A series of climate records on temperature, ocean heat, and Antarctic sea ice have alarmed scientists who say their speed and timing is unprecedented. Dangerous heatwaves sweeping Europe could break further records, according to the UN. Here are four climate records broken so far this summer – and what they mean.
The world experienced its hottest day ever recorded in July, breaking the global average temperature record set in 2016.
Average global temperature topped 17C for the first time, reaching 17.08C on 6 July, according to EU climate monitoring service Copernicus. The average global temperature in June this year was 1.47C above the typical June in the pre-industrial period.
The average global ocean temperature has smashed records for May, June and July. It is approaching the highest sea surface temperature ever recorded, which was in 2016. But it is extreme heat in the North Atlantic ocean that is particularly alarming scientists. "We've never ever had a marine heatwave in this part of Atlantic. I had not expected this," says Daniela Schmidt, Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol.
In June, temperatures off the west coast of Ireland were between 4C and 5C above average, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration classified as a category 5 heatwave, or "beyond extreme".
The area covered by sea-ice in the Antarctic is at record lows for July. There is an area around 10 times the size of the UK missing, compared with the 1981-2010 average. Dr Caroline Holmes at the British Antarctic Survey… emphasises it is not just a record being broken – it is being smashed by a long way. "This is nothing like anything we've seen before in July. It's 10 percent lower than the previous low, which is huge." She calls it "another sign that we don't really understand the pace of change".
Collective intelligence features the bell curve, in which the majority barely comprehend why things happened to them and what's happening now. Comprehension of future trends is forever beyond them. Most people will therefore continue to vote for more of the same to preserve sheeple normalcy and inertia.
The question of collective survival hinges on our adaptive capacity. Inevitably, democracy is trending away from relevance to survival. Users are realising that election results don't help collective survival prospects. Alternative political movements that network continuously seem the best prospect – they can ride power laws…
Normal distribution about a mean – a distant memory from long ago. However a personal bias re time is also likely. Some folk are progressive by nature and always have a futuristic outlook. The bell curve of average intelligence thereby conflates with a temporal axis of orientation: most folks live in the now, some live in the past, others in the future (how they do that is most interesting).
Hmm. kinda wondered where you were going (you had also connected "sheeple" to your comment).
As…any linking of Intelligence..and Bell Curve sets off my wondering. As its quite often used as an elitist….if not eugenicist..or for that, racist, tool.
The guts is obtainable from an overview of complexity science, network science & neuroscience (neural networks). The gist is that both people and groups can scale up their influence via leverage in network contexts.
Scientific interest in power-law relations stems partly from the ease with which certain general classes of mechanisms generate them. The demonstration of a power-law relation in some data can point to specific kinds of mechanisms that might underlie the natural phenomenon in question, and can indicate a deep connection with other, seemingly unrelated systems; see also universality above. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_law
The ubiquity of power-law relations in physics is partly due to dimensional constraints, while in complex systems, power laws are often thought to be signatures of hierarchy or of specific stochastic processes.
A few notable examples of power laws are Pareto's law of income distribution, structural self-similarity of fractals, and scaling laws in biological systems. Research on the origins of power-law relations, and efforts to observe and validate them in the real world, is an active topic of research in many fields of science, including physics, computer science, linguistics, geophysics, neuroscience, systematics, sociology, economics and more.
A multidisciplinary overview is the basis for a generic theory of power laws but researchers haven't got there yet! Connecting such abstractions to human survival will be situationally-driven for most people: how to use the gnosis as part of a group's collective intelligence. Opinion leaders who forge the conceptual link will drive group survival…
Gaia Vince has a four horsemen of the apocalypse update for this century. Using tetradic framing, she identifies the four sources of mass harm during the antropocene era as heat, fire, drought & floods. Her book on consequent mass migration is The Nomad Century.
The President of the World Bank Group is very clear in its foreword of the report : The explored consequences of an increase of the global earth temperature of 4°C are indeed devastating. Among the foreseen consequences are:
the inundation of coastal cities;
increasing risks for food production potentially leading to higher malnutrition rates; dry regions becoming dryer and wet regions wetter;
unprecedented heat waves in many regions, especially in the tropics;
substantially exacerbated water scarcity in many regions;
increased frequency of high-intensity tropical cyclones;
irreversible loss of biodiversity, including coral reef systems.
She rules out the less than two degrees warming scenario which the UN has focused on until now. Govts haven't taken the advised actions, so too late for that.
Everyone wants to maintain their standard of living – or improve it. Individual incentives therefore prevail over collective survival skill development. Folks will suffer.
She sees a billion people pushed out of their habitat zone for every degree of increase. She said El Nino means the child, because it peaks at christmas. So we’re just in the initial phase of that currently.
She seems to be ignoring war – which is the one currently having the greatest impact on food production, cost and instability, internationally.
Ukraine was a massive food exporter – the infrastructural damage caused by the Russian invasion, not to mention the lives lost – has massively reduced this and had a seriously destabilizing effect on food prices. NZ, for example, doesn't import grain directly from Ukraine, but the shortages have increased prices internationally – including the sources we get our grain from.
True. Perhaps a blind spot in her belief system? One interesting view of it is any collective tendency to war is an expression of us/them, whereas the climate crisis impels a shift into collaboration. She's defaulting towards proactive global coordination – which easily becomes averse to acknowledging the animal spirits side of human nature. Once were warriors, maybe once again.
Globalising culture remains partial since many retain national or ethnic identity as ruler of their thoughts. Wars happen when males rule. Sustainability will be driven by females (most males unable to comprehend such sophisticated reasoning).
Historically, food crises (which is basically what she's talking about) always results in war (also famine, mass migration, and societal collapse). Sounds pretty similar to the traditional four: Death, Famine, Pestilence & War.
I agree. We'll get a blend of both the traditional scenario & hers. That tradition from the bible is based on four colours, and illogical since death features as one while being a consequence of all.
She told Kim that adult nappies out-sell infant nappies in Japan. Also that it’s easier for a robot to become a citizen in Japan than an immigrant human.
Really – she's talking about the intensifying reasons why food (and living environment) crises might happen. However, these have happened in the past – and the consequences are stark and well known.
Our 'technology' has been able to smooth them out over the last 150 years, and reduce the impact (I believe that all 20th century famines, for example, were political, rather than environmental); but her argument seems to be that our capacity to do this is diminishing in the face of climate change.
You could equally well (and just as inaccurately) say that famine causes war and disease.
Or disease causes famine and war.
The three can be correlated, but you can't really argue that one causes the others.
And each can also occur independently:
There are wars which have not triggered significant incidences of disease or famine (Falklands War). Equally, there have been famines (e.g. Mao's great leap forward) which had no correlation with war. The most recent disease outbreak (Covid-19) – had no associated war or famine.
Death is an inevitable part of life – it comes to us all….
Historically (as observed in the ME/bible) wars involved imperial siege of cities (not paying tribute) – the consequence of a long siege was famine and disease in the city.
That death came in old age – for those not dead in wars, or of famine or disease was also observable.
Maybe it's the other way around. There might be a war because food production is impacted or will be significantly impacted in the near future. There's a reason Napoleon and Hitler targeted the East ("Kornkammer" – grain storage): It's incredibly fertile land in / around the Ukraine producing huge amounts of grain.
The Arab spring was mainly caused by food shortages.
There's clear indication the food production will decrease with higher expected temperatures. And this is not even taking disasters, like bushfires or flooding, more likely with climate change, into account.
There might be war because of food shortages. Indeed, I would say that massive food shortages frequently trigger wars.
But I don't believe that this has anything to do with the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia has no significant food shortages at the moment, and is systematically destroying the capacity for food production in Ukraine (hardly the action of a power desperate to seize the undamaged capacity).
The reasons for Russia wanting Ukraine (as well as Poland, Finland and the Baltic States) – have more to do with defendable frontiers – than food production.
The Pentagon expect more conflict over resources (dams for power vs water for irrigation down stream). But the Ukraine fight is otherwise.
The world needs greater food reserves and better storage. And probably as much help/aid with flood protection as with renewable energy for some nations.
This will push up grain prices and reduce use of such feed for stock farming (thus increase meat prices and encourage other protein). And in our case may place greater focus on a protecting fertile land for market gardens and mixed crop farming (so we are self sufficient).
The Pentagon expect more conflict over resources (dams for power vs water for irrigation down stream).
There's a very interesting incidence of this internally in the US – over the Colorado river.
Because of the weird way the water allocation legislation works – California can take as much water as it wants from the Colorado (including for amenities – like golf courses) – even if there is actual drought in the other states that the Colorado runs through. Other States (especially the water-poor Southwest) can only draw from the river, once California has taken as much as it wants.
The US government looks as though it may intervene – since California has resolutely refused to give up water to which it is 'entitled'
According to one doco I saw on Youtube, the basic problem for Colorado river basin is that the original water allocation agreement was drawn up between the states when the water flow in the river was very high.
So water was granted on the basis of an extreme situation that did not represent normal flow rates, hence the over-allocation. Expansion of California's population didn't help, of course, nor does declining snow fall.
I understand that these days, the river doesn't even reach the sea.
NZ has an equally poor record, with Canterbury lowland rivers like the Hinds sucked dry by irrigators.
NZ is pretty much already self-sufficient for market gardens (unless you mean very local self-sufficiency – which is probably not attainable – you'll never grow cherries in Auckland). Fresh food imports are largely over price (cheaper to grow bananas in the Philippines than NZ), or extending the season (imported strawberries from Oz), or niche things that we just don't have the climate to grow (dates).
There is little alternative to grain as stock feed for chickens (unless you want to replicate the current egg-price increases on a vast scale). And, I understand it's very little used as supplementary feed for beef or lamb in NZ (unlike the US, with their grain fattening lots).
