One of the calls we heard most often at the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival in January 2012 was for the creation of a website or wiki that held all our knowledge of New Zealand coal mines, planned coal projects and the coal industry in one place, so people all around the country can find out about projects that will affect them if they go ahead; mines and projects elsewhere; and about the climate, environmental, health, social and economic effects of coal mining.

Now, thanks to a great deal of hard work by many people, kicked off by Cindy Baxter and Bob Burton and then taken up by Jane Young, Jane Mountier and Jeanette Fitzsimons, such a resource has been developed to the point where, although it’s certainly not comprehensive, it is ready for use.

Introduction

This new information source is a New Zealand section of the international Coal Swarm site, which is like a wiki on the coal industry from an activist perspective. At the heart of these pages are the lists of operating coal mines and of proposed coal projects – but there also pages about the major players in the coal industry, opposition to coal mining, and a number of other topics.

As you’ll soon see, the New Zealand section of Coal Swarm isn’t finished – indeed, it will never be finished, at least until we have completed the transition away from coal. Therefore, changes and additions are going to be needed. Our preference is that these changes be handled by Jane Young, who has kindly agreed to act as our Coal Swarm editor, but you also have the opportunity to make changes and additions yourself.

Requesting an addition or change to Coal Swarm

To request an edit or suggest an addition, please email Jane Young, janejimyoung@slingshot.co.nz, with “CoalSwarm” in the subject line.
Please provide the following information:

  • To request a change to existing content: please specify the web address (URL) of the page that you think should be changed, the precise change that you think should be made, and a source for the changed information.
  • To request new content: please specify in as much details as possible the new information that should be added, and supply a source (including a web address for online information) for the new information.

If you’ve found something that needs changing, please be as specific as possible about what it is: provide the web address of the page that you’re referring to, and say exactly where on the page the problem is.

Making changes or additions yourself

You can also make changes or additions yourself, once you sign up as an editor. Full details of how to do this are provided at http://coalswarm.org/get-involved/how-to-post-information/

If you’d like to help Jane with the editing of Coal Swarm’s New Zealand pages, please email her: janejimyoung@slingshot.co.nz.

I think the New Zealand section of Coal Swarm is going to be a very useful resource for both education and activism. I hope you find it useful too.

– Tim Jones