Ha ha …less shit! same goes for bogus polls. On a positive note the PM has pushed the investigate button on the fuel cartel and hopefully after that the grocery cartel. Maybe Santa is coming after all, Wayne.
‘We are last generation that can stop climate change’ – UN summit
“We are clearly the last generation that can change the course of climate change, but we are also the first generation with its consequences,” said Kristalina Georgieva, the CEO of the World Bank. The bank announced on Monday that its record $100bn (£78bn) of climate funding from 2021-2025 would for the first time be split equally between projects to cut emissions and those protecting people from the floods, storms and droughts that global warming is making worse.
In recent years, just 5% of global funding has gone on protection, but 2018 has seen climate impacts hit hard, with heatwaves and wildfires in Europe and California and huge floods in India, Japan and east Africa. “We are already seeing the devastating impact of climate change,” Georgieva told the Guardian. “We strongly believe that action ought to go both on mitigation and on adaptation.”
It’s so simple. Livestock for meat and dairy products worldwide is responsible for almost 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second largest source of emissions after the fossil fuels industry.
There are straightforward actions you can do, starting today.
Drop meat and dairy.
Don’t believe me?
Then listen to George Monbiot.
He explains how the fate of the planet depends on the way we choose to eat.
Well Ed, I listened and didn’t hear a damned thing to back the claim that meat and dairy is responsible for ~ 15% of emissions.
How is the figure arrived at? Is it ~15% with all of the fossil inputs to agriculture added up and subtracted from the dairy/meat total? Because that’s the only way anyone can claim that meat/dairy is second to fossil in terms of emissions.
And my opinion of Monbiot as a wanker was just reinforced – the guy says he’s “almost vegan”…. it’s just venison he eats!
Anyway, look. Eat less meat or no meat. It’s not a bad thing to do. But don’t fucking kid yourself that being vegan will make a serious impact on AGW. It won’t.
Dropping fossil would curtail modern agricultural practices (no fossil inputs) that would in turn mean less “factory meat” getting produced/consumed.
But simply eating vegan does 5/8ths of fuck all in terms of fossil use, meaning 5/8ths of fuck all in terms of AGW.
It was posted by Robin Grieve, ACT Candidate for Whangarei.
He is the Chairman Pastural Farming Climate Research Inc.
He is a right wing politician, not a scientist.
It’s denialist nonsense.
“We know from taking samples of air trapped in polar ice that methane levels have grown by 150 percent since organised animal farming began in the early 1700s. By comparison, CO2 levels have grown by 35 percent. Methane levels have continued to rise over the decades, growing fastest through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, before slowing down in the 1990s, levelling off in the early 2000s, and increasing again from 2007.”
I reckon that physics doesn’t give a flying monkey’s fuck for where any CO2 comes from (eg – methane breakdown, bio-fuels, or fossil fuels).
If we want to arrest climate change, and maybe even see slight drops in atmospheric concentrations of CO2 occur, then we need to stop burning fossil. (ie, re- introducing to the earth’s systems CO2 that was removed from the earth’s systems hundreds of millions of years ago)
Agriculture can’t do what it currently does without fossil, so methane emissions would inevitably drop in concert with reductions in fossil use.
And like I say, if we want there to be any prospect that concentrations of CO2 will begin to come down, then we can’t swap out fossil fuel for bio fuel.
Sigh. OK, I’ll take the considerable time to respond to the denialist nonsense you’ve just sprayed around with just a half-dozen or so key presses that took just a few seconds.
Let’s follow some of the possible paths of that carbon atom from the air, absorbed into a plant.
It may stay as plant matter until it rots and is returned to the atmosphere as CO2, In which case, the only effect on global warming is a teeny-tiny reduction in atmospheric CO2 and consequent reduced warming for the brief time that carbon atom is part of a solid piece of plant, rather than floating in the atmosphere.
While it is plant matter, it may get eaten by a non-methanogenic animal, then emitted again as CO2. Again, negligible effect.
It may get eaten by a ruminant, and emitted as methane (as a substantial portion of the carbon atoms eaten by ruminants end up). In which case, that methane molecule adds to the current concentration of methane in the atmosphere. Yes, that methane molecule will eventually be broken back down to CO2 (on average around 10ish years), but while it is still methane it is massively more warming than CO2*. That extra heat the methane has trapped while it is still methane stays with us for a very long time. A while ago I ran the numbers, and an average cow in a paddock for a year emits so much methane it causes about the same warming as an average car driving around for a year (12000 km or so)
Methane concentrations have increased from around 775 parts per billion in pre-industrial times to around 1800 now, due entirely to human activities (not all of it is agricultural, industry and domestic use shares some of the blame). Because methane has a short lifetime, this increased methane concentration (and consequent warming) is entirely due to increased ongoing emissions, of which agriculture is a large part. So yes, even though the carbon atom in a molecule of methane belched by a cow originally came from atmospheric CO2, it still causes much more warming because it has been turned into methane by agricultural activity than if it had stayed as CO2. So it’s entirely proper to hold that agricultural activity accountable for the increased warming it causes.
*If you calculate how much warming you get over 20 years from a tonne of methane, it’s around 85 times more than a tonne of CO2. Over 100 years, it’s around the 25 figure used in the vid.
If you don’t trust Monbiot or me, then what about this study.
“Huge reductions in meat-eating are essential to avoid dangerous climate change, according to the most comprehensive analysis yet of the food system’s impact on the environment. In western countries, beef consumption needs to fall by 90% and be replaced by five times more beans and pulses.
The research also finds that enormous changes to farming are needed to avoid destroying the planet’s ability to feed the 10 billion people expected to be on the planet in a few decades.
Food production already causes great damage to the environment, via greenhouse gases from livestock, deforestation and water shortages from farming, and vast ocean dead zones from agricultural pollution. But without action, its impact will get far worse as the world population rises by 2.3 billion people by 2050 and global income triples, enabling more people to eat meat-rich western diets.
The new research, published in the journal Nature, is the most thorough to date and combined data from every country to assess the impact of food production on the global environment. It then looked at what could be done to stop the looming food crisis.“
No-one can say meat and dairy is second to fossil in terms of emissions if the fossil inputs that are necessary for meat and dairy are left sitting in the meat/dairy total.