If NZ (as a country) wants to be self-sufficient in food production – then this needs to be strongly led by the government (almost certainly requiring tariffs on imported products) – because, otherwise, it's not cost-effective for farmers – and they won't do it.
I really don't see international grain prices having any major impact on beef farming in the US. Grain is already heavily subsidised by the government – so there is unlikely to be an impact on the meat industry (they have the whip hand, and if production isn't directed toward what makes the US population happy – they'll reduce the subsidies).
For the rest of the world, meat may well become more of a luxury product – as it was in the past. [I set aside the SF proposals for vat-produced meat until we see what the quality, safety and environmental impact, actually is]
We import wheat from Oz, if they put up the price because of the world market it becomes profitable to grow here – rather than pay the world price. Thus a return to mixed crop farming.
Those in the produce supply market say we need to return to more local market gardens to reduce the risk from floods in the areas that have taken over the nationwide market in past decades.
Doing neither means food cost problems because of climate change/GW.
Only if it is more profitable for the NZ farmers (who could be growing wheat) to grow wheat instead of another crop.
In any case, the price to consumers will still go up. NZ wheat sold in NZ is sold at the same 'international' price (we see this all the time with dairy price increases).
If the retailers (supermarkets, etc.) are prepared to pay for the additional cost for growing in multiple locations in order to ensure continuity of supply – then regional market gardening may well be a thing. The issue is that some areas of the country are better environmentally suited to growing some crops, than others are.
For example – corn grown in Gisborne is more economic (cheaper to grow, better quality, longer growing season) than corn grown in Invercargill. Will the retailers be prepared to pay a higher price for poorer quality produce from Invercargill – when there is *not* an issue with the Gisborne supply? [Example, simply for illustration – I have no personal knowledge of the economics of corn growing in either locale]
I think that it's doubtful. Especially since there is no downside to the retailer *not* being able to supply a product (they simply blame floods in Gisborne for the higher prices or lack of availability).
And we still get food cost issues – unless there is a regulatory environment that prevents it (i.e. restricts imports, supports local supply)
With the greatest respect to the authors and researchers, they have left out the greatest thing to overcome: convenience.
We all know the supermarkets sell food that is loaded with embedded diesel miles. Food that is out of season, food from growers that have had their returns and conditions eroded, food and produce that is earning them obscene profits.
And yet… we keep filing through their doors, like the undead, in the typical zombie movie returning to the places that are familiar to them. Or ordering 'on-line', all in the name of convenience.
An anecdote from a chum who was staying with family in Ohakune. Some of the locals use Countdown in Feilding coz the local (only) New World is too dear. That is approx 1hr 20mins away.
Interesting perspective. I shop @ 3 countdowns, paknsave & new world here in NP, depending what I need at the time. NW are higher quality here but not that much more expensive. Perhaps the folk in Ohakune can't do the maths well? Cost of travel, I mean. Total time @ 2 hrs 40 mins converted to labour cost also enters in.
They may, of course, be combining the food shop with other reasons to visit the nearest 'big' town (bank trips, doctors visits, general clothes shopping, family visits, etc.).
If you are already going to Feilding – then it might make sense to do a cheaper food shop there, as well as the main reason for the trip.
You are right about the several jobs, one trip. However this is just shopping. Delivered.
They are reasonably well tuned into the issues humanity faces, one is a natural healer/homeopath.
In my friends example, the order wasn't near complete, which he could roll with but the driver (who sub-contracts to Countdown) gave him a bit of attitude – The order being incomplete "…is not my problem…" so he put the groceries back in the van. 'It is your problem now'.
You could try mentioning to your friends that growing kumera is easy here in NP, so perhaps it's possible there too. I always thought it needed a sub-tropical climate but it ain't so. I've been digging up some down my backyard the past week or two, got enough big ones to give several away to neighbours.
And that was just off one sprout that went in last spring. Got another dozen or so to dig up yet. At $10/kg that's more than $100 potential value. The tops die slow in winter – leaves that remain go pale yellow with stunted growth – but some don't die so you get partial then full regrowth the following year. I've been learning the resilience technique by experiment.
They'd have a lower average temperature due to mountain proximity despite similar latitude, and they are frost-averse. For a permaculturist, that means you have to design a microclimate for growth to be optimised (maximising daily sun, wind & frost protection systems). Glass-covered enclosures with a wee bit of side ventilation is what I'd go for.
Robert and Robin Guyton's example of the (I think) electric van doing a Riverton district loop picking up and dropping off fresh produce would be more the go.
The solutions are local, no political party has the courage or imagination to enable the solutions we need. Not one that seeks re-election anyhow.
They could do that with local produce now (in season) at a market. Maybe add milk if a local farmer was involved. And delivery for those unable to pick up. But there would still be a need to get the indoor grown crops out of season from elsewhere and the longer life shelf goods into Ohakune to drive down the local supermarket prices with competition.
And as for undead zombies , I'm running a large farm and raising a collage kid I'm bust and often tired, so I ain't going to be made to feel bad for getting convenience food from the nearest supermarket,
There is know way that a round trip to feilding or whanganui is cheaper than buying local.
Or maybe the author is sticking to climate knowables: the heat danger zones/vanishing shorelines that are predicted to become uninhabitable. Political outcomes, hence conflicts are less 'predictable', especially given the shifting global political framework.
Do what dates is she using for the Anthropocene era? Because it's not actually a thing yet I think because there is still discussion around dates.
She left out cold which kills and has killed more people each year than heat, fire, flood and drought combined.
Tetradic framing is used in general relativity to describe a model of spacetime so I'm not sure how she might have used it in her study. (or does she mean she just used different colors to represent heat, fire, drought and flood then displayed them on a round graph?)
She may predict 4 degrees but that is the worst case scenario and is based upon things remaining as they are now with nothing at all done to mitigate anthropogenic global warming.
Nobody dates the anthropocene that I've noticed – it's just a loose framing of the era we entered due to global warming. Interesting point re cold – haven't seen stats yet.
Tetradic framing derives from ancient Greek usage (tetrad = 4 items in a set). I presume your reference to relativity refers to the dimensions being four. Her usage pertains to the four sources of mass harm she expects to result from global warming. Nothing unusual there since they've been in global headlines quite often.
Re mitigation, we still don't have enough of that happening globally to discount her four degrees as too alarmist. The inertial effect of global warming is the real threat – it's already in the time pipeline – and will happen regardless. Methane clathrates, for instance:
The clathrate gun hypothesis is a proposed explanation for the periods of rapid warming during the Quaternary. The idea is that changes in fluxes in upper intermediate waters in the ocean caused temperature fluctuations that alternately accumulated and occasionally released methane clathrate on upper continental slopes. This would have had an immediate impact on the global temperature, as methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
Despite its atmospheric lifetime of around 12 years, methane's global warming potential is 72 times greater than that of carbon dioxide over 20 years, and 25 times over 100 years (33 when accounting for aerosol interactions). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate
Humans are already reducing in numbers – most countries are not replacing their population (fewer than 2 children per woman) – and some are in demographic freefall.
Look at the demographics of China, for example – despite the one-child policy being rescinded – the number of children born each year continues to decline. And the population is estimated to actually start declining this year (that’s with the pretty optimistic UN figures – many other researchers note the poor quality of the official data – and think the peak was reached some time ago). [Note, China is no longer the most populous country in the world, India is]
This is probably not a good thing – either in economic or infrastructure terms. Most countries are going to end up with a relatively small working population supporting a much higher retired population. And, few are doing any serious planning about it.
New Zealand is one of the very few countries which is not following this trend – our population demographic is pretty stable in the 0-20 age group – and our largest population tranche is at 30, not 60 (despite the often-reiterated concern over the boomers retiring). Most of our population increase comes from immigration.
This seems to be about the fact that retirement communities (towns which disproportionately attract older people) – exist – and the demographic consequences.
But no evidence that this issue is driving down populations.
From the article you link to:
The reasons for this decline in birth rates include positive developments, such as women's greater financial independence and control over their reproductive health. On the other hand, in countries with low fertility rates, many couples would like to have more children than they do, research shows, but they may hold off due to social and economic reasons, such as a lack of support for families.
It goes on to claim
At the same time, there may also be a decline in a different kind of fertility
There is a difference in population level data (where the causes of restriction on family size are well known) – and individual data (where personal infertility may well have an impact).
The article is full of highly speculative possibilities – and rather than hard facts. You might equally well argue that cancer treatment reduces fertility (it does)
The population continues to increase, because people are living longer.
The point was that the switch has already happened (fewer children being born than are needed to sustain the current levels of population). And it's not just in the 'west' – but in every urbanizing country as well (the correlation between increased urbanization/industrialization and population size is well known). Many countries have already tipped over into actual population decline (including China).
Unless you're proposing mandatory euthanasia of everyone over 65 (the non-productive class); large-scale war (the effect of the war in Ukraine has already had stark implications for Russian demographics; one-child policies on populous countries (try it on India and see how far you get), or mass starvation (we may get there, but it's hardly something to be wished for) – what alternatives are you proposing to make this population trend change more quickly?
whereas in another reply at 10:39 (four minutes later) you state
"I work in an industry where, so long as your brain continues to function, you're a highly valued employee. I've had people over 80 on my team (working part-time – work/life balance)."
Another contradiction.
I'm making no proposals regarding population trends. The time lag between changes in birth rate & actual population is so long that it's of no use in achieving the urgent changes we need to make to minimise climate change.
What personal action are you taking to resolve the "urgent changes [in population] we need to make to minimise climate change"?
What political action do you advocate to resolve this issue?
If the answer to both is "none" – then your entire post is pointless.
