The Big Q

Questions - Ideas - Scholarship - Debates

Project for Public Interest Media

We’re building harder, hotter cities: Should we instead protect and grow urban green spaces?

Housing intensification in Hamilton. PCE, CC BY-SA Timothy Welch, University of Auckland Recent extreme weather events have provided a foretaste of how supercharged storms might threaten our future. So the release today of a new report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) is very good timing....

What do you mean we are running out of sand?

Although the importance of water as a resource is well accepted, fewer people know that sand is the second most consumed resource globally.

West Papuan campaigners want a ‘green state’. Could it help the planet?

Independence activists want to combine the best parts of liberal democracy with indigenous traditions.

Politics & Society

What would a Green Recovery from COVID-19 look like for Aotearoa New Zealand?

What would a Green Recovery from COVID-19 look like for Aotearoa New Zealand?

To arrest economic downturn, many governments have responded with massive fiscal packages to boost the economy, maintain employment, and stabilise core industries. However, there is deep concern that these economic responses will undermine the goals outlined in the Paris Climate Accords and cause a surge in greenhouse gas emissions.

What if China wins?

What if China wins?

A winning China would regain what the Qing Dynasty enjoyed three centuries ago: a central geo-political leadership role among its periphery of tributary states.

Science & Technology

How can we address Covid anxiety?

How can we address Covid anxiety?

Listening to other people’s stories is a powerful way to unite people, and instead of belittling anxieties as illogical, addressing fears with understanding can help us design responses which enable all people to experience security in uncertain times, writes Dr Mary Breheny.

Business & Economics

What would a Green Recovery from COVID-19 look like for Aotearoa New Zealand?

What would a Green Recovery from COVID-19 look like for Aotearoa New Zealand?

To arrest economic downturn, many governments have responded with massive fiscal packages to boost the economy, maintain employment, and stabilise core industries. However, there is deep concern that these economic responses will undermine the goals outlined in the Paris Climate Accords and cause a surge in greenhouse gas emissions.

Why do social ties matter to climate politics?

Why do social ties matter to climate politics?

Policy-makers frequently fail to communicate scientific knowledge about climate change effectively, with the result that targeted groups often reject potentially useful advice. Our research addressed New Zealand dairy farmers’ perceptions of climate conditions and their perceptions of climate science.

Arts & Culture

The fall into the abyss

The fall into the abyss

In April 1909, two waves of massacres shook the province of Adana, located in the southern Anatolia region of modern-day Turkey, killing more than 20,000 Armenians and 2,000 Muslims.

Who are you calling a Nazi?

Who are you calling a Nazi?

While it is all too easy and comfortable to indulge in our Nazi fascination to demonise our enemies, maybe we should still the media chaos just for a moment and reflect. Who are you calling a Nazi? And why?