Chris Trotter has written a brilliant piece about the challenges New Zealand faces as catastrophic climate rapidly approaches. He singles out the parliamentary Green Party and its leaders for failing to lead on this matter.
It is a challenge for us as well.
As Rachel a stewart writes, “Virtually everything we argue about and/or discuss relates to climate change/capitalism. Both are intertwined, unchecked and deadly. .”
We must keep the issue of catastrophic climate change front and foremost in all our discussions.
We must pressure for action today.
“Saving the planet and feeding all its people long ago ceased to be a practical proposition. The amount of cultivatable land will shrink – along with the quantity of water necessary to ensure adequate harvests. As the mean global temperature increase passes 2oC, millions of human-beings will begin to starve. What is the correct moral response to famine, disease and conflict on an unprecedented scale? When the boatloads of desperate climate-change refugees start appearing off New Zealand’s coast, what should a Green New Zealand government do?
This is a long way from green technological fixes and rehabilitating four-letter words.
So, too, is deciding what to do when the big container ships and the oil-tankers stop venturing this far south. When the sheer number of super-hurricanes renders voyages too far out into the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans uninsurable. How will a Green government keep the chronically-ill provided with their life-saving pharmaceuticals; and crucial machinery supplied with spare parts; when the flow of these vital imports ceases? How will it keep the lights on and the electric cars powered-up when the snow refuses to fall and the hydro lakes are empty?
Who in today’s Green caucus has the courage to tell New Zealanders that teaching young people the skills required to keep the post-industrial communities of the future functioning is now a matter of urgency. Because in 100 years’ time Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin will be only a fraction of their present size and most of the population will be living in the countryside – where the food is. Which of today’s Greens are working with Maori to preserve the indigenous medical and pharmacological knowledge built-up over the 600 years of non-European occupation of Aotearoa?
Who will dare to tell today’s captains of industry that in 50 years the Internet will be but a memory? That the genocidal global resource wars will kick off with the destruction of the undersea communication cables. That the revolutions, civil and religious wars that roll across the sweltering continents will leave the control hubs for satellite communication unmanned for a generation. That the rocket launching pads will become nesting places for such birds as still fly through Earth’s fetid air.
These are the challenges which Green parties should be preparing us for. The challenges arising out of the fundamental transformations anticipated and demanded in the latest IPCC report. Deluding voters into thinking that somehow the scientists will come up with a way of saving us all: a way which allows capitalism, consumerism and narcissistic individualism to continue unchecked and unmodified; is not something with which any responsible Green should be associated.”
Mike Joy, a courageous and independent scientist, has also warned of us of the need to act now or face catastrophic climate change.
“How many barrels of oil does it take to power the economy? Far from the punchline of a joke, the answer outlined by Dr Mike Joy, a senior researcher at Victoria University of Wellington’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, in a public lecture highlights some disturbing truths about our reliance on oil, the importance of energy to the economy, and how we might “transition to a de-carbonised world”.
Starting with the dire warning from more than 20,000 scientists worldwide that “if the world doesn’t act soon, there will be catastrophic biodiversity loss and untold amounts of human misery”, Joy went on to introduce the field of Biophysical Economics and one of its key concepts—Energy return on energy invested (EROI), or “how much energy do you have to put in to get that back?”.
The energy density of our alternatives is so much lower than fossil fuels, but if we want to keep under the 1.5oC threshold, we have to reduce our emissions by 6 percent per year from today,” said Joy.
“Basically we’re going to have to get used to having a whole lot less energy than what we had before, and that’s our only future. We have to figure out how we’re going to do that.”
has also warned of us of the need to act now or face catastrophic climate change.
But isn’t this the opposite of what Trotter is saying? Joy says there is still time to act while Trotter says it’s too late and we should give up and plan for the worst case scenario.
Yet so many governments aren’t ready to face it, let alone try. Capitalism’s all been ‘pay-later’ thinking — little children preferring a definite sweet now to possible sweets later. Feast rather than the long term. Not sure that’s wrong.
As we get to the sharp end of our feast and look out on our children and grandchildren, oblivious in their present comfort to the pre-agricultural deprivation awaiting them , we must do what we can to turn the freighter.
One of the issues with climate change is that it seems so insurmountable that it has become less of a priority against the daily capitalist grind of making money or survival.
Maybe it needs to be put into smaller segments by what each industry should or could be doing for example, insurance, what are they doing (apart from putting up premiums until they refuse to cover the risks), what is dairy farming doing, what are electrical companies doing, what are councils doing, what is transport doing (in Wellington changing to diesel buses for example, FAIL) etc etc
It has to be changed from two words into the practical legislation of prevention and now.
Trotter is a yawn. He has no idea what “Green” is. He can’t understand that greenies care about ecosystems and not just people. That they want to limit the damage to the environment generally and not just say “fuck it”. Watching him try and comment with relevance on the Green Party is akin to watching a chimpanzee studying an internal combustion engine.
He has an agenda here like always. He wishes to attack the Greens as best he can. If it is the survival of working people that is at stake, then why not attack Labour Party policy? He is a stale old school leftie with zero relevance.
Giving up meat is not preparing for the scenario that Trotter is speaking of. Many of the imported vegan protein sources that you eat would not be available. Are you learning what of these crops could be grown here and where, and how to grow them sustainably? Your ignorance of permaculture that you have shown so many times here would suggest not.
I also don’t believe that you gave up meat because of climate change. This is certainly something you like to hang it off along with animal welfare, but your rigidity on the subject shows that it is a personal thing. You have refused to even consider that animals may have a part in permaculture land systems. Grazing chickens in orchards is one example i have given. Mussel farms would be another animal based culture that could both improve the environment and provide good quality protein.
I’m not doing what Trotter suggests because i am a greenie. I am rather working to limit the damage to the environment by participating in a political party with the same aims.
I am though as part of generally being a greenie landscaping and developing my half acre urban property along permaculture principles and practice.
Trotter is a lot like you Ed because basically you are both full of shit.
Is there anything that Trotter actually wrote that you disagree with? If anything I’d rate his sentiments a tad on the alarmist end of the spectrum; but not unreasonable either. So exactly why do you think all this a ‘yawn’?
Or are you just offended because Trotter has strayed on the Green’s widdling patch?
I think i’ve explained above why i find him a yawn.
Going all doom and gloom would be an idiotic strategy for the Greens in the current context. The first step to progress is to get a general consensus to address the problem. Telling people that it is too late to address the problem will not help.
OK that makes more sense; I agree totally. Doom and gloom nihilism is literally a dead-end response. And Trotter is certainly not the only one to have flirted with it either.
But hell, faced with such an overwhelming prospect you can surely have some empathy for where it comes from.
Part of the yawn is that i don’t think Trotter is being genuine but rather taking an angle to attack the Greens. As i point to above, these criticism would be better addressed to Labour as Trotter shows only concern for people and not the environment too.
I’m not going to quibble how you interpret Trotter’s motives; you’re entitled to your reading of him.
Still he isn’t the enemy either, and not every ally is going to map 100% onto your own motives and values. But that doesn’t mean we cannot reach out and work with people where there is some common ground.
When done along sustainable principles yes. Mussels filter the water and remove nitrogen and phosphorus and so can help restore our estuaries and harbours.
Ed, I posted this the other day on TS in relation to Trotter’s latest attack on the Greens…..
Trotter hates the Greens and has never really tried to understand them. He wants rid of them.
He is an unreconstructed Old Lefty and writes very well, often brilliantly, about that sector of traditional left-wing union-dominated politics. Nothing wrong with any of that BTW-all power to the unions.
But why he attacks the Greens when Labour will probably never be able to form a government without the Greens I can’t fathom.
Meanwhile the Greens are polling 7% and doing fine.
They are particularly strong on transport-it will be good when Genter comes back from maternity leave.
Since I wrote the above the Greens have had another policy gain with the retention and refurbishment of 15 electric locos that should help to get freight out of trucks and on to rail. Not all Green policies are climate change related; many have major social gains.
Actual result was Greens 6.2% while NZ first 7.2% One was up on trend the other was down .
2014 election had Greens polling on say 12.2% while election result was 10.7% and similar in 2011.
7% is not doing fine , its saying they will get much the same as now, which is a ‘setback’
“For around 5,000 years we’ve had a problem as a species. We have lived in hierarchies for most of that time. A few people at the top have control over what the rest of us do.
“And, if we’re honest with ourselves, we know this has never really worked. Because if it had, why has there generally always been poor people at the bottom? Why has there commonly been some human lives that are worth more than others?
“We consider ourselves the most advanced life form on the planet; possibly the universe. Yet throughout our history, the majority of us have willingly accepted a minority telling us what to do. When has it benefited us? And why, in 2018, is society no more truly equal than it was thousands of years ago? Even with all our academic, scientific, and technological advances?
