Nice weather down here…

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, May 16th, 2016 - 183 comments
Categories: climate change, energy, Environment, global warming, International, science, sustainability - Tags: ,

April 2016 – the average combined ocean and land surface temperature for this April was 1.29°C above the historical average land and ocean surface temperature for April. And this April was by far the hottest April on a record running back to 1880.

March was the warmest March on record. February was the hottest February on record. The same statement holds for January; for December; November and for every month back through to May of last year. The NOAA website has the figures. At the time of writing, information for April hasn’t yet been added to their pages.

Here’s an animated graphic from the NOAA for atmospheric CO2 measurements from 1979 through to January 2014…then back 800 000 years.

A detail. Notice how the graph goes up to 400ppm atmospheric CO2? Well, 2016 wouldn’t be fitting on that graph. We’re now, or the world is now, existing in a state somewhere above the graph.

The last measuring station on earth to record 400ppm was Cape Grim in Tasmania. It passed 400 ppm last week.

A thought emanating from an observation that Abby Martin made at the end of this presentation (h/t Adam) with regards Bernie Sanders taking the basic message of Occupy to the heart of the US’s recalcitrant mainstream, is it maybe time that people here got together and formed a “global warming” or “climate change” party? This shit we’re causing can’t be ignored. There really is a desperate need to confront the seriousness of our situation, yet no political party is ‘calling it’.

183 comments on “Nice weather down here… ”

  1. Sabine 1

    but but
    people get to be in shorts and t-shirts
    and its a lovely day again

  2. Colonial Viper 2

    This is a very important post.

    Firstly, your comment Bill that we need a Climate Change political party clearly shows that the watered down Green Party ain’t making the grade. If they don’t want to scare the horses, then all the horses are heading to the knackers yard.

    Secondly, is anyone here still dreaming that we are going to limit temp increases to just 2 deg C for the next 80 years?

    My guess is that we will hit 2 deg C by 2030 and the sky is the limit from there once the feedback loops kick in.

    • weka 2.1

      If you want the GP to make the grade, start voting for them. Lefties and people of conscience have had decades to get the Greens into a place where they could be much more effective on climate change. AFAIK they’re still the only party working from the base that climate change is the most important issue of all time, but they’re hamstrung by a populace that is still scared (hint, it’s not the Greens that are doing teh scaring).

      (in other words, suck up the cultural fit issue and put your money where your mouth is).

      • adam 2.1.1

        But one of the reasons I don’t vote for the greens, is the watered down politics.

        Yes I know I’m on the more anti-authoritarian and more democracy wing of the left.

        But the point here, no one is calling this, no one except a few here on the standard.

        Funny I would have thought as the champion of the climate deniers was caught trying to buy a crime, people may have made the connection between his normal set of lies and this.

        And before any of you loony climate deniers have a go, the science I get to support global environmental change is from Jesuit scientist. Who are not know to be to rabid left wings, or God forbid – communist.

        So stop with your foolishness, child like petty distractions, and see this as the real problem it is.

      • greywarshark 2.1.2

        Weka – Have the Greens got a Climate Change Minister position and someone appointed to it? It couldn’t be a shadow minister because there isn’t a Ministry that looks after this in the appropriate manner. They would have to call it the Enlightened Climate Change Minister. Is there someone who has this role in the Greens now?

        [The post was no way intended to be a post about the Green Party. Bar the comments made to date, any other comments that don’t link back to the post; comments that are wholly opinions about the Green Party – they’ll be shifted to Open Mike] – Bill

        • weka 2.1.2.1

          Fair call Bill, and apologies.

        • Xanthe 2.1.2.2

          Oops sorry !
          my post went live before this moderation
          apologies

        • greywarshark 2.1.2.3

          Okay Bill but it didn’t seem obvious that anything about environmental parties couldn’t be mentioned. I’ll stay away for fear of offending.

      • Xanthe 2.1.3

        The greens have brought about their own demise, the population are right to avoid them. Their internal factionalisation and use of polarisation and division as a campaign tool has made them unelectable. They have brought green politics into disrupute. A sad tragedy. It is not through a lack of trying by good people. rather that their processes encourage and promote bullying.

        [The post was no way intended to be a post about the Green Party. Bar the comments made to date, any other comments that don’t link back to the post; comments that are wholly opinions about the Green Party – they’ll be shifted to Open Mike] – Bill

    • b waghorn 2.2

      “My guess is that we will hit 2 deg C by 2030 and the sky is the limit from there once the feedback loops kick in.”
      Unless the last years has been a blip I would say it will be quicker

      https://www.niwa.co.nz/education-and-training/schools/resources/climate/groundfrost

      Still no frosts in Taumarunui and I’m told none in Reporoa, if you look at the stats for Rotorua and Taupo you will see that’s amazing.
      On a shallow basis though the grass growth I’m experiencing is unbelievable.

      • Sabine 2.2.1

        found some more strawberries to pick.

        rejoice we can now have strawberries in May, just like in Europe.

        And i agree with you, the two degrees will come earlier.

        And hence why this loot n bust government here and elsewhere are acting the way they do. It is ‘harvest’ time for them, cause there is nothing good coming up in the future. So those who can accumulate wealth, land, water, etc etc will. And the rest of us can get fucked.

        • b waghorn 2.2.1.1

          Tomatoes are still flowering and the pumpkin started flowering the other day , my gut tells me the governments know how bad it is but are actively soothing the masses to delay panic!

          About three weeks ago I heard our minister for climate change rabbiting on about seeing the new data and in her words “was pretty scary really”
          I’ve searched a few times to find it to link to here but can’t, did any one else here it?

          • Colonial Viper 2.2.1.1.1

            Yes I am still getting tomatoes out back it is scary.

            And my roses are still coming up with new buds.

            Very scary.

            Unless the last years has been a blip I would say it will be quicker

            Am trying not to think about that, mate.

            • Sabine 2.2.1.1.1.1

              you should.

              cause last year …. t’was only a few month ago…..we discussed the raise of 2 degrees, and we are at an increase of what 1.29 degrees already?

              The two degrees are only a few month away, before the end of this decade.

              but hey, tax cuts n shit.

        • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1.2

          And hence why this loot n bust government here and elsewhere are acting the way they do. It is ‘harvest’ time for them, cause there is nothing good coming up in the future. So those who can accumulate wealth, land, water, etc etc will. And the rest of us can get fucked.

          QFT

          They know that it’s going to turn to custard so National are just making it so that the rich can grab it all and when the time comes they’ll cut everybody else except those that will kowtow to them off.

        • left for dead 2.2.1.3

          Too true Sabine…..

    • Gabby 2.3

      Which party will come up with a coping plan that doesn’t make the majority of voters worse off materially?

    • Jenny 2.4

      ….is it maybe time that people here got together and formed a “global warming” or “climate change” party?
      Bill

      Long time Kawakawa policeman, and now climate change activist, Rob Painting stands for the climate party in Northland by-election.

      http://www.climate.org.nz/climate-party-contests-the-northland-by-election/#more-125

      Rob Painting is a contributer to Hot Topic and is a co-author of an international paper on climate change once cited by President Obama, as a suitable reference material on the subject for US high schools.