The apparent-to-you contraction was in discussion to the floated possibility that you might consider that post 65 euthanasia was a solution. Another commented suggested that retirement at 65 was not sensible in all cases – and I agreed.
Or are you advocating that the euthanasia criteria should be based on assessed productivity to society?
Whoa. You do NOT add words to a direct quote from someone else, even if placed in brackets That is completely unethical.
The point of my post was to correct errors in your post(s). I observe you don't seem to handle being corrected at all well.
At no stage did I mention euthanasia, that came entirely from your mind.
It is quite clear when I said "I'm making no proposals regarding population trends . . . it's of no use in achieving the urgent changes we need to make to minimise climate change." that it's not something to be considered.
I'm not sure why I'm bothering to answer, but at over 65, I'm a bit past taking personal action to resolve the population problem you perceive (although the vasectomy really achieved that thirty odd years ago). And as far as climate change measures, walking, cycling, public transport, zero overseas travel, all purchasing decisions carefully considered etc.
Hopefully you get the gist, & will cease suggesting motives and making judgement about people you know nothing about.
"The time lag between changes in birth rate & actual population is so long that it's of no use in achieving the urgent changes we need to make to minimise climate change."
Your quote in full.
My apologies, since we were discussing population sizes and trends, I made the assumption that you were referring to action needed in relation to population size.
I now see that you appear to be saying there is nothing we can do about population – and need to take alternative action.
Maybe we should reinvent retirement, people getting to 65 and then becoming a dtag on society is dumb, people physical and mental health is better if the ar busy and contributing.
You'll find a lot of argument against increasing the retirement age, here, on TS. 🙂
I work in an industry where, so long as your brain continues to function, you're a highly valued employee. I've had people over 80 on my team (working part-time – work/life balance).
I worked full time until I was 66. Then my employer did some stupid stuff which annoyed me so I "retired". I had things to do which I did, and then I worked part time for 2 years after that because a friend rang in a panic because he had taken on a job he could not complete in time and was prepared to pay me quite a lot of $$$ to get it done. This led to the next job etc. Finally, I sent the last one back to him and said that I could not support it and neither would the authority it was to go to. I had a bit of surgery after that and have used it as an excuse to not work again.
So much of our social capital and productivity comes from people who are on a pension.
Looking after Grandkids so that parents can work, is just one example.
The problem with decreasing numbers of workers is way overhyped. The real issue is so much of the income from their productivity is captured by parasitic capital, and removed from the community. We don't need the number of people working the hours they currently do. Bullshit jobs
Technology is rapidly increasing individual worker productivity. For example two workers milking 800 cows in a few hours. The issue is those two workers pay does not reflect that. It is lower than 40 years ago.
Workers who are on realistic wages reflecting their actual contribution, and the wealthy having to contribute back some of the rents they are extracting, can easily support dependants, as they did in the 60's.
I also note that the enthusiasm for increasing the retirement age, comes solely from those with comfortable desk jobs who are lucky enough to be in good health.
The West, Japan, Korea and China do not represent the totality of the worlds demographics.
And the Five Eyes nations are growing their populations via migration all the same.
The forecast increase from 8 to 11B forecast during the century shows total birthrate is being maintained globally. However the impact of long COVID and global warming impact on lifespans is not a known (spread of disease impacting on food production and post flood disease and impact of heat on workers and old people).
Population growth via migration is 'neutral' in terms of the world's population: for there to be an increase of one person in Country A by migration, there has to be a decrease in Country B.
Please provide evidence that the birthrate is being maintained globally.
I, too, agree that the UN population forecasts are overly optimistic (or pessimistic – depending on whether you see population as a good or bad thing) – and don't take wars, famines, disasters, etc. into account.
I realise there are arguements within Chinese tradition to refute this, but being Han Chinese does not define being human. I am sure you do realise that the Indian population growth is larger than any Chinese decline for the foreseeable future.
I will refer to a debate with the other red who has retired (not dington but logix).
Perhaps you could look at the figures between (say) 2019 and 2023. Or possibly the birth rate data for the top 10 most populous countries.
No one is arguing that the world population hasn't increased since 1950.
Straw man…..
I've provided a link showing that China (still around 1/4 of the world's population) has *decreased* in absolute terms in 2023.
India has indeed overtaken China in as the most populous country in the world. However, their birth rate is at 1.6 and continuing to decline.
I'm still not seeing any evidence that the *birth rate* (you know that more than 2 children per woman, replacement figure) – is continuing to "be maintained, globally".
Any increasing population figures are as a result of people living longer – not of increasing numbers of children being born.
I'm still not seeing any evidence that the *birth rate* (you know that more than 2 children per woman, replacement figure) – is continuing to "be maintained, globally".
Might that be a matter of perception versus reality?
Ah, so about one generation until the global human population begins to stabilise. Don't panic – our species won't go extinct any time soon.
Spaceship Earth is currently sustaining an overshoot civilisation – with any luck humans will prove smarter than bacteria in a petri dish, and seize opportunities to decrease their numbers naturally and gradually.
Consider just two adaptive behaviors that Homo sapiens shares with all other species. Humans have an innate propensity to consume available resources – often to depletion – and a parallel drive to invade and colonize all accessible habitats. https://greattransition.org/gti-forum/population-rees
The figures explained that the Asian birth numbers continued to increase despite what happened within China (one child policy and all that).
The figures also explained the increasing extent between 1950-2021 to which global birth increase was predicated on Africa.
You know why slowing rates elsewhere (in either the west, or China) did not result in a global fall.
I'm still not seeing any evidence that the *birth rate* (you know that more than 2 children per woman, replacement figure) – is continuing to "be maintained, globally".
That just demonstrates a failure to pay attention to what (the where) was driving the global increase in births.
And your explanation of the absolute decrease in the population in China in 2023 (and, according to many commentators, actually quite a bit earlier) – is?
The Chinese and Asian birth numbers have been steadily dropping since 1970. If you have a birth rate of less than 2, then the birth numbers mathematically cannot be increasing. The population increased due to people living longer. Fewer people were being born (especially in China), but the people already here were not dying off as quickly.
Have a look at this chart – showing the fertility rate in China during the 20th century. It dropped below 2 in the mid-90s (and those the the official figures – so likely to be on the high side)
When you say "maintained globally" it doesn't really represent what's happening as the countries with fertilty rates high enough to grow there population are pretty much all in Africa and the Middle East. Even India and Indonesia are rapidly closing in on 2.1 rate.
Immigration only works while there are immigrants available. If we boost our population through immigration from any country with a less than 2.1 rate then it doesn't help and if all the countries with declining birth rates import all of the new people from africa and the Middle East then how are they supposed to survive.
Some estimates have for example China losing half of it's population within the next 5 decades. That is really scary because it means compete economic collapse for China and assuming they are aware of what's happening to their country you have to wonder how they will respond? There will be 2 choices, China ceases to exist, or………?
Russia is much the same – demographic collapse (dropping total population, as well as a birth rate well under 2) exacerbated by losses during the Ukraine war (not only deaths – but especially flight of young men, from the country).
I understand that Russia's extractive industry (gas, etc) is entirely dependent on foreign expertise now. Many of whom have left the country – and are unlikely to return (the risks outweigh the returns)
When you say maintained globally; it doesnt really represent whats happening as the countries with fertilty rates high enough to grow there population are pretty much all in Africa and the Middle East. Even India and Indonesia are rapidly closing in on 2.1 rate.
Yes it does, as those areas are part of the world.
Immigration only works while there are immigrants available
There will be billions of people looking to migrate to western nations for decades to come. Economic reasons to new ones, such as CC/GW.
The nature of the migrants will change, AI and robot tech etc.
Some estimates have for example China losing half of it's population within the next 5 decades. That is really scary because it means compete economic collapse for China and assuming they are aware of what's happening to their country you have to wonder how they will respond? There will be 2 choices, China ceases to exist, or………?
China will no more suffer economic collapse than Japan. Japan will profit from helping them out.
"China will no more suffer economic collapse than Japan. Japan will profit from helping them out."
That statement indicates you have no concept of the divide between these two countries. Japan would sit on the sidelines with popcorn and watch while China burns.
If Japan does not, China is capable of doing it themselves, by merely following their example.
That "divide" has not stopped past Japanese investment in China, and to forecast the future based on a current "circumstance/issues" is not prescience.
Oh, do tell how China (a country which has got old, faster than it has got rich), is going to copy Japan (a country which got rich, long before it got old).
Sound-bite sniper, China will have AI (labour saving) and quantum computing to help out.
And it helps them resolve the problem of maintaining employment – given the job losses in manufacture for US firms (now moving to produce more outside China).
Labour shortages result in higher wages (where they occur) and this then leads to development of the domestic services sector.
PS China has a lot of reserves – American debt etc.
it doesn't help and if all the countries with declining birth rates import all of the new people from africa and the Middle East then how are they supposed to survive.
They will still be among the nations with a rising population, the other nations do not need to maintain their current population level to survive.
Some under NZF umbrella include anti-vax doctors and anti co-governance/3 Waters activists. Lots of competition in that corner, though. NZF looking to hover up disgruntled Nats who can’t stomach ACT? The polite face of racism?
Never forget he learnt his political credentials at the knee of one, Robert David Muldoon.
It was Muldoon who introduced Dirty Politics to NZ in the 1970s. He lied, cheated and manipulated people and situations to suit his personal ambitions. He crucified people because they had the temerity to stand up to him. He was also not above turning to the shadowy underworld to do his dirty work for him.
Peters has copied Muldoon's style with considerable success over the years. Like Muldoon, he will do whatever it takes to grab power. In Peters' case he has thrown his lot in with the conspiracy theorists and the anti-brigade together with the generally bewildered who are easy to manipulate.