“Today, we may be led to believe that just because we own a car, rent a house, and buy the same shopping each week that we’re ‘more equal’ to Richard Branson than Egyptian slaves were to their Pharaoh. Looks can be deceptive. Because it’s all relative. Many of us may not be physical slaves – but only the Richard Bransons truly have freedom in 21st century society.”
“Original sin
“But moreover, why do we still put up with these damaging hierarchies?
“It’s called greed and power. The first is a human desire; forged over thousands of years by hierarchies. One that tells us having more stuff makes us better than our neighbour. The second is almost a drug, that corrupts many people who have it. Those at the top push both as being in reach of those at the bottom. Together, they’re what drive benefit cuts; make people homeless; allow fracking and destroy the NHS. But now, this greed and power from the ‘one percent’ has literally put every species and the planet at risk. And we continue to be complicit in it; consciously or not.
“This has to end.”
“To put it bluntly: we’re fucked. And the only way it will change is by all of us taking drastic action now. We can’t leave it to politicians and corporations to decide. Unless someone can name one point in history when leaving power in the hands of a few has been good for the many? As in every single lifeform on this planet? And when it actually lasted.”
Yes, I would agree with you.
Unless we get rid of capitalism, we are going to see a brutal transition to a simpler sustainable future or even our extinction as a species. It’s that stark.
Our actions have already caused mass rapid extinction that may prove irreversible.
This article came out in the Guardian yesterday.
“Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.
The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else.
“We are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff” said Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF. “If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania. That is the scale of what we have done.”
“This is far more than just being about losing the wonders of nature, desperately sad though that is,” he said. “This is actually now jeopardising the future of people. Nature is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is our life-support system.”
And there’s more sobering, shocking news about human impacts on the planet.
It all puts the corporate media’s discussions about royal visits, All Blacks’ selections and Jono and Ben’s axing in context. Utter trivia, complete distractions.
The media is a major obstacle to humankind acting immediately to avert the oncoming catastrophe.
Unless we approach the challenge and mobilise as if it were WW3, then we can forget passing a habitable world to our grandchildren.
“Scientists in Canada have warned that massive glaciers in the Yukon territory are shrinking even faster than would be expected from a warming climate – and bringing dramatic changes to the region.
After a string of recent reports chronicling the demise of the ice fields, researchers hope that greater awareness will help the public better understand the rapid pace of climate change.
The rate of warming in the north is double that of the average global temperature increase, concluded the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its annual Arctic Report Card, which called the warming “unprecedented”.
“The region is one of the hotspots for warming, which is something we’ve come to realize over the last 15 years,” said David Hik of Simon Fraser University. “The magnitude of the changes is dramatic.”
“But moreover, why do we still put up with these damaging hierarchies?
It is a paradox. Hierarchy arises from value. The core reason why humans do anything at all is because when we move from one condition to another, we expect the outcome to be ‘better’. And we can only measure this using values; we constantly stack up and compare, we order from best to worst, we are hardwired to create hierarchies of value.
Translating value into action demands performance. And all humans have different competency and we all perform at different levels. For instance I’m an experienced programmer and understand some of the science; but compared to the towering figures at the centre of the computing revolution, Kurt Goedel, Alan Turing and John von Neuman I’m way, way down the hierarchy of value. And of all the computer people who ever worked in the field, only a tiny fraction will make a real, novel and valuable contribution. The rest of us are mere artisans of varying degrees of skill. Something the Pareto distribution (and it’s close cousin Prices Law) describes.
Every field of human endeavour is organised in hierarchies of value; whether we formalise them or not. They are how we know what is ‘better’ and which direction to move in. Hierarchy in inherent and inevitable; it cannot be eradicated without also demolishing entire value structures. If you ‘end’ all values, precisely what will you do today? What is worth doing anymore? Or is the phrase ‘drastic action’ a code for ‘an orgy of destruction because I’m angry and too ignorant to think of anything better’?
The modern world is massively complex; and it creaks and totters in many vital organs. But the person who wrote this article has no fucking clue how to actually fix it. It amounts to thinking you can usefully improve a precision machine with a sledgehammer … and pretending there will be no consequences when it breaks.
I feel you’ve rather missed the point of the article.
Whether we like it or not, the sledgehammer is poised to strike. We’re not going to even approach the beginning of fixing climate change by tinkering at its edges.
Hence the movement’s title – Extinction Rebellion.
The old ways got us into this mess! Well, let’s be anarchists – tear it all down and see what comes out of it all.
Well, let’s be anarchists – tear it all down and see what comes out of it all.
I promise you, an even bigger mess. The original problems would only get worse, and our capacity to deal with them would eliminated. Not a smart strategy at all.
Look I’m not unsympathetic to the sentiment; I get it. The outlook is bleak and scary and the temptation to advocate for ‘something dramatic’ is real. But also profoundly irresponsible.
I agree that hierarchies of skill and value are unavoidable. People after all are not equally talented, hardworking, etc.
But I don’t believe it’s inevitable, or right, that we jump from that fact into accepting extreme hierarchies of power and reward, which are quite different things.
Yes. Although hierarchy is necessary and unavoidable; it is also prone to being captured and becoming corrupt. Hierarchy endows power which can easily be mis-directed into protecting itself and tilting the rewards unjustly.
A healthy hierarchy provides stability and direction of purpose; while at the same time is open to scrutiny, review and re-invention when the environment changes. In very general terms the right is good at operating the system according to the agreed rules and procedures; the left is good at calling it out when it becomes corrupt and needs refreshing.
No it doesn’t else Donald Trump would be living in a caravan park.
And of all the computer people who ever worked in the field, only a tiny fraction will make a real, novel and valuable contribution.
Actually, it’s probably far more likely that they’re just not properly recognised for the work that they’ve done. I recall the story of the guy who invented industrial diamonds. He spent hundred of hours working for no reward and when he accomplished it the company gave him a $10 gift voucher while stating that the discovery was theirs.
Nope. Capitalism is essentially the economic expression of the Rennaisance idea of the sovereign individual. It links the idea of the right of every individual to equality before the law and equality of opportunity, to the right to private property. It embeds the notion of human right to dignity and security with the capacity to own their body, their labour and the fruits of it.
The notion of private property is a very old one; but when it met the evolution of the modern credit money systems and legally protected in English common law … the result was the broad system we call capitalism. As an economic tool is has been incredibly successful on its own terms; as a social and environmental tool it has deep shortcomings. Capitalism as we have it right now has problems, but it’s not the problem.
You advocate throwing the tool away and hoping something better will come along; I’m arguing that we study the existing tool closely, regard what it does well, understand it’s limitations and why they arise … and carefully engineer a better version.
This is why competent economists like Steven Keen never talk about ‘the end of capitalism’. Instead he devotes time, talent and energy to understanding the system (his Minsky Model is a masterpiece), and works to train the next generation of economic leaders in more sophisticated implementations of what we already have.
Capitalism is essentially the economic expression of the Rennaisance idea of the sovereign individual. It links the idea of the right of every individual to equality before the law and equality of opportunity, to the right to private property. It embeds the notion of human right to dignity and security with the capacity to own their body, their labour and the fruits of it.
No it doesn’t. It embeds the right of the rich to own everything and thus to live the life of kings on the labour of everyone else.
As an economic tool is has been incredibly successful on its own terms; as a social and environmental tool it has deep shortcomings.
Yes, it’s made a few people very rich at everyone else’s expense.
You advocate throwing the tool away and hoping something better will come along;
No I’m not. I’m advocating dropping private ownership of houses, businesses and land. Land and houses will be state owned, city managed. Businesses will be self-owned and run as cooperatives by the people who work in them. There will be no shareholders.
Money to be created by the government and spent into the economy via productive works, 0% interest loans to businesses and a UBI. It won’t be created by private banks whenever they make a loan.
In other words, the system would be very similar to what we have now but without the bludging of shareholders and other forms of unearned income that is detrimental to society.
I’m advocating dropping private ownership of houses, businesses and land. Land and houses will be state owned, city managed. Businesses will be self-owned and run as cooperatives by the people who work in them. There will be no shareholders.
In other words you are saying that your version of communism would be less catastrophic than all the ones tried already. I’m not sure whether to admire your optimistic naivety, or call out the dangerous hubris.
it’s made a few people very rich at everyone else’s expense.
You come back to this point so often I have to conclude Orwell was right; you don’t care so much about the poor as you simply hate the rich. It’s not a promising starting point.
In other words you are saying that your version of communism would be less catastrophic than all the ones tried already.
Communism hasn’t been tried. All we’ve had is other forms of hierarchy which failed as hierarchies always do.
you don’t care so much about the poor as you simply hate the rich.
The present system fails. It has always failed and always will. Eliminating the capitalists will, as a matter of fact, ensure that everyone will get the value that they produce rather than having it syphoned off to bludging shareholders and other rentiers.
The poor will actually be better off as they’ll no longer be paying taxes to the rich.
I first read Gulag Archipelago in my 20’s; it remains one of four or five deeply influential books I’ve ever read.