      • Bill 2.4.1

        Nice! Reckon they should be given as much oxygen as possible 🙂

        Oh. It’s all historical 🙁

        • Jenny 2.4.1.1

          “Oh. It’s all historical 🙁” Bill

          No need for the sad face Bill. The Climate Party’s work is ongoing

          Local body elections are coming up.

          I know that the Climate Party are looking to make at least one local ward coal free.

          The Climate Party also are looking for a candidate to stand in the Mt. Roskill by-election.

          The purpose, is not to seek political office. But to ensure that the establishment politicians can no longer keep actively ignoring the issue.

          Not one establishment party has ever openly sought office by campaigning to combat climate change. This lack has prevented any political party in central government or local body government from having any real mandate in office to seriously address the problem.

          The Climate Party does not seek to replace the establishment parties, the Climate Party wants to challenge the mainstream political parties to discuss this issue on the hustings.

          If establishment politicians continue to actively ignore the issue of climate change, the Climate Party is determined to grow until their voice can not be drowned out and the issue of climate change can longer be ignored.

          After all, climate change is the Elephant in the room looming over us all.

  3. weka 3

    “is it maybe time that people here got together and formed a “global warming” or “climate change” party?”

    I reckon a people’s movement that leads the way and puts pressure on political parties would be the go. (political party formation seems such a massive enterprise if we’re talking about trying to get MPs into parliament. It’s also not fast, takes years).

    • Bill 3.1

      It was a loose thought. Parliamentary seats wouldn’t be the object – I mean if 5% was passed, then great. But I was seeing it more in terms of shifting the narrative much as Sanders has done. In an election year, a political party potentiallygets far more oxygen than a protest or series of protests. It also lends legitimacy to a message if it’s attached to some expression of parliamentary politics/processes….especially where an antagonistic mainstream looks to deflect and otherwise shut down the message in question.

      • weka 3.1.1

        I think to do it similar to what Sanders is doing in terms of shifting the narrative you need a Sanders (which we don’t have). Setting up a political party takes a lot of work. If Standardistas wanted to do that, I’d definitely support it (but tend to think that… not going to say, because it will derail the convo again).

        I think there is something in between a political party and a series of protests. I agree about the potential in election year.

      • Colonial Viper 3.1.2

        A new political party may be just the ticket, Bill.

    • Pat 3.2

      “is it maybe time that people here got together and formed a “global warming” or “climate change” party?”

      Isn’t that the Greens?…….or at least in theory.

      • Jenny 3.2.1

        “I reckon a people’s movement that leads the way and puts pressure on political parties would be the go. (political party formation seems such a massive enterprise if we’re talking about trying to get MPs into parliament.” Weka

        “It was a loose thought. Parliamentary seats wouldn’t be the object – I mean if 5% was passed, then great. But I was seeing it more in terms of shifting the narrative much as Sanders has done.” Bill

        “A new political party may be just the ticket, Bill.” Colonial Viper

        If you guys were serious, you would contact the climate party and offer yourselves as candidates.

        (Just saying)

  4. Richardrawshark 4

    I won’t ever vote GP sorry, I do not think they are right for looking after the country.

    Individually I agree with their policies for the most part, but they are just tooo connected to their activist side, I think they would cause a hell of a lot of initial kaos if elected. Happy for them to partner with a party that might put some reins on their more out there idea’s.

    I would need to see more control of how they would implement their environmental changes and know it wasn’t going to be phased in.

    To cast next years votes I need

    Housing solutions
    Immigration numbers and intent
    Debt intent
    Wage parity solutions

    think they are my main issues.

    and of course now making the multi’s and rich pay their way by joining international effort to stop tax evasion of any means used.

    and that without letting anyone know they will, they will sort the state of NZ’s media out. Perhaps a forced decoupling for all media businesses. 🙂

    [The post was no way intended to be a post about the Green Party. Bar the comments made to date, any other comments that don’t link back to the post; comments that are wholly opinions about the Green Party – they’ll be shifted to Open Mike] – Bill

    • Rosemary McDonald 4.1

      ..”I agree with their policies for the most part, but they are just tooo connected to their activist side, I think they would cause a hell of a lot of initial kaos if elected.

      That’s (IMHO) exactly what is needed.

      Ever heard the expression…”You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs?”

    • Jenny 4.2

      “To cast next years votes I need

      Housing solutions
      Immigration numbers and intent
      Debt intent
      Wage parity solutions

      think they are my main issues.”

      Richardrawshark

      And herein lies the problem.

      As I have mentioned before, I have talked to Labour Party MPs and told them that climate change needs to an election issue in 2017.

      After all it is the government’s weakest performing portfolio*, where they could take some real hits.

      These politicians have just as adamantly told me that climate change will not be an election issue. That the 2017 election will be fought over the economy.

      And so it goes on, as we stumble into the darkness of an unknowable dystopian future, blighted by irreversible and life threatening extinction level climate change.

      *(possibly with the exception of housing)

  5. Glenn 8

    A disturbing article on seemorerocks http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/

    ” A few weeks ago an email from a podcast listener arrived in my in box. It read as follows:
    Deb,
    I’ve recently discovered you and your work. Your work is amazing, however it’s filled with too much hope in today’s world (Hopium). We are already in the 6th mass extinction with tipping points long passed. There is NO saving the ocean, saving endangered species, saving the forests, saving humans. It’s too late. THIS is the message that needs to be shared…how we live and die at the end of human civilization.
    Love, AV

    My initial read through triggered a wave of irritation peppered with self-righteous indignation. How dare anyone tell me that my message is filled with “too much Hopium”.
    When the wave passed however, what remained was a feeling of deep sadness. I realized that the initial irritation emerged from a part of me that didn’t want to be called out on my denial. In my heart and in every cell of my being, I knew that she was right.”…

    • weka 8.1

      People who run that line (it’s too late, we’re all going to die) are doing so from belief not fact. They’re read the same facts as everyone else and have come to their own conclusion. But they still don’t know. It’s also irrational IMO, which makes me doubt their ability to apply critical thinking to the evidence. I just wish they would be more honest that they are arguing from belief.

      I get the sentiment and temptation. But if they are wrong, then their message is incredibly damaging. Think about it. I’m not going to say any more because I don’t want to derail the thread.

      • Colonial Viper 8.1.1

        It’s our job to be realistic weka, not optimistic. More than 80 years to go this century and already 1.29 deg C. Where do you think it will most likely end up by year 2100?

        People who run that line (it’s too late, we’re all going to die)

        We are all going to die. Surely that’s not controversial. Nor the fact that the carrying capacity of the planet for humans, without fossil fuel use, is somewhere around only 1B.

        • weka 8.1.1.1

          CV, you’ve well smart enough to understand that that’s not what I am meaning.

          1. it’s not about optimism vs pessimism. It’s about people claiming opinion as fact and then leading a movement based on that that has the potential to be catastrophic. If the message is that it’s too late, how many people are going to be willing to change.

          2. obviously my statement about dying was in relation to the whole species and how humans will react to the idea that they (or their grandkids) are going to die along with all other humans. No, I don’t believe that is a given, and I am more honest about it (see, it’s an opinion).

          3. whether humans are doomed or not, the rest of life is still worth giving every chance we can.

          “Where do you think it will most likely end up by year 2100?”