I once gave him credit for helping to expose the Wine Box papers, but as far as I can tell that was about the only positive thing he's ever done… unless some want to include the Gold Card which was primarily a ploy to garner the elderly vote than having any altruistic considerations.
Peters has incredible ability and intelligence to capture pressing issues. Some of his speeches I have read are superb – sharp analyses set out in beautiful oratory – statesman territory.
But, because he is a shameless egoist with no moral compass, Peters swings to whatever populist direction wins him power on the day. If he had stuck to one position, he could have achieved much more for himself and the country in his years in Parliament.
If he had stuck to one position, he could have achieved much more for himself and the country in his years in Parliament.
Indeed. Had he used his undoubted talents in a truly positive way he could have been a long-term PM in his own right with majority support from both Maori and Pakeha.
South of Gisborne, a local doctor serving his mostly Maori community spoke against covid vaccination. As he was trusted, this decreased local vax rates. Can't readily find the link, but it was widely reported at the time.
NZF doctor is 'anti-mandate' not anti-vax, but that is essentially the same thing, defending rights to work and free movement when you aren't prepared to protect your community by having the jab.
Margarita Simonyan isn’t talking about Europe. Ukrainian grain will continue to be shipped there by rail.The famine they're talking about is in Africa.
Russia wants to force the West cave to Russian cruelty by starving Africans.
“All our hope is in a famine” “The famine will start now, and they will lift the sanctions, and be friends with us, because they will realize it is necessary" The Russians have been telling us for months what they plan to do but the West isn’t listening
Ukrainian grain has historically never been exported to Europe – so there has always been zero risk of famine there from the interrupted supplies.
Which is a good thing for its European neighbours (e.g. Poland) which are also grain exporting countries. Grain exported last year caused political issues – because it was 'dumped' into the local economies of other grain-exporting countries.
There are major challenges with transiting grain through Europe – the rail network isn't consistent between Ukraine and most of the EU (the gauge is different) – so you'd have to break bulk; and, in any case, it's logistically impossible to shift anything like as much by train as you can by sea. They're now exploring alternative hybrid scenarios (e.g. rail to a Romanian port, then sea freight)
I think Russia is more concerned over restricting foreign exchanged earned by Ukraine (and therefore able to be spent on resisting Russian aggression), than over trying to instil a moral panic in the west about famine in Africa.
Although, I agree that Africa is certain to be the loser in this. Even if Ukrainian grain is bought by other countries (e.g. China) – if it's not available, those countries will switch to alternative sources, pushing up prices. China won't go short. Africa will.
Doing the ground work for a wind break garden enclosure has involved digging 1.6m holes to accommodate 4.8m posts. I'd neglected to adequately cover one hole and late Friday evening my SO brought news of a deceased hedge pig lying in the bottom.
This morning I went to retrieve the carcass, gave it a nudge with the shovel and lo, it was alive!. After most of the day in a shoe box in front of the burner hedge pig is active, drinking, on it's second helping of dog roll dog and hopefully should be good to be released later this evening.
And yes, I have covered the hole and checked the others.
Hopefully a fucking decent lemon tree or two, salt is the issue, in a 6×4.5x3M pest proof windbreak enclosure surrounding raised beds.
Two rows 124-150mm x 4.8M @3M with rammed Superpost® intermediaries @1.5M, footed and headed with tg & v retaining, wrapped and topped with deer fencing and then windbreak.
Gd on ya for saving the chog joe im curious tho as to why you need a big windbreak if you.ve got a mature pohut plus karo one i'd have thought would be pretty substantial by now ?
Hedge pig appeared to be fit and well after a third feed so I deposited it under the hedge and off it waddled.
Mature as in substantial and 2M high for ease of maintenance but not much chop in the face of a rolling, gusty Westerly. Plus we're fifty metres from the sea in one of the country's windiest suburbs with nothing between us and the Antarctic so salt spray is an issue. Hence citrus failure after citrus failure.
A few years ago I did buy a cheap second hand tunnel house but it was as flimsy AF so the weather slowly trashed it and all I was left with was a mountain of plastic that cost money to dispose. So I've decided to bite the bullet and build something that's far more substantial.
One hedgehog can cause an entire colony of endangered black-fronted terns to abandon their nests.
Analysis of hedgehog gut contents and a growing catalogue of camera footage tell a compelling story. Hedgehogs hoover up countless endemic birds’ eggs and chicks, lizards, and invertebrates.
In braided river systems they feast on the eggs and chicks of banded dotterels, black-fronted terns and pied oyster catchers. Our critically endangered kakī (black stilt) struggles to survive in the wild due to hedgehogs and other predators plaguing their habitat.
I have no data on this but would hesitate a guess that way more people like hedgehogs than like insects and snails, etc.
I notice on that link they say that rats must be completely eradicated from NZ. Have there been any studies done to determine any unforeseen problems on knock on effects of removing them from the ecosystem and life cycle? For example in cities, rats usually try and stay hidden from people and their impacts aren't only negative, they are also responsible for taking care of vast amounts of human rubbish and waste.
I'm not sure removing an entire species from the life cycle (that species being a highly participative part of that life cycle) won't also have negative consequences. I'm guessing the environmental powers that be would have done their homework on this stuff….
In Palmy last night, Batchelor's anti co-governance meeting managed to keep his venue (he books venues under false ids). This one was inside the council-owned lido grounds, in a separate clubroom. Police were there, for crowd control, and to carry out trespass orders, removing protester who are inside the venue.
But in this case, Batchelor illegally locked the gates, leaving the police outside them. Then people at his meeting attacked and dragged out a protester when they began whistling and showing a 'hate speech is not free speech' sign.
If you have security bouncers at such an event, they need to be licenced. Williams, the moaning racist from Chch was at a Batchelor meeting recently, and punched a couple of protesters, just for fun.
It was in Takaka that he punched the protestors, well one he punched, the other, a woman had her arm crushed in a door, and collected one of his swings .The cops were not impressed by his attitude .
Debunking Conspiracies Aotearoa facebook post the one with photo of 'stop making us whiteys look bad' protest sign, gives an in-person written account of the protest. Comments around posts in the last day or so on this topic there also expand the info, based on attendees' accounts. This includes illegally locking police out of the venue.
The info about Williams comes from the same site about a week to 2 weeks ago, whenever the meeting was that he attended. It includes his own video, and he's clearly busting for a fight. He apparently was charged as a result.
Batchelor has tried to say Lee Williams is nothing to do with him , that he just attends his meetings. He lied .Williams is definitely part of the whole roadshow.He is trouble, moving amongst the protestors, filming them and trying to provoke them to say or do something stupid.He also has a short fuse, and acts as an enforcer, identifying those he decrees "hostile" and refusing them entry
In his YT videos its clear he and Batchelor are strongly connected.
We'll be getting a new Minister of Hunting and Fishing if National gets elected.
The party also wants to change the law so that game animals like deer, Himalayan tahr and pigs are no longer classified as pests to protect our right to hunt and fish.
But one hunter says that's at odds with New Zealand's efforts to protect native forests.
Hunters from the depths of Te Urewera to the spurs of Fiordland – the National Party has your vote in its sights.
"What we've been working very hard with is the fishing and hunting interest groups to make sure we get the balance right for them," National leader Christopher Luxon said.
National will:
Establish a Minister for Hunting and Fishing
Strengthen the Game Animal Council and designate 'herds of special interest'
Change the law so game animals are not pests
Guarantee access to public land for hunting and fishing
Establish the 'Huts of Recreational Importance' Partnership to maintain huts in the DoC estate
Support Fish & Game New Zealand and protect trout and salmon fishing
Not introduce recreational licences for game animal hunting or sea fishing.
This will result in two primary shifts: * Treating game species as a resource to be managed and monetised * Consequently greater restriction and regulation of recreational hunting that will raise barriers to entry and reduce hunting rates, with consequently higher herd sizes
@simonbwilson
·22h
I know for a lot of people it probably isn't a biggie, but the Nats have announced they will "Change the law so game animals are not pests." What does that even mean?
Byebye Doc, hello uncontrolled deer, wallabies and stoats on reserve land. Hello crazy hunters in cammo making the bush dangerous for others. Suck up to gun lobby through the backdoor. All good keen man stuff.
Looks like a 'cobble together a vote-for-us policy' to eat into ACT and to pick up interest groups without thinking it through.
Agree about deer (especially with the policy about herd protection).
Seems unlikely that wallaby and stoat hunting are economic – and will remain classed as pests (along with possums)
Most hunters are rural New Zealanders hunting to eat….
And, while they've been staunchly against things like 1080 drops – so have some of the greenest of the greens – so a ban might garner support from some unlikely areas.
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Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
If building one of Auckland’s possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sherran concert every weekday for 25 years. That’s Rob Hamlin’s finding – he’s a senior marketing lecturer at the University of Otago. “It’s not going to happen; forget about it,” he ...
Comment: The debate over the future relationship between news and social media is bringing us closer to a long-overdue reckoning. Social media isn’t trying to kill journalism, because social media has never really cared about journalism. Social media is resolutely in the attention business. News propels some attention — perhaps ...
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For the past 12 years, Georgia-Rose Brown has balanced on the brink of making an Olympic Games – but always landed gracefully on the wrong side. Reaching the Olympics is a dream the gymnast has harboured since she was a six-year-old; a dream that would dwindle every four years, yet ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
World gets worse: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/494261/climate-records-tumble-leaving-earth-in-uncharted-territory-scientists
Collective intelligence features the bell curve, in which the majority barely comprehend why things happened to them and what's happening now. Comprehension of future trends is forever beyond them. Most people will therefore continue to vote for more of the same to preserve sheeple normalcy and inertia.