It’s a chilling and cautionary narrative of one of the most horrible episodes of the 20th century. When I was in Russia about 20 years back I made a point of travelling to the only gulag left in Perm, and just last year a work project took me to Kolyma, the area in Eastern Siberia where the most brutal gulags were located.
And I’ve driven on the “Highway of Bones”. Here are some pics of the region from a random linky:
Yet the there is a deep lesson in Solzhenysen’s work; the entire evil edifice only functioned because the mass of people stopped speaking truth. Everyone knew about it, no-one could speak the truth of it. Yes we are all capable of being utter arseholes, and reading this book permanently convinced me of my own capacity for evil.
Most of us mistake merely being harmless with actively choosing good. Most of us never find ourselves in a situation where we can indulge in being evil with no immediate chance of being caught and sanctioned. Most of the time we don’t do bad things because it’s the easiest thing to do. But faced with the gulags, or concentration camps, or orders to commit genocide … how many of us have the courage to actively choose to be good over evil?
This is what the Archepelago explores. I can barely listen to it now in more than 30 minute segments.
One of the points that Marx raises is the capitalists working people to death. And we still see it happening today. Pike River Mine, logging deaths and more. That’s in NZ. In other countries we see actual murder to keep the capitalists in power.
Do you seriously think, when climate catastrophe strikes, as strike it will, all the norms of society will not be thrown into confusion?
We cannot, simply cannot ‘profit’ our way out of what is coming. We need to already be thinking outside the box, and that will probably mean a complete rethink of the institutions of government.
We simply cannot envisage what shit may happen as a result of catastrophic climate change. But what I do believe is – we can’t solve any of the looming problems by ‘capitalistic’ tinkering.
But frankly any and all suggestions that we have to tear down the global economy in order to deal with this are fucking idiotic. Lets do that, lets stop everything, shut down the economies of the world tomorrow and stop every skerrick of activity that might possibly cause climate change.
Have you any idea how murderous this would be? The resulting chaos, social disruption, violence and famine would put at direct risk the lives of billions; immediately.
And any possible chance to address the problem without a mass die-off would be lost … deliberately. Maybe this is what you want; it’s hard to tell.
RL, I can’t see into the future any more than you can – but, if the entire tropical band north and south of the equator becomes too hot for human life, do you seriously think there won’t be chaos?
Millions, perhaps as many as a billion, of people will be forced to migrate to more equatable climatic areas – at the same time as the grain-lands of Europe and North America will be coming under climate stress. Already some governments in Europe are digging in their toes about accepting more migrants. And the exodus hasn’t even started yet.
Seriously, the decades from 2020 to 2040 could be a clusterfuck of disruption. Hundreds of millions of people will probably die and the institutions of government will struggle to cope with the catastrophe.
I sure as hell don’t know how we’re going to get through to the other side, but I repeat, I think we should be thinking outside the box already.
But perhaps I’m being too pessimistic? Perhaps capitalism will rise to the challenge, solve the climate change problem and make money at the same time!
Of course I understand everything you say above is a real possibility. I’m not neglecting or discounting that at all. But I do know that plunging the global economy into an immediate crisis is a certain route to an even worse outcome.
Every time we use climate change as the end to justify the means of ‘ending capitalism’ we achieve nothing except amplify and confirm the suspicions of most of the population. Most people are not communists or hard radical left. They don’t want a bar of it. Provoking them with useless talk makes an already monumentally difficult task harder.
There is no single silver bullet solution to this; it’s multi-dimensional and complex. No single person, or organisation, or nation on it’s own stands any chance of succeeding.
But 7 billion people can together do it. The trick is getting us together. Learn to be competent and persuasive; find something you can do, however small, and get good at it. Then people will come flocking to offer you bigger opportunities.
I don’t know the future either; but I do know there is only one strategy which optimises our chances of getting through this without too much devastation. Stop tilting at windmills, learn to use the already powerful tools around media, technology and money to make your case positively. The box of ideas and possible tech to get us through this mess is already huge, you don’t need to invent anything original or unique. Surround yourself with people who know what they are doing and ally yourself with them, even when at first brush you don’t agree with them.
The challenge could turn out even more monstrous than either of us imagine. But we’ve lost already unless we face it skillfully. I don’t intend to be mean here, but recycled neo-marxist tosh will not cut mustard.
I’m posting this for those involved in any manner with Canterbury re drought. Please pass this on. The methods as outlined here involve restoration of eroded outlets and installation of ‘dams’ that retain water to be infiltrated into the land. Plantings are also essential for the shade and infiltration aspects provided, including the build up of organic matter which increases a soils capacity for holding water, and decreasing evaporation.
Get cracking showing how it works on a model farm in the drought area. (You do have a decent hydrologist/ecologist/permie designer in your ranks??) Within a couple of years other farmers will be lined up to get their land rehydrated.
The drainage systems covering our country can be converted to retaining water (and draining excess) easily. Simple floodgate control at storm culverts will enable rehydration of the land.
It’s not a far stretch to show how with similar methods you can also turn riparian scrub into highly productive aquaculture/silviculture re: the late Charles Mitchell’s farm. I know his system, too.
Refill the aquifers, restore the landscape. Consultation available. Time wasters will be shredded by my Aspie ire.
Sounds like the opposite of where NZ is going and taking the water out of the aquifers and not being vigilant against ground water pollution, instead these farmers are tying to restore natural water systems, pre colonial times, against drought.
I watched this last night. It is a prime example of exactly the kind of competent and effective response we truly need to beat this bastard.
Quit the bickering and bitching; watch this and be impressed. Be inspired, and then look around at your own life, look for what is immediately in front of you and fix that first.
My partner has a wry joke that goes “If you’re going to learn cross-country skiing, start with a small country first”.
Then come back here, tell us your success story and help others.
Humankind spawned “this bastard” – the mystery is why we continue to nuture it in spite of known threats.
Maybe partly to do with the fact the many (some more than most) have done very well from ‘it’, at least in the short term.
“The current economic system being utilized and internalized relies on perpetual growth. It has long operated counter to the reality that we are confined to a finite planet with finite resources. Yet, this system continues to be practiced and promoted globally. As the environmental and social repercussions of disbelief in limits become increasingly clear, so does our need for a new economic system —one that is not wedded to growth. Neither growth in the number of consumers nor growth in the amount consumed.”
“So far the politicians and economists are so wedded to growth that they insist that economic growth is itself the main characteristic of sustainable development.” – a fine example of magical thinking; our leaders have so many constraints on their imaginations.
Yes I largely agree with this DK; but to most people the idea of de-growth is deeply unattractive. There are profound psychological reasons why; and it would make a great tangential discussion to explore them.
Look most people have a fair clue that the current setup is a bit fucked. And there are many, many people at least a little open to the idea of changing the way we organise our economies if we can present a competent, credible alternative plan.
No-one wants to go back to medieval living standards; they just won’t voluntarily go there. And there are tens of thousands of people out there right now working on ways to solve the problem. Not all of them will work, but some will. They need our help and encouragement. They need us to be good at this; they don’t need us sitting about renting sackcloth.
And don’t discount the possibility that an entire raft of new tech, some of it very close to coming online, like solid state lithium batteries, perovskite enhanced PV’s, a whole generation of graphene based materials and techniques, HVDC global grids and on to whole rafts of research I’ve never heard of … all have the potential to transform our resource intensity dramatically. We have to bet on this.
And I understand that at core, it is the human heart that will prove most stubborn to change. But at least it can and will change with zero carbon footprint 🙂
Has Jacinda Ardern spoken out about this yet? And if not, why not?
… The protests were launched to demand the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees to their villages and towns in what is now Israel, and to call for an end to Israel’s blockade. They culminated on 14 May, on the day of the US embassy’s move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, when Palestinians commemorate the displacement and dispossession of hundreds of thousands in 1948-9 during the conflict following the creation of the state of Israel. On that day alone, Israeli forces killed 59 Palestinians, in a horrifying example of use of excessive force and live ammunition against protesters who did not pose an imminent threat to life.
The organizers of the “Great March of Return” have repeatedly stated that the protests are intended to be peaceful, and they have largely involved demonstrators protesting near the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel. Despite this, the Israeli army reinforced its forces – deploying tanks, military vehicles and soldiers, including snipers, along the Gaza/Israel fence – and gave orders to shoot anyone within several hundred metres of the fence.
While some protesters have engaged in some forms of violence including by burning tyres, flying incendiary kites or throwing stones and Molotov cocktails in the direction of Israeli soldiers, social media videos, as well as eyewitness testimonies gathered by Amnesty International, Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups show that Israeli soldiers shot unarmed protesters, bystanders, journalists and medical staff approximately 150-400m from the fence, where they did not pose any threat. ….
Wierd scenes eh Morrissey in the wake of the shooting in the states of the jews in the synagog …maybe my hearings not the best …but i didnt hear a single news outlet explore the possibility thet the reason they got shot might have been something to do with the fact israel shoots palistinians with total impunity on a regular basis .Nope according to the worlds reporters its ANTI SEMITISM .
