Boris is back, with a movie to follow

Hey lovely bug people

here I am again, with that pesky movie finally done I hope I’ll have some time to tell you about all the fabulous bugs out and about here, summer has arrived and while it may not last the critters are out in force!

In the meantime here’s a sneak preview of some of the wonderfulness to be found in my film. It’s a very rough assembly made for my stepdads birthday (He’s kind of into spiders). Hope you like it!

For more information on the rest of the film, and how to get tickets to the premiere go here.

Grasshoppers

In keeping with my regards to changing the environment for human benefits, and the great connection between life and water, I’m hopping the ditch back to consider the proposed greening of the Mackenzie country in New Zealand’s South Island where more water isn’t always a good thing.

The Mackenzie basin is landscape of mostly native grasslands, creating golden panoramas edged in snowy mountains that make it one of the selling points in our ‘clean green’ tourist image. 

Burkes pass, leaving the Mackenzie country.

 

And, aside from the economic benefits, it is also home to many unique plants and animals. Close to my heart are the Orthopterans that inhabit this wild and inhospitable landscape.

Hemideina maori - tree weta known for surviving freezing, Mackenzie country,photo by Mollivan Jon

Much of this land is government owned and leased, mostly to ‘sheep and beef farmers’ where grazing of the mostly native grasses is standard. But there are current proposals to sell the land to leaseholders allowing the lucrative but environmentally devastating conversion to dairy farming.

Forest and bird are running a campaign to petition the government and keep this land in public hands – preventing the ‘greening’ of the Mackenzie basin. For more information, and ways to help, see here:

http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/campaigns/keep-the-mackenzie-country-brown

And if you’re interested in New Zealand’s water issues check out my classmates blog : http://julietlarkin.wordpress.com/