The question of collective survival hinges on our adaptive capacity. Inevitably, democracy is trending away from relevance to survival. Users are realising that election results don't help collective survival prospects. Alternative political movements that network continuously seem the best prospect – they can ride power laws…
Intelligence ?…..bell curve ?
Normal distribution about a mean – a distant memory from long ago. However a personal bias re time is also likely. Some folk are progressive by nature and always have a futuristic outlook. The bell curve of average intelligence thereby conflates with a temporal axis of orientation: most folks live in the now, some live in the past, others in the future (how they do that is most interesting).
Hmm. kinda wondered where you were going (you had also connected "sheeple" to your comment).
As…any linking of Intelligence..and Bell Curve sets off my wondering. As its quite often used as an elitist….if not eugenicist..or for that, racist, tool.
Can you expand on this? I'm not sure what you're getting at here? "power laws"?
The guts is obtainable from an overview of complexity science, network science & neuroscience (neural networks). The gist is that both people and groups can scale up their influence via leverage in network contexts.
A multidisciplinary overview is the basis for a generic theory of power laws but researchers haven't got there yet! Connecting such abstractions to human survival will be situationally-driven for most people: how to use the gnosis as part of a group's collective intelligence. Opinion leaders who forge the conceptual link will drive group survival…
Gaia Vince has a four horsemen of the apocalypse update for this century. Using tetradic framing, she identifies the four sources of mass harm during the antropocene era as heat, fire, drought & floods. Her book on consequent mass migration is The Nomad Century.
So she expects four degrees of global warming eventually. See the prognosis here: https://www.greenfacts.org/en/impacts-global-warming/l-2/index.htm
She rules out the less than two degrees warming scenario which the UN has focused on until now. Govts haven't taken the advised actions, so too late for that.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018899508/gaia-vince-mass-climate-migration-is-inevitable
Everyone wants to maintain their standard of living – or improve it. Individual incentives therefore prevail over collective survival skill development. Folks will suffer.
She sees a billion people pushed out of their habitat zone for every degree of increase. She said El Nino means the child, because it peaks at christmas. So we’re just in the initial phase of that currently.
She seems to be ignoring war – which is the one currently having the greatest impact on food production, cost and instability, internationally.
Ukraine was a massive food exporter – the infrastructural damage caused by the Russian invasion, not to mention the lives lost – has massively reduced this and had a seriously destabilizing effect on food prices. NZ, for example, doesn't import grain directly from Ukraine, but the shortages have increased prices internationally – including the sources we get our grain from.
True. Perhaps a blind spot in her belief system? One interesting view of it is any collective tendency to war is an expression of us/them, whereas the climate crisis impels a shift into collaboration. She's defaulting towards proactive global coordination – which easily becomes averse to acknowledging the animal spirits side of human nature. Once were warriors, maybe once again.
Globalising culture remains partial since many retain national or ethnic identity as ruler of their thoughts. Wars happen when males rule. Sustainability will be driven by females (most males unable to comprehend such sophisticated reasoning).
Historically, food crises (which is basically what she's talking about) always results in war (also famine, mass migration, and societal collapse). Sounds pretty similar to the traditional four: Death, Famine, Pestilence & War.
I agree. We'll get a blend of both the traditional scenario & hers. That tradition from the bible is based on four colours, and illogical since death features as one while being a consequence of all.
She told Kim that adult nappies out-sell infant nappies in Japan. Also that it’s easier for a robot to become a citizen in Japan than an immigrant human.
Really – she's talking about the intensifying reasons why food (and living environment) crises might happen. However, these have happened in the past – and the consequences are stark and well known.
Our 'technology' has been able to smooth them out over the last 150 years, and reduce the impact (I believe that all 20th century famines, for example, were political, rather than environmental); but her argument seems to be that our capacity to do this is diminishing in the face of climate change.
War causes famine and disease, and death occurs in old age to those not killed earlier.
You could equally well (and just as inaccurately) say that famine causes war and disease.
Or disease causes famine and war.
The three can be correlated, but you can't really argue that one causes the others.
And each can also occur independently:
There are wars which have not triggered significant incidences of disease or famine (Falklands War). Equally, there have been famines (e.g. Mao's great leap forward) which had no correlation with war. The most recent disease outbreak (Covid-19) – had no associated war or famine.
Death is an inevitable part of life – it comes to us all….
Historically (as observed in the ME/bible) wars involved imperial siege of cities (not paying tribute) – the consequence of a long siege was famine and disease in the city.
That death came in old age – for those not dead in wars, or of famine or disease was also observable.
Maybe it's the other way around. There might be a war because food production is impacted or will be significantly impacted in the near future. There's a reason Napoleon and Hitler targeted the East ("Kornkammer" – grain storage): It's incredibly fertile land in / around the Ukraine producing huge amounts of grain.
The Arab spring was mainly caused by food shortages.
There's clear indication the food production will decrease with higher expected temperatures. And this is not even taking disasters, like bushfires or flooding, more likely with climate change, into account.
There might be war because of food shortages. Indeed, I would say that massive food shortages frequently trigger wars.
But I don't believe that this has anything to do with the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia has no significant food shortages at the moment, and is systematically destroying the capacity for food production in Ukraine (hardly the action of a power desperate to seize the undamaged capacity).
The reasons for Russia wanting Ukraine (as well as Poland, Finland and the Baltic States) – have more to do with defendable frontiers – than food production.
The Pentagon expect more conflict over resources (dams for power vs water for irrigation down stream). But the Ukraine fight is otherwise.
The world needs greater food reserves and better storage. And probably as much help/aid with flood protection as with renewable energy for some nations.
This will push up grain prices and reduce use of such feed for stock farming (thus increase meat prices and encourage other protein). And in our case may place greater focus on a protecting fertile land for market gardens and mixed crop farming (so we are self sufficient).
There's a very interesting incidence of this internally in the US – over the Colorado river.
Because of the weird way the water allocation legislation works – California can take as much water as it wants from the Colorado (including for amenities – like golf courses) – even if there is actual drought in the other states that the Colorado runs through. Other States (especially the water-poor Southwest) can only draw from the river, once California has taken as much as it wants.
The US government looks as though it may intervene – since California has resolutely refused to give up water to which it is 'entitled'
https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/04/colorado-river-water-cuts-california/
According to one doco I saw on Youtube, the basic problem for Colorado river basin is that the original water allocation agreement was drawn up between the states when the water flow in the river was very high.
So water was granted on the basis of an extreme situation that did not represent normal flow rates, hence the over-allocation. Expansion of California's population didn't help, of course, nor does declining snow fall.
I understand that these days, the river doesn't even reach the sea.
NZ has an equally poor record, with Canterbury lowland rivers like the Hinds sucked dry by irrigators.
NZ is pretty much already self-sufficient for market gardens (unless you mean very local self-sufficiency – which is probably not attainable – you'll never grow cherries in Auckland). Fresh food imports are largely over price (cheaper to grow bananas in the Philippines than NZ), or extending the season (imported strawberries from Oz), or niche things that we just don't have the climate to grow (dates).
There is little alternative to grain as stock feed for chickens (unless you want to replicate the current egg-price increases on a vast scale). And, I understand it's very little used as supplementary feed for beef or lamb in NZ (unlike the US, with their grain fattening lots).
If NZ (as a country) wants to be self-sufficient in food production – then this needs to be strongly led by the government (almost certainly requiring tariffs on imported products) – because, otherwise, it's not cost-effective for farmers – and they won't do it.
I really don't see international grain prices having any major impact on beef farming in the US. Grain is already heavily subsidised by the government – so there is unlikely to be an impact on the meat industry (they have the whip hand, and if production isn't directed toward what makes the US population happy – they'll reduce the subsidies).
For the rest of the world, meat may well become more of a luxury product – as it was in the past. [I set aside the SF proposals for vat-produced meat until we see what the quality, safety and environmental impact, actually is]
We import wheat from Oz, if they put up the price because of the world market it becomes profitable to grow here – rather than pay the world price. Thus a return to mixed crop farming.
Those in the produce supply market say we need to return to more local market gardens to reduce the risk from floods in the areas that have taken over the nationwide market in past decades.
Doing neither means food cost problems because of climate change/GW.
Only if it is more profitable for the NZ farmers (who could be growing wheat) to grow wheat instead of another crop.
In any case, the price to consumers will still go up. NZ wheat sold in NZ is sold at the same 'international' price (we see this all the time with dairy price increases).
If the retailers (supermarkets, etc.) are prepared to pay for the additional cost for growing in multiple locations in order to ensure continuity of supply – then regional market gardening may well be a thing. The issue is that some areas of the country are better environmentally suited to growing some crops, than others are.
For example – corn grown in Gisborne is more economic (cheaper to grow, better quality, longer growing season) than corn grown in Invercargill. Will the retailers be prepared to pay a higher price for poorer quality produce from Invercargill – when there is *not* an issue with the Gisborne supply? [Example, simply for illustration – I have no personal knowledge of the economics of corn growing in either locale]
I think that it's doubtful. Especially since there is no downside to the retailer *not* being able to supply a product (they simply blame floods in Gisborne for the higher prices or lack of availability).
And we still get food cost issues – unless there is a regulatory environment that prevents it (i.e. restricts imports, supports local supply)
Is it timely to again mention that my annual pollution creation is north of 4 tonne per annum..
The oecd average is about 18 tonne per annum..
The new Zealand average is north of 24 tonne…
The reasons for this being I live on a plant-based diet…and have done so for decades…
So…do we just continue to handwring/finger-point…?
To blame external circumstances..?
Or do we make the most meaningful change possible in our personal lives..
And eschew the practices of eating animals…and their bye-products..?
To do any less…and to pretend to care about your role in cooking the planet…is just bullshit-on-a-stick…
How can it not be..?