“As Facebook and Twitter are purging alternative media outlets, a neoconservative operative at a US government-funded think tank says more censorship is on its way. Max Blumenthal and Jeb Sprague discuss how scaremongering over Russia and China is being exploited to silence dissent on social media.”
This Russian fantasy nonsense, lazily recycling Hillary Clinton’s campaign crap, is just as rabid here. Two of the very worst are John Campbell and Bernard Hickey. And then there’s THIS ignoramus….
Very funny, Gabbieva. But seriously, now, listening to the likes of Campbell and Mulligan channel British and U.S. black propaganda is a hard listen, isn’t it.
The major problem with hydrogen is storing it effectively. The damn molecule is so small that most metals and materials are like tissue paper to it; it just migrates out of the vessel and is lost at a rate that is very hard to engineer around.
The good news is that graphene (apart from being a bloody wonder material in so many other respects) looks like it has some real potential to solve this key problem:
About time Phil woke up to save the electric rail system as he was previously “sidelined by false reports coming out of MBIE old “cherry picked” documents National had made up to show rail was not worth saving or ‘viable’ so twyford thought rail was dead. Thank christ he has come to his senses not a minute to soon.
Our letter to Minister of transport Phil twyford last week;
Protecting our environment & health.
In association with other Community Groups, NHTCF and all Government Agencies since 2001.
• Health and wellbeing.
• East Coast Transport Project.
TO;
Hon Phil Twyford – Minister of Transport.
Hon’ Jacinda Ardern PM.
Hon Winston Peters. Deputy PM.
Hon’ Shane Jones. Minister of Regional Development.
Hon’ Grant Robertson. Minister of Finance.
Hon’ Stuart Nash. MP For Napier Wairoa/ Matawai regions.
Hon’ Megan Woods. Minister of Energy.
URGENT PRESS RELEASE; – ACTION NEEDED HERE BY – Transport Minister Twyford.
26th October 2018.
Dear Ministers, Local civic authorities & rail stakeholders,
Here is an important study paper from October 11, 2018 by Cody Januszko, Carnegie Mellon University Department of Engineering and Public Policy Transporting freight by road accounts for around seven percent of the world’s total energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Recognizing that heavy road freight is particularly hard to decarbonize, says the paper here.
But the report also claims roads are subsidised by us for truck freight so we need to level the playing field now in favour of “encouraging more rail freight services in all our exporting regions now and not delay the move back to rail freight any more.
QUOTE; “In the U.S., railroads own their own tracks, so they have to build their own infrastructure,” says Vaishnav, an assistant research professor in EPP. “Trucking uses public infrastructure, but does not bear the full cost of the damage heavy trucks do to roads and other infrastructure and indeed to the environment.”
Here attached above are the electronic copies of four of the studies on the benefits of rail we advocate, and Gisborne District Council has produced called “The socio-economic & environmental loss of rail for the Gisborne District” -2012 and we strongly endorse this study report.
We now want all Government agencies to have a copy so distribute anywhere as they need to be mentioned to Government and others as evidence for our cal to restore the Gisborne Napier- Wellington rail service again.
* 6-249607-Socio-economic_&_environmental_impacts_of_loss_of_rail_-on May_2012 (2) *BERL Report November/Dec 2012.
*”The value of rail in NZ produced 2016 by national and kept hidden and released by Labour Minister of transport Phil Twyford Feb 2018. (Plus press release promising regional rail.) (Twyford) then kiwi rail press cover of rail study.
*Bolland report produced for Ministry of Transport 2010 but kept hidden by National and never released. Shows rail saved NZ lots of money and without rail how much a year it costs us.
The electric wire catenary system is only ever going to be partial – it will never replace the need for a diesel fleet, because it is never going to stretch all the way from Whangarei to Bluff to Nightcaps to Whanganui – or indeed to Gisborne.
If Twyford gets a really good case from NZTA and Kiwirail to replace the entire fleet to a new carbon efficient system, that is good for the country. On all sorts of policy dimensions.
The rebuilt of the old electric trains only buys them a decade of future operation if they are lucky. That buys them a bit of time.
There is a good case to replace the entire rail engine system, rip out the electric system completely, and have a major national mode that needs neither electricity generation nor petroleum as its main energy base. Nothing like a good strong innovation case for a further massive step-change in rail.
The rebuilt of the old electric trains only buys them a decade of future operation if they are lucky.
The EF class is around 32 years old, but it can be considered mid-life with a decent electrical overhaul. The fantastic old DFB’s and DX’s date back to the 60’s and 70’s and mechanically are still trucking along fine.
Ah yes there is a tiny little bit of unreconstructed railfan in me 🙂
I am interested in any information on the use of regenerative braking on central north island electric locos gooogle seems not to be my friend today (ie i havent found the right question yet) any links anyone on this subject.
“The locomotives are supplied electricity from 25 kV AC overhead lines. These lines draw electricity from New Zealand’s national grid at four locations along the electrified section: Bunnythorpe, Tangiwai, Taumarunui, and Hamilton. The locomotives are fitted with regenerative braking as well as regular air brakes, so the traction motors can be turned into generators when the locomotive is coasting downhill and feed electricity back into the overhead lines and the national grid.”
“Key global locomotive manufacturers such as GE, EMD, and Vossloh have embraced the notion of the hybrid diesel locomotive while Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier, Mitsubishi, and Kawasaki have committed to the electrical systems approach with their offerings. All of these manufacturers have commercialized vehicles and systems which are now finding their way onto the global stage”.
thanks cleangreen, i had found the wikipedia claim that they “feed electricity back into the overhead lines and the national grid.” and so I have always believed, but so far I cannot find any confirmation of this claim or technical details which concerns me given that power is supplied as 25Kv 50hz. of course as they are being given an electrical upgrade in 2018 achieving this is very do-able but I would like to be confident that is is and will be done.
I can confirm that this happens at least in some locations. Reinjected power is at 55 kV. I wouldn’t say the quantity of electricity reinjected was huge, but no doubt every little helps.
My understanding the power generated during braking is dumped as heat by large resisters on the locos.
Thats apart from the brakes themselves for lower speeds.
and objectives,
a solution that will return maximum return to investors/shareholders may well be different to one that provides best cost benefit to users/public
so the question becomes who do they take their advice from.
Since rail is a publicly owned system the investment framework for it is through the NLTP. That’s where it gets reconciled however imperfectly. Next NLTP version will be smoother.
>It’s always the benefit horizons that bedevil rail investment compared to road.
Are you saying that rail doesn’t typically tend to stand up over a standard length CBA (20-30 yrs) but pays off over a longer term (Say 50 yrs), and that this holds in this particular case too?
Interesting that the NZTA was assuming top ‘principal position as transport advisor to Government on transport” but “NZTA is only a road controlling authority” (RTA).
Ministry of transport (MoT) is the “key principal advisor to Government” for all forms of transport” – not NZTA!!!!!!
So Labour/NZF need to amend this anomaly and fund equally Ministry of Transport (MoT) as they do NZTA in future.
About the Ministry of Transport
Last updated on: 14/08/2018
The Ministry of Transport is the government’s principal transport adviser. The majority of our work is in providing policy advice and support to Ministers.
Through our advice we aim to:
improve the overall performance of the transport system
improve the performance of transport Crown entities
achieve better value for money for the government from its investment in the transport system.
We help the government give effect to its policy by supporting the development of legislation, regulations and rules. We also manage and account for funds invested in transport.
The Ministry represents New Zealand’s interests internationally, particularly in aviation and maritime.
We work with Crown entities
We assist the government in its relationship with the transport Crown entities to ensure they are effectively governed, and are accountable for their performance and monitoring arrangements for transport sector Crown entities.
Visit the Transport Sector Functions page for more information
We work with local government authorities
Local government authorities own, maintain and develop New Zealand’s local road network and perform important regulatory functions. Regional councils (and unitary authorities) are required to develop regional land transport strategies that guide the decision-making of local councils. In the Auckland region, the Auckland Transport carries out these functions. Some local authorities own seaports and airports, or share ownership with the Crown.
> So Labour/NZF need to amend this anomaly and fund equally Ministry of Transport (MoT) as they do NZTA in future.
Sorry but you have no idea. NZTA needs billions of dollars per year to fund the country’s land transport network. MOT is just a few bureaucrats – bums on seats.
Significant increases in commercial truck loadings across the Saskatchewan road network have resulted in accelerated damage to the provincial highway system. This accelerated damage has decreased the expected performance life of many of these roads and also increased maintenance and rehabilitation requirements and costs.
Unquote;
Antoine; – It is because truck freight who are responsible wholly for totally wrecking our roads and causing the road maintenance to accelerate to such high levels now we need to change road freight companies the full cost of their damages now.
You need to learn the real truth here.
Here is an important study paper from October 11, 2018 by Cody Januszko, at the Carnegie Mellon University Department of Engineering and Public Policy Transporting freight by road accounts for around seven percent of the world’s total energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Recognizing that heavy road freight is particularly hard to decarbonize, says the paper here.
