Thank you all that are in support of this cause, here let us admire the latest essay done from out WTRENG friends.
🏗️ Proposal: Te Pou o te Heihei — The Sky Tower of Raw Chicken
After recalculation done by our colleagues, it turns out we’ve spent $5,015,447.64 on WTR100, and can support approximately 3,220,000 chickens across 450.8 hectares of land.
In light of this, and with guidance from voices such as Pranz Cortez, who highlighted New Zealand’s 8 Codes of Ethical Conduct, we propose a new initiative that is not only cost-aligned with the WTR100 cohort’s fees but also honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Rather than an abstract course with limited engagement, we channel the $5 million+ in WTR fees toward constructing a Sky Tower made entirely of ethically-sourced raw chicken—a towering symbol of national identity, mana-enhancement, and moral poultry farming. Here's how we align it with key principles:
HELP US ON THIS PROJECT https://www.change.org/p/terminate-the-wtr100-course-asap
“He Tū Chicken” — A Land-Back Regenerative Chicken Farming Co-op
Instead of passive content delivery, the funds could be redirected toward a student-led, iwi-partnered regenerative chicken farming co-operative. Here's how it works:
🐔 3.22 million chickens raised using ethical standards, grounded in the 8 Species of Ethical Conduct (including the Five Domains model for animal welfare).
🌱 450.8 hectares of land co-governed with mana whenua, advancing Treaty-based co-management, with additional man-power reducing costs and allowing embedding tikanga Māori, and returning decision-making power to iwi and hapū.
🧠 A living classroom where WTR students apply Treaty principles, ecological science, animal ethics, and circular economy models in a real-world environment in chicken farming.
💸 Profits reinvested in community wellbeing initiatives, scholarships, and funding mana-enhancing education, inspired by Mariefinah Pollen Marcuelo's advocacy for upholding mana.
This model offers more than passive learning—it’s active, ethical, bi-cultural education with tangible community benefits, in stark contrast to the current perception of WTR100 as abstract or performative.
1. Animal Ethics & the 8 Codes of Ethical Conduct 🐔📜
All 3.22 million chickens used will be raised under humane, free-range conditions, with full adherence to the Five Domains model, including positive affective states.
Chickens are not wasted—each chicken is engineered into modular meat-bricks for construction. Remaining cuts are redistributed to food banks, ensuring a zero-waste outcome.
The entire supply chain is audited for welfare compliance, with the process integrated into a new WTRCHICKEN Ethical Infrastructure paper.
2. True to Te Tiriti o Waitangi 🤝🏞️
The tower site is selected in partnership with mana whenua, ensuring full consent and alignment with tino rangatiratanga.
The tower becomes a bicultural landmark, co-named and co-governed by local iwi, with interpretive panels explaining each chicken's whakapapa and the cultural significance of the building.
Construction is managed through a kaupapa Māori-aligned governance model, including consultation, shared decision-making, and ongoing benefit-sharing.
3. Upholding Mana ✊
As Mariefinah Pollen Marcuelo urges, the project must uphold mana—of people, of land, and even of chicken-kind.
Workers are paid fair, living wages, and trained in poultry architecture (a new subdiscipline).
The tower is not just symbolic, but functional—housing a community food co-op, an immersive Treaty education centre, and possibly a chicken-scented observatory.
Tours are conducted in Te Reo Māori and English, with revenues reinvested into student hardship grants and iwi-led housing projects.
In this way, the Sky Tower of Raw Chicken is no longer a joke, but a layered educational artefact—a monolith of mana, manaakitanga, and meat. A true reflection of a university that dares to dream.
Final Reminders 📝
The ENGLEG122 content quiz is coming up around Week 7–8, so start reviewing those lecture slides now (yes, even the ones with the unreadable font).
And a massive shoutout to Tegel Foods—without whom our chicken-based economic modeling would have no legs (or wings) to stand on.