And the long term personal benefits from ceasing to eat animal flesh/fat/bye-products are undeniable..
By any measure I am old…but I am fit/healthy…I awake every morning feeling great..(no alcohol..)
This morning I curled some dumbbells..while my tea steeped…then took a very large dog..for a walk long enough to exhaust him…
So…y'know..!
The guardian makes your case for vegan climate footprint, Phillip.
That is a very good link…
It says what I am saying..
..it just does it much better..
How much longer can so many just ignore this oh so inconvenient/undeniable truth..?
It is in everyone's self-interest ..to do what this guardian piece makes so clear…so stark..
And no…recycling plastic and owning a leaf.. doesn't come within a bulls roar of doing what needs to be done…
This group/mass denial must stop..!
And need I add that we are really running out of time .?
Please..!..read that link provided by wiggle..!
With the greatest respect to the authors and researchers, they have left out the greatest thing to overcome: convenience.
We all know the supermarkets sell food that is loaded with embedded diesel miles. Food that is out of season, food from growers that have had their returns and conditions eroded, food and produce that is earning them obscene profits.
And yet… we keep filing through their doors, like the undead, in the typical zombie movie returning to the places that are familiar to them. Or ordering 'on-line', all in the name of convenience.
An anecdote from a chum who was staying with family in Ohakune. Some of the locals use Countdown in Feilding coz the local (only) New World is too dear. That is approx 1hr 20mins away.
Interesting perspective. I shop @ 3 countdowns, paknsave & new world here in NP, depending what I need at the time. NW are higher quality here but not that much more expensive. Perhaps the folk in Ohakune can't do the maths well? Cost of travel, I mean. Total time @ 2 hrs 40 mins converted to labour cost also enters in.
They may, of course, be combining the food shop with other reasons to visit the nearest 'big' town (bank trips, doctors visits, general clothes shopping, family visits, etc.).
If you are already going to Feilding – then it might make sense to do a cheaper food shop there, as well as the main reason for the trip.
You are right about the several jobs, one trip. However this is just shopping. Delivered.
They are reasonably well tuned into the issues humanity faces, one is a natural healer/homeopath.
In my friends example, the order wasn't near complete, which he could roll with but the driver (who sub-contracts to Countdown) gave him a bit of attitude – The order being incomplete "…is not my problem…" so he put the groceries back in the van. 'It is your problem now'.
You could try mentioning to your friends that growing kumera is easy here in NP, so perhaps it's possible there too. I always thought it needed a sub-tropical climate but it ain't so. I've been digging up some down my backyard the past week or two, got enough big ones to give several away to neighbours.
And that was just off one sprout that went in last spring. Got another dozen or so to dig up yet. At $10/kg that's more than $100 potential value. The tops die slow in winter – leaves that remain go pale yellow with stunted growth – but some don't die so you get partial then full regrowth the following year. I've been learning the resilience technique by experiment.
They'd have a lower average temperature due to mountain proximity despite similar latitude, and they are frost-averse. For a permaculturist, that means you have to design a microclimate for growth to be optimised (maximising daily sun, wind & frost protection systems). Glass-covered enclosures with a wee bit of side ventilation is what I'd go for.
Someone in Ohakune should buy a truck and on-sell to locals. Competition and all that.
Robert and Robin Guyton's example of the (I think) electric van doing a Riverton district loop picking up and dropping off fresh produce would be more the go.
The solutions are local, no political party has the courage or imagination to enable the solutions we need. Not one that seeks re-election anyhow.
They could do that with local produce now (in season) at a market. Maybe add milk if a local farmer was involved. And delivery for those unable to pick up. But there would still be a need to get the indoor grown crops out of season from elsewhere and the longer life shelf goods into Ohakune to drive down the local supermarket prices with competition.
I believe countdown does delivery up here,
And as for undead zombies , I'm running a large farm and raising a collage kid I'm bust and often tired, so I ain't going to be made to feel bad for getting convenience food from the nearest supermarket,
There is know way that a round trip to feilding or whanganui is cheaper than buying local.
Or maybe the author is sticking to climate knowables: the heat danger zones/vanishing shorelines that are predicted to become uninhabitable. Political outcomes, hence conflicts are less 'predictable', especially given the shifting global political framework.
please fix your username
Do what dates is she using for the Anthropocene era? Because it's not actually a thing yet I think because there is still discussion around dates.
She left out cold which kills and has killed more people each year than heat, fire, flood and drought combined.
Tetradic framing is used in general relativity to describe a model of spacetime so I'm not sure how she might have used it in her study. (or does she mean she just used different colors to represent heat, fire, drought and flood then displayed them on a round graph?)
She may predict 4 degrees but that is the worst case scenario and is based upon things remaining as they are now with nothing at all done to mitigate anthropogenic global warming.
Nobody dates the anthropocene that I've noticed – it's just a loose framing of the era we entered due to global warming. Interesting point re cold – haven't seen stats yet.
Tetradic framing derives from ancient Greek usage (tetrad = 4 items in a set). I presume your reference to relativity refers to the dimensions being four. Her usage pertains to the four sources of mass harm she expects to result from global warming. Nothing unusual there since they've been in global headlines quite often.
Re mitigation, we still don't have enough of that happening globally to discount her four degrees as too alarmist. The inertial effect of global warming is the real threat – it's already in the time pipeline – and will happen regardless. Methane clathrates, for instance:
There are just too many humans on the planet.
(8 billion and counting)
Humans are already reducing in numbers – most countries are not replacing their population (fewer than 2 children per woman) – and some are in demographic freefall.
Look at the demographics of China, for example – despite the one-child policy being rescinded – the number of children born each year continues to decline. And the population is estimated to actually start declining this year (that’s with the pretty optimistic UN figures – many other researchers note the poor quality of the official data – and think the peak was reached some time ago). [Note, China is no longer the most populous country in the world, India is]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_China
This is probably not a good thing – either in economic or infrastructure terms. Most countries are going to end up with a relatively small working population supporting a much higher retired population. And, few are doing any serious planning about it.
New Zealand is one of the very few countries which is not following this trend – our population demographic is pretty stable in the 0-20 age group – and our largest population tranche is at 30, not 60 (despite the often-reiterated concern over the boomers retiring). Most of our population increase comes from immigration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_New_Zealand
Increasing infertility seems to be a major cause of falling population rates. Too much foreign matter in our diets it seems.
Evidence?
This link below is a good read re ageing in NZ and has info regarding infertility.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300730132/welcome-to-the-hyperageing-nation-that-is-new-zealand
This seems to be about the fact that retirement communities (towns which disproportionately attract older people) – exist – and the demographic consequences.
There is nothing about infertility.
It's about hyper-ageing and its impact on our whole nation and not just retirement communities.
Sorry, it only notes declining fertility rates.
This one (link) covers infertility.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230327-how-pollution-is-causing-a-male-fertility-crisis#:~:text=In%20particular%2C%20research%20suggests%20that,rates%20of%20erectile%20dysfunction%20and
But no evidence that this issue is driving down populations.
From the article you link to:
It goes on to claim
There is a difference in population level data (where the causes of restriction on family size are well known) – and individual data (where personal infertility may well have an impact).
The article is full of highly speculative possibilities – and rather than hard facts. You might equally well argue that cancer treatment reduces fertility (it does)
The over-population handwring is b.s..
as others have noted..birthrates are actually dropping..
And a major cause of the drop in birthrate in africa has to be women getting mob phones/access to internet//contraception knowledge ..
"Humans are already reducing in numbers"
Not on the planet I live on!
The total population is still increasing
The rate of growth is reducing, but, "The UN projected population to keep growing, and estimates have put the total population at 8.6 billion by mid-2030, 9.8 billion by mid-2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100."
The population continues to increase, because people are living longer.
The point was that the switch has already happened (fewer children being born than are needed to sustain the current levels of population). And it's not just in the 'west' – but in every urbanizing country as well (the correlation between increased urbanization/industrialization and population size is well known). Many countries have already tipped over into actual population decline (including China).
Unless you're proposing mandatory euthanasia of everyone over 65 (the non-productive class); large-scale war (the effect of the war in Ukraine has already had stark implications for Russian demographics; one-child policies on populous countries (try it on India and see how far you get), or mass starvation (we may get there, but it's hardly something to be wished for) – what alternatives are you proposing to make this population trend change more quickly?
Previously you said
"Humans are already reducing in numbers"
Now you say
"The population continues to increase"
Hopefully you can see the contradiction there.
Then in this reply you refer to
"everyone over 65 (the non-productive class);"
whereas in another reply at 10:39 (four minutes later) you state
"I work in an industry where, so long as your brain continues to function, you're a highly valued employee. I've had people over 80 on my team (working part-time – work/life balance)."
Another contradiction.
I'm making no proposals regarding population trends. The time lag between changes in birth rate & actual population is so long that it's of no use in achieving the urgent changes we need to make to minimise climate change.
So. No ideas. Just generic hand-wringing.
What personal action are you taking to resolve the "urgent changes [in population] we need to make to minimise climate change"?
What political action do you advocate to resolve this issue?
If the answer to both is "none" – then your entire post is pointless.
The apparent-to-you contraction was in discussion to the floated possibility that you might consider that post 65 euthanasia was a solution. Another commented suggested that retirement at 65 was not sensible in all cases – and I agreed.
Or are you advocating that the euthanasia criteria should be based on assessed productivity to society?
Whoa. You do NOT add words to a direct quote from someone else, even if placed in brackets That is completely unethical.
The point of my post was to correct errors in your post(s). I observe you don't seem to handle being corrected at all well.
At no stage did I mention euthanasia, that came entirely from your mind.
It is quite clear when I said "I'm making no proposals regarding population trends . . . it's of no use in achieving the urgent changes we need to make to minimise climate change." that it's not something to be considered.