          What’s the most pertinent word in that sentence? Likely. Because we don’t know. As long as there is still a chance of change, why not work towards it? It’s all about the strategy (and one’s ethics).

        • xanthe 8.1.1.2

          CV

          “Nor the fact that the carrying capacity of the planet for humans, without fossil fuel use, is somewhere around only 1B.”

          Thats bullshit!

          • Colonial Viper 8.1.1.2.1

            Take away industrial agriculture, the ability to produce fertilisers, and the ability to process and ship food that will not spoil over hundreds or thousands of kilometres.

            And what are you left with?

            • xanthe 8.1.1.2.1.1

              a sustainable healthy food supply !

            • xanthe 8.1.1.2.1.2

              CV
              the island of Cuba was placed in just that situation when the US blockaded and they were prevented from access to both fossle fuels and fertilizer,
              look it up what happened, next you might be surprised!
              people can be quite ingenious when they have to be

            • Bill 8.1.1.2.1.3

              Take away industrial agriculture? Okay. That’s a massive leap forward. Generally speaking it’s as destructive and wasteful as all hell.

              Fertiliser. Chickens, pigs, sheep, cows and humans all shit. In a mixed farm set-up, green manure is just flapping around asking to be cut up and composted.

              Remind me why incredibly wasteful industrial scale production processes, riding off the back of wasteful and inefficient industrial monoculture set ups that in concert demand food be shipped thousands of kilometers is something we want again?

              Take it away and we have small to medium sized mixed farming models (many possible types) that are far more resilient on a number of fronts, much less harmful to the general environment, much less wasteful of the product they produce and a stones throw from the people they feed.

              You want to take some of it and produce something other than raw harvest? What’s the problem?

              You want to take some of it and send it a long way off? Fine. I really don’t want to be without pepper and a clutch of other spices I can currently get quite easily. And if there was a spice trade since whenever, I’m pretty sure that could continue. Same with coffee. Same with Cacao….assuming climate change doesn’t make growing them impossible.

              Not so fussed if “Mama Murray’s Homebake Style Munchies” (may contain traces of food)..or that tinned chicken stuff disappears from the world.

              • Colonial Viper

                Totally cool with all your suggestions, great if you are in Waikouaiti or Waihola, its just that you can’t support a concrete city of 1.4M using that model.

                And a hell of a lot of people are going to have to give up their useless paper pushing keyboard pressing jobs and return to the land.

                • weka

                  They say that half of all the food eaten in Havana was grown in Havana post peak oil. Pop 2m. A big part of how Cuba did so well was because of adoption of food growing in cities. I don’t remember the details but seem to recall rabbit farms in warehouses (not my ideal in terms of animal welfare but still probably miles ahead of profit driven factory farming). Sustainable ag has many techniques for growing food in small spaces including using vertical space.

                  I haven’t been in Auckland for a long time but Dunedin and CHch both have a lot of land within their boundaries and relatively close access to land for food that can’t be grown in cities eg grains.

                  The biggest problem for NZ is that most ag isn’t for producing food to eat, it’s for growing commodities to make money. Land use changes hugely when one is growing food instead of money.

                • Bill

                  Depending on the location and the spacial make-up of the city, then I’d imagine a city of 1.4 million could be done. Maybe not. But it doesn’t strike me as completely impossible – unlike as would be the case in say, New York, Mumbai or Guangzhou…

                  I also don’t think it’s necessarily a choice between “useless paper pushing keyboard pressing jobs” and working the land. There are a million and one potentially useful things – things that contribute to society and general human welfare that can be done in the space opened up by the demise of “useless paper pushing keyboard pressing jobs”. Doctors, dentists, nurses, engineers, researchers, scientists etc….these skills aren’t suddenly ‘not needed’…and maybe, finally, there will exist a proper ‘flexible workforce’ 😉

                  • weka

                    I think it’s also that if you want to grow food without ff you need more human power.

                    • Bill

                      Well, another source of power, whether animal, human or some fuel based solution. And different techniques, some of which might be surprisingly light on the labour front.

                      My point was more to do with the impression I picked CV was creating… that it was all suddenly going to be an existence of sack cloths and knee deep mud.

                    • weka

                      Ah, ok, I didn’t pick that from his comment but it is the fear of some people for sure. At some point it will be the argument of the deniers. We can’t do THAT because life will be nasty, brutish and short. Which was a myth anyway, and it misses the point that we don’t have to abandon everything, including knowledge we have aquired.

                      I think the potential for innovation is huge. And like you say, we can maybe finally get down to organising in ways that serve us all.

                • And a hell of a lot of people are going to have to give up their useless paper pushing keyboard pressing jobs and return to the land.

                  Pol Pot, is that you?

        • Bill 8.1.1.3

          I agree about being realistic rather than optimistic or pessimistic.

          That includes not proclaiming that a one month average land and sea temperature increase above the long term average for that month is the same as saying that we are currently that amount more warm in annual terms. Annual averages tend, as far as I can see, to be measured against the 20th C annual average and not, as the case with these monthly temps, against the entire record (ie – from 1880).

          Obviously, given that the world’s warming, the longer average is going to be lower than the 20th C average.

          Meanwhile, we’re born and we’ll die. Do you have a link to any peer reviewed study that points to that uncontroversial ‘fact’ that, without fossil, the global human population will crash to about one billion?

          • Colonial Viper 8.1.1.3.1

            And this April was by far the hottest April on a record running back to 1880.

            March was the warmest March on record. February was the hottest February on record. The same statement holds for January; for December; November and for every month back through to May of last year.

            I think your post suggests that we are definitely more warm on an annual basis, and although it may not be by 1.29 deg C, it is for the entire year.

            Do you have a link to any peer reviewed study that points to that uncontroversial ‘fact’ that, without fossil, the global human population will crash to about one billion?

            No, unfortunately. And it won’t “crash” it’ll decline over a century or so, unless catastrophic circumstances occur.

            • xanthe 8.1.1.3.1.1

              CV
              “And it won’t “crash” it’ll decline over a century or so, unless catastrophic circumstances occur.”

              thats Bullshit !

              • Colonial Viper

                *Shrug*

                Just look at the world population in the 100,000 years before the 1800s and before fossil fuel use became ubiquitous.

                • Gristle

                  The speed with which systems change can be phenomenally quick and the outcomes are largely unexpected. Sure there will be lone voices, but they are dismissed as crazy (and of course some will be crazy).

                  IMO the soft landing option is unlikely to happen and there will too many tears for too many people.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    Bearing in mind for the poor and homeless in Paris, and in Barcelona, and in Athens, and in Las Vegas, – and apparently now in Auckland – the end of western civilisation has already come.

                    For us fools temporarily a bit higher up on the “socioeconomic ladder”…as Orlov says…we are the ones with further to fall. And it is going to hurt.

                    • Bill

                      No, western civilisation is still very present in their lives. It’s what’s filling their lives with so much bloody hopelessness. They’ve been deliberately marginalised and offered institutional ‘support’ from institutions that have been quite consciously rendered dysfunctional.

