. Residents want Council to enter immediately into a partnership with local residents on the management and preservation of this historic forest SEA. Residents will set up a volunteer guardianship group to work with Council to maintain the safety of this forest and to help develop and maintain the Forest for the benefit of future generations. The Resource Consent allowing destruction of the forest and the naturally regenerating native bush MUST NOT be granted. Your signature will help persuade Council and the Board to do the right thing. Please Volunteer: westernspringsvolunteers@gmail.com

Heartbreaking how immigration New Zealand's recently discovered profiling system seeks to tear apart a family in mourning. It is simply an unjust and unfair system that predicts possiblity of threat. I have appealed on behalf of this family on multiple occasions but responses seem to indicate that this family's plight is falling on deaf ears. Hon. Minister, the deportees in question, Tawaketini and Josese Gaunavou have appealed on humanitarian grounds, but unfortunately the bureaucracy of the system refuses to understand their circumstances or even review their case. The brothers are expected to leave New Zealand and their widowed mother and younger siblings and return to Fiji, a place that no longer holds anything for them. All we seek is that this case be reconsidered, that the deportation liability be overturned because I don't believe New Zealand can be so heartless and unrelenting in their approach to humanity and the plight of those we bring into New Zealand. This family has had to liquidate all their assets back in Fiji to be able to give their children a hope for a future here in New Zealand and in the last 8 years have spent over $114,000 in education for their children and immigration cost and now that New Zealand has their hard earned savings, the system is dispensing of them like used rags. Please consider this mother's plea.....her children have never broken the law, have had great positive influence on the youth in their community but that doesn't seem to phase anyone in ministry. Again, please allow this mother to keep her family together and her sons the ability to make a future for themselves.

We're sick of seeing the state of our rivers getting worse. Dairy intensification is continuing in Southland. Wetlands are still being destroyed. More cows are being piled onto our Southland Plains. More cows mean more sick rivers. The central Southland plains are geologically similar to the Canterbury plains - porous glacial outwash gravel. Like Canterbury, it is the wrong place for intensive industrial dairying. Like Canterbury, Too Many Cows are destroying our rivers and threatening our aquifers. We want our rivers to be swimmable but also liveable for the creatures that depend on them for life, such as trout, galaxids, bullies, mudfish and tuna eels, as well as the mayflies, beetles and others. In 2012 Environment Southland said they would work to improve the state of our rivers. They expected a 10% improvement by 2020. Since then, the quality of Southland rivers has continued to deteriorate. We need a stop to more cows - a sinking lid policy on intensification and support for farmers to transition away from intensified dairying to lower impact regenerative farming. We demand Environment Southland to pay more than lip service to cleaning up our rivers: • Stronger regulations with enforceable prosecutions. No more stock in our rivers and streams. • No more draining of wetlands. • No new dairy conversions or intensification of current farms - we need an enforceable sinking lid policy. Cow numbers need to go down, not up. • Intensive winter grazing must be phased out (this is where the worst nitrogen leaching and sediment runoff occurs). Replace with fewer cattle numbers and wintering barns. • Active support for transition away from intensive to regenerative farming If you care about the health of our rivers and the quality of our water, SaveOurWater- Otago/Southland asks you to please sign this petition. (you can also find us on facebook) Today we visited Environment Southland and showed them firsthand whats lurking on our riverbeds https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/102454510/poo-protest-at-environment-southland http://www.channel39.co.nz/news/frustrations-dumped-environment-southlands-door Listen to this podcast with Jenny Campbell on Radio Southland to hear why http://www.accessradio.org/Player.aspx?eid=fb84139b-e3e9-488d-8945-f29a96069ee4

For the sake of wildlife, our climate, our oceans and creeks, we urgently need to phase out plastic shopping bags now.The Council is consulting on the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan. But the scope of the plan does not include a phase out of plastic shopping bags. Sign here to tell Council this is an top priority. In 2015 the Local Government Conference called on central Government to introduce a levy and phase out single use plastic bags. In 2017 Auckland mayor Phil Goff signed an open letter calling on the government to do the same, or enable Councils to charge their own levy. Currently Councils are unable to apply a levy to plastic bags. However, they can do many things, such as work in communities and with retailers to educate and support the phase out. It's time Council instructed staff to act on this urgently. 17,000 tonnes of soft plastics were sne tto landfill in 2016. Considering the light weight of plastic bags this is a huge number. Time to ban the bag.

Straw Free Waiheke is committed to make Waiheke plastic straw free. We're already halfway there with 36 venues pledging to ditch plastic straws. But we need your help, and your voice, to achieve the dream of ridding our island paradise of plastic straws? Over 500,000 straws are being produced every day globally. Unfortunately, a vast majority of these straws end up in our streets and seas. In a year, it has been estimated that at least 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles are harmed when they entangle themselves in or ingest plastic pollution littered in our oceans.