Mike Smith (activist)

Michael John (Mike) Smith (born 1956/57) is a New Zealand environmental and Māori rights activist.

[1] He was born in the 1950s in New Zealand's Northland Region to a Māori father and pākeha (European) mother.

[2] Smith's activism began in 1992, when he attended a Global Earth Summits on greenhouse gas emissions.

[3] In October 1994 he created headlines in New Zealand when he attacked the lone tree on Auckland's Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill with a chainsaw, an act aimed at emphasising Māori anger at the New Zealand government's latest economic policies.

[7] In 2024, Smith won the right to sue several major New Zealand companies over their alleged contributions to climate change.