                    • weka

                      Not to mention the fact that civ still provides their food, shelter and warmth even where it does so deficiently.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      I guess living in the Las Vegas storm drains counts as civ providing their shelter…

                    • weka

                      Where do they get their food from? Because I’m betting it still comes from an industrial source.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      sure, they dumpster dive behind the 7-11

                    • weka

                      Yes, part of civilisation. It’s not like civilisation has ever been civilised for all people 😉

      • xanthe 8.1.2

        thanks Weka I was just about to make the same point.
        what if …. the general population on a visceral level does get global warming?
        what if … in arguing with the climate deniers you are actually giving them air (ironically enough) and as above giving the message we are all doomed

        Now I have no scientific proof but I actually believe that around 90% of all oil consumption is waste unneccessary or damageing (wanna war anyone?)… properly organised everyones quality of life would improve if we stopped.
        Yes the financial house of cards that is founded on exponential growth of consumption would fall, … everyons life would improve.
        Yes there would have to be more local production of foods and consumption of foods and yes these foods would be less processed, packaged , an transported ….health would improve.
        Yes we would work less in jobs and more in providing food, shelter, culture, for our local community….. and we would be happier for it

        A message of doom and disaster as a certaincy plays into the “well then lets make sure we grab our share of whats left” ie it boosts the policys of jk

        lets promote the positive vision of the very real benefits of a zero waste, zero extraction, economy.

        • weka 8.1.2.1

          It would certainly be good to get the debate to that place. I think many people are still largely stuck in varying degrees of powerlessness. We’ve been talking about this for a long time on ts, but how many of us are actually making the changes towards that kind of life? The biggest challenge here is what is going on inside people’s heads.

          • b waghorn 8.1.2.1.1

            I’m of the opinion that change has to come from the government down but that can only happen in a democracy if the voters lean on them.
            As for what’s in my mind re climate change ,
            A ;I will support any party that’s promotes real action ( the ets is not real action.
            B; I will be watching for the best way to protect my own if things get rough
            C; I am going to try and make life as enjoyable as possible for those close to me in case the end is near.

            One very good mate said to me the other day that he just feels that the job is to big and feels powerless.

            • weka 8.1.2.1.1.1

              We feel powerless, but we’re not. There are so many things we can do. I agree with that bit abot it’s up to govts to make the change and for voters to lean on them to act. At this point, because of the govt we have, I think my energy is better spent on pushing and encouraging people to wake up and act so that they will then lean on authorities.

        • johnm 8.1.3.1

          I’ve encountered Wekas many times at the top of the South Island, they’re charming and mischievous and run off with objects you leave on the ground. And pace around your camp site looking for more opportunities.

          A much loved Kiwi bird! 🙂

    • Draco T Bastard 8.2

      A disturbing article on seemorerocks

      And which article would that one be?

    • Bill 8.3

      Disturbing? Not really.

      Stripping away all the spiritual references and ignoring the stupid “McPhersonesque” prompt she bought into, and it comes down to someone struggling to emotionally engage with the realisation that, sure, maybe we have bit the big one.

      See. Whether we have or haven’t ‘bit the big one’, we certainly aren’t responding to our situation with intelligence, either at the institutional, systemic, collective or individual level.

      And that includes debozarko, the writer of the post who, for the time being at least, seems to have decided that the best course of action is to get all self indulgent, a bit self pitying – maybe even fatalistic – and then offer credence to a strategy that basically involves either turning turtle or playing dead.

      Maybe they’ll come out of it. Or maybe they’ll stay hitched to the McPherson wagon train. That “Freedom from Hope” is the working title for an upcoming post in June kind of suggests some fairly feverish gripping on a one way ticket for the wagon train of doom though. 😉

      • weka 8.3.1

        Good explanation.

        I’m all for people working through their panic and distress, so they can cope and hopefully take action. Can’t see the point in getting fatalistic though. I also find it weird the need to almost proselytise the view. If I believed it was the end of the world with no redemption then I think I’d shut up and let people just be how they are. What is the point of all the increased suffering if you think there is nothing that can be done? Maybe they don’t want to be alone in it.

  6. johnm 9

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vaIjs5lC3U

    [Johnm. I quite enjoy some of your vid links, they can be quite informative. But…too many on a thread kind of turns the thread into ‘wallpaper’. Plus – how about a little bit of context? At the moment it’s not a million miles away from somebody dropping text links with no accompanying commentary explaining why somebody might want to click the link. And that’s something that’s generally frowned on.] – Bill

    • Chooky 9.1

      +100…well worth watching

    • johnm 9.2

      Hi Bill

      “I quite enjoy some of your vid links, they can be quite informative.”

      That’s a put down. The Antarctic ice sheets are going to melt increasing sea level by metres, many metres.

      The Arctic is set to get exponentially hotter as sea ice disappears faster and faster at the end of the Summer season and that’s “quite informative”!

      These dare I say scientists know what they’re talking about far more than you, me or Weka know.

      I think it’s alot more serious than “quite informative”

      Have a nice day 🙂

      • Chooky 9.2.1

        +100 johnm… local comments are all very well but I would prefer to learn from the real experts

      • Bill 9.2.2

        How is it a put down? Some of the links provide details I wasn’t aware of. Some don’t. What you want me to call that if not ‘quite informative’?

        • Chooky 9.2.2.1

          “expert”

          ie . information and visuals from scientists on the ground , who have studied the situation for years

          …they are the core source of everyone’s knowledge about climate change..they are experts in their field…their analysis can change with new evidence, data and debate amongst other experts

          …these climate scientist experts do not have complete absolute and total knowledge because we all have anecdotal knowledge and our own personal experience of climate change in our areas and ideas what to do about it ..but a lot of our core understanding of climate change is derivative from these experts

        • johnm 9.2.2.2

          Sounds dramatic but it’s like someone told you back in 1940 the Germans had just invaded the Holland and Belgium: ” Thanks for that it’s quite informative!? ” Bill, you seem not to have any understanding of the severity and seriousness of this issue! It really could end our smug civilisation for ever, don’t you feel and realise that!? It is the Truth without lies and spin. Like Paul Henry’s “we’re schickered”.

          • Chooky 9.2.2.2.1

            +100…a case of home grown ‘experts’ are unimpressed with international researcher experts

            …that link shows that the crisis could be faster than forecast, faster than expected and we are, most of us, unprepared

            ‘Risk From Abrupt Climate Change is Enormous’

            …”Published on Feb 25, 2016
            People (public, politicians, even scientists) are terrible at evaluating RISK. As a result, society makes many stupid choices and fails to worry and deal with the most serious problems. People need to worry a lot more about ABRUPT climate change, which dwarfs all other risks…

          • Bill 9.2.2.2.2

            Oh, I think I’m fairly cognisant of how serious the situation is. I expect it could easily result in a world where we wouldn’t recognise any human presence as anything resembling early 21C civilisation. And I also know that I can’t remember the last time I saw a report that said things weren’t as bad as previously thought. N’fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read such a thing. And I know it could all cascade rather abruptly.

            Now, what was your point?

            All I pointed out was that a screed of vid links one after the other (often re-posts) ain’t so flash. That, and that a lot of the info is already known by people reading these posts and commenting on AGW threads.

            Have you noticed how AGW posts are kind of siloed these days? Like the same people, if commenting is anything to go by, are avoiding them ‘like the plague’? Or how, even a goodly number who do comment, aren’t really engaging, preferring to look at it all via mirrors as it were?