But the report also claims roads are subsidised by us for truck freight so we need to level the playing field now in favour of “encouraging more rail freight services in all our exporting regions now and not delay the move back to rail freight any more.
QUOTE; “In the U.S., railroads own their own tracks, so they have to build their own infrastructure,” says Vaishnav, an assistant research professor in EPP. “Trucking uses public infrastructure, but does not bear the full cost of the damage heavy trucks do to roads and other infrastructure and indeed to the environment.”
Clearly NZTA must not be used to make rail studies up as they are principally geared to funding truck freight activities for private companies some which are foreign owned. Stop subsidising the trucks.
yes Hydrogen is a detour off the highway to reducing carbon.
The easiest/cheapest way to ‘make’ the hydrogen is from natural gas- they hide that fact with waffle as ‘only a backup method’ or CO2 sequestration – is if they would pay for that.
It wouldn’t hurt to be looking seriously at highspeed rail.
The energy equation is not much different to conventional, but the speed allows it to compete favourably with carbon heavy domestic air services.
TransTasman traffic could probably run on something similar to the Busan Shimonoseki ferries, again with substantial carbon savings.
These things might take years to scope out – better to begin that sooner than later.
Hydrogen is a bit like fusion – a wonderful tech with no working prototypes. If we were determined to embrace the new, maglev at least has working prototypes.
This is interesting. The UK has had enough of Facebook etc not paying taxes and has gone it alone with a digital services tax, albeit not very tough.
Interesting thing here is that it breaks all the normal tax rules because it is based on turnover not profit and the tax authorities will make other assumptions as to company structure rather than rely on what it is being told by Facebook etc.
Sorry I wasn’t thinking about GST which is actually a tax added to turnover not part of it. But you can see the point of the digital services post I hope?
I think the map we use has a lot to do with some euro western feelings of superiority – like they’re better than everyone else or they are the sum total of what’s gone before – you know, the white superiority stuff.
“As most of us know, the world map we grew up with isn’t exactly the most accurate vision of the world. Currently, the Mercator projection—which was created by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569—is the standard map projection. Though we’ve known for quite some time that this projection significantly distorts the size of landmasses, for nearly 450 years nothing better has become the standard.
More than just a cartography error, many critics have said that the Mercator projection is a visual representation of Eurocentricity and historic colonialism, as Africa and South America appear much smaller than they actually are.”
Who actually uses Mercator these days? My atlas doesn’t; nor does Google Maps (which is my main go-to for maps nowadays); nor, I would think, do most maps in NZ classrooms.
“Parker described it as a “momentous” day for New Zealand and world trade, and said the CPTPP had become even more vital now the World Trade Organisation was in such a parlous state.
The CPTPP represented 13 per cent of the worlds GDP, and its member countries had a combined annual gdp of just under $15 trillion New Zealand dollars.”
Yes. Through every single party’s votes in the New Zealand Parliament except the Greens. For the formation and passage of legislation, that is the very definition of democracy.
So yes, by an overwhelming democratic majority, it has that support.
“I still haven’t seen majority support for it from the people.”
Thats because a minority of a minority party – Greens- are opposed and cant sleep at night over the possibility of an investor sueing the government. They are sleepless I tell you.
only 27.4 per cent support TPP on the basis it would be good for New Zealand’s economic well-being, although that is up 4.5 points from September when just 22.9 per cent supported it.
Almost the same number, 25.8 per cent oppose it on the basis of the investor-state dispute settlement provisions, down 5.5 points from the same questions asked in September.
But 45.9 per cent formed no view on it, the same as September.
Thats means 73% have no view or support it . They are sleeping well at night.
Likely the revised investor -state dispute provisions – which mean local operating companies that have overseas owners have to go through local courts- means only a rump oppose it totally now.
Every time President Donald Trump mentions the $110 billion arms deal he negotiated with Saudi Arabia last year, he quickly follows up, saying “It’s 500,000 jobs.”
But if he means new U.S. defense jobs, an internal document seen by Reuters from Lockheed Martin forecasts fewer than 1,000 positions would be created by the defense contractor, which could potentially deliver around $28 billion of goods in the deal.
Lockheed instead predicts the deal could create nearly 10,000 new jobs in Saudi Arabia, while keeping up to 18,000 existing U.S. workers busy if the whole package comes together – an outcome experts say is unlikely.
A person familiar with Raytheon’s planning said if the Saudi order were executed it could help to sustain about 10,000 U.S. jobs, but the number of new jobs created would be a small percentage of that figure.
So, it’s really just another deal to boost the profits for the bludging shareholders of the military-industrial complex.
Kathryn Ryan, who’s incapable of recognizing bullshit
when it’s rubbed in her face, needs to talk to more children. Nine to Noon, RNZ National, Wednesday 31 October 2018, 11:32 a.m.
During a discussion with Young Adult fiction author Melanie Rodriga, the host affected her most serious voice and intoned….
KATHRYN RYAN:[talking very slowly, enunciating her words very carefully to show how serious she is] Children’s BS detectors are so acute, aren’t they. More so than adults….
Melanie Rodriga, who seemed to be a bright person, was too polite to acknowledge the clanging, jangling irony of that statement.
So that first link – you cut and paste from here onto your blog and then post back here to direct people to your blog where a copy of the conversation from here is. Did enjoy seeing some old and long gone quality commenters there ta.
Thanks, Marty. That blog of mine I started many years ago, but only put two items on it and forgot about it until late last year. I’m paranoid about sites closing down and everything getting lost, as happened with the old Planet Rugby chat site, and the willful destruction of Google Groups. I have been trying to harvest everything I’ve done online since 2003.
Often I’ll link straight to The Standard or wherever I first posted, but since so much of my stuff is now on the blog, it’s often more convenient.
The poor wee devotees of liberalism will struggle with this one. It shows up just how far down the rabbit hole the fubar ideology has gone. Plus funny as.
+1 Adam – some of the best videos there are on foreign policy. Probably explains why our defence force now is expected to defend foreign and domestic corporations rather defend NZ people and sovereignty. Thanks neoliberalism.
meanwhile Pence turns up in Pittsburgh with a ‘fake rabbi’ to offer prayers – In the name of Jesus – I kid you not!
“As he began his prayer, it became immediately clear that the rabbi, Loren Jacobs of Congregation Shema Yisrael in suburban Detroit, would not be considered a Jew by any of the four major denominations of Judaism. In his prayer, he mentioned the “saving power” of the Lord and concluded, “In the name of Jesus, amen.”
Clintons are all now confirmed as stool pigeons for the Global elite of course. They are still funded by George Soros the convicted criminal and attend “the Bilderberg Group” secret meetings.
Kia ora The Am Show Its good that thousands of new houses built are on the market in Auckland .
Is it a coincidence that there was a housing crisis in America Britain Canada NZ Banks love houses a safe bet they can most time’s claw there money back if thing go wrong Banks caused it with there lending policy’s I see one made a cool 2 billion .
Becoming a Republic do we need more political fighting for the head of states job do we want to have politics like they have in America at the minute I think not.
Maori and Pacific people won’t go for that we have other reason to if it aint broke don’t fix it one will end up with a big mess.
There you go all shonkys m8 are making billions banks retailers a lot of business profits at least % 30 higher after 9 years of national then bill decided to kick our youth.
Ka kite ano
I believe there is a God and Heaven we are living in Heaven now its just people don’t treat Te Papatuanuku / Mother Earth like a Heavenly thing and respect her and her creatures .
Men are chasing money and destroying our planet in 3 small life times we will only have % 10 of the wild creatures left this is why Eco Maori pushes for more wahine to become world leaders as MAN IS TURNING OUR HEAVEN INTO HELL we need wahine to kick there ASSES out and back to reality.
If one keeps shitting in one own back yard you end up in the SHIT not much logic needed to work that out.
The Maori view is that we are related to all the creatures and what do you know hundreds of years later scientist prove that thought to be fact the matrix genealogy .
The Maori view on our connection with Papatuanuku and her creatures is a common view of most indigenous cultures around Papatuanuku .
The neo liberals capitalist are running this heaven into hell all for there greed of prophet over everything else in the world change COMPANY Constitutional needed to have clauses in them to put our earth and decedents well being before profit .
Its a crying shame what man is doing to the world at the minute.
Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.
The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else. Ana to kai ka kite ano link below
Some music for my other post its cool that some are getting the big picture we need all the common people to stand up and fight with there votes if we all vote the pollies will BUCKLE and start making laws that benefit all creatures.
Man does not own the Earth we are just caretakers for the next generations wake up
History shows that, when presented with unpalatable evidence of the undesirable effects of our decisions, we either bury our collective heads in the sand, or order the problems we face in terms of their tractability. Where they are judged to be intractable, as in this instance, they are relegated for later attention. We cannot continue to delude ourselves that the transition to near-zero fossil fuel use is possible without global mandation.
