Each 25-minute episode profiles one voice in a growing movement for environmental and cultural restoration.
Episode 1: Kararaina Te Puni – Restoring the forest’s strength
PhD student Kararaina Te Puni is uncovering the hidden climate power of native forests. She says her work in the Raukūmara Range shows restoring indigenous ngahere (forest) could lock away more carbon than previously thought.
By bridging Western science and mātauranga Māori, she reveals how ecology and identity are deeply linked.
“Native ecosystems aren’t just beautiful – they may be our best defence.”
Episode 2: Quack Pirihi – Protecting the moana
An activist with Greenpeace, Quack Pirihi takes the fight against deep-sea mining from Aotearoa to the UN’s International Seabed Authority in Jamaica.
“Our moana has mana. You cannot mine mana,” they say.
They discuss the call for indigenous guardianship and justice amid global exploitation.
Episode 3: Tamatha Paul – Politics with purpose
From Tokoroa to Parliament, Green MP Tamatha Paul shows what real change looks like inside the system. She pushes for cleaner energy, greener transport and housing that honours te taiao.
Her message: political action begins with courage – and persistence.
Episode 4: Arahi Whaanga – Music as movement
When Cyclone Gabrielle hit the East Coast, musician Arahi Whaanga said he returned home and witnessed the devastation and the resilience that followed. Through kōrero (discussion) with local champions (kaitiaki), he explored the connection between whenua, whakapapa and sound.
His waiata He Huringa Ao, written with his sister, became the series’ anthem.
Episode 5: Pania Rei – Justice starts at home
Porirua campaigner Pania Rei leads ActionStation’s Climate Justice kaupapa, linking environmental repair with social fairness. Her fight to stop sewage pollution in Porirua Harbour highlights how equity and ecology are inseparable.
“Climate change was made by humans, but the solutions also lie with us,” she says.
Episode 6: Toby Whata & Corban Richter – Rethinking how we build
After witnessing the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, architecture students Toby Whata and Corban Richter reimagine how Aotearoa builds. Their designs draw on Māori principles and ancestral narratives to create structures that move with nature rather than against it.
Episode 7: Tessa Thompson – Saving a taonga species
Marine biology graduate Tessa Thompson studies toheroa – a shellfish once plentiful, now endangered. Her research blends Māori and scientific knowledge to restore coastal ecosystems and reconnect whānau to the moana.
Episode 8: Sarah Rewi – The power of wai
Sarah Rewi’s PhD explores wai (water) as the essence of life and source of sovereignty. In restoring local springs, she shares the message:
“Ko te wai te mea whakahirahira i tēnei ao” – water is the most important thing in this world.
She says her work is a reminder that climate survival depends on indigenous knowledge and care for what sustains people.
1.5 Degrees: A Global Warning captures a generation that sees hope as action – and leadership as responsibility.
Watch the full series on nzherald.co.nz.