            • Chooky 9.2.2.2.2.1

              well I stand by my first comment to johnm….”+100…well worth watching”

              …you then questioned johnm’s contribution… he found what you subsequently said as a “put down”… i also found it as a put down of my positive comment to his link..

              personally while local comments are of interest i would prefer to be informed by experts on climate change…as I dont have much time to follow endless arguing of points or statements of the obvious

              …so for me these links to experts are valuable

  7. Colonial Viper 10

    Its the poor fools in steerage and third class who first notice the water pouring in.

    The idiots in First Class are still up there in the ballroom completely oblivious. And the ones who understand that there is something going on don’t think that the water will ever affect them.

  8. dukeofurl 12

    Nice weather down here ?

    Historical temperatures compared to monthly highs in Dunedin ( Airport)

    http://www.metservice.com/towns-cities/dunedin

    Average over last 10 years of maximum temperature in April is 24C. Pretty warm on average you would think

    • weka 12.1

      Cool, we should just shift the whole planet including the biosphere to the Dunedin Airport.

      You are a denialist. All you can do in this thead is try and prevent people from taking CC seriously (and via troll moves at that). That’s pretty fucked up in the scheme of things.

      • Colonial Viper 12.1.1

        dukeofurl is a good barometer in that he tends to represent some of the thinking of the Labour Party hierarchy.

        • dukeofurl 12.1.1.1

          Do you mean those people in Labour who are elected by the voters.

          Much to my surprise the long term rise in temperature in Dunedin isnt matching that of the ‘Globe’
          http://www.niwa.co.nz/our-science/climate/information-and-resources/nz-temp-record/seven-station-series-temperature-data

          The average temperature in Dunedin in 2015 was 11.18C, that of 1909 was 11.10

          Not the increase I was expecting, science is like that, doesnt give you the numbers you want. The highest was in 1999 but dropped back a bit since then.

          • McFlock 12.1.1.1.1

            Why would you be surprised?

            You’re talking about the difference between two observations in one variable (temperature station), when the discussion is about the sum total of differences in all variables (global temperature averages). Hell, if you’d selected Dunedin 1910, You might have found a temperature decrease (statistical noise, of course, but you’d have been pleased).

            In other words, the discussion is about “climate”, and you’re wittering on about “weather”.

            • dukeofurl 12.1.1.1.1.1

              Its the average temperature over a year, so its climate. Do you know anything about climate science ? Doesnt seem to be.

              Average over all the years since 1909 is 11.78C for Dunedin
              Last year average was 11.18. So its below the long term average from the climate data

              Of course two years that are 100 years apart is not a good way to look at this but using the anomaly is difficult without graphs and charts. But the link is there for others to produce the numbers that show Dunedin is above the NZ long term average, or not.

              • Colonial Viper

                Its the average temperature over a year, so its climate.

                OMFG

              • Colonial Viper

                I suggest that climate is typically a 20 year to 100 year view of the weather. But NASA says this:

                What Climate Means

                In short, climate is the description of the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area.

                Some scientists define climate as the average weather for a particular region and time period, usually taken over 30-years. It’s really an average pattern of weather for a particular region.

                When scientists talk about climate, they’re looking at averages of precipitation, temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind velocity, phenomena such as fog, frost, and hail storms, and other measures of the weather that occur over a long period in a particular place.

                For example, after looking at rain gauge data, lake and reservoir levels, and satellite data, scientists can tell if during a summer, an area was drier than average. If it continues to be drier than normal over the course of many summers, than it would likely indicate a change in the climate.

                http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html

              • McFlock

                So your argument against a global rise of 2C by 2030 is that Dunedin weather station has been slighlty more stable if you compare only the start point and the end point of the measurement period?

                good-oh

                • dukeofurl

                  The global rise isnt being reflected locally, Dunedin in particular. That surprises me , yes.
                  Average of annual temps in Dunedin is 11.07, last years annual average is 11.18.
                  A 1/10 degree more than the long term average, over 110 years, that surprises me. But it is what it is.

                  • McFlock

                    It is sampling noise within the sampling of a single station that goes towards an aggregate trend analysis.

                    Other years in Dunedin will provide greater or lesser variation over the aggregate annual average.

                    Other weather stations around the globe will have greater or lesser variation from the global average.

                    Your observations about Dunedin are not particularly unexpected or relevant to a post about global averages.

                  • In Vino

                    For heaven’s sake, dof. Did you not see the global maps of warming/cooling that showed NZ as being one of the very few areas in the world to be cool during early summer?
                    Forget your silly little back yard, and recognise the big pattern of undeniable warming.

                    [“Unfortunately” dof can’t respond to your query because if he does, he’ll cop a lengthy ban.] – Bill

            • weka 12.1.1.1.1.2

              He’s doing a backtrack. His original posts were clearly implicating that there was something wrong with Bill’s post but not overt enough to wear a denialists tshirt. This is the guy who says NZ doesn’t need to worry about sea level rise because shifts in tectonic plates will keep ahead of the water.

              • b waghorn

                “This is the guy who says NZ doesn’t need to worry about sea level rise because shifts in tectonic plates will keep ahead of the water.”

                Complete Muppet wishes for massive tectonic upheaval to combat ocean inundation, fuck I hope dukeofurl is a long way from any decision making.

                • weka

                  He means normal lift from slow tectonic overlap, but yeah a numpty of fairly high order.

                • dukeofurl

                  You are incorrect, I do think the tectonic movements for the parts of NZ that have them, are a bigger problem, as they are in the orders of cms per year, while sea level rise currently is mm

                  http://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Our-Science/Earth-Science/Plate-Tectonics/NZ-plate-boundary

                  Not much of NZ that isnt in the plate boundary zone. of course the north of the NI will have the normal rising sea levels.
                  Your attempts to score points against me and be the self appointed witch burners is tedious, and hugely off topic.

                  • In Vino

                    ‘normal sea rising levels’… They are no longer normal, dof.
                    You remind me of someone… Now who could that be? Who over the years in history and literature have tried to deny reality?
                    Marie Antoinette comes to mind. She thought it was OK to live in a world of artificial privilege.

              • McFlock

                lol

                Climate change not a problem, monthly tsunamis caused by high-magnitude quakes suddenly become an issue. Great.

          • Colonial Viper 12.1.1.1.2

            Do you mean those people in Labour who are elected by the voters.

            Yes, those fewer and fewer of them.

            • dukeofurl 12.1.1.1.2.1

              Yes its a similar pattern in western countries with labour or social democratic parties. Vote is splintered on the left. Works against them gaining government except in Australia where the preferential system flows favour labour.

              • Colonial Viper

                That must explain NZ Labour’s vote collapsing from the 40% range 10 years ago to the 20% range today.

                • McFlock

                  a wee bit off topic, but it’s certainly a factor.

                • dukeofurl

                  Perhaps you could write a post on how NZ labour is the outlier in recent elections , Ireland, Scoltand, UK etc.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    NZ Labour is history, like the rest of the establishment former-left parties around the globe.