The overriding message located between the lines of the IPCC report is that we must lead our lives within the planet’s means. In all conscience, we are currently locked into a process that will inevitably result in passing on a dying planet to our children and their successors. Should this not be at the absolute top of the international debating agenda? Ka kite ano
The go oil party are big cheats taking minority people right to Democracy right to vote with corrupt laws. The federally-recognized Spirit Lake Tribe filed a complaint Tuesday against North Dakota Secretary of State Alvin Jaeger that reads: “Jaeger’s implementation of the residential address requirement has imposed severe—sometimes insurmountable—burdens on the right to vote for many voters on reservations.”
Every time the secretary of state’s Alvin Jaeger is asked a question that indicates deceit on his and his office behalf he showed Eco Maori he was lying the eyes are A direct view into ones true intentions the mouth can lie but the eyes reveal those LIES .
Kia kaha wahine and fight for the right of our childrens future. link is below ka kite ano
Just five countries hold 70% of the world’s remaining untouched wilderness areas and urgent international action is needed to protect them, according to new research.The UQ and WCS study, published in the journal Nature, identifies Australia, the US, Brazil, Russia and Canada as the five countries that hold the vast majority of the world’s remaining wilderness. Link is below Ka kite ano.
Kia ora Newshub The banks have been shutting down banks in rural places leaving people with banking services .I see shonky have his bull line in the herald to he made the problem and is throwing up a smokescreen he should go play golf with trump.
There you go those Saudi sisters have lost there lives it doesn’t look good for the Saudis they will never become a major place for all people to visit if they carry on treating wahine and the lower class people like dirt .
That’s cool the goverment has a new housing development plan’s for Porirua . I say the Law commission or whom ever is advocating law changes should worry more about the common poor person not getting a fair go from New Zealand laws 6 times the system has underarm bowled Eco Maori cheated me
Carbon based fuel is going to be a thing of the past the faster the better the fuel company’s should invest in green energy that’s the future or else you are pushing up hill.
No comment on the police pay I seen two following me at the supermarket with uniform I gave them a ki ora they could not even look at me I blasted the Rock radio music and drove off respectfully on Tuesday.
Ka kite ano
Ki ora James & Storm from The Crowd Goes Wild
The coach has confidences in his players who are playing Japan test team the Japan team have there Kiwi connection coaching staff .
That was a good game of T20 cricket for the Kiwis and Pakistan.
Hope the white ferns have a good run at there T20 cricket matches kia kaha ladys.
The wife loves her horrors not me comedy science and doco’s .
Josh rafting with the Aussies nice tat one should know that if they are encouraging you to sit some ware its a set up.
Money makes the soccer ball go around Qutar wining the football world cup.
Ka kite ano .
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The Clinical Magus: Of particular relevance to New Zealanders struggling to come to terms with the sudden departure of their prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is Jung’s concept of the anima. Much more than what others have called the feminine principle, the anima is what the human male has made out ...
The Select Committee, considering the proposed RNZ-TVNZ merger, has come back with a report conceding many of the criticisms that were made of the original legislation. In what is one of the most comprehensive demolitions of a Bill submitted to a Select Committee, the Economic Development, Science and Innovation ...
Such are the 2020s, the age when no-one, it seems, actually respects the basic underpinnings of democracy. Even in New Zealand. This week, I stumbled across a pair of lengthy and genuinely serious articles, that basically argue that Something is Rotten in the state of New Zealand democracy. One ...
Buzz from the Beehive Hurrah. Today we found something fresh on the Beehive website, Beehive.govt.nz, which claims to be the best place to find Government initiatives, policies and Ministerial information. It wasn’t from Finance Minister Grant Robertson, whose reaction to the latest inflation figures would have been appreciated. So, too, ...
Smiling And Waiving A Golden Opportunity: Chris Hipkins knew that the day at Ratana would be Jacinda’s day – her final opportunity to bask in the unalloyed love and support of her followers. He simply could not afford to be seen to overshadow this last chance for his former boss ...
Extremism Consumes Itself: The plot of “Act of Oblivion” concerns the relentless pursuit of the “regicides” Edward Whalley and William Goffe – two of the fifty-nine signatories to King Charles I’s death warrant. As with his many other works of historical fiction, Robert Harris’s novel brings to life a period ...
To challenge the Government’s promotion of co-governance, to share power between Maori and public authorities and agencies, is to invite accusations of racism. An example: this article by Martyn Bradbury on The Daily Blog headed Luxon’s race baiting hypocrisy at Ratana. The article was triggered by National leader Christopher Luxon, ...
A very informative video discussion: Are we getting the whole story about Ukraine? | Robert Wright & Ivan Katchanovski Getting objective information on the situation in Ukraine and the cause of this current war is not easy. There is the current censorship and blatant mainstream media bias – which ...
Yesterday the Herald ran an op-ed from Mayor Wayne Brown titled “The case for light rail is lighter than ever” and a few things stood out. However, it’s getting more and more tricky to make a strong economic case for spending up to $29 billion on a single route of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Samantha Harrington Imagine it’s a cold February night and your furnace breaks. You want to replace it with an electric heat pump because you’ve heard that tax credits will help pay for the switch. And you know that heat pumps can reduce ...
In 2005, then-National Party leader based his entire election campaign on racism, with his infamous racist Orewa speech and racist iwi/kiwi billboards. Now, Christopher Luxon seems to want to do it all again: Fresh off using his platform at this week's Rātana celebrations to criticise the government's approach to ...
Inflation is showing little sign of slowing down, posing a problem for freshly minted PM Chris Hipkins. According to that old campaigner Richard Prebble, Hipkins should call a snap election. If he waits till October, he risks being swept away. The dilemma for the new leader is that fighting an election ...
Buzz from the Beehive A great deal has happened since January 19. Among other things, a new Prime Minister and deputy have been sworn in and our leaders (past, present and aspiring) have delivered speeches at Ratana. Newshub reported that politicians of all stripes had descended upon Rātana for the ...
It’s a big day for New Zealand; our 41st Prime Minister has taken office and the new, “Chippy” era of politics is underway. Or, on the other hand, the Labour Party continues to govern with an overall majority and much the same leadership team in place. Life goes on and ...
New Zealand has another Prime Minister who does not have a basic grasp of the three articles of the Treaty of Waitangi. THOMAS CRANMER writes: It is simply astonishing that New Zealand’s next Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, is unable to give even a brief explanation of the three articles ...
A statue of a semi-naked Nick Smith puts the misogyny debate into perspective. GRAHAM ADAMS writes … In the wake of Ardern’s abrupt resignation, the mainstream media are determined to convince us she was hounded from office mainly because she is a woman and had to fall on her sword ...
A Different Kind Of Vibe: In the days and weeks ahead, as the Hipkins ministry takes shape, the only question that matters is whether New Zealand’s new prime minister possesses both the wisdom and the courage to correct his party’s currently suicidal political course. If Chris “Chippy” Hipkins is ...
An editorial in the NZ Herald last week, titled “Nimbyism goes bananas as housing intensifies“, introduced Herald readers to a couple of acronyms that go along with the now-familiar NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard): “bananas” (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone) “cave” dwellers (citizens against virtually everything). The editorial ...
Back in the dark autumn of 2020, when the prospect of Covid was freaking the country out, Finance Minister Grant Robertson set himself and Treasury a series of questions about what a post-Covid economy might look like. Those were fearful days, and the questions in part reflected a series ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yet another day has passed without Ministers of the Crown posting something to show they are still working for us on the Beehive website. Nothing new has been posted since January 17. Perhaps the ministers are all engaged in the bemusing annual excursion ...
Incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has already indicated he intends making the tax system “fairer”. That points to the route a government facing an election could take to tilt the odds towards winning in its favour, given Labour’s support in the last months of the Ardern era had been ...
NewsHub has a poll on the cost-of-living crisis, which has an interesting finding: the vast majority of kiwis prefer wage rises to tax cuts: When asked whether income has kept up with the cost of living, 54.8 percent of people surveyed said no and according to 58.6 percent of ...
Labour has begun 2023 with the centre-left bloc behind in the polls and losing ground. That being so, did his colleagues choose Chris Hipkins as the replacement for Jacinda Ardern because they think he has a realistic shot at leading them to victory this year, or because he‘s the best ...
Two Flags, Two Masters? Just as it required a full-scale military effort to destroy the first attempt at Māori self-government in the 1850s and 60s (an effort that divided Maoridom itself into supporters and opponents of the Crown) any second attempt to establish tino rangatiratanga, based on the confiscatory policies ...
The first of Kiwirail’s big network shutdowns to fix the foundations on our tracks is now well underway with the Southern Line closed between Otahuhu and Newmarket. This is following on from the network wide Christmas/New Year shutdown, during which Kiwirail say that nearly 1,300 people working across 69 different ...
This is a re-post from the Citizens' Climate Lobby blogIn last year’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Congress included about $20 billion earmarked for natural climate solutions. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for deciding how those funds should be allocated to meet the climate ...
