Claire Bleakley. Via Facebook

New Zealand’s Earthwise radio show, which airs on Plains FM 96.9, recently interviewed Claire Bleakley of GE-Free New Zealand on her participation with the Campaign to STOP GE Trees visiting Chile in March. Here is an excerpt of Bleakley’s report on the trip from our StopGETrees.org Chile Blog:

I was invited by OLCA (Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales) as part of an international team working with the Campaign to Stop GE Trees. The delegation was there to highlight the IUFRO Tree biotechnology conference to be held this year in Concepcion, Chile. IUFRO is promoting genetically engineered (GE) trees in Chile, where there are very few laws restricting plantations. The spread of tree plantations is correlated with the horrific devastation that wildfires have had on indigenous communities. With such a large burnt by the wildfires, there is now growing pressure to replant with GE trees.

Earthwise is hosted by Martin and Lois Griffiths. You can listen to Claire’s interview here.

About the Earthwise show: 

Every Earthwise programme features a discussion on conservation, environment or peace with justice. The interview might be with a local Cantabrian, with someone in a different part of the country, or a distinguished person from overseas.

Broadcast on the first and third Monday evening at 9pm repeated the following Wednesday at 9:30am. The choice of topics varies considerably. Earthwise hopes that people who are especially interested in conservation will also find peace with justice issues interesting and vice versa. Every programme is promoted on several email lists depending on the feature topic.If you miss them on-air, check out their podcasts.