I'm not sure why I'm bothering to answer, but at over 65, I'm a bit past taking personal action to resolve the population problem you perceive (although the vasectomy really achieved that thirty odd years ago). And as far as climate change measures, walking, cycling, public transport, zero overseas travel, all purchasing decisions carefully considered etc.
Hopefully you get the gist, & will cease suggesting motives and making judgement about people you know nothing about.
"The time lag between changes in birth rate & actual population is so long that it's of no use in achieving the urgent changes we need to make to minimise climate change."
Your quote in full.
My apologies, since we were discussing population sizes and trends, I made the assumption that you were referring to action needed in relation to population size.
I now see that you appear to be saying there is nothing we can do about population – and need to take alternative action.
I agree. The OP (apparently) did not.
"There are just too many humans on the planet."
Maybe we should reinvent retirement, people getting to 65 and then becoming a dtag on society is dumb, people physical and mental health is better if the ar busy and contributing.
You'll find a lot of argument against increasing the retirement age, here, on TS. 🙂
I work in an industry where, so long as your brain continues to function, you're a highly valued employee. I've had people over 80 on my team (working part-time – work/life balance).
I worked full time until I was 66. Then my employer did some stupid stuff which annoyed me so I "retired". I had things to do which I did, and then I worked part time for 2 years after that because a friend rang in a panic because he had taken on a job he could not complete in time and was prepared to pay me quite a lot of $$$ to get it done. This led to the next job etc. Finally, I sent the last one back to him and said that I could not support it and neither would the authority it was to go to. I had a bit of surgery after that and have used it as an excuse to not work again.
Reinventing retirement is vastly different to just moving the goal posts,
That just punishing the physical workers and the burnt out, ,
Funding a system to keep people working through shifting to easier work ,
Just changing the cultural mindset from one of knocking off and becoming a consumer only is a start.
Nothing makes one find health problems like being under utilized and feeling mentally low,
Not the best idea.
So much of our social capital and productivity comes from people who are on a pension.
Looking after Grandkids so that parents can work, is just one example.
The problem with decreasing numbers of workers is way overhyped. The real issue is so much of the income from their productivity is captured by parasitic capital, and removed from the community. We don't need the number of people working the hours they currently do. Bullshit jobs
Technology is rapidly increasing individual worker productivity. For example two workers milking 800 cows in a few hours. The issue is those two workers pay does not reflect that. It is lower than 40 years ago.
Workers who are on realistic wages reflecting their actual contribution, and the wealthy having to contribute back some of the rents they are extracting, can easily support dependants, as they did in the 60's.
I also note that the enthusiasm for increasing the retirement age, comes solely from those with comfortable desk jobs who are lucky enough to be in good health.
The West, Japan, Korea and China do not represent the totality of the worlds demographics.
And the Five Eyes nations are growing their populations via migration all the same.
The forecast increase from 8 to 11B forecast during the century shows total birthrate is being maintained globally. However the impact of long COVID and global warming impact on lifespans is not a known (spread of disease impacting on food production and post flood disease and impact of heat on workers and old people).
Population growth via migration is 'neutral' in terms of the world's population: for there to be an increase of one person in Country A by migration, there has to be a decrease in Country B.
Please provide evidence that the birthrate is being maintained globally.
I, too, agree that the UN population forecasts are overly optimistic (or pessimistic – depending on whether you see population as a good or bad thing) – and don't take wars, famines, disasters, etc. into account.
I will, if you look for evidence to support your own claim
One wonders whose supporting evidence is compelling.
Here you go
China population numbers in (absolute) decline in 2023.
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2023/03/chinas-population-is-shrinking-it-faces-a-perilous-future
So – evidence that the birthrate is being maintained globally?
I realise there are arguements within Chinese tradition to refute this, but being Han Chinese does not define being human. I am sure you do realise that the Indian population growth is larger than any Chinese decline for the foreseeable future.
I will refer to a debate with the other red who has retired (not dington but logix).
https://thestandard.org.nz/richard-heinberg-the-final-doubling/#comment-1926429
Birth changes 1950-2021
Asian 57-67M per annum.
Africa 11-45M per annum.
Rest 24-21M per annum.
Perhaps you could look at the figures between (say) 2019 and 2023. Or possibly the birth rate data for the top 10 most populous countries.
No one is arguing that the world population hasn't increased since 1950.
Straw man…..
I've provided a link showing that China (still around 1/4 of the world's population) has *decreased* in absolute terms in 2023.
India has indeed overtaken China in as the most populous country in the world. However, their birth rate is at 1.6 and continuing to decline.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India
I'm still not seeing any evidence that the *birth rate* (you know that more than 2 children per woman, replacement figure) – is continuing to "be maintained, globally".
Any increasing population figures are as a result of people living longer – not of increasing numbers of children being born.
Might that be a matter of perception versus reality?
That article warns about "the world's dire demographic trajectory", but The Economist is typically more focused on economic consequences, rather than the commonsense idea that "All our environmental problems become easier to solve with fewer people, and harder – and ultimately impossible – to solve with ever more people." – Sir David Attenborough
Ah, so about one generation until the global human population begins to stabilise. Don't panic – our species won't go extinct any time soon.
Spaceship Earth is currently sustaining an overshoot civilisation – with any luck humans will prove smarter than bacteria in a petri dish, and seize opportunities to decrease their numbers naturally and gradually.
You do not seem to know the meaning of the term.
The figures explained that the Asian birth numbers continued to increase despite what happened within China (one child policy and all that).
The figures also explained the increasing extent between 1950-2021 to which global birth increase was predicated on Africa.
You know why slowing rates elsewhere (in either the west, or China) did not result in a global fall.
That just demonstrates a failure to pay attention to what (the where) was driving the global increase in births.
And your explanation of the absolute decrease in the population in China in 2023 (and, according to many commentators, actually quite a bit earlier) – is?
The Chinese and Asian birth numbers have been steadily dropping since 1970. If you have a birth rate of less than 2, then the birth numbers mathematically cannot be increasing. The population increased due to people living longer. Fewer people were being born (especially in China), but the people already here were not dying off as quickly.
Have a look at this chart – showing the fertility rate in China during the 20th century. It dropped below 2 in the mid-90s (and those the the official figures – so likely to be on the high side)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033738/fertility-rate-china-1930-2020/
Here's an explanation of why the official Chinese figures are likely to be inflated.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/researcher-questions-chinas-population-data-says-it-may-be-lower-2021-12-03/
When you say "maintained globally" it doesn't really represent what's happening as the countries with fertilty rates high enough to grow there population are pretty much all in Africa and the Middle East. Even India and Indonesia are rapidly closing in on 2.1 rate.
Immigration only works while there are immigrants available. If we boost our population through immigration from any country with a less than 2.1 rate then it doesn't help and if all the countries with declining birth rates import all of the new people from africa and the Middle East then how are they supposed to survive.
Some estimates have for example China losing half of it's population within the next 5 decades. That is really scary because it means compete economic collapse for China and assuming they are aware of what's happening to their country you have to wonder how they will respond? There will be 2 choices, China ceases to exist, or………?
Russia is much the same – demographic collapse (dropping total population, as well as a birth rate well under 2) exacerbated by losses during the Ukraine war (not only deaths – but especially flight of young men, from the country).
https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/03/04/russias-population-nightmare-is-going-to-get-even-worse
Russia's population decline can be survived, it's a bit like the loss of population in Enzed provincial areas post 1980's economic change.
It's not a nation where the taxpayer base is the working population, but its economic resources.
And where there is continuing profitable economic activity migrant workers can be brought in (or made a national job training priority).
I understand that Russia's extractive industry (gas, etc) is entirely dependent on foreign expertise now. Many of whom have left the country – and are unlikely to return (the risks outweigh the returns)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/expats-quietly-leave-russia-over-financial-and-safety-worries-11646736757
The IT industry is basically hollowed out – Russia is admitting to 10% of the workers having left – the total is almost certainly considerably higher.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/04/04/1070352/ukraine-war-russia-tech-industry-yandex-skolkovo/
The current situation is not going to last decades.
Your crystal ball is clearly more powerful than mine. I wouldn't care to place any bets on the length of the current war.
The fighting will not last decades, and that call requires no more than common sense.
Yes it does, as those areas are part of the world.
There will be billions of people looking to migrate to western nations for decades to come. Economic reasons to new ones, such as CC/GW.
The nature of the migrants will change, AI and robot tech etc.
China will no more suffer economic collapse than Japan. Japan will profit from helping them out.
"China will no more suffer economic collapse than Japan. Japan will profit from helping them out."
That statement indicates you have no concept of the divide between these two countries. Japan would sit on the sidelines with popcorn and watch while China burns.
If Japan does not, China is capable of doing it themselves, by merely following their example.
That "divide" has not stopped past Japanese investment in China, and to forecast the future based on a current "circumstance/issues" is not prescience.
Oh, do tell how China (a country which has got old, faster than it has got rich), is going to copy Japan (a country which got rich, long before it got old).
Sound-bite sniper, China will have AI (labour saving) and quantum computing to help out.
And it helps them resolve the problem of maintaining employment – given the job losses in manufacture for US firms (now moving to produce more outside China).
Labour shortages result in higher wages (where they occur) and this then leads to development of the domestic services sector.
PS China has a lot of reserves – American debt etc.
They will still be among the nations with a rising population, the other nations do not need to maintain their current population level to survive.
Well at least we no longer have to wonder about what the world would look like if it heated 1.5 degrees celsius.
Back in Glasgow COP 26 2021 we were still wondering.
Two years ago.
Newshub will cover Winston Peter's NZF party conference this weekend.