And if we all go vegan, we’re all going to suffer from malnutrition because of the effect that raised CO2 levels have on plant nutrition. (That article joe90 linked at 2.1.2 is well worth the read, and it’s worth noting that not one mention is made on the known effect that elevated CO2 levels have on plants and/or the obvious knock-on effect in relation to insect and bird and lizard numbers…)
You reckon a plant based diet is going to save us?
Looking at what insecticides, especially organophosphates, are doing, it’s gonna be goodbye food.
When asked to imagine what would happen if insects were to disappear completely, scientists find words like chaos, collapse, Armageddon. Wagner, the University of Connecticut entomologist, describes a flowerless world with silent forests, a world of dung and old leaves and rotting carcasses accumulating in cities and roadsides, a world of “collapse or decay and erosion and loss that would spread through ecosystems” — spiraling from predators to plants. E.O. Wilson has written of an insect-free world, a place where most plants and land animals become extinct; where fungi explodes, for a while, thriving on death and rot; and where “the human species survives, able to fall back on wind-pollinated grains and marine fishing” despite mass starvation and resource wars. “Clinging to survival in a devastated world, and trapped in an ecological dark age,” he adds, “the survivors would offer prayers for the return of weeds and bugs.”
heh – E.O Wilson apparently overlooked the fact that a plant based diet is increasingly a sugar based diet because of the effects of CO2 on growth…meaning those wind pollinated grains won’t have much sustenance, and that marine life will have cacked it along with terrestrial life because the phyto-plankton at the base of the marine food system also become junk under conditions of accelerated growth.
Thanks Ed. Husband a big meat eater and so me by default. Agreed today to cut it back to one red meat meal a week. Guess it’s a start. We walk and use public transport a lot too
Anyone seen any monarch butterflies lately? I have 2 large swan plants but not a sign of any eggs. I usually bring any eggs inside as soon as I see a butterfly around the plants, as the wasps will take the caterpillars almost as soon as they hatch. My daughter has got a small accidental swan plant forest but also no go for eggs, caterpillars or butterflies. Are they now extinct in Waiuku?
Where you have Asian Paper Wasps, you will have no Monarch caterpillars. Because they eat Milkweed (Swan Plant) monarchs used to be poisonous to our old predators. 2 new predators don’t give a toss about Milkweed poison, and gobble up everything in sight. At this time of the year it is the Paper Wasp. Later, as they grow bigger, the South African Praying Mantids will join in, and continue after the Paper Wasps stop collecting protein in late summer.
Sorry, but lean times for Monarch butterflies and many other insects here in NZ since these two monstrously mean and greedy predators became established.
Seen a couple of Monarchs but not many. We have swarm of them come through about January, so on that basis, would expect January 2019 to be when they start laying eggs.
Then the fun begins of squashing eggs to maintain a good caterpillar/plant ratio. Too many and it’s murder. Too few and not enough survive.
Lmao a ton of Milo Yiannopoulos docs dropped as part of his Australian lawsuit and honey, this grift is on its last legs pic.twitter.com/lBjYzNGCnE— K. Thor Jensen (@kthorjensen) December 2, 2018
They’re all loud mouthed nobodies sloganeering on the wingnut welfare circuit.
The limitless ocean of cash that flows through Wingnut Welfare’s rivers and tributaries is how the Right keeps their whole Pretty Hate Machine — publishing houses, magazines, websites, radio empires, teevee networks, op-ed forelock tuggers, think tanks, and a thousand free roaming pundits — propped up and purring in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are nothing but a mob lying, racist grifters and madmen.
And once you get your Wingnut Welfare card punch, baby, the world is your oyster!
I suspect that many of them are the same brush. Pseudonyms change, but the language style and logic doesn’t. We haven’t heard from Chuck lately, but a new arrival seems remarkably similar to me. Not the first time I have noticed such similar contributions under a different name.
Never trust a right-wing commentator!
Jack with the KSA setting their production limits.
Qatar announces it was withdrawing from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries “OPEC” effective 1 January 2019.— Qatar Petroleum (@qatarpetroleum) December 3, 2018
Odd. I never thought of either the Hosk or Leighton as left-wing wankers. Wankers, yes, but not left-wing. I s’pose it’s a matter of where you sit when looking at them.
The Project have done a number of stories on conservation, climate change, plastic in the oceans etc etc. Awesome that they are helping to increase awareness and help drive much needed change.
If BM’s spinning out calling him names, cause that’s all BM can manage in defence of poison ivy and her lack of conservation, then he’s sure struck a nerve.
Good job Jesse, thanks for caring about the planet among other things.
Do his perspectives on the environment make him a ‘Left-wing wanker’ or does being a ‘Left-wing wanker’ mean he has the views he does about the environment?
And if he is a ‘Left-wing wanker’ does that make his views any less or more worthy than, say, yours?
Or are you pissed off that someone is prepared to address some bullshit? I’ve seen some saying that the people who worked in Barry’s office should have shut up and tolerated what they saw as bullying. The ruling classes don’t seem to like it when the empire strikes back.
That reads to me like a criticism of himself. If only he were that self aware. Du Fresne openly seeks to change things, and no topic does he cover even-handedly.
In the last sentence he betrays the most ultra conceit of ultra right wing thought:
The proper purpose of journalism (is) to give ordinary people the means to make their own decisions about what’s in their best interests.
I’m puzzled … should people make decisions that are not in their best interests, or have other people do it for them?
Or maybe you missed this:
One of the best definitions of journalism that I’ve read comes from The Elements of Journalism, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. It defines the purpose of journalism as “to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies and their governments”.
Maybe that definition of ‘best interests’ works better for you?
That’s a better definition but not the one Du Fresne rests upon, nor one he himself subscribes to because right wing thought bases itself above all else upon personal responsibility and the rights of the individual over strength of community and the good of society.
I think if you leave people to it unfortunately they will make decisions in their own best interests rather than a common good. Hands off government the type which Du Fresne promotes (even though he as a journalist should not be promoting it) contributes to this.
Fair enough, left wingers tend to put the interests of the collective ahead of individuals. At the extremes the history of both viewpoints is terrible.
