Nine To Noon for Wednesday 11 September 2024

 

09:05 Silt study's findings could help growers in the next big weather event

Research into how crops grow in silt could be used to help horticultural growers to recover following major weather events. A silt study has examined the recovery of land which was covered in silt during Cyclone Gabrielle. The focus was on 34 different sites in Hawke's Bay, Wairoa, Gisborne and Tolaga Bay and a range of crops were planted. The study was managed by the Foundation for Arable Research, and had funding from MPI's North Island Weather Event Fund and Vegetable Research and innovation. Horticultural consultant Alan Kale led the initiative and says there were really promising results in Hawkes Bay, which could bode well for future similar flooding events. Hawke’s Bay regional councillor Jerf van Beek then talks to Kathryn about the state of the wider recovery for the region.

09:20 Coastal restoration could be a crucial carbon sink

Restoring coastal environments could turn them into effective carbon sinks, scientists say. Two recent papers have looked at the prospect of restoring our coastal environments - places like mangrove forests, saltmarshes and seagrasses - to work as carbon sinks. They say many coastal waterways are in a poor state from runoff, farming and urban development. Research by NIWA marine ecologist Dr Phoebe Stewart Sinclair and colleagues found this country's coastal environment if restored, could take about 92,000 tonnes of carbon a year. She talks to Kathryn about where the best potential for so-called 'blue carbon' is in the country. Then Olya Albot, project manager at The Nature Conservancy, talks about the potential for a blue carbon market in this country. 

09:45 Australia: Kid ban, veterans' inquiry, poo taboo

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton looks at plans by the Albanese government to set a minimum legal age for using social media which could be as high as 16. A three-year royal commission into defence veterans' suicide has presented its findings, calling for a new permanent agency to oversee veterans' transition to civilian life. And the Queensland health department has introduced a social media campaign telling people "it's ok to poo at work". 

Karen Middleton is political editor of the Guardian Australia

10:05 Sarah Hillary on the life of an art conservator

Sarah Hillary is reflecting on 40 years as an Auckland art conservator following her retirement at the end of last month. She rose from an intern at the Auckland Art Gallery to become its principal conservator - the person who preserves and manages art at the gallery. She famously discovered a fake Gottfried Lindauer work and was credited with discovering a previously unseen layer in a Francis Hodgkins painting. Sarah - the daughter of Sir Edmund Hillary - is now working on a history of art conservation. Auckland Art Gallery is the oldest in the country to have employed a conservator - the first one starting in 1954. Sarah will remain associated with the Gallery as Conservator Emerita.

10:30 Wairoa flood review finds regional council lacking

A review into the flood that devastated Wairoa in June has found Hawke's Bay Regional Council lacked a proper plan for managing the river mouth, and did not listen to locals who called for action before heavy rain was forecast. More than 400 properties flooded when heavy rain pelted Wairoa on June 26. At the time, locals criticised the regional council for not digging a channel to let the rising river release into the sea sooner - known as 'opening the bar'. The urgent government review undertaken by Mike Bush found the council didn't consider the worst case scenario, or listen to locals about digging the channel. RNZ reporter Lauren Crimp talks to Kathryn about what is in the report and the Government Crown Manager Lawrence Yule discusses where plans are at for flood mitigation at Wairoa. 

10:45 Book review: Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

Carole Beu of the Women's Bookshop in Auckland reviews Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout published by Penguin Random House

10:50 Around the motu: Peter de Graaf in Northland

With the Far North paying the highest power prices in New Zealand, despite having one of the lowest median incomes, Peter has been talking to families having to choose between buying groceries and paying their electricity bill. He also discusses the outcry over reduced speed limits in Bay of Islands, and contrasting Maori ward votes across Northland. 

RNZ Northland reporter Peter de Graaf based in Kerikeri  

11:05 Music of springtime with Dave Wilson

Dave joins Kathryn to share some tracks with a springtime feel across a variety of genres - from the Carter Family to Nirvana.

Dave Wilson is a saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and interdisciplinary scholar, a Senior Lecturer in Music at the New Zealand School of Music-Te Kōkī.

11:20  Hairy, masked and sweat: The unusual kinds of native Kiwi bees

Bees are hardly the biggest creatures in the world - but New Zealand's native bees are even smaller. How tiny? Almost so small you can hardly see them. Rachel Weston is a kiwifruit orchardist based in Tauranga with a passion for bees. Her first book was Bumblebee, her second Bumblebees Have Stinky Feet and her latest is Kiwi Bees Have Tiny Knees. It's a beautifully illustrated and photographed book that's full of facts about New Zealand's 28 species of native bees - including that one species likes to sip our sweat on a hot day, and that all female native bees live alone. Rachel joins Kathryn for more fascinating facts about our little known native bee species.

11:45 Science: Methane's fast rise, Kākāpō colour-change, quakes create gold nuggets

Science commentator Laurie Winkless joins Kathryn with three fascinating recent studies. The first has found that despite a pledge by more than 150 nations in 2021 to slash methane emissions by 30% by the end of this decade, they're actually rising faster than ever. Kākāpō feathers have actually changed over time - now researchers think they know why. And an Australian study may've solved the mystery of how large gold nuggets form.

Laurie Winkless is a physicist and science writer