          • Millicent 12.1.1.1.3

            Hi, I’m a “I recognise climate change but I’m certain its not totally due to anthropogenic causes”. By hazard I picked up a Readers Digest 1970’s edition of British Birds in which the into discusses in length climate change in the UK over the last few thousand years and how this has impacted on species found and their numbers. The book seems to have been written and edited by highly qualified scientists. I don’t know who wrote the intro but really does ‘put things in perspective as far as climate is concerned.” In the 1930’s Britain’s climate was almost comparable to the ‘little optimum of 900-1200 AD.” and During the first half of the 20th century the tree-line rose by several hundred feet ( I can’t believe humans had enough impact in the 1920’s to provoke that… population was way lower and China and Japan not industrialised.

    • Bill 12.2

      You linked to one day’s local weather that was below the 10 year average maximum land temperature for the month in that location and….idiocy.

      Maybe you thought you were being a wee bit smart in referring to local temperatures pertaining to the place where you reckon the author was writing from? And it didn’t cross your mind that ‘down here’ just referred to ‘on the ground’?

      Did I already point out the idiocy of your comment?

      Would I be right to assume you have nothing intelligent to say about the info contained in the post?

      • dukeofurl 12.2.1

        Check that tab to show historical temperatures in Dunedin. Doesnt have a direct link to the climate data other than by this method.
        My view is that it has certainly become warmer in Dunedin in April than say 30 years ago, in last few years not so much. Long term rise in temperature and all that stuff.
        As for Dunedin it was an inspired guess.
        http://thestandard.org.nz/an-occupation-occupied-what%E2%80%99s-next/

        Should I choose another town ?

        • McFlock 12.2.1.1

          Don’t choose another town.

          Do a decent trend analysis on all the data points and confirm whether NIWA’s numbers are correct, or make a convincing argument as to why the numbers or the methodology behind them is incorrect.

          Then get two or three people who know about math and suchlike to check the numbers, and submit it to a journal for publication so that other people can test your and NIWA’s figuring. That’s how science works.

          • dukeofurl 12.2.1.1.1

            NIWA has better climate stats in their little finger than those who would question them.
            They have leading scientists who have used methods based on previous gold standard published science to make their ‘7 station long term temperature series’
            Im not surprised to get an anti science views from some. Science also doesnt always give the numbers you expect. I was expecting warmer temps in Dunedin over the long term , but its not so.

            • Colonial Viper 12.2.1.1.1.1

              Maybe climate change isn’t a problem for Dunedin then.

              Sweet.

              • McFlock

                Well, temperature change.

                Still need to work on the southD mud tanks…

              • dukeofurl

                Would explain the lack of interest in a climate change party amoung the locals then.
                What a bummer , not being a global warming hotspot. No droughts, no deluges, no fires… well apart from some drunk students, but they have missed out.

                • Colonial Viper

                  What would you know of the politics of Dunedin locals?

                  I can tell you one thing – they’ve stopped giving their party vote to Labour, in both Dunedin North and in Dunedin South.

                  • I imagine that that’ll come as a surprise to the 25 thousand or so Dunedin South and North voters who ticked party vote Labour at the last election, CV. I predict that now that the party is again united and focussed in the south of the city, the party vote can only improve 😉

                  • dukeofurl

                    Bill is my source:
                    “Currently not holding out much hope on the community front. Broadly speaking, it’s fragmented and essentially fighting itself as every individual continues to try to get ahead at the expense of the person they were once in community with.”
                    I presume he was speaking locally.

                    You learn something everyday, Im now quite au fait with Dunedin long term climate change.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      I hope your analysis is not representative of the performance of the brains trust for a certain major political party.

                • McFlock

                  “no deluges”?

                  Seriously?

                  They’re still cleaning up the mess (literal and bureaucratic) from the last one!

                  • Colonial Viper

                    South Dunedin has been flooded before, nothing new there, certainly nothing to do with Climate Change 😉

                    • dukeofurl

                      Thats right , just poor drainage for a suburb built on a swamp. And a council which throws money at a stadium and other baubles rather then a vital infrastructure.

                      [Silly me for not keeping a closer eye on what was happening on this thread. This was your last ever comment on a post by me that’s about global warming. If you make any further comments on any posts I do on this topic, you’ll cop a ban, the length of which will be arbitrarily decided by the mood ‘m in at the time. Safe to assume it will be for a long time though.] – Bill

                    • weka

                      same with New Oleans!

  9. gsays 13

    Thanks Bill,
    I have mulling this over for a while.

    It seems to me to be a call to further build resilience in our community.

    I spent the weekend with a civil defence chap, if he said prepper once he said it a dozen times.

    So often those two ideas are at odds with each other.

    Feels like the realistic way.forward.

    • Bill 13.1

      Currently not holding out much hope on the community front. Broadly speaking, it’s fragmented and essentially fighting itself as every individual continues to try to get ahead at the expense of the person they were once in community with.

      • Robert Guyton 13.1.1

        Hope, Pandora, is not to be sneezed at. It will probably be all we have left and will represent the only way through. I’m holding onto it, no matter what you clever folk might say. That and doing everything I can to make the world a better place. Keeps me busy and stops me fretting 🙂

        • Colonial Viper 13.1.1.1

          Hope is fine, necessary and helpful.

          Optimism, not so much.

        • weka 13.1.1.2

          The thing I like about that approach is that not matter what the reality, it still brings multiple benefits. And the things we need to do in response to cc are the things we should be doing anway. Keeping busy and not fretting is not to be sneezed at either.

      • Robert Atack 13.1.2

        Back in the dim dark past when even I had ‘hope’ I thought that doing a several month bus tour, hopping from Marari to Marari ala Transition Towns, (before they had the name), could have been a way of spreading the word, and sewing the seed 😉
        Eventually the tribal system maybe the last ‘structure’ left.

    • xanthe 13.2

      grow local eat local

  10. I think we hit +1.5 C in March didn’t we? Something like .3C up on the year befor??
    2030 may be a bit of hopeful thinking.
    But all’s not lost because something like 2.6 million Kiwis are putting their money on creating more CO2, via the growth based savings scam that is KiwiSaver.
    2.6 million people will not want to vote for the climate over $. And I guess that goes for the person starting a 50 year mortgage, and the mother looking into the eyes of her newborn. They simply do not want to listen, facts and ‘happy happy joy joy’ beliefs/thoughts can not occupy the same cranium.
    Most people don’t appreciate how lucky we are, we are traveling first class on the Titanic, especially those who can read this, we are living the dream.

    • Colonial Viper 14.1

      Robert Atack, we need Kiwi Saver and the Cullen Fund because the NZ Government may not be able to afford to pay out on NZ Super after 2060.

      Or something.

      BTW is there time to order another round of cocktails from the bar.

    • Most people live their lives as though some massive calamity isn’t about to befall them? It’s unfathomable. Still, people in Malthus’ time didn’t commit suicide en masse either – nowt so queer as folk, eh?

      • Robert Atack 14.2.1

        I think If Malthus understood fossil fueled population growth, he would be turning in his grave at the thought of 7.2 (?) billion of us.
        That is without a space port ferrying in nutrients to sustain us ) And taking the garbage away.
        I think it was Richard Heinberg who asked if humans were smarter than yeast?

        • Paul 14.2.1.1

          Arithmetic, Population and Energy — a talk by Dr. Albert Bartlett on the impossibility of exponential growth on a finite planet.

