The GreenplanetFM Podcast with Tim Lynch

New Zealand’s Maui dolphin as an iconic species is hovering on the edge of extinction. Maui’s used to be found all around NZ’s North Island (Te Ika o Maui - The Fish of Maui). Maui’s and Hectors (Papakanua) dolphins (they are sub species of the same group) were the most common dolphin along our coasts prior to the coming of the European. The area of concern today is from North of Wanganui in the South up to around Maunganui Bluff in North Auckland. However, their numbers have been falling dramatically, that back in the 1970’s there were 2000 in number and now we are down to around just 55. From 30,000 Hector’s in the 1970s, to 7,000 today, we can see where these species losses are trending. Three Maui’s dolphins a year are killed in trawl/set nets in NZ, which are their biggest point source threat. We have to eliminate all human induced threats out of the habitat.

John Coombs discusses new paradigm proactive health and wellness programs with Naturopath and Wellness Services Manager, Marnie Rowllings. Marnie and John, who is the Director of Global Health Clinics, chat through new frontier holistic health services which are helping people of all ages throughout New Zealand with personalised wellness programs. Global Health Clinics helps people with a wide range of conditions from immunity and muscular skeletal issues, through to serious illness including advanced cancer and heart disease. Marnie guides her clients through the range of options at Global Health. The clinic offers clients a one stop, whole health centre with fully integrated systems, from high tech analytic equipment through to muscular skeletal adjustments. They combine advanced technology with ageless wisdom and compassionate empathy. John and Marnie discuss a variety of new approaches to wellbeing including Marnie's passion of conscious preconception and pregnancy preparation through to early childhood c

What is it to be surrendered? To many people especially in the political sphere this is a contradiction in terms, how can you be endeavouring to change some thing yet be surrendered?Yet, from a Gandhian perspective, being surrendered to the greater good, to doing everything to benefit the greater whole is in fact the coming paradigm that we are entering.Gandhi expressed it this way. ‘I live in the centre of a circle that has no circumference.’It’s called selfless action that transcends service to self.How do we go about surrendering to a ‘greater power’ than the self?Spending ones total life devoted to good, to the community at large and society as a whole.

A wander through the wilderness with Amy McComb as we take in the grandeur of nature and a delightful journey through the garden of knowledge.The uniqueness of the many native trees in NZ allows for a very interesting odyssey for an empath, as trees embed their healing qualities in their being and this can be picked up by those who have an affinity with the plant world.Married to this is having the proficiency of an honours, botanical science degree, that gives a sense of both what is going on and what is needed.Maori saw trees as taonga and also that in ancient times trees were in many ways affiliated to god or goddess energy, that they were revered for the healing qualities that reside in them.Note, that plants are drawn to certain areas and that they can teach us a lot about living together. Kauri don't like to be planted alone, away by themselves, because they will sulk however when grown in a grove, thrive together. Kaihikatea trees tend to grow in circular areas and grow in swampy or wet places as their

The Kogi, descendants of the vast Tairona civilisation, and indigenous to Columbia, are perhaps the last pre-Columbian civilisation still living with their ancient culture in tact. For over 500 years they have been living high in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range, hidden away from the outside world. The Kogi world centres around the profound understanding and direct perception of ‘Aluna,’ the creative spiritual dimension of The Great Mother. Descriptions of Aluna suggest it is akin to the Australian Aboriginal dream-time. The Kogi know the Earth to be a living being, arising from Aluna, and that all phenomena on Earth originate from this spiritual dimension. They maintain that our actions of exploitation, devastation, and plundering for resources, and—more importantly—the misuse and abuse of our human energy is weakening the spiritual organisation of the Earth. They see that this is leading humanity and the planet away from the Original Intention of The Great Mother… toward our eventual destruct

Steffan Browning, Green Party Member of Parliament. Spokesperson on:Organics, GMOs, Fisheries, Agriculture, Bio-security, Customs, Forestry, Security and Intelligence. Steffan has been a member of the select committee on the Food Bill and has been instrumental in promoting changes to the original document.A new law, replacing the Food Act 1981, was passed in Parliament on May 27th 2014. The bill introduces substantial reforms to the regulatory regime for the safety and suitability of food. This bill has been ten years in the making and has been sent to the select committee twice. It has just passed its third reading in the house and is to become law.This bill is about food that is for consumption.  It sets a new risk based bureaucratic structure that growers and producers will have to face but as consumers that may be a plus for us. Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye says it will reduce compliance costs. There will be exemptions for small growers. How much bureaucracy should a small grower have to comply with ho

The saying that ‘we are spiritual beings having an earth experience’ is resonating with more and more people as this timely clarion call inspires us to action. And as we awaken to the realisation that our society is coming up against limits to our outmoded thinking, belief systems and thresholds - to what is unbridled growth, we are starting to reflect on the inevitable consequences of ‘business as usual.’‘When the joy of compassionate service is married to a practical and pragmatic drive to transform all existing economic, social, and political institutions, a radical and potentially all-transforming holy force is born.’This coming from the quintessential sacred activist, Andrew Harvey a global transition leader who invokes the sacred in every thought, deed and action in what is our collective … ever expanding cosmology.If there was ever a time to fulfill our hearts calling for a better world, it has to be now. From Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Martin Luther King, Jr., we have over t

