Students selected to voyage to Southern Ocean on Tangaroa
Two talented young New Zealanders are getting ready for a 28-day voyage to the Southern Ocean onboard NIWA’s Research Vessel Tangaroa, after being awarded a coveted Blake NIWA Ambassadorship. University of Auckland student Melanie Hayden (left) and Victoria University...
BLAKE Inspire for Teachers motivates Ihaia Rollo to embrace outdoor learning
After an invigorating week on the inaugural BLAKE Inspire for Teachers programme, Hawke’s Bay teacher Ihaia Rollo has returned to the classroom with huge plans. Ihaia, 33, teaches Years 3 and 4 (six- to eight-year-olds) at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Wananga Whare...
Serena’s cleaning up Westhaven Marina
Serena Woodall was one of 30 young people who spent a week on the recent BLAKE Inspire for Sailors programme. The young sailors were challenged to show leadership in ocean conservation, and the programme has inspired Serena to rethink her options for next year. Young...
Teen sailors selected for BLAKE environmental programme
Thirty young sailors (Y11-13) from sailing clubs all over New Zealand have been selected to represent their clubs at BLAKE Inspire for Sailors, a six-day environmental leadership development adventure developed by BLAKE (formerly the Sir Peter Blake Trust) and...
Introducing BLAKE’s new Trustees
NICK HUMPHRIES Nick Humphries remembers the moment he fully grasped the power of conservation. It was 2015. He was 18 years old, and stationed at Scott Base as a BLAKE Antarctic Ambassador. “I took a snow-bike for a ride around the base and at one point I stopped,...
11th Hour Racing Announces New Grantees for World Oceans Day
NEWPORT, RI (6 June 2019) - 11th Hour Racing announced today seven grantees focused on restoring ocean health in the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Funded by The Schmidt Family Foundation, 11th Hour Racing’s grant program is committed to...
Mahina’s plan to protect the waters of Little Barrier Island
BLAKE Inspire delegate Mahina Walle has the privilege of living within the country’s first nature reserve. Now she wants to protect the marine life around it, she tells Suzanne McFadden. She’s just 16, but Mahina Walle has set herself an ambitious environmental goal -...
Harry’s mission to unfreeze Antarctica’s secrets
For all the staggering sights of Antarctica – the vast white wilderness and its unique wildlife; summer days with no end - it is the sounds of the frozen continent that remain with Harry Seagar. It was the commotion of the wind in particular that struck the Blake...
Student Strike 4 Climate Rally
There is no doubt climate change is a significant global concern – and this is particularly so for our young people whose futures face the full extent of a changing climate. On 15 March thousands of school students are expected to take part in the Student Strike 4...
BLAKE Ambassadors help kākāpo in boom breeding year
It’s unlikely that a female kākāpō agonises over her weight. Fortunately, however, there are a group of humans who do that for her. It’s been a bumper breeding season for the critically endangered kākāpō, on the predator-free islands of Whenua Hou/Codfish Island off...
New book perfectly captures our Hero of the Sea
David Hill may not know a luff from a lanyard. And yet he was able to capture the essence of Sir Peter Blake in his picture book for young readers, Hero of the Sea. Hill, an award-winning New Zealand author, did extensive research into the life of the late adventurer...
Introducing NZ-VR: Our new virtual underwater experience
Growing up, James Frankham would spend summers with his family at the bottom end of Waiheke Island. On any given day, he could look up or down the Waiheke Channel and see two or three ‘work-ups’ of kahawai. The work-ups - where baitfish are rounded up into a ball and...