The Spin Off, a New Zealand-based site “covering pop culture, sport, politics and social life through features, criticism, interviews, videos and podcasts” recently acknowledged actions to stop genetically engineered trees in an article titled 30 ways campaigners changed Aotearoa for the better, despite nine years of National.
“When campaigning for change, victories normally come in baby steps. There’s no one moment that marks a successful finale; no climactic end-of-movie scene. It’s often only in hindsight, many years after the fact, that we see cumulative victory. We’re often also legitimately hesitant to spend much time in celebration mode when there are so many struggling, and so many issues urgently threatening our environment and people,” writes peace activist Jesse Anne Dennis.
“This week, whether we have a new government, or have three more years of National with a NZ First flavour, it’s a good time to reflect on what we have collectively achieved for Aotearoa despite nine years of a National Government.”
In August this year, The Ministry for Primary Industries backtracked on a draft National Environmental Standards clause that would have overridden council control of GE organisms released in their regions, after 16,000 people said no to GE trees in their submissions.
Those efforts were spearheaded by partnering organization GE Free NZ, which has lead the fight against genetically engineered trees in New Zealand.