Brendan is a courageous advocate for growing of healthy food and the World Rural Forum have asked him to participate in what is a world civil societies initiative to the UN's International Year of Family Farming.70% OF THE WORLD FOOD PRODUCTION IS PROVIDED BY FAMILY FARMERSOf that 70%50% comes from arable, cropping and gardening12.5% come from hunting and gathering7.5% is produced by small urban farmersThe other 30% of food production comes from highly mechanised Western farming.25% OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION IS COMPOSED OF WOMEN FARMERS, which comes to about 1,600 million women. These women are usually running the household, bringing up the children, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the sick and or aged parents as well. (Spare a caring thought for them).So the International Year of Family Farming is not about the family farm or farming, and it is more than just producing food and products. It covers, contracts, teachers, safety, health workers, education, land use, including farm labour, fisheries, forest

Transnational Corporations are moving in to NZ where once they were only multi national corporations.  The percentage of incursion into NZ is virtually the highest of any developed country on earth. They are dominating our country more and more as the laws of NZ are very laissez-faire and liberal, buying into established businesses that NZers have built and also buying up our land and housing as well. Generally it is open slather with very few exceptions. THe TPPA is a wolf in sheeps clothing and when you peruse:   http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/ you will get the picture. Big Time.Free trade agreements are actual investment agreements to provide the means for trans national corporations to acquire more power, profit, control and riches and wealth under the guise of Free Trade ...  NZ is being recolonised by Corporations.In NZ the banks are creaming it. Not one is suffering at present ANZ, with record profits same for Westpac.Subjects Covered:Corporate Welfare here in NZ,  namely Rio Tinto (the old Comalco) ea

Interviewed by John Coombs - Dr Wayne McCarthy has been in practice for 25 years working as a Naturopath, including primary care work in USA. Dr Wayne, a medical school graduate from Oregon USA, has used this training to develop what he believes is the most simple and cost effective health care options available. He returned to NZ in 2005 to help get Ozone therapy established in NZ.Dr Wayne has worked tirelessly since to promote Ozone Therapy building a practice to help thousands of people recover from a wide range of health challenges with many of them moving towards optimal health and vitality. Ozone has proven effective for most health conditions as it helps fully oxygenate the body improving the immune system to a level where naturally occurring healing and vitality readily occur. Prolotherapy another key aspect of Wayne’s portfolio fills an important gap between physiotherapy and surgery strengthening ligaments, tendons and cartilage, restoring joints and enabling normal function and mobility.It’s especi

Motivated by what she saw around her on her island Kaua’i, Andrea Brower embarked on a career of social and environmental justice.The largest pesticide companies in the world use Kaua’i and other islands in Hawaii to experiment with genetically engineered crops. Crops are created to either be herbicide resistant, or to create their own resistance.Monsanto, Dow, Dupont, Bayer, BASF and Syngenta all operate their research and development programmes there. Virtually every type of GM seed variety passes through Hawaii and is tested in open air field trials for their new technologies. This involves very high use of pesticides and herbicides. 15,000 acres of land on Kaua’i are used for this research.Ecological and health concerns are growing as a result of this continual onslaught of chemical residue which blows onto communities on as many as three hundred days a year.Last year Kaua'i passed a county law that would allow greater public disclosure of pesticide use, as well as modest no-spray protection zones around

The highest polling Independent candidate in the previous 2011 NZ election, David stood for Parliament in Waitaki, the 2nd largest electorate in NZ and over a couple of months of electioneering, walked 1500 kilometres and put his flyers in every post box of the towns in this electorate.One of a Solar Vision of the Era and of New Zealand.There are many insights gathered when not part of the Party system.David is perplexed by the lack of involvement by the average citizen in NZ - and that we need to take a stand and say enough is enough ... because we in the Western world live in a corporatocracy and the only power we really have outside the ballot box is the power to boycott. Corporations who do not have global goodwill as their vision, should be boycotted - but we have to be organised ... To Initiate a discussion and then a action plan:Bring forth the solar age here in NZ and with innovation and tax incentives we could lead the future. Note that Germany the leading country in solar energy, is closer to the No

Back in the 1940s New Zealanders were described as long, lean, ranging and resourceful. This was one of the reasons we had community and communication with each other, however over the years with the advent of electronics and changing education and household patterns, we have become more isolated and where subtle and not so subtle methods of divide and rule have become more prevalent.To choose our politicians not because they are leaders or statesmen but because they may make more money than other people, does not translate to mean that we as a country should vote for such a person thinking this politician will also make more money for the country. This is a fallacy, they only go on to set themselves up to make more money for themselves further on.In todays world, we as consumers are being targeted to consume as many material resources as can be paid for and when we purchase a bargain, usually as a ubiquitous, toxic plastic article it is very soon in a landfill somewhere and we end up poisoning our resources

