Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, December 23rd, 2024 - 5 comments
Under its latest Emissions Reduction Plan the Government is placing major reliance on processing of orgnic waste and landfill gas capture. But it has quietly recently cut funding for the Waste Minimisation Fund by $177 million over 4 years.
Written By: - Date published: 6:35 pm, December 4th, 2024 - 3 comments
The Government announced reform of AT, effectively conceding that the behemouth National created in 2010 was the wrong structure.
Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, December 2nd, 2024 - 29 comments
New Zealand is one of the slowest countries in the developed world to transition from combustion to electric vehicles. The shocks we are seeing in Europe to car makers and car buyers herald more trouble ahead.
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, November 28th, 2024 - 60 comments
The collapse of SolarZero is a massive red flag.
Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, November 17th, 2024 - 33 comments
There has been a major blowout in the cost of the Roads of National Significance with the cost being potentially $10 billion more than National claimed during last year’s campaign.
Written By: - Date published: 9:44 am, November 10th, 2024 - 120 comments
Why did America vote for the least suitable candidate imaginable? And what are the implications for New Zealand politics?
Written By: - Date published: 7:18 pm, November 4th, 2024 - 50 comments
Tuesday (Wednesday in NZ) is election day in the United States of America. Where billionaires buy elections, the President is not elected by popular vote, and the nominee of the Republican Party attempted to overturn the results after he was voted out of office four years ago. Somehow, despite his crimes, Donald Trump is a coin-toss away from taking back the White House.
Written By: - Date published: 1:26 pm, October 31st, 2024 - 66 comments
The Free Speech Union is wanting an extremist right wing shock jock who the Christchurch Killer described as the person who most influenced him the privilege of visiting New Zealand to host a fundraising event.
Written By: - Date published: 1:12 pm, October 10th, 2024 - 59 comments
Catastrophe and meaningful response.
Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, September 26th, 2024 - 24 comments
There appears to be an impasse in the Coalition’s ranks with Act and National not wanting rail enabled replacement ferries but Winston Peters demanding that they be rail enabled.
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, September 12th, 2024 - 25 comments
It seems clear that the Government refused to do anything to stop Winston Pulp from closing its mills. And the Government’s plans to address price volatility by the use of LPG is counterproductive, especially when the cost of renewable energy is considered.
Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, September 9th, 2024 - 70 comments
Proposed policy for the Labour Party. New Zealand’s power system should empower the people in their lives and systems, secure electricity use and production for New Zealand in perpetuity, and make the electricity system serve New Zealand not the other way round. How do we achieve this?
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, August 27th, 2024 - 43 comments
Energy Minister Simeon Brown is peddling lies about a gas shortage. The country exports around 40 percent of its annual gas production as methanol. More is used to make synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, a nasty greenhouse emission source, for our farms. We don’t need expensive LNG distribution facilities while exporting the bulk of our own gas.
Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, August 8th, 2024 - 68 comments
This is more hope than I have felt about humans in a long time
Written By: - Date published: 7:26 pm, July 18th, 2024 - 16 comments
It is now clear why Simon Watts rushed out a three page brochure setting out what this Government’s response to climate change will be. It knew that the latest Climate Change Emissions Reduction Plan was coming out for consultation. And that it could not come up with a credible plan.
Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, July 16th, 2024 - 5 comments
how’s it going five years on?
Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, July 14th, 2024 - 6 comments
This week Change Minister Simon Watts showed the depth of the Government’s thinking by releasing a three page brochure outlining its collective thoughts. If the Government is at that level of thinking the country is well and truly stuffed. And meanwhile ACT’s Mark Cameron wants to prevent local government from considering climate change when formulating regional plans.
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, July 10th, 2024 - 18 comments
The Government is hoping that Carbon Capture and Sequestration will reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emission levels. But it is refusing to protect forests and trees, which are the best Carbon Capture and Sequestration devices going.
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, July 7th, 2024 - 6 comments
Last week the Coalition Govt said they were doing away with the name “fast-track.” This is a Govt of professional lobbyists so I am not surprised by their attunement to marketing. “Fast-track” became bad for business. The name had to go. They have also weakened regarding fast-track because of opposition.
Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, July 7th, 2024 - 79 comments
What should New Zealand Labour learn from UK Labour’s success in the recent election?
Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, June 27th, 2024 - 45 comments
The Government is in a rather precarious position relating to the contract to replace the ageing Cook Straight ferries, which clearly need replacing.
Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, June 13th, 2024 - 19 comments
National and their minion parties just announced another massive $400 million R&D subsidy for agricultural greenhouse gases by taxpayers for the low profit industry of pastoral farming. This joins the other large and hidden subsidies levied on tax and rate payers to support rural and state roads capable of sustained heavy agricultural and forestry trucks.
Written By: - Date published: 1:42 pm, June 13th, 2024 - 21 comments
It was always going to happen but it still rankles that an attempt to get farming to at least confront the damage it causes to the climate is being put on hold.
Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, June 9th, 2024 - 16 comments
Yesterday’s Greenpeace’s War on Nature protest in Tamaki Makaurau suggests growing unity on the left and an increasing determination to stop the Fast Track Projects Bill from being passed.
Written By: - Date published: 4:31 am, May 29th, 2024 - 30 comments
Defence cost us more than $6.7 billion in 2023/24. Why does our small, remote country have such a costly defence force? Is it fit for purpose – and in 2024, what is that purpose?
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, May 25th, 2024 - 10 comments
“But the truth is that real gains only ever come out of a mobilised civil society and achieving a mobilised civil society is exactly what we have to do.”
– Russel Norman
Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, May 21st, 2024 - 6 comments
In the past week Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins have both delivered future vision themed speeches. With some dramatic contrasts.
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, May 10th, 2024 - 60 comments
Powercuts in a wealthy country like New Zealand don’t make us third world. It’s bog standard neoliberalism which has both impeded upkeep of our infrastructure and blocked meaningful climate transition. Third world is when you can’t afford to fix, maintain and futureproof society. Neoliberalism is when you do that by choice.
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, May 9th, 2024 - 10 comments
The Guardian published a major report yesterday on what top climate scientists are saying about the climate crisis.
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 pm, May 2nd, 2024 - 203 comments
Yesterday in Parliament Julie Anne Genter lost her cool when Matt Doocey misrepresented what the last Government’s NLTP priorities were. Should she be sanctioned? Or should she get a medal for pointing out that Doocey was totally wrong?
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, April 30th, 2024 - 6 comments
Environmentalist and journalist Bill McKibben nails it in two minutes.
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