My take is that both viewpoints co-exist in a mutual balance; both speak to vital human realities that work best when they listen to each other.
Some years back a new cafe opened in Belmont on the Shore called ‘Little and Friday’. It became the place to go if you wanted to be seen by the right (pronounced raite) people at least for a while. Sure enough Maggie turned up one day only to find the cafe was full and there were no tables left. She had a hissy fit because no-one saw fit to get up and offer her their table so she flounced out to the tune… oh, they’re all left wing haters anyway.
Which addiction did you switch from @ Ed?
It’s obviously something less destructive than the last one and I ‘spose a couple of days ban given by the Voice of Reason is really going to teach ya a lesson, so na-na nana-na, and so there!.
There are learnings to be had going forward
perhaps I should have added a /sarc, but you know…..puzzling can be really cathartic.
Hopefully you’ll stick around on this venue, whereas sometimes I wish they’d do me a favour and ban me for life so that I can watch and not be tempted to comment
Pissed off at being bullied by other oil producing states? The Saudi’s have been on their case for ages, so I guess there’s a bit of payback. They can set their own price and undercut the others if they are out of OPEC.
Have to say, our risk managed sussoighty is now becoming ridiculous.
4am on a trip from Tearenga ta Orcas: many notifications of a slip in the Karangahake Gorge and a suggestion to take an alternative root …. oops route. A couple of substantial boulders blocking a lane as I passed.
12 hours later and a cast of tens of hiviz specimens later on the return journey, the very same boulders were sat where they fell causing some more major traffic problems.
Heavy earthmoving equipment on standby, though seemingly incapable of just shuvelling the shit away into a fast moving river, much as Mother Nature had/ and had done over decades.
I almost tried to leap for some anti-bacterial sanitising cream to wash off a bit of dust as we waited for the Green Go sign.
Christ! and people used to slag off Ministry of Works and Dev employees during the journey towards the neoliberal alternative over leaning on a shovel.
Please don’t fart people. There’s the potential for toxic and flammable gases that could cause serious injury to bits of the body we shouldn’t speak of
I would think that they would have to ensure the original site of those boulders was stable before shoving them into the river. The use of heavy machinery and the subsequent movement of boulders hitting the riverbed might result in further uncontrolled slips.
This is not really a good example of H&S rules applied unthinkingly, it is an example of what H&S rules are intended to achieve – a minimisation of harm.
“Poland generates 80% of its electricity from coal and the UN summit will take place in a coal mining town, Katowice. The Polish government has also allowed two coal companies to sponsor the summit.”
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More Thwaites This past week we heard disturbing news about Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. Helping to fill in the longer term history of Thwaites' behavior and especially helpful in interpreting results of the recent drilling project and what it may say about the future of this unstable mass of ice is Revealing the ...
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit:Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ...
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...
A few years ago, a company lowballed a contract to dispose of toxic waste from the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. So, they dumped it in a disused paper mill in Mataura, then went into liquidation - effectively dumping the problem on local councils. The waste is dangerous - it releases ...
Unhappy with the demonisation of Iran in Western media, I was fortunate to have the Australian Institute of International Affairs invite me to write an alternative analysis for their on-line journal Australian Outlook. I did, and they serialised it into two parts. The essays are short, so I did not ...
Over on The Good Society, Max Rashbrooke suggests that its time to start directly taxing wealth:A wealth tax would be levied on net wealth – that is, the value of people’s assets once their debts have been subtracted. Such a tax would be highly redistributive. Levied at 1% on wealth ...
The quarterly labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has dropped to 4%. There are now 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when Labour took office. Its not the performance we had under Clark (when unemployment was ~3.3%), but its still a reasonable improvement over prevailing conditions under National. ...
Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson, Louise Delany, Prof Richard Edwards, Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanThe current national measles epidemic in New Zealand is amongst the largest we have experienced in the last 40 years. It can be linked to the problems created by long-term erosion and fragmentation of national public health ...
I’m about to start teaching science communication to tertiary students, which is equally hilarious and terrifying to me. (Hi to my students who have Googled me and found this post.) I loved English at high school, but we spent most of our time reading The Outsiders, discussing the differences between metaphors and ...
Space-X has started launching its Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit with a plan to use some tens of thousands of these to deliver 5G wifi to the whole globe. Chains of these satellites can be seen in the evening or before-dawn skies, through the sunlight they scatter. Here I provide ...
New Zealand was the first country to decriminalise prostitution and it was promoted as a progressive move. Yet survivors of the sex trade say that pimps and johns are emboldened operating within the law, and that the women are treated more like a piece of property to be used and ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
Applications are now open for the fifth round of the Regional Culture and Heritage Fund Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Grant Robertson announced today. “I am delighted to open this year’s fund which has some $7 million available to support performing arts venues, galleries, museums and whare ...
The Minister of Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta today congratulated Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu on her appointment as the next President of the Law Commission. “Amokura Kawharu will be a standout in her new role, leading in an innovative and forward looking approach to the law reform process. She will ...
Auckland University legal academic Amokura Kawharu has been appointed as the next President of the Law Commission, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Associate Professor Kawharu will take up her new appointment on 11 May 2020. “I would like to congratulate Associate Professor Kawharu on her appointment,” Andrew ...
A programme for employers to help them engage effectively with younger employees was launched today by Minister of Employment, Willie Jackson. The Youth Ready Employer Programme contains a range of on-line templates that employers can easily access to help with employing and retaining young people in their businesses. The programme ...
Budget 2020 will be delivered on Thursday 14 May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “This year’s Budget will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also preparing the economy for the future. “Those challenges and opportunities cannot be resolved in one budget, ...
I move, That this House place on record its appreciation and thanks for the devoted and distinguished service to New Zealand by the late Rt Hon Michael Kenneth Moore, member of the Order of New Zealand, a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, an Honorary Member of the ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Northland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on our farmers and growers and additional support ...
The Minister of Police says an operation to smash a trans national drug smuggling ring today will make a significant impact on the methamphetamine trade fuelling harm in our communities. Police have announced 10 arrests and the seizure of up to five million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs after an ...
The Government’s books are in a strong position to withstand global headwinds, with the accounts in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the six months to December. The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) was above ...