Some under NZF umbrella include anti-vax doctors and anti co-governance/3 Waters activists. Lots of competition in that corner, though. NZF looking to hover up disgruntled Nats who can’t stomach ACT? The polite face of racism?
The only thing that'll get nzf over the line is if people want a hand brake on nact, I won't be one of them ,
Never forget he learnt his political credentials at the knee of one, Robert David Muldoon.
It was Muldoon who introduced Dirty Politics to NZ in the 1970s. He lied, cheated and manipulated people and situations to suit his personal ambitions. He crucified people because they had the temerity to stand up to him. He was also not above turning to the shadowy underworld to do his dirty work for him.
Peters has copied Muldoon's style with considerable success over the years. Like Muldoon, he will do whatever it takes to grab power. In Peters' case he has thrown his lot in with the conspiracy theorists and the anti-brigade together with the generally bewildered who are easy to manipulate.
I once gave him credit for helping to expose the Wine Box papers, but as far as I can tell that was about the only positive thing he's ever done… unless some want to include the Gold Card which was primarily a ploy to garner the elderly vote than having any altruistic considerations.
Peters has incredible ability and intelligence to capture pressing issues. Some of his speeches I have read are superb – sharp analyses set out in beautiful oratory – statesman territory.
But, because he is a shameless egoist with no moral compass, Peters swings to whatever populist direction wins him power on the day. If he had stuck to one position, he could have achieved much more for himself and the country in his years in Parliament.
Indeed. Had he used his undoubted talents in a truly positive way he could have been a long-term PM in his own right with majority support from both Maori and Pakeha.
Who are the anti vax doctors? I find it hard to believe any doctors would be anti vax
From NZ Doctor 2020 issue, 17 who did sign anti-vax statement.
South of Gisborne, a local doctor serving his mostly Maori community spoke against covid vaccination. As he was trusted, this decreased local vax rates. Can't readily find the link, but it was widely reported at the time.
NZF doctor is 'anti-mandate' not anti-vax, but that is essentially the same thing, defending rights to work and free movement when you aren't prepared to protect your community by having the jab.
There was one in Murupara.
Margarita Simonyan isn’t talking about Europe. Ukrainian grain will continue to be shipped there by rail.The famine they're talking about is in Africa.
Russia wants to force the West cave to Russian cruelty by starving Africans.
@visegrad24
“All our hope is in a famine” “The famine will start now, and they will lift the sanctions, and be friends with us, because they will realize it is necessary" The Russians have been telling us for months what they plan to do but the West isn’t listening
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1682296774768074752
Ukrainian grain has historically never been exported to Europe – so there has always been zero risk of famine there from the interrupted supplies.
Which is a good thing for its European neighbours (e.g. Poland) which are also grain exporting countries. Grain exported last year caused political issues – because it was 'dumped' into the local economies of other grain-exporting countries.
https://www.euronews.com/2023/06/14/eu-blocks-ukraine-grain-imports-to-five-countries-including-poland
There are major challenges with transiting grain through Europe – the rail network isn't consistent between Ukraine and most of the EU (the gauge is different) – so you'd have to break bulk; and, in any case, it's logistically impossible to shift anything like as much by train as you can by sea. They're now exploring alternative hybrid scenarios (e.g. rail to a Romanian port, then sea freight)
https://gcaptain.com/planes-trains-automobiles-cant-move-ukraine-grain-heres-why/
I think Russia is more concerned over restricting foreign exchanged earned by Ukraine (and therefore able to be spent on resisting Russian aggression), than over trying to instil a moral panic in the west about famine in Africa.
Although, I agree that Africa is certain to be the loser in this. Even if Ukrainian grain is bought by other countries (e.g. China) – if it's not available, those countries will switch to alternative sources, pushing up prices. China won't go short. Africa will.
Correct!
https://twitter.com/SquanderedTeeth/status/1682907978524164096
Doing the ground work for a wind break garden enclosure has involved digging 1.6m holes to accommodate 4.8m posts. I'd neglected to adequately cover one hole and late Friday evening my SO brought news of a deceased hedge pig lying in the bottom.
This morning I went to retrieve the carcass, gave it a nudge with the shovel and lo, it was alive!. After most of the day in a shoe box in front of the burner hedge pig is active, drinking, on it's second helping of dog roll dog and hopefully should be good to be released later this evening.
And yes, I have covered the hole and checked the others.
That is a mighty big fence.
I've windbreaked my acre at 1.2m and it was still work.
What are you growing?
Hopefully a fucking decent lemon tree or two, salt is the issue, in a 6×4.5x3M pest proof windbreak enclosure surrounding raised beds.
Two rows 124-150mm x 4.8M @3M with rammed Superpost® intermediaries @1.5M, footed and headed with tg & v retaining, wrapped and topped with deer fencing and then windbreak.
Went there, did that thirty years ago. I have mature Karo/Pohutukawa hedges to show for my troubles.
Hedgehogs are listed as noxious animals and there is a project to eliminate them. Sadly.
Gd on ya for saving the chog joe im curious tho as to why you need a big windbreak if you.ve got a mature pohut plus karo one i'd have thought would be pretty substantial by now ?
Hedge pig appeared to be fit and well after a third feed so I deposited it under the hedge and off it waddled.
Mature as in substantial and 2M high for ease of maintenance but not much chop in the face of a rolling, gusty Westerly. Plus we're fifty metres from the sea in one of the country's windiest suburbs with nothing between us and the Antarctic so salt spray is an issue. Hence citrus failure after citrus failure.
A few years ago I did buy a cheap second hand tunnel house but it was as flimsy AF so the weather slowly trashed it and all I was left with was a mountain of plastic that cost money to dispose. So I've decided to bite the bullet and build something that's far more substantial.
They hover up all manner of native wild life.
https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/animal-pests/hedgehogs/
I have no data on this but would hesitate a guess that way more people like hedgehogs than like insects and snails, etc.
I notice on that link they say that rats must be completely eradicated from NZ. Have there been any studies done to determine any unforeseen problems on knock on effects of removing them from the ecosystem and life cycle? For example in cities, rats usually try and stay hidden from people and their impacts aren't only negative, they are also responsible for taking care of vast amounts of human rubbish and waste.
I'm not sure removing an entire species from the life cycle (that species being a highly participative part of that life cycle) won't also have negative consequences. I'm guessing the environmental powers that be would have done their homework on this stuff….
In Palmy last night, Batchelor's anti co-governance meeting managed to keep his venue (he books venues under false ids). This one was inside the council-owned lido grounds, in a separate clubroom. Police were there, for crowd control, and to carry out trespass orders, removing protester who are inside the venue.
But in this case, Batchelor illegally locked the gates, leaving the police outside them. Then people at his meeting attacked and dragged out a protester when they began whistling and showing a 'hate speech is not free speech' sign.
Police are investigating the claim of assault and threatening texts sent to someone who wanted to attend.
If you have security bouncers at such an event, they need to be licenced. Williams, the moaning racist from Chch was at a Batchelor meeting recently, and punched a couple of protesters, just for fun.
what's the source for Batchelor having locked the police out, and for Williams punching a couple of protestors in Chch?
It was in Takaka that he punched the protestors, well one he punched, the other, a woman had her arm crushed in a door, and collected one of his swings .The cops were not impressed by his attitude .
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/132555225/police-respond-to-disorder-at-stop-cogovernance-event-in-tkaka
thanks.
Debunking Conspiracies Aotearoa facebook post the one with photo of 'stop making us whiteys look bad' protest sign, gives an in-person written account of the protest. Comments around posts in the last day or so on this topic there also expand the info, based on attendees' accounts. This includes illegally locking police out of the venue.
The info about Williams comes from the same site about a week to 2 weeks ago, whenever the meeting was that he attended. It includes his own video, and he's clearly busting for a fight. He apparently was charged as a result.
Batchelor has tried to say Lee Williams is nothing to do with him , that he just attends his meetings. He lied .Williams is definitely part of the whole roadshow.He is trouble, moving amongst the protestors, filming them and trying to provoke them to say or do something stupid.He also has a short fuse, and acts as an enforcer, identifying those he decrees "hostile" and refusing them entry
In his YT videos its clear he and Batchelor are strongly connected.
tRumpian idiocy.
//
We'll be getting a new Minister of Hunting and Fishing if National gets elected.
The party also wants to change the law so that game animals like deer, Himalayan tahr and pigs are no longer classified as pests to protect our right to hunt and fish.
But one hunter says that's at odds with New Zealand's efforts to protect native forests.
Hunters from the depths of Te Urewera to the spurs of Fiordland – the National Party has your vote in its sights.
"What we've been working very hard with is the fishing and hunting interest groups to make sure we get the balance right for them," National leader Christopher Luxon said.
National will:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/07/national-promises-new-minister-for-hunting-and-fishing-will-stop-game-animals-being-classified-as-pests.html
Lew has thoughts. (thread)
@LewSOS
This will result in two primary shifts: * Treating game species as a resource to be managed and monetised * Consequently greater restriction and regulation of recreational hunting that will raise barriers to entry and reduce hunting rates, with consequently higher herd sizes
https://twitter.com/LewSOS/status/1682934300696780801
Byebye Doc, hello uncontrolled deer, wallabies and stoats on reserve land. Hello crazy hunters in cammo making the bush dangerous for others. Suck up to gun lobby through the backdoor. All good keen man stuff.
Looks like a 'cobble together a vote-for-us policy' to eat into ACT and to pick up interest groups without thinking it through.
Agree about deer (especially with the policy about herd protection).
Seems unlikely that wallaby and stoat hunting are economic – and will remain classed as pests (along with possums)
Most hunters are rural New Zealanders hunting to eat….
And, while they've been staunchly against things like 1080 drops – so have some of the greenest of the greens – so a ban might garner support from some unlikely areas.