Our interview this week is with Sue Alesbury and Caroll Macy. They are both experienced natural health practitioners capable of helping with both common and difficult to treat conditions.John Coombs interviews Global Health Clinics' new Client Services Manager, Susan Alesbury on the benefits of being able to create and manage a Designer Holistic Programme not only as a curative approach but also preventative. Susan Alesbury has a business background and is also qualified in many therapeutic modalities in her own right. Her special interest is in discovering the Mind Body Spirit connection. From training with the Cross Colour Healing Association in the UK some 20 years ago, she has come full circle after recognising that healing was simply "Firefighting without looking for how the fires were being started".  Since that time, she has trained in Clinical Hypnosis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Aboriginal Dreamtime, and has trained to Leadership under Tony Robbins where she learned Human Needs Psychology. Now, wi

At the heart of the attack on our sovereignty is the TPPA (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement). It is described as a 21st century agreement that will reach further behind the border than any previous free trade or investment agreement. Parliament will have no effective say over these new rules unless they require changes to New Zealand’s domestic law.There are around 29 chapters in the agreement, very few of which involve old-fashioned trade. Numbered at about 4. Most of them aim to curb the process and content of government’s domestic policy and regulatory decisions.In practice, the TPPA would give foreign governments and well-resourced foreign companies the right to influence our domestic decisions, and marginalise our own national priorities, advocates and agencies, including Parliament and our courts. Therefore the TPPA is a potent threat to national sovereignty over decision-making processes and institutions, and to open and accountable government. We can only hope that this government, and the next one

When you listen to this interview, you will very quickly notice that there appears to be no NZ businessman articulating the positivity and profundity of inspirational business models, that can bring a revolutionary impulse to family, community and cooperative commercial archetypes to this country. If you think that we can wrestle back localised business interests, into the NZ communities hands - listen to this interview, based on Scandinavian and especially Finnish practices. .

Experienced holistic health practitioners Erica Lang and Liz Hart offer simple and effective tips and options towards relieving stress and experiencing optimal health.Erica who uses a combination of Bodytalk and Counseling helps her clients with a wide range of health challenges. Her clients inevitably experience relief from emotional pain and stress , often feeling real transformational changes to their life.Liz a local pioneer and teacher of Emotional Freedom technique explains how she helps her clients overcome long term health issues by helping modify unhelpful behaviors and attitudes. Liz offers empowering skills to self manage good health providing clients with tools for managing stress and pain. ******* This GreenPlanetFM program is sponsored by:GLOBAL HEALTH CLINICS: 5 Anzac Street Takapuna North Shore CityEmail: info [at] globalhealthclinics.co.nzPhone: (09) 488 0208 (09) 488 0215Web: http://www.globalhealthclinics.co.nzGlobal Health Clinics use a creative blend of integrating contemporary andalterna

'When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten, and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money.'~ Cree Indian saying...The Traditional Native American lifestyle is a life of prayer to all of creation.  Prayer is so deeply woven into every aspect of life that there is a prayer for every action, on waking and greeting the morning sun, on eating and thanking all the beings that have made that meal possible. Each moment can be made sacred when gratitude is shown for the gifts of this life.  This is most beautifully summed up in the phrase Mitakuye Oyasin, Lakota for 'All my relations.'  When a prayer is made it is followed by these words that acknowledge our interconnectedness to all life on this planet.The Web of Life is something that we are part of and this is celebrated in all Native Traditions.  Celebration and Gratitude being at the core of Native American Spirituality.And this gratitude, ritual and otherwise is something that we sometimes forget in our consumer societies so

Years ago humans had no rights. In the times when slavery was legal, abuses to slaves were deemed an issue of property law, not an issue of human rights. From this relationship of owner to slave, you cannot have anything other than an exploitative relationship.In this interview, Carl Chenery explains that this kind of thinking of human separation from, and domination over nature itself, is embedded into the very structure of our western legal system. Through our legal systems we attribute all the rights to humans as subjects, and everything else (except companies) as being objects or property to be owned.Gaia, our living breathing planet that is home to all of us, does not have rights. And without rights, like an unfortunate slave, she, our only home, is being used and slowly destroyed.On September 28, 2008, the people of Ecuador voted by an overwhelming majority (64%) to approve a new constitution which included Pachamama, nature, in the constitution, which was then ratified on Oct 20th 2008.Carl Chenery wen

Every large city on earth is gripped with limits to growth. Especially cars in gridlock and clogging motorways and roads. We witness it every day at rush hour as we sit frustrated in traffic, wondering when will this increasing problem ever be solved?Enter A New Idea:The concept of affordable personal rapid transport pods, travelling above ground that whisk you across the city along an environmentally benign 2-directional elevated guide-way to your destination, in comfort, safely, swiftly and cheaply.Is this possible? What would be the cost? Is it environmentally benign?The system is called the Metropolitan Individual System of Transportation on Elevated Rail (MISTER).With over $3 Billion allocated for a tunnel from Britomart in Auckland to Epsom, are the rate payers willing to dig further into their pockets for an outdated transport system, when that amount of money would cover the totality of suburban Auckland with a Personal Rapid Transport System?The fact that even today the NZ Government is balking at su