Nelson Science Society talk
Ian Griffin on “Aurora Chasing around and above New Zealand”
When: Wednesday December 9th, 6.00 - 7.30 pm.
Where: Greenmeadows Community Centre, cnr Main Road Stoke and Songer Street. There is plenty of parking at the venue.
Cost: Gold coin donation towards hire of venue
Since first observing the southern lights a week after he moved to Dunedin seven years ago, Ian Griffin has become obsessed with the aurora australis. On clear nights he can be found on the back bays of the Otago Peninsula trying to experience the aurora’s subtle glow. Ian’s fascination with the southern lights has led to a number of adventures. These include chartering two Air New Zealand airliners to fly thousands of km south of Aotearoa deep into the southern auroral zone. During this talk Ian will share some stories from his secret life as an aurora addict. When not chasing auroras Ian is the Director of the Otago Museum in Dunedin. He has a PhD. In astronomy from University College London and has discovered more than 20 asteroids including 10924 which is named to honour his wife Maria. In 2015 Ian was awarded the Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication Prize and in 2019 he became a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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