Thursday  22 March  7.30 pm

Lecture Theatre 1, EIT, Taradale
Catherine Knight, MA,  PhD
Environmental Historian

Free Entry

A new year and a new government, but little sign yet of any tangible progress towards making our rivers more ‘swimmable’ – an issue that attracted such controversy last year. That controversy reflected the sense of urgency that many New Zealanders feel about the perilous state of many of our waterways, concern that shows no sign of diminishing. In this talk, Dr Catherine Knight, author of New Zealand’s Rivers: An environmental history, will provide important context to this debate by exploring some of our complex – and often conflicted – history with rivers since humans first settled in Aotearoa New Zealand. She will argue that knowing our history is an important foundation to forging a better future, both in terms of our environment and our socioeconomic wellbeing.

Catherine Knight is an environmental historian. New Zealand’s Rivers: An environmental history (Canterbury University Press, 2016) was longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2017 and was selected as one of the Listener’s Best Books for 2016. Her previous book, Ravaged Beauty: An environmental history of the Manawatu (Dunmore Press, 2014), won the J.M. Sherrard major award for excellence in regional and local history, and Palmerston North Heritage Trust’s inaugural award for the best work of history relating to the Manawatu. Her next book is entitled Beyond Manapouri: 50 years of environmental politics in New Zealand, and will be published in May 2018. Catherine is a policy and communications consultant and lives with her family on a small farmlet in the Manawatu, where they are working towards restoring the totara forest that once thrived on the river terraces.

New Zealand’s Rivers: An environmental history will be available for sale (cash only) on the night. RRP $49.99