You’ve really got to wonder at the introspection, or lack thereof, from much of the mainstream media post Jacinda Ardern stepping down. Some so-called journalists haven’t even taken a breath before once again putting the boot in, which clearly shows their inherent bias and lack of any misgivings about fueling ...
Over the weekend I was interviewed by a media outlet about the threats that Jacinda Ardern and her family have received while she has been PM and what can be expected now that she has resigned. I noted that the level of threat she has been exposed to is unprecedented ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes: The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
The Government is maintaining its strong trade focus in 2023 with Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visiting Europe this week to discuss the role of agricultural trade in climate change and food security, WTO reform and New Zealand agricultural innovation. Damien O’Connor will travel tomorrow to Switzerland to attend the ...
The Government has extended its medium-scale classification of Cyclone Hale to the Wairarapa after assessing storm damage to the eastern coastline of the region. “We’re making up to $80,000 available to the East Coast Rural Support Trust to help farmers and growers recover from the significant damage in the region,” ...
The Government is making an initial contribution of $150,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Tairāwhiti following ex-Tropical Cyclone Hale, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “While Cyclone Hale has caused widespread heavy rain, flooding and high winds across many parts of the North Island, Tairāwhiti ...
Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor has classified this week’s Cyclone Hale that caused significant flood damage across the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne District as a medium-scale adverse event, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “We’re making up to $100,000 available to help coordinate efforts as farmers and growers recover from the heavy ...
It’s the biggest week in Real Pod history! Jane made her debut in Treasure Island: Fans v Faves and we grill her all about the drama from week one. Why did she put up Micah? How brutal was the wrestling challenge IRL? And what were her concerns about joining Lance’s ...
Treasure Island is back, baby, and so are our power rankings. Tara Ward recaps all the big plays from the dramatic first week of Fans v Faves. Treasure Island: Fans v Faves has finally washed ashore, and after hoovering down the first three action-packed episodes, I’m fuller than a weatherman ...
By Felix Chaudhary in Suva New Zealand-based Fijian academic Professor Steven Ratuva says that if the coalition government is strong, resilient and lasts, “this will reflect well as a future model for coalitions in Fiji”. “It’s a learning process for a new government and a new democracy and we expect ...
By Finau Fonua, RNZ Pacific journalist Many Pasifika families affected by the flash floods and torrential rainfall that have lashed New Zealand’s North Island over the past few days were braced for more bad weather overnight. With four people dead and hundreds forced out of their homes over the weekend ...
RNZ Pacific A New Zealand-based professor in comparative politics says the Fiji constitution needs to clear up the role of the military. Dr Jon Fraenkel of Victoria University, formerly of the University of the South Pacific, says the 2013 constitution revived the provision that existed in the 1990 constitution which ...
By Repeka Nasiko in Lautoka Fiji’s Media Industry Development Act will soon be reviewed over the next few weeks. Speaking to The Fiji Times in Lautoka on Monday, Minister for Communications Manoa Kamikamica said the review was one of the main objectives of the coalition government when it came to ...
ANALYSIS:By Peter Wilson, political commentator for RNZ News Tuesday, February 7, at 2pm. That’s when New Zealand’s new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ parliamentary year begins and he faces National leader Christopher Luxon in the debating chamber for the first question time of 2023. He needs to “Win the House”, ...
Analysis - Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has had a dream start with polls showing Labour ahead of National, but now he has to prove himself in Parliament and quickly deliver on his promises. ...
Andrew Kirton has been appointed the prime minister’s staff by Chris Hipkins. He begins the role on February 8, replacing Raj Nahna, who has resigned. Nahna become Jacinda Ardern’s chief of staff after Mike Munro resigned for health reasons in 2019. A former Helen Clark staffer, Labour Party general secretary ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luciano Beheregaray, Matthew Flinders Professor of Biodiversity Genomics, Flinders University Shutterstock As the climate heats up rapidly, many species will struggle to avoid extinction. If they had time, they could evolve to the new environmental conditions. But they don’t. That’s ...
The Labour Party has selected Sarah Pallett as its candidate for the Ilam electorate in the 2023 general election. Sarah has been the MP for Ilam since the 2020 General Election. She currently sits on two Select Committees, is the Chair of the Labour ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madison Williams-Hoffman, PhD Candidate in Environmental Radioactivity, Edith Cowan University WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services By now, you’ve probably heard about a tiny radioactive capsule that went missing from the back of a truck somewhere in Western Australia. ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has welcomed the news that schools will be allowed to reopen from tomorrow morning. The Ministry of Education backtracked on its initial decision to keep schools closed until next week. In a statement, Brown also welcomed the blue sky that had replaced clouds across the super ...
Auckland Pride has quietly become one of the most culturally and economically important festivals in the country. Jade Winterburn writes about what it means to her as a queer Aucklander and her hopes for its future.It took some encouragement from a friend to get me out to see my ...
As Auckland begins a big dry following record rainfall and devastating floods, the official response from Mayor Wayne Brown and others has come under scrutiny. In The Spinoff’s politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas debate the deluge ...
How has Chris Hipkins performed in his first big tests as prime minister? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas debate the deluge aftermath, as well as assessing Wayne Brown’s emergency response, and a pair of polls that show an election year in the balance. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan de Groot Heupner, Senior Research Fellow, Griffith University US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rushed to the Middle East this week to make yet another push for a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians following yet another dramatic escalation in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol Johnson, Emerita Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Adelaide Mick Tsikas/AAP Treasurer Jim Chalmers begins his Monthly essay “Capitalism After the Crises” with a quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “No man ever steps in ...
New Prime Minister Chris Hipkins followed up an announcement of new cost of living measures on Wednesday with a visit to a North Shore Marae The clouds parted and a tableau of brilliant blue rushed in to fill the void as the fledgling Prime Minister made his rounds of Auckland ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University In its new national cultural policy, the Australian government grapples with issues extending well beyond the creative arts. The policy document places issues like First Nations representation, work and wages, technological upheaval, discrimination ...
Morningside Live Blockparty will proceed this Sunday February 5 as scheduled, and at this point sunshine is forecast. Severe weather over the weekend and last night, however, has seen the location of The Spinoff Carpet Club stage (a basement below The Carpet Court) flooded and unusable for the event taking ...
Auckland schools will be able to open their doors to students from tomorrow. That’s despite the Ministry of Education announcing late on Monday afternoon that all learning facilities, including kura and universities, must close until after the Waitangi long weekend. Schools have been notified today that the blanket directive to ...
What are you going to be watching in February? We round up everything coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ+. The biggies You (season four, part one on Netflix from February 9) When we last left murder-curious hipster Joe Goldberg, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Grattan Institute Lukas Coch/AAP Nine months after the 2022 federal election, voters finally get a look at how much the parties spent and who funded their campaigns. Data released today reveal Australia’s political parties collectively ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has welcomed the decision to lift the Ministry of Education’s directive on Auckland schools and other learning facilities, which means schools can open from tomorrow at their discretion. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, ...
The head of the South Island’s Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency says the new Cabinet announced by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins yesterday is good news for Māori, with Peeni Henare retaining his spot as Minister of Whānau Ora, and Kiri Allan and Willie ...
The latest report from Aroturuki Tamariki, the Independent Children’s Monitor, on Experiences of Care in Aotearoa shows that there is not yet a significant improvement in outcomes for children in care, or their whānau and caregivers. Experiences of ...
The Children’s Commissioner, Judge Frances Eivers, said today that the latest Independent Child Monitor report into the performance of Oranga Tamariki, provides valuable insights, but its findings are of huge concern. Judge Eivers said, “In ...
Auckland’s deputy mayor has commented (via tweet) after this morning appearing to label her boss “part of the problem” in an interview about the flooding. On TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning, Desley Simpson was asked when the media will be able to speak with Wayne Brown, who has been particularly reluctant ...
Found a lost pet? Wondering how the animal shelters are going? The SPCA and the Auckland Council animal management team share some advice. Floods don’t just affect humans, they affect the furry members of the family too. It’s important to look out for animals following the Auckland floods, although it’s ...
An assessment of the impacts on an “inundated” City Rail Link project is under way following flooding in Auckland. Crews have pumped water from tunnels and stations sites and equipment was being salvaged and inspected, said the project chief executive Sean Sweeney. “At this stage there is no known structural ...
The government has announced another extension of its cost of living package – the fourth time it has pushed out the end date. The 25 cent cut to petrol excise duty, along with half price public transport fares, will be kept in place until June 30. These were initially set ...
It’s one of the most explosive moments in New Zealand’s political history. Now, director Tony Sutorius (Campaign) lifts the lid on the Jami-Lee Ross saga in Elements of Truth. After a fallout with National that threatens to bring the entire party down with it, Jami-Lee Ross seeks a return to ...
It was one of the most explosive moments in New Zealand’s political history. Now, a new documentary from director Tony Sutorius (Campaign) is lifting the lid on the Jami-Lee Ross saga.After a fallout with National that threatened to bring the entire party down with it, Jami-Lee Ross sought a ...