Race courses can improve safety with this year’s second round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. Minister for Racing Winston Peters has announced the second funding round of 2019/20 is open with $347,875 available for distribution. “The racing industry is integral to the economic and social fabric of ...
The Government is committing $300,000 to fund research to update behavioural information to make sure HIV and STI prevention services are targeted appropriately in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson made the announcement at today’s Big Gay Out in Auckland. “There is much talk about ...
The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has announced work will begin on a business case to assess the viability of forming a new public media entity. “The Government must ensure New Zealanders have a strong independent public media service for decades to come, which means ensuring public ...
Minister of Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare announced today that the Government will contribute $100,000 to the Southland regional Mayoral Relief Fund, to support communities impacted by the recent flooding in Southland. Mr Henare says this week’s flooding has caused significant disruption to communities in the lower South Island. ...
Heritage buildings throughout New Zealand will benefit from the $1.1 million in Heritage EQUIP funding grants announced today. “These grants for seismic strengthening projects help private building owners get the advice they need to start building work or to get the work completed,” Grant Robertson says. “Timaru’s Grosvenor Hotel has ...
A new survey has found New Zealand’s game development sector has grown beyond expectations and is on track to becoming a billion dollar industry in 2025, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says. “New Zealand’s interactive media sector grew by 42 per cent in last financial year to $203.4 million, according ...
Te Tii, the lower marae at Waitangi, is among more than 70 marae now connected to broadband internet thanks to the Provincial Growth Fund’s marae connectivity scheme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today. In February 2019, the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) allocated $21 million to connect rural towns ...
The West Coast has had a funding injection of over $1.2 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika today. The PGF projects announced are: $800,000 to Development West Coast for a Grey District Regional Digital Hub ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has declared an adverse event for the Southland and Otago regions, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “Widespread flooding has resulted in severe disruption, with many people evacuated from their homes and many farms being affected by flood waters. It’s putting pressure on our farmers, ...
Alex Casey delivers her seventh power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where a group of intruders have herniated the competition’s intestines forever. Click here for previous instalments. Welcome back to The Bachelorette NZ, where everything is made up and every man is suddenly named Mike. Intruders! Five of them! A whole ...
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila Solicitor-General Jose Calida asked the Supreme Court today to issue a gag order against ABS-CBN, claiming the Philippines’ largest television network was engaging in “propaganda” to sway the justices in the quo warranto case seeking to void its franchise. Calida filed the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karen R Fisher, Professor, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for young children with disability is not equal across Australia. Where you live can hinder access to information about disability support, assistance to apply for ...
The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations applauds the changes to the Residential Tenancies Act released by the government yesterday but does not believe that they go far enough to improving the rights of renters. The power imbalance in the current ...
The Prime Minister will take no action against Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, after confirmation of a Serious Fraud Office investigation. ...
Eamonn Marra’s debut novel makes a study of the mundane: sanding a fence, heating baked beans, three pizzas for $29.99 delivered. Alie Benge reckons it belongs somewhere between Sally Rooney and Elena Ferrante. It was about page three of 2000ft Above Worry Level. A feeling burst inside me: the joy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzie Gibson, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Charles Sturt University The gothic developed as a European architectural phenomenon in 12th-century France, where awe-inspiring cathedrals reflected a world drenched in religious piety and superstition. Its veneration was revisited in 18th-century English literature, when ...
Financial services company Heartland Bank has reported a solid lift in its first-half profit driven by increased lending despite a squeeze on margins and rising costs. ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, e-bikes are now just a tap away! Josie Adams reviews the latest disruption in transport culture.When Lime launched in 2018, New Zealand’s transport culture got the electric shock it needed. For too long we’d ...
Ministers love to bray about the seizing of illegal drugs. Customs statistics on seizures last year – albeit “preliminary” statistics – therefore were irresistible to Customs Minister Jenny Salesa. They gave her a platform to remind us of her existence as a Minister while acknowledging the work of her officials. ...
The rise of ‘plant-based’ diets seems like a win for those who decry eating meat. But some vegan groups claim the halfway step of vegetarianism is ineffectual if you really care about animal cruelty, climate change, or your own personal health.An article in the Guardian last year asked “Why do ...
FIRST Union General Secretary Dennis Maga says that this morning’s comments from National Party Finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith that the party would consider scrapping the Government’s proposed minimum wage increases if elected ...
The State Housing Action Network (SHAN) is deeply disappointed that the Government’s recently announced Aotearoa Homelessness Action Plan fails to provide for increases in the state housing stock which are essential for addressing the homelessness crisis. ...
Electricity retailers will no longer be able to entice former customers with steep and exclusive discounts, the Electricity Authority has announced. ...
The National Party leader Simon Bridges says it came as a surprise to him that the Serious Fraud Office prosecution relates to two $100,000 donations to the party. ...
National Party leader Simon Bridges says it came as a surprise to him that a Serious Fraud Office prosecution relates to two $100,000 donations to the party. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne The federal court’s rejection of the ABC case against the Australian Federal Police raid on its Sydney headquarters in June 2019 reveals two issues of great importance to ...
Zero waste campaigners are petitioning the Government to take a more active stance in tackling Aotearoa New Zealand’s waste crisis, with a comprehensive ban on single-use disposable plastic food and drink serviceware, and a phasing in of accessible, reusable ...
“Callaghan Innovation’s $440,000 grant for an electric ferry design is pure corporate welfare,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “If EV Maritime’s ferries present such good value, then why didn’t it get private ...
President Rodrigo Duterte takes legal action to shut down the biggest broadcaster in the Philippines in what is being described as the most severe attack on media freedom in the country. Video: Al JazeeraPacific Media Watch More than 500 journalists have gathered to protest threats to the survival ...
Pacific Media Centre Papua New Guinea’s Minister for State Enterprises Sasindran Muthuvel has reassured the nation that Air Niugini is taking all necessary steps to protect the country against the spread of coronavirus, reports EMTV News. “The airline has instituted a wide range of measures to minimise the risk ...
Our writers celebrate the best performances you can watch right now on NEON. Basically? They’re iconic.We all love a good story, and a great plot twist can turn a mediocre TV show into addictive weekly viewing. But what really keeps us coming back are the characters, and seeing actors at ...
National finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has refused to give details on the party's planned tax cut policy announced in a speech by leader Simon Bridges yesterday. ...
The owners of three properties in Twizel will have to sell-up after they failed to seek consent from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO). Vanessa Horne, Group Manager for the OIO, says a group of overseas investors bought the three properties, which ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentNZ First donations scandal Guyon Espiner and Kate Newton (RNZ): NZ First Foundation trustee was lobbying for donor Bryce ...
A Southland school has been criticised for requiring girls to see a counsellor before opting to wear shorts as their uniform. It’s merely a symptom of a bigger problem, Madeleine Chapman writes.On Sunday, Stuff reported that James Hargest College in Southland would soon allow girls to wear shorts or pants ...
The Manawatu Tenants’ Union’ (MTU) celebrates yesterday’s release of the Residential Tenancies Act Reform Bill, but challenges the Minister to stil go further to improving tenancy rights. The Bill would remove the ability for landlords to terminate a tenancy ...
The Government is putting together an $11 million package to offset the fallout from coronavirus and attract tourists from countries other than China. ...
Friends of Sherwood are asking that the following question be put to all voters: “ Should New Zealand stop using all cruel and inhumane poisons, such as 1080, brodifacoum, and PAPP, to kill wildlife because these toxic substances inflict intense and prolonged, ...
Organise Aotearoa will be joining rallies for abortion law reform, scheduled today in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. The National Day of Action is hosted by Fem Force - Feminist Action Aotearoa. “Nobody should be pressured to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By S. Anna Florin, PhD candidate, The University of Queensland Australia’s first people ate a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and other plant foods, many of which would have taken considerable time and knowledge to prepare, according to our analysis of charred ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Biddle, Associate Professor, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University Last month, the Australian National University contracted with the Social Research Centre (SRC) to survey more than 3,000 Australian adults about their experiences and attitudes related to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan Davis, Professor of Law, UNSW In his Closing the Gap speech to parliament last week, the prime minister injected some order and transparency back into the constitutional recognition process. The PM anchored his government’s work on the co-design of a Voice ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Woods, Professor of Health Economics, University of Technology Sydney Heavily subsidised aged care services used to be seen as a right and entitlement for all older Australians. But as aged care demand grows and costs rise, it’s becoming increasingly clear the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carla Liuzzo, Sessional Lecturer, School of Business, Queensland University of Technology As a parent, I find it so frustrating to take my children shopping, reusable bags in hand, only to be offered plastic toys at the checkout. It’s an incredibly confusing message ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology The jingle used to tell us we loved “football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars”. These days we love Japanese utes and small Toyotas, Hyundais and Mazdas more. Monday’s announcement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donna Mazza, Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts, Edith Cowan University Warning: this piece features frequent coarse language that may offend some readers. Since Adam Mansbuch’s 2011 bestseller, Go the Fuck to Sleep, book titles have been swearing profusely to grab audience attention. ...
Simon Bridges says National would cut taxes and invest much more than Labour in infrastructure, and with less waste. But he's holding back the detail, and got a key figure wrong. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Creative accounting around the ETS explored, Ardern goes to ground on Peters, and ACT criticised for keeping donation from extremist.Often when reporting on technical and thorny pieces of legislation, it helps to have a specialist reporter looking into it. Stuff’s Charlie Mitchell ...
Planners and hazard experts talk to Newsroom’s Eloise Gibson about how climate change will impact Auckland, and how good planning can help the city adapt. ...
No matter how you measure it, science remains systematically biased against women – and ethnically diverse women even more so, writes Dr Hinemoa Elder.Women and girls in science, this is a public health announcement. You are entering unfriendly territory.Kia mataara, be vigilant. Keep your wits about you.There is irrefutable data ...
When it signed onto the Paris Climate Agreement, New Zealand pledged to increase its net greenhouse gas emissions by 10% across the 25 years to 2030. The latest government report shows with current policy settings it is on track to increase them by more than 20%. The challenge is acute ...
How are the children and grandchildren of Asian immigrants treading the line between immersion in a kiwi culture, and holding on to family traditions? ...
The $11 million tourism package announced after today’s Cabinet is a positive response. Auckland Business Chamber head Michael Barnett said possibly more important in the Prime Minister’s announcement was that further support was possible, as ...
By Joenner Paulo L. Enriquez and Ma. Alena O. Castillo in Manila Thomasian Jesuit priests Fr Albert Alejo and Fr Flaviano Villanueva have posted P10,000 (NZ$310) bail each after a judge issued a warrant of arrest in connection with their sedition case. “Nag-piyansa na kami Fr Flavie at sumama ...
Labour and NZ First are delaying a painful call on either lifting or cutting the annual residency visa limit, while the Greens want the limits removed completely. ...
Tame Impala’s new album The Slow Rush dropped over the weekend to universal acclaim. Jordan Hamel talked to the band’s frontman, Kevin Parker, about the five year gap between albums, and where the band fits into riock music in 2020.Kevin Parker’s musical baby Tame Impala steadily rose to indie prominence in the ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First is facing the boot at this year’s election, especially as it’s now embroiled in an unfolding donations scandal, which comes on top of low poll ratings. But what effect will the scandal have on NZ First’s government coalition colleagues? And is Labour and the Greens’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Jones, Climate Scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology After the intensely dry conditions of 2019, January and February have brought much-needed rain. Dams in many cities and towns were replenished and some farmers may be able to grow a crop for the ...
New Zealand’s trusted service for ageing well, Age Concern New Zealand, is receiving a New Year boost after inking an agreement with Perpetual Guardian to have the nation’s largest and most dominant trustee services company as the platinum sponsor of Age ...
The boundaries of free speech were at issue in two recent court cases, one in Britain, the other in New Zealand. In the British case, a judge ruled that the police response to an ex-officer’s tweets (allegedly transphobic) was a “disproportionate interference” with his right to freedom of expression. The ...
