sustainability

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Green China

Written By: r0b - Date published: 1:45 pm, December 4th, 2010 - 26 comments

I confess that I am used to thinking of China as a polluter, not much concerned with environmental standards or green technology. I am very pleased indeed to find that I am wrong. Green technology is yet another area where China is drawing ahead of America and much of the West.

Only greed can save us

Written By: r0b - Date published: 7:18 am, December 3rd, 2010 - 63 comments

As a society we can’t seem to bring ourselves to take action on climate change. We haven’t got the will to save ourselves.

The failure at Copenhagen, and the non event that is Cancun, are in the process of proving that.

It looks like only greed can save us.

Doing nothing in the face of climate change crisis

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:50 pm, November 22nd, 2010 - 23 comments

The Commissioner for the Environment says New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions will be 26% above 1990 levels in 2020, compared to the Nats’ promise to cut them by 10-20% – leaving us with a $1b bill. Worse, the IEA shows that even if we and other countries meet our promised cuts its only half of what’s needed to avert disaster.

Can the Left save the world?

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 7:37 am, November 22nd, 2010 - 196 comments

It takes many people working together to achieve anything really worthwhile. This also applies to our biggest project yet. Saving a planet. So why can’t we get started? Because human society based around the market can not do it. The answers will only com from the Left. The Left parties, Labour in particular, need to get serious and move Leftward.

David Suzuki and the Paradigm of Growth

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 10:50 pm, November 12th, 2010 - 27 comments

Dr David Suzuki has given the keynote speech at the Green Party Conference on Sustainable Economics. Here is a fantastic presentation of his, about why our obsession with economic growth is suicidal. Watch it – it’s pretty powerful stuff.

Efficient cars – possible now

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 12:58 pm, November 10th, 2010 - 70 comments

Incredibly efficient cars can be manufactured now… but they aren’t being made.

What would it take to kick-start what would be a major part of making our future sustainable?

eDay – recycle your electronics

Written By: r0b - Date published: 10:30 am, November 5th, 2010 - 28 comments

You’re reading this on a computer or smartphone / mobile device. Chances are you’ve been using such gadgets for some time now. If you’re anything like me you’ve thrown away a few over the years, wasting precious resources and adding to landfill pollution. Don’t make that mistake again! Tomorrow, Saturday, is an opportunity to recycle your electronic waste. To find out more, read on…

Got a spare Earth?

Written By: r0b - Date published: 8:15 am, October 19th, 2010 - 34 comments

Does anyone have a spare Earth? Or two — or three? If so, could you please speak up, because humanity is going two need two Earth’s worth of resources by 2030.

Nats turn blind eye to peak oil

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:00 pm, October 15th, 2010 - 103 comments

Russel Norman asked Bill English about the economic impacts of coming oil shocks and how transport infrastructure planning takes them into account. I’m not sure which was more surprising: English’s matter-of-fact acknowledgment that peak oil is coming, or his attitude that the government doesn’t need to act because the market will sort things out.

Waking up to the oil crisis

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:05 pm, October 13th, 2010 - 73 comments

Parliament has published a research paper called The Next Oil Shock. It’s a pretty sober look at the difficulties the world is facing in producing enough oil to meet demand. The conclusions are inescapable: we can’t produce enough oil and a cycle of oil-driven recessions is coming. Are our leaders finally waking up to the impeding crisis of peak oil?

Fonterra – killing Orangutans.

Written By: lprent - Date published: 3:48 pm, October 6th, 2010 - 45 comments

There has been an interesting ad from Greenpeace running around the site today. It is obviously intended to go viral before the lawyers from Fonterra get it into court… I think I might help out a bit… So should you – dump it onto the social media.

Shamed by Kiribati

Written By: r0b - Date published: 10:52 am, October 4th, 2010 - 19 comments

The tiny island nation of Kiribati puts the “developed” world to shame.

Digested Read – Spirit Level 5: Sustainability

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 12:58 pm, October 1st, 2010 - 16 comments

The fifth of 6 in a series summarising the argument of The Spirit Level. This post looks at how a more equal society may also be a more sustainable one.

Ramping up renewables

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:00 pm, August 28th, 2010 - 7 comments

Bryan Walker at Hot Topic looks at the large scale renewable energy projects that are being developed in various countries around the world. The contrast with the dated approach to energy from Gerry Brownlee is quite striking. That has been described as “The Government’s energy strategy prioritises drilling and mining for more oil and coal, while providing virtually no stimulation for the development of renewable energy and clean technology. It … makes no attempt to set measurable emissions reduction targets.”

Rethinking Growth

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 7:31 am, August 8th, 2010 - 82 comments

For the last several decades the over-riding mantra across western governments has been that what is important above all else is economic growth. Now is the time to question whether it should still be our main aim and guiding light.