Transporting New Zealand has applauded the decision of the Government to reinstate the Transport Support Package, which includes the discount to road user charges (RUC). "On behalf of the transport industry and those who run diesel fuelled vehicles, ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins who is in Auckland today has confirmed the cut to the fuel excise tax and half-price public transport will be extended until June. ...
The Tree Council is experiencing first hand, along with everyone else, the worst ravages of the flooding, landslips, chaos and carnage currently engulfing Auckland. The record-breaking rainfall and its unprecedented intensity is a clear signal of ...
Low unemployment and strong wage growth in the December quarter 2022 Household Labour Force Survey are further evidence of New Zealand’s robust recovery from the pandemic, says the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff said ...
The Taxpayers’ Union – which has been campaigning for an extension to the diesel road-user charges and petrol excise reductions – has welcomed the Government’s announcement today that the fuel tax cuts will continue until 30 June. They have, ...
Unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%, just a 0.1 point bump from the December quarter. “The unemployment rate… has remained at or near historic lows since the September 2021 quarter,” said Stats NZ’s work and wellbeing statistics senior manager Becky Collett. The underutilisation rate, which measures spare labour capacity, such ...
Maybe twice a year is too many times to visit the villa, writes Alex Casey. This is an excerpt from The Spinoff’s weekly pop culture and entertainment newsletter Rec Room – sign up here.Lana is a simple girl with simple needs. “I like the simple things in life,” she tells ...
The length of time someone has spent in Australia will soon be a “primary consideration” when determining whether a visa should be cancelled. It’s a major softening of the controversial 501 deportation scheme that has caused tensions between Australia and New Zealand. Jacinda Ardern fought for changes to the rules ...
If you’re an investor, or looking to become one in 2023, Dean Anderson from Kernel Wealth sheds some light on what that might look like after the highs and lows of last year.Following the dizzying highs of 2021 when stocks skyrocketed to record-setting gains, 2022 proved to be a ...
We are now accepting applications for The Next Page, a programme focusing on the development of early-career magazine editors, with participants receiving mentorship and taking part in three wānanga across the year. Nau mai, haere mai!Te kaupapaEditors play a vital role in our media landscape, yet very few ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins who is in Auckland today has confirmed the cut to the fuel excise tax and half-price public transport will be extended until June. ...
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.4 percent in the December 2022 quarter, compared with 3.3 percent last quarter, Stats NZ said today. “The unemployment rate, as measured by the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), has remained at or ...
Engaging seniors and young people through workshops, creating a series of kaupapa Māori events for kaumātua and kuia, and delivering retirement workshops are among the latest projects funded by the Age friendly fund. Office for Seniors Director, ...
A Newshub item discussing the alleged misuse of public funds for safety improvements at a greyhound racetrack was unbalanced and inaccurate, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. The Authority has upheld a complaint by Greyhound Racing New ...
It’s Wednesday, February 1 and welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates – continuing our ongoing coverage of the flooding in Auckland and its aftermath. I’m Stewart Sowman-Lund, you can reach me on [email protected] What you need to know Auckland remains in a local state of emergency after ...
Under-fire Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has doubled (tripled?) down on his criticism of the media, accusing reporters of ignoring the work he has done in the wake of last week’s floods. In a conversation with Herald reporter David Fisher, who was first leaked the now infamous “drongo” text, Brown said ...
Residents in the flood-hit suburb of Browns Bay were outraged to find Auckland Transport traffic wardens had been out ticketing parked vehicles. According to Stuff, about 22 infringement notices were issued to cars in the North Shore suburb – seemingly going against the Civil Defence advice to stay home and ...
No one warned me how badly grief can make you yearn for physical intimacy – or how much backlash I would get for wanting to talk about it.On January 19, 2003, I moved to Aotearoa as the wife of a very handsome, very charming, very kind man. Jason Hotere ...
Stuff’s Luke Malpass is reporting that prime minister Chris Hipkins will announce an extension to the 25-cent petrol tax cut and half-price public transport. Those were set to end by March 31, as announced by finance minister Grant Robertson in December. The announcement is likely to be made today when Hipkins ...
The top of the country has endured another wild night of heavy rain and wind, with flash flooding hitting areas still recovering from Friday’s deluge. Parts of Auckland were cut off earlier this morning as the northern motorway closed in both directions. Waka Kotahi said all lanes had now opened, ...
Former physician Ayesha Verrall and former principal Jan Tinetti pick up big portfolios while Auckland gets an advocate in an otherwise well-anticipated cabinet reshuffle, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ...
The Free Fares coalition welcomes news that the Government will extend half-price public transport. “Affordable public transport is helping to ease cost of living pressures,” said Free Fares spokesperson Kate Day. “Right now, half-price fares ...
While Auckland was being devastated by flooding last weekend, a potentially more serious threat to life was playing out off Wellington’s south coast. The interisland ferry Kaitaki had lost power and was drifting in heavy swells towards the coastline. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Sawyer, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian Catholic University Shutterstock Child abuse and neglect is, unfortunately, a far more common occurrence in Australia than many people realise. In Australia in 2020–21 (the most recent figures available), there were more than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Frost, Associate Professor, University of Auckland Paramount Pictures In his latest film, Babylon, director Damien Chazelle presents a very different vision of the home of America’s motion picture industry than he did in his Oscar-winning 2016 film, La La ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Roberts, Professor in Robotics, Queensland University of Technology frank60/Shutterstock With generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as ChatGPT and StableDiffusion being the talk of the town right now, it might feel like we’ve taken a giant leap closer to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanessa Cobham, Professor of Clinical Psychology, The University of Queensland Shutterstock Many children come down with a case of the back-to-school blues as summer slips away. Having spent the holidays staying up late and having fun with friends and family, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martijn Boersma, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame Australia Ten years ago, the garment industry’s worst industrial accident – the Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh – killed more than 1,100 workers and highlighted the travesty of conditions for millions of garment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Massey University New prime minister Chris Hipkins with deputy Carmel Sepuloni.Getty Images With a cabinet reshuffle just a day after two polls showing Labour ahead again – in which he promoted more Māori MPs to the ...
What to do once the water levels recede and you’re allowed to return home. Assess the damage If you’ve safely evacuated your home from floodwaters, you’ll need to wait for Civil Defence to give you the OK to return. When you do, wear protective gear like gloves, a mask and ...
As the country’s northernmost GP, and later as the MP for the country’s northernmost Māori electorate, Bruce Gregory was the ultimate community doctor.We’re not on a road, not even a dirt road. We’re crawling through a rutted gap between sand dunes in Bruce’s ancient Land Rover. It is, to ...
The wrong tree in the right place is an ongoing conundrum for Central Otago District Council with a long-awaited compromise plan seemingly decided yesterday stalled at the 11th hour Ken Churchill has been turning up at council meetings in Alexandra with regular monotony for the past 17 months in a ...
Chris Trotter has written a brilliant piece about the challenges New Zealand faces as catastrophic climate rapidly approaches. He singles out the parliamentary Green Party and its leaders for failing to lead on this matter.
It is a challenge for us as well.
As Rachel a stewart writes, “Virtually everything we argue about and/or discuss relates to climate change/capitalism. Both are intertwined, unchecked and deadly. .”
We must keep the issue of catastrophic climate change front and foremost in all our discussions.
We must pressure for action today.
“Saving the planet and feeding all its people long ago ceased to be a practical proposition. The amount of cultivatable land will shrink – along with the quantity of water necessary to ensure adequate harvests. As the mean global temperature increase passes 2oC, millions of human-beings will begin to starve. What is the correct moral response to famine, disease and conflict on an unprecedented scale? When the boatloads of desperate climate-change refugees start appearing off New Zealand’s coast, what should a Green New Zealand government do?
This is a long way from green technological fixes and rehabilitating four-letter words.
So, too, is deciding what to do when the big container ships and the oil-tankers stop venturing this far south. When the sheer number of super-hurricanes renders voyages too far out into the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans uninsurable. How will a Green government keep the chronically-ill provided with their life-saving pharmaceuticals; and crucial machinery supplied with spare parts; when the flow of these vital imports ceases? How will it keep the lights on and the electric cars powered-up when the snow refuses to fall and the hydro lakes are empty?
Who in today’s Green caucus has the courage to tell New Zealanders that teaching young people the skills required to keep the post-industrial communities of the future functioning is now a matter of urgency. Because in 100 years’ time Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin will be only a fraction of their present size and most of the population will be living in the countryside – where the food is. Which of today’s Greens are working with Maori to preserve the indigenous medical and pharmacological knowledge built-up over the 600 years of non-European occupation of Aotearoa?
Who will dare to tell today’s captains of industry that in 50 years the Internet will be but a memory? That the genocidal global resource wars will kick off with the destruction of the undersea communication cables. That the revolutions, civil and religious wars that roll across the sweltering continents will leave the control hubs for satellite communication unmanned for a generