I would rather see the government invest in closing the loop on materials – encouraging reuse and recycling of the metals we already have, rather than dumping them in landfills. This as well as forcing companies to take responsibility for what they are making. Production of crap that breaks after a few months of use just encourages more mining. Companies making this stuff should be made to deal with the waste it produces – they would soon start doing more with the materials they have available to them.

http://submissions.watchdog.org.nz/

for more information see this great website.

http://www.2precious2mine.org.nz/

Be the change you want to see in the world – make a submission and pass this message on.

Mining is also a short term investment, just look at the boom/bust towns in Australia’s mining industry. NZer’s could put their innovation to better industries. If I had to pick one, it would have to be tourism, its consumed here so no shipping, its renewable, its not dependent on one country, tourist dollars get spread far and wide, it’s a huge employer, it will exist while nz exists… the lists go on. Above all, its a value added product, not a commodity which you have to sell millions of tonnes of to make a dollar, e.g milk powder.

The only reason that mining is so destructive is because when mineral deposits are deemed as ‘viable’, The governments sell the rights to the big boys for a crappy percentage of the take. The big boys then move in with their archaic methods and rape the land!

This is the established order!

Time’s are changing people,The big boy’s are changing and now is the time to innovate!

New Zealand is filled with innovative people who are tanga tu whenua (of the land )!
We CAN get this stuff out of the ground without damaging the ecology through new inventions and systems, we can keep the take and use it to fund the reselling of the new ecological processes that we spearhead right here in Godzone!

Peace out! (within reason)

Cheers