Here Now

Combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and sustaining food systems of the world were top of the agenda at the COP16 in Cali, Colombia. In this episode, Kadambari Raghukumar was in Colombia to talk to two New Zealanders attending the world's largest biodiversity conference with the aim to bring a Kiwi perspective to some of the planet's biggest challenges.

Canterbury's Polish history goes back over a century and in this episode, Kadambari Raghukumar sits down with two of the community's most active history enthusiasts to learn about how bogs became fertile vegetable gardens thanks to the blood, sweat and tears of early Polish settlers.

Two young Sri Lankans talk to Phil Vine about a film-making voyage of discovery in their homeland - telling stories of farming hardship and investigating where our food really comes from.

In Wellington this month and next, a series of public programmes mark the 50th year of the Dawn Raids. In this episode of Here Now Kadambari Raghukumar talks to artist Liana Leiataua and Pacific historian Rachel Yates Pahulu around their thoughts and experiences of events of the 70s that inform their work.

This week on Here Now, Kadambari Raghukumar checks out some arts and culture events lined up in the capital for the next few weeks ahead.

The podcast features chats with musicians performing at Wellington Jazz Festival - Alda Rezende and Seth Boy; and Abhi Chinniah about her photography on display in the NZ Portrait Gallery.

What's a New Zealand citizenship ceremony really like? For hundreds of new citizens each year, this is a long-awaited milestone event - one of which producer Ruwani Pereira attends in this episode, alongside would-be Kiwis about to forge their future on New Zealand soil.

A hundred years ago Haining and Frederick Streets in central Wellington were the heart of the capital's Chinese quarter. Today, all but a few fragments are gone. Wellington Chinese Historian Lynette Shum takes producer William Ray on a tour of the Wellington's long lost Chinatown.

As the cost of living hits home, what practical, money-saving tips can we learn from some of New Zealand's diverse cultures? In this cross-over episode with RNZ's money saving podcast, Thrift, Katy Gosset joins a cooking class at Canterbury's Refugee Resettlement and Resources Centre.

Canterbury-based botanists Dr Julie Barcelona and Pieter Pelser met in the US in the mid 2000s and it was their shared love for plants in tropical jungles that brought them together. What ensued has been years of botanical discovery and adventure - and some peculiar romantic gestures.

Leandro Vasquez of Abada Capoeira Auckland joins Kadambari Raghukumar in this episode to talk about celebrating the sense of community, art and camaraderie born out of this art.