Trying to fix the massive environmental problems that have been created by greed and stupidity is not easy.
Those who are trying to curb the tide need to be able to use all the tools they can get. One such tool is most certainly creative thinking and art, whichtells a story that can inspire people to make changes.
I stumbled upon one great local example in Victoria Park the other day - artists Sarah Smuts-Kennedy and Taarati Taiaroa have created a pop-up installation called The Park.
It is a series of cleverly designed and beautiful beehives that encourages public participation to grow pollen hotels that feed the bees, making a "pollen park".
Bees are, of course, vital to food production and environmental health. I absolutely love this concept and was very pleased to see the obvious success it has delivered in giving people easy ways to do good for the environment in a collaborative way.
Last time I wrote about bees a lobbyist from the pesticide industry tried to claim that a report from a panel of international experts with over 800 peer-reviewed scientific papers was "not robust" compared to studies that were no doubt commission by his lobby group or members.
The fact is, paid lobbyists, pubic relations companies and communications professionals will argue anything their clients tell them till the cows come home and simply end up creating conflict. Art - especially when it is participatory traverses these issues by making a bold statement that is very hard to criticise.
We created this video a few years ago with over 200 school children from rubbish that was removed from Rangitoto Island during a coastal clean-up:
If anyone out there has examples of creative solutions to environmental problems, please email me or leave a comment below. I am sure there are plenty of people who would love to see them.