Daily Review 03/12/2018 
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...13 hours ago
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...16 hours ago
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...23 hours ago
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...1 day ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...2 days ago
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre. (Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...4 days ago
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...6 days ago
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Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...2 weeks ago
We are confronted with the spectre of Simon Bridges making clear he cannot, will not, trust Winston Peters – the oft-cited “King Maker” in New Zealand politics. Supporters are lauding it as a master stroke, naturally, because in their eyes, it prevents him being the tail that wags the dog. ...2 weeks ago
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit: Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ... 2 weeks ago
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...2 weeks ago
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Ha ha …less shit! same goes for bogus polls. On a positive note the PM has pushed the investigate button on the fuel cartel and hopefully after that the grocery cartel. Maybe Santa is coming after all, Wayne.
‘We are last generation that can stop climate change’ – UN summit
“We are clearly the last generation that can change the course of climate change, but we are also the first generation with its consequences,” said Kristalina Georgieva, the CEO of the World Bank. The bank announced on Monday that its record $100bn (£78bn) of climate funding from 2021-2025 would for the first time be split equally between projects to cut emissions and those protecting people from the floods, storms and droughts that global warming is making worse.
In recent years, just 5% of global funding has gone on protection, but 2018 has seen climate impacts hit hard, with heatwaves and wildfires in Europe and California and huge floods in India, Japan and east Africa. “We are already seeing the devastating impact of climate change,” Georgieva told the Guardian. “We strongly believe that action ought to go both on mitigation and on adaptation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/03/we-are-last-generation-that-can-stop-climate-change-un-summit
Act now.
Like these heroes from Australia.
It’s so simple. Livestock for meat and dairy products worldwide is responsible for almost 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second largest source of emissions after the fossil fuels industry.
There are straightforward actions you can do, starting today.
Drop meat and dairy.
Don’t believe me?
Then listen to George Monbiot.
He explains how the fate of the planet depends on the way we choose to eat.
Well Ed, I listened and didn’t hear a damned thing to back the claim that meat and dairy is responsible for ~ 15% of emissions.
How is the figure arrived at? Is it ~15% with all of the fossil inputs to agriculture added up and subtracted from the dairy/meat total? Because that’s the only way anyone can claim that meat/dairy is second to fossil in terms of emissions.
And my opinion of Monbiot as a wanker was just reinforced – the guy says he’s “almost vegan”…. it’s just venison he eats!
Anyway, look. Eat less meat or no meat. It’s not a bad thing to do. But don’t fucking kid yourself that being vegan will make a serious impact on AGW. It won’t.
Dropping fossil would curtail modern agricultural practices (no fossil inputs) that would in turn mean less “factory meat” getting produced/consumed.
But simply eating vegan does 5/8ths of fuck all in terms of fossil use, meaning 5/8ths of fuck all in terms of AGW.
Have you seen this Bill, what do you reckon?
It was posted by Robin Grieve, ACT Candidate for Whangarei.
He is the Chairman Pastural Farming Climate Research Inc.
He is a right wing politician, not a scientist.
It’s denialist nonsense.
Why is it denialist nonsense?
From a layman’s point of view, it’s rather convincing.
https://www.niwa.co.nz/publications/wa/water-atmosphere-1-july-2010/qa
http://beef2live.com/story-world-cattle-inventory-1960-2014-130-111523
“We know from taking samples of air trapped in polar ice that methane levels have grown by 150 percent since organised animal farming began in the early 1700s. By comparison, CO2 levels have grown by 35 percent. Methane levels have continued to rise over the decades, growing fastest through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, before slowing down in the 1990s, levelling off in the early 2000s, and increasing again from 2007.”
https://www.niwa.co.nz/publications/wa/water-atmosphere-1-july-2010/qa
http://beef2live.com/story-world-cattle-inventory-1960-2014-130-111523
What do I reckon?
I reckon that physics doesn’t give a flying monkey’s fuck for where any CO2 comes from (eg – methane breakdown, bio-fuels, or fossil fuels).
If we want to arrest climate change, and maybe even see slight drops in atmospheric concentrations of CO2 occur, then we need to stop burning fossil. (ie, re- introducing to the earth’s systems CO2 that was removed from the earth’s systems hundreds of millions of years ago)
Agriculture can’t do what it currently does without fossil, so methane emissions would inevitably drop in concert with reductions in fossil use.
And like I say, if we want there to be any prospect that concentrations of CO2 will begin to come down, then we can’t swap out fossil fuel for bio fuel.
Sigh. OK, I’ll take the considerable time to respond to the denialist nonsense you’ve just sprayed around with just a half-dozen or so key presses that took just a few seconds.
Let’s follow some of the possible paths of that carbon atom from the air, absorbed into a plant.
It may stay as plant matter until it rots and is returned to the atmosphere as CO2, In which case, the only effect on global warming is a teeny-tiny reduction in atmospheric CO2 and consequent reduced warming for the brief time that carbon atom is part of a solid piece of plant, rather than floating in the atmosphere.
While it is plant matter, it may get eaten by a non-methanogenic animal, then emitted again as CO2. Again, negligible effect.
It may get eaten by a ruminant, and emitted as methane (as a substantial portion of the carbon atoms eaten by ruminants end up). In which case, that methane molecule adds to the current concentration of methane in the atmosphere. Yes, that methane molecule will eventually be broken back down to CO2 (on average around 10ish years), but while it is still methane it is massively more warming than CO2*. That extra heat the methane has trapped while it is still methane stays with us for a very long time. A while ago I ran the numbers, and an average cow in a paddock for a year emits so much methane it causes about the same warming as an average car driving around for a year (12000 km or so)
Methane concentrations have increased from around 775 parts per billion in pre-industrial times to around 1800 now, due entirely to human activities (not all of it is agricultural, industry and domestic use shares some of the blame). Because methane has a short lifetime, this increased methane concentration (and consequent warming) is entirely due to increased ongoing emissions, of which agriculture is a large part. So yes, even though the carbon atom in a molecule of methane belched by a cow originally came from atmospheric CO2, it still causes much more warming because it has been turned into methane by agricultural activity than if it had stayed as CO2. So it’s entirely proper to hold that agricultural activity accountable for the increased warming it causes.
*If you calculate how much warming you get over 20 years from a tonne of methane, it’s around 85 times more than a tonne of CO2. Over 100 years, it’s around the 25 figure used in the vid.
If you don’t trust Monbiot or me, then what about this study.
“Huge reductions in meat-eating are essential to avoid dangerous climate change, according to the most comprehensive analysis yet of the food system’s impact on the environment. In western countries, beef consumption needs to fall by 90% and be replaced by five times more beans and pulses.
The research also finds that enormous changes to farming are needed to avoid destroying the planet’s ability to feed the 10 billion people expected to be on the planet in a few decades.
Food production already causes great damage to the environment, via greenhouse gases from livestock, deforestation and water shortages from farming, and vast ocean dead zones from agricultural pollution. But without action, its impact will get far worse as the world population rises by 2.3 billion people by 2050 and global income triples, enabling more people to eat meat-rich western diets.
The new research, published in the journal Nature, is the most thorough to date and combined data from every country to assess the impact of food production on the global environment. It then looked at what could be done to stop the looming food crisis.“
Whole article here.
https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/10/huge-reduction-in-meat-eating-essential-to-avoid-climate-breakdown
Yeah Ed, you’re missing the point.
No-one can say meat and dairy is second to fossil in terms of emissions if the fossil inputs that are necessary for meat and dairy are left sitting in the meat/dairy total.
And if we all go vegan, we’re all going to suffer from malnutrition because of the effect that raised CO2 levels have on plant nutrition. (That article joe90 linked at 2.1.2 is well worth the read, and it’s worth noting that not one mention is made on the known effect that elevated CO2 levels have on plants and/or the obvious knock-on effect in relation to insect and bird and lizard numbers…)
You reckon a plant based diet is going to save us?
Looking at what insecticides, especially organophosphates, are doing, it’s gonna be goodbye food.
When asked to imagine what would happen if insects were to disappear completely, scientists find words like chaos, collapse, Armageddon. Wagner, the University of Connecticut entomologist, describes a flowerless world with silent forests, a world of dung and old leaves and rotting carcasses accumulating in cities and roadsides, a world of “collapse or decay and erosion and loss that would spread through ecosystems” — spiraling from predators to plants. E.O. Wilson has written of an insect-free world, a place where most plants and land animals become extinct; where fungi explodes, for a while, thriving on death and rot; and where “the human species survives, able to fall back on wind-pollinated grains and marine fishing” despite mass starvation and resource wars. “Clinging to survival in a devastated world, and trapped in an ecological dark age,” he adds, “the survivors would offer prayers for the return of weeds and bugs.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html
if you want to hold onto your free views
http://archive.li/e3bx6
heh – E.O Wilson apparently overlooked the fact that a plant based diet is increasingly a sugar based diet because of the effects of CO2 on growth…meaning those wind pollinated grains won’t have much sustenance, and that marine life will have cacked it along with terrestrial life because the phyto-plankton at the base of the marine food system also become junk under conditions of accelerated growth.
Ed does the world bank ‘funding’ come with interest repayments?
Are the WB seeking profits ?
Thanks Ed. Husband a big meat eater and so me by default. Agreed today to cut it back to one red meat meal a week. Guess it’s a start. We walk and use public transport a lot too
Yes that’s a great start. And a massive cut back.
Every little bit helps.
Good luck.
Your reminders have been part of us making the decision
Anyone seen any monarch butterflies lately? I have 2 large swan plants but not a sign of any eggs. I usually bring any eggs inside as soon as I see a butterfly around the plants, as the wasps will take the caterpillars almost as soon as they hatch. My daughter has got a small accidental swan plant forest but also no go for eggs, caterpillars or butterflies. Are they now extinct in Waiuku?
Oh no! That’s awful.
We had them here in Wgtn a couple of months ago. Haven’t seen any lately.
There are lots of them here up in Whangarei
Where you have Asian Paper Wasps, you will have no Monarch caterpillars. Because they eat Milkweed (Swan Plant) monarchs used to be poisonous to our old predators. 2 new predators don’t give a toss about Milkweed poison, and gobble up everything in sight. At this time of the year it is the Paper Wasp. Later, as they grow bigger, the South African Praying Mantids will join in, and continue after the Paper Wasps stop collecting protein in late summer.
Sorry, but lean times for Monarch butterflies and many other insects here in NZ since these two monstrously mean and greedy predators became established.
Seen a couple of Monarchs but not many. We have swarm of them come through about January, so on that basis, would expect January 2019 to be when they start laying eggs.
Then the fun begins of squashing eggs to maintain a good caterpillar/plant ratio. Too many and it’s murder. Too few and not enough survive.
Dude’s had his fifteen, and he’s done.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/12/newly-released-documents-show-milo-yiannopoulos-serious-financial-debts/
Milo was always a loud mouth slogan.
It was inevitable really
They’re all loud mouthed nobodies sloganeering on the wingnut welfare circuit.
The limitless ocean of cash that flows through Wingnut Welfare’s rivers and tributaries is how the Right keeps their whole Pretty Hate Machine — publishing houses, magazines, websites, radio empires, teevee networks, op-ed forelock tuggers, think tanks, and a thousand free roaming pundits — propped up and purring in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are nothing but a mob lying, racist grifters and madmen.
And once you get your Wingnut Welfare card punch, baby, the world is your oyster!
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2017/05/wingnut-welfare-its-simple-little-system.html
Way to splash every outspoken right commentator with the same brush
I suspect that many of them are the same brush. Pseudonyms change, but the language style and logic doesn’t. We haven’t heard from Chuck lately, but a new arrival seems remarkably similar to me. Not the first time I have noticed such similar contributions under a different name.
Never trust a right-wing commentator!
I think you mean anyone who disagrees with you
And how many thousands of times have we read that pathetic cop-out?
Right commentary, glitzy, sleazy and dishonest with a promise of violence; the recipe for the wingnut gravy train.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtdcJsGU4AU5uqB.jpg
Jack with the KSA setting their production limits.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/qatar-withdraw-opec-january-2019-181203061900372.html
Newshub Exclusive: National MP Maggie Barry hit with fresh bullying allegations
1 hour ago
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/12/exclusive-terrifying-national-mp-maggie-barry-hit-with-fresh-bullying-allegations.html
Jesse Mulligan: Maggie Barry’s secretly recorded comments about me sign of a bigger issue.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/12/jesse-mulligan-maggie-barry-s-secretly-recorded-comments-about-me-sign-of-a-bigger-issue.html
Who on earth is Jesse Mulligan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Mulligan
He’s a Left-wing wanker.