          Professor Al Bartlett begins his one-hour talk with the statement, “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY

        • Psycho Milt 14.2.1.2

          Meh. When I was a kid it was nuclear armageddon that had the doomsayers scoffing at those foolish enough to have children, take out a mortgage or save for their retirement. Well, them and the “end times” enthusiasts. The people now excitedly waiting for western civilisation to be swept away by the imminent environmental holocaust are hardly distinguishable from the ones who used to hand me tracts listing the many signs that reveal these are the end times and judgement is at hand – don’t go clearing your appointments calendar is my advice.

          • Colonial Viper 14.2.1.2.1

            How much are those Roman government bonds worth these days? Or that mansion in Pompeii?

            Or more recently, in the 1990s when an entire Soviet family’s life savings ended up being worth a good pair of work boots due to simple currency collapse.

          • Pat 14.2.1.2.2

            a slight difference in those examples however….97% of scientists weren’t the ones handing you those tracts….it was some sandled individual in tie-dye.

            • weka 14.2.1.2.2.1

              Bloody hippies 😉

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physicians_for_Social_Responsibility

              I think the fact that we haven’t had a nuclear war could speak to success of the peace movements not failure.

              • Pat

                certainly didn’t do any harm….luck may have also played a part.

                • weka

                  true. I find the convergence of activism and chance turning into a tipping point to be fascinating and probably where the best hope is (for those that are into that sort of thing).

              • Actually, the end-times nutcases tended to be conservatives in their Sunday best – sandals and tie-dye was more the anti-nuclear types. And 97% of scientists are not telling us that there’s no point in living as though civilisation was going to survive the next few decades.

                I think the fact that we haven’t had a nuclear war could speak to success of the peace movements not failure.

                Sure. With the end-times comparison I’m thinking more of commenters like CV and Robert Atack, who seem to be not only convinced western civilisation’s about to fall but also positively looking forward to it.

  11. When I go on about how there is SFA we can do to halt or even moderate climate change, that it is at it’s own runaway speed, and like the ball hitting the roulette wheel, our efforts to slow this thing are as a futile, and insignificant.
    Everyone gets all crybaby at me, instead of fucking around tilting at windmills* ‘people’ need to be building local support groups, these things might need years in the making, when the wholesale collapse of this BS system could be a matter of months away? God knows??
    The more organised we are at food distribution, the longer things will hold together.
    Of course not bringing a child into the shit storm would be ideal, next best thing would be to prevent them from being next week’s barbeque.
    It is going to be millions of years before we see sub 400 ppm CO2. The environment has reached 400 so fast it has overtaken the effects, maybe like the sound barrier ? It could be popping now?
    Regardless, the shit is going down, we could be entering the 5 + degrees in 10 years scenario, but like I said as ‘we’ have gone through the sound barrier at exponential speed, anything is possible, that must be what ‘10,000 times faster’ means, surly?
    *Climate change marches, international meetings (COP out) , so called carbon tax, And even ‘dare I say it’ people like Guy McPherson traveling all over the place giving talks, not that he isn’t an okay person, but his efforts are just like that ball. etc etc,
    bla bla

    • johnm 15.1

      Earth’s ‘Battery’ Draining Too Fast to Sustain Life .
      Posted on May 16, 2016 by Kevin Hester — 1 Comment

      We have exceeded our planetary boundaries and are in the free-fall stage of this disaster.
      For the people of Africa this collapse is already underway, it’s only an “Academic discussion” in privileged circles predominantly in the Affluent West.

      “If we don’t reverse this trend, we’ll eventually reach a point where the biomass battery discharges to a level at which Earth can no longer sustain us,” Schramski said.

      Sorry to be the ‘Bringer’ of bad news but if you factor in Runaway Abrupt Climate Change and the 10 to 40 year lag between cause and effect you can see that the credit the planet is living on has Expired.

      Professor Guy McPherson and myself will tour NZ in November 2016 talking about the immediate consequences that will unfold as the greatest experiment in the history of our species plays out on the unsuspecting.

      Habitat collapse, Global Economic collapse, Habitat, Food and Water wars. 450 Nuclear Power Station melt-downs and 1200 spent fuel pool fires. Welcome to our dystopian future that will very soon be our reality.
      ———- ———-

      ‘Unless humans slow the destruction of Earth’s declining supply of plant life, civilization like it is now may become completely unsustainable, according to a paper published recently by University of Georgia researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

      “You can think of the Earth like a battery that has been charged very slowly over billions of years,” said the study’s lead author, John Schramski, an associate professor in UGA’s College of Engineering. “The sun’s energy is stored in plants and fossil fuels, but humans are draining energy much faster than it can be replenished.” Article in full, continues here: ‘Earth’s ‘Battery’ Draining Too Fast to Sustain Life‘:

      https://kevinhester.live/2016/05/16/earths-battery-draining-too-fast-to-sustain-life/comment-page-1/#comment-67

    • JonL 15.2

      Have you read Dmitry Orlov’s “The Five Stages of Collapse – a Survivors Toolkit” ?
      a quick review here http://cluborlov.blogspot.com.au/p/the-five-stages-of-collapse.html
      His style is easy to read and does make one think – it’s not really doom and gloom, but – “In the interest of avoiding misunderstandings, it bears repeating that this is not a “Unless we…” book or a “We must…” book. If you are looking for a book that will tell you how to keep nine plus billion people alive in a carbon-neutral way, you are bound to be disappointed. Also, this book is likely to test the limits of your mental comfort zone, because you will, in the course of reading it, discover that the people who stand the greatest chance of surviving collapse do not resemble you socially or culturally.

      • Bill 15.2.1

        Stages 1 through 3, I agree with. In my book, he has four and five all wrong though.

        He suggests Stage 4: Social collapse. Faith that “your people will take care of you” is lost.

        Well, we live in a dog eat dog society at the moment where (jut to give one example) older people are shuffled off and into (often) sterile old folks homes to be cared for by strangers on minimum wage. So, fuck knows where he thinks that “faith” that “your people will take care of you” is coming from. Stage four could just as well be realising that we have to look out for one another….turning ‘individualism’ on its head. The anthropological study of the Ik people he leans on to promote his misanthropy has been thoroughly discredited btw

        Stage 5: Cultural collapse. Faith in “the goodness of humanity” is lost.

        Again. I think he’s got it all upside down or back to front. Maybe we’ll actually start paying attention to our better sides and acting on them. Look at the world today. Show me the overwhelming goodness that’s on display. The goodness of humanity could actually be found, not lost.

        • Colonial Viper 15.2.1.1

          You have to realise that Orlov is taking the perspective of what he knows and what he has seen: the slowly collapsing USA today and the collapse of the USSR last century.

          He ain’t talking about the situation in Aotearoa. We’re luckier here than in those places.

          • Bill 15.2.1.1.1

            So he’s talking from a culturally conditioned perspective and flipping it over. So did Ayn Rand.

            Russian society collapsing and the aftermath being hammered hard by market fundamentalism might be a reason for his stage four and stage five – they make sense in that context. But only that context. Meanwhile, we’re taking about about a collapse with no ‘geared up and ready to go’ political or economic ideology imposing itself post collapse …of the globally integrated human community simply ‘going south’. An entirely different scenario.

