Drink in edible coffee cups with Air New Zealand

How about eating your coffee cup after you finished your beverage, instead of throwing one more garbage away… You don’t like the idea? But what if… your cup was a vanilla-flavored biscuit! This is exactly the idea being tested right now by Air New Zealand, in an effort to reduce it’s waste. Customers in flight and on the ground are being served their hot beverage and … Continue reading Drink in edible coffee cups with Air New Zealand

Towards a responsible plastic future

Nowadays, plastic is everywhere. Originally designed as a miracle material allowing, for example, to store food in healthier and cheaper conditions than ever before. It is now becoming one of the planet’s worst waste nightmare. Here in the Pacific Ocean the problem is growing even worse as most of the world’s waste ends up in the oceans, including millions of metric-tons of plastics. Everyone has … Continue reading Towards a responsible plastic future

Every tourist in Palau has to sign a pledge to protect its environment

Meet Jennifer Koskelin. Together with her team, she originated the implementation of a National Marine Sanctuary that covers over 80% of the maritime territory of the small Micronesian country of Palau. She also created the Palau Pledge, a global reference for sustainable tourism. Palau is an independent Micronesian country located in the North Pacific Ocean, very close to Indonesia. With approximately 500 islands (six populated) … Continue reading Every tourist in Palau has to sign a pledge to protect its environment

Papahānaumokuākea : a marine sanctuary to protect Hawaii’s natural and cultural heritage

Meets Solomon Kaho’ohalahala, one of the guests of Island Voices that has travelled from Hawaii to Tahiti for this gathering. For many years, Solomon has campaigned in Hawaii to promote the creation of Papahānaumokuākea marine sanctuary, today one of the largest marine reserve in the world. In Hawaiian, Papahānaumokuākea translates to “where life originates from”. This is the name that was given to Hawaii’s North-West … Continue reading Papahānaumokuākea : a marine sanctuary to protect Hawaii’s natural and cultural heritage

Plasticity Fiji: Entrepreneurs looking for solutions to the plastic crisis

Plastic pollution is a bane to the Pacific nations. Some businesswomen and businessmen are mobilizing to try and end it through a conference named Pacific Plasticity. The plastic products we consume in our islands are hardly recycled and end up abandoned on our beaches or buried in our valleys. And our islands are some of the most impacted by the massive global plastic pollution dropped … Continue reading Plasticity Fiji: Entrepreneurs looking for solutions to the plastic crisis

New Zealand: Vote for your bird of the year!

It is time for Bird of the Year 2018! Voting opens at 9 am on Monday 1 October and closes at 5 pm on Sunday 14 October. New Zealand’s unique native birds are in crisis. A third are at risk of becoming extinct if nothing is done to protect them. Their habitats have been destroyed and introduced mammalian predators kill their eggs, young birds, and even adults. … Continue reading New Zealand: Vote for your bird of the year!

New Techs are revolutionizing life in the Pacific- part 2

Last week, we explored the revolutionary change blockchain technology was bringing to the world, and even more to scattered populations like the islanders of the Pacific Ocean, or the coasters of the Asian, American and Oceanian continents. Now, let’s check out the second great disruption in the decentralization revolution: the energy decentralization, triggered by some of the greatest game-changing technologies currently developing at high speeds: … Continue reading New Techs are revolutionizing life in the Pacific- part 2

Fishing in the Pacific: “we have to give back as we take out”

At 35, Cook Islander Pamela Maru is part of a small but growing handful of Pacific women leading -and shaping- the future of fisheries in the world’s largest ocean. She is one of six Fisheries Management Advisers at the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency in the Solomon Islands, where she provides technical advice for Pacific tuna fisheries management policies in the world’s largest ocean. She … Continue reading Fishing in the Pacific: “we have to give back as we take out”

Chailang Palacios Chamorro Heritage Custodian and Teacher

A 76 years-old fighter for a nuclear-free Pacific

Chamorro heritage custodian and teacher, Chailang Palacios, aged 76, has been an important pioneer of the international indigenous rights in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, as well as global peace movements, for many decades. In the 1980s she was active against nuclear waste dumping in the world’s deepest ocean – the Marianas Trench. In 1984, Chailang did a speaking tour of England, Scotland and … Continue reading A 76 years-old fighter for a nuclear-free Pacific

New Techs are revolutionizing life in the Pacific- part 1

After the latest industrial (19th-20th century) and information revolutions (brought by the Internet in the 20th-21th century), the next one is coming. It might be dubbed the Decentralization revolution, and it has already begun, boosted by the rise of several new technologies, like photovoltaic, blockchain and VTOL aircrafts. These are already spreading in places where they are the most useful. The scattered lands across the … Continue reading New Techs are revolutionizing life in the Pacific- part 1