…with multiple platforms. But hey, you’ve got Leighton and the Hoskey….
No one but the converted takes any notice of the guy.
He’s a cock smoker of the highest order.
Who? Leighton or the Hosk?
The left-wing wanker.
Odd. I never thought of either the Hosk or Leighton as left-wing wankers. Wankers, yes, but not left-wing. I s’pose it’s a matter of where you sit when looking at them.
You use both ‘wings’ don’t you BMmer.
Coq Seemore BMmer?
That was awesome, good on Jesse for responding.
The Project have done a number of stories on conservation, climate change, plastic in the oceans etc etc. Awesome that they are helping to increase awareness and help drive much needed change.
If BM’s spinning out calling him names, cause that’s all BM can manage in defence of poison ivy and her lack of conservation, then he’s sure struck a nerve.
Good job Jesse, thanks for caring about the planet among other things.
That from BM is some of the worst forumming I’ve ever seen.
Ikr, he’s super meow’s over it.
Is maggie wanting to be leader?
Is this putting a bit of a spanner in the works?
The plot thickens…..
Time for me to hit the hay, nitey nite MB 🙂
Ah to smoke a nice cock, particularly with a fine cognac on the side. Happy Days BuMmer.
Do his perspectives on the environment make him a ‘Left-wing wanker’ or does being a ‘Left-wing wanker’ mean he has the views he does about the environment?
And if he is a ‘Left-wing wanker’ does that make his views any less or more worthy than, say, yours?
Or are you pissed off that someone is prepared to address some bullshit? I’ve seen some saying that the people who worked in Barry’s office should have shut up and tolerated what they saw as bullying. The ruling classes don’t seem to like it when the empire strikes back.
I have no time or interest in what left-wing media people have to say.
https://karldufresne.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-purpose-of-journalism.html?fbclid=IwAR2DLLIc-17zgGGXX2MVJn_ZdTd9LfVZAd9F8KLW2KtKpXisCIBtwgcFdGY
I would have thought that left wing MSM folk would have had a sort of curiosity value, like any other rare species.
Pointless and irritating because you can’t trust a word they write/say.
Far better to just ignore and treat as garbage.
Not the leftie ones: reuse and recycle 😉
That reads to me like a criticism of himself. If only he were that self aware. Du Fresne openly seeks to change things, and no topic does he cover even-handedly.
In the last sentence he betrays the most ultra conceit of ultra right wing thought:
I’m puzzled … should people make decisions that are not in their best interests, or have other people do it for them?
Or maybe you missed this:
One of the best definitions of journalism that I’ve read comes from The Elements of Journalism, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. It defines the purpose of journalism as “to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies and their governments”.
Maybe that definition of ‘best interests’ works better for you?
That’s a better definition but not the one Du Fresne rests upon, nor one he himself subscribes to because right wing thought bases itself above all else upon personal responsibility and the rights of the individual over strength of community and the good of society.
I think if you leave people to it unfortunately they will make decisions in their own best interests rather than a common good. Hands off government the type which Du Fresne promotes (even though he as a journalist should not be promoting it) contributes to this.
Fair enough, left wingers tend to put the interests of the collective ahead of individuals. At the extremes the history of both viewpoints is terrible.
My take is that both viewpoints co-exist in a mutual balance; both speak to vital human realities that work best when they listen to each other.
Whoever he is he gave a rather good précis of Maggie Barry’s useless tenure as Minister of Conservation.
He’s on the wireless wally.
Heard an amusing story about sweet Maggie today:
Some years back a new cafe opened in Belmont on the Shore called ‘Little and Friday’. It became the place to go if you wanted to be seen by the right (pronounced raite) people at least for a while. Sure enough Maggie turned up one day only to find the cafe was full and there were no tables left. She had a hissy fit because no-one saw fit to get up and offer her their table so she flounced out to the tune… oh, they’re all left wing haters anyway.
Which addiction did you switch from @ Ed?
It’s obviously something less destructive than the last one and I ‘spose a couple of days ban given by the Voice of Reason is really going to teach ya a lesson, so na-na nana-na, and so there!.
There are learnings to be had going forward
Bit puzzled by what you mean here?
[See mod note here: /open-mike-03-12-2018/#comment-1557978. TRP]
perhaps I should have added a /sarc, but you know…..puzzling can be really cathartic.
Hopefully you’ll stick around on this venue, whereas sometimes I wish they’d do me a favour and ban me for life so that I can watch and not be tempted to comment
Yup, Mongolian rock is a thing.
Can anyone please tell me why Qatar just pulled out of OPEC?
Pissed off at being bullied by other oil producing states? The Saudi’s have been on their case for ages, so I guess there’s a bit of payback. They can set their own price and undercut the others if they are out of OPEC.
Have to say, our risk managed sussoighty is now becoming ridiculous.
4am on a trip from Tearenga ta Orcas: many notifications of a slip in the Karangahake Gorge and a suggestion to take an alternative root …. oops route. A couple of substantial boulders blocking a lane as I passed.
12 hours later and a cast of tens of hiviz specimens later on the return journey, the very same boulders were sat where they fell causing some more major traffic problems.
Heavy earthmoving equipment on standby, though seemingly incapable of just shuvelling the shit away into a fast moving river, much as Mother Nature had/ and had done over decades.
I almost tried to leap for some anti-bacterial sanitising cream to wash off a bit of dust as we waited for the Green Go sign.
Christ! and people used to slag off Ministry of Works and Dev employees during the journey towards the neoliberal alternative over leaning on a shovel.
Please don’t fart people. There’s the potential for toxic and flammable gases that could cause serious injury to bits of the body we shouldn’t speak of
I would think that they would have to ensure the original site of those boulders was stable before shoving them into the river. The use of heavy machinery and the subsequent movement of boulders hitting the riverbed might result in further uncontrolled slips.
This is not really a good example of H&S rules applied unthinkingly, it is an example of what H&S rules are intended to achieve – a minimisation of harm.
“Poland generates 80% of its electricity from coal and the UN summit will take place in a coal mining town, Katowice. The Polish government has also allowed two coal companies to sponsor the summit.”
WTF?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/03/we-are-last-generation-that-can-stop-climate-change-un-summit