            • weka 15.2.1.1.1.1

              I think 4 and 5 come from his exeriences in the US not Russia. His work on post-USSR showed that the Russians were actually far better adapted to collapse than the Americans would be, and those in the country especially were relatively ok, precisely because those things you are talking about (helping each other) already existed.

              • Pat

                I see Orlov is big on stage 3 and the role of military….. is worth noting NZ has a grand total of around 6000 servicemen and women, going to be spread pretty thin….or very concentrated?

                • Colonial Viper

                  NZ/US military exercises in the South Island focussed on suppressing social unrest a couple of years ago.

                  The key is to identify and isolate potential trouble makers and trouble organisers early on.

                  The politically active and so forth.

                  • Pat

                    that could be achieved with a very small number…and probably not strictly the military…..Orlov has the military in a construction, distribution policing role in the main (from the brief outline linked)..and recall that exercise but suspect if it came to that here the US would have its hands full at home and would not likely be looking to the likes of here

                    • Colonial Viper

                      The central US could fall into disarray leaving tens of thousands of US servicemen stranded overseas with no easy way to get back home.

                      With their arms, and with a broken down chain of command.

                  • Pat

                    unlikely stranded….they have one or two naval vessels……a rogue one of those could be problematic.

            • Colonial Viper 15.2.1.1.1.2

              Well, I tend to disagree with your conclusions here, as they are pretty glib and easy.

              What you’ve forgotten about is how people react when their lives and plans as they knew and assumed come to an abrupt and poorly explained end.

              And the absolute social and psychological disaster which results, when large parts of your society decide to give up and drink or fight themselves to death.

              • Pat

                “Impunity is so widespread that lynchings have now become common.

                Several months ago a thief stole a motorcycle at gunpoint in one of the steep winding streets of the neighbourhood. A group of motorcyclists chased down the thief, beat him, doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.

                John Díaz, 25 said he didn’t participate in the mob but saw the man’s charred remains on the street.

                “People are fed up. With everything,” he said.

                The lynching and looting are manifestations of anger and impotence that clinical psychologist Liliana Castiglione is seeing in her practice where 80% her patients’ problems are related to the country’s economic and social crisis.”
                http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/20/venezuela-breaking-point-food-shortages-protests-maduro

              • Pat

                “Impunity is so widespread that lynchings have now become common.

                Several months ago a thief stole a motorcycle at gunpoint in one of the steep winding streets of the neighbourhood. A group of motorcyclists chased down the thief, beat him, doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.

                John Díaz, 25 said he didn’t participate in the mob but saw the man’s charred remains on the street.

                “People are fed up. With everything,” he said.

                The lynching and looting are manifestations of anger and impotence that clinical psychologist Liliana Castiglione is seeing in her practice where 80% her patients’ problems are related to the country’s economic and social crisis.”
                http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/20/venezuela-breaking-point-food-shortages-protests-maduro

        • weka 15.2.1.2

          I’m not sure Orlov is a mistanthrope. I haven’t read the book but I read a lot of his articles and blogposts when I was educating myself about peak oil back in the day and I always thought he was a good blend of the realistic and the potential. He appears to be saying that these are five levels of collapse, each increasingly bad, and that we have some choices about which stages we go through. It’s not inevitable that each will happen.

          Re old people’s homes, stage 4 is when society no longer has the state structure to provide for old people. As bad as rest homes are, not having them would be worse. He’s talking about where we are now (we have rest homes) and if we go through the 4th stage collapse, things get so bad that old people will be dependent on family (too bad if they don’t have any). He’s not saying that this is inevitable and permanent (except maybe stage 5), he’s just describing what will happen if we get to that stage in the collapse. What we do after that is up to us I guess.

          From an older link,


          While attempting to arrest collapse at Stage 1 and Stage 2 would probably be a dangerous waste of energy, it is probably worth everyone’s while to dig in their heels at Stage 3, definitely at Stage 4, and it is quite simply a matter of physical survival to avoid Stage 5. In certain localities – those with high population densities, as well as those that contain dangerous nuclear and industrial installations – avoiding Stage 3 collapse is rather important, to the point of inviting foreign troops and governments in to maintain order and avoid disasters. Other localities may be able to prosper indefinitely at Stage 3, and even the most impoverished environments may be able to support a sparse population subsisting indefinitely at Stage 4.

          http://cluborlov.blogspot.co.nz/2008/02/five-stages-of-collapse.html

        • Millicent 15.2.1.3

          Bill, I’ve just found this site and have been reading comments and don’t understand why you have it in for Dukofurl as he has actually made some very solid statements which he presents clearly with out personal attacks.

    • “Figures released by Nasa over the weekend show the global temperature of land and sea was 1.11C warmer in April than the average temperature for April during the period 1951-1980.”

      How have we gone from comparing now to pre industrial, to comparing now to 1951 – 80 ish?
      COP out 21 was about stopping ‘us’ going to +1.5 from preindustrial, so how are we going with that one?? Wasn’t March +1.5/preindustrial? kind of fucked COP21 didn’t it.

      • Robert Atack 16.1.2

        https://robertscribbler.com/2016/05/16/nasa-world-just-had-seven-months-straight-of-record-shattering-global-heat/

        According to NASA GISS, global temperatures in April were 1.11 degrees Celsius (C) hotter than its 20th Century baseline average. When compared to preindustrial readings (NASA 1880s), temperatures have globally heated by a total of +1.33 C. And that’s a really big jump in global heat, especially when one considers the context of the last seven months. When one looks at that, it appears that global temperatures are racing higher with a fearful speed.

        • Bill 16.1.2.1

          I admit to being a bit confused. The source I used in the post was the ‘National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Follow the link for the NOAA in the post, and you’ll see they say this about March of this year.

          Overall, the nine highest monthly temperature departures in the record have all occurred in the past nine months. March 2016 also marks the 11th consecutive month a monthly global temperature record has been broken, the longest such streak in NOAA’s 137 years of record keeping.

          (emphasis added)

          It’s kind of academic to bother about the difference in reporting between them and NASA at this stage, but still….

          • Colonial Viper 16.1.2.1.1

            great, so for those 9 months not only were there all time record highs, but those record highs exceeded the previous record by a record large amount. Just fabulous.

            • Bill 16.1.2.1.1.1

              Yeah. I dunno. Seems like two different things are getting reported, depending on the source. Maybe one of the sources glitched in their reporting? I haven’t gone away and tried to figure it out. Like I say, it seems kind of academic, y’know…is that a three tonne boulder that landed on him or a five tonne boulder?

  12. Smilin 17

    Just shows dont it that the Green revolution is in everything we do and is maligned purely because there aint an advertising buck in the truth and that people think they’re going to be immortal purely by believing in the ignorant view that having everything is the saving grace of their totally limited lives by controlled by debt mongers like Key

  13. Elizabeth 18

    It’s really disturbing, the global warming is a fact, I hope people will start doing something about it

    [Spam link removed. Thanks, CV. TRP]

  14. Elizabeth 19

    [Deleted.TRP]

Links to post

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 hour ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    2 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    3 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    8 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    8 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    9 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    10 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    24 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
    This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti.  Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-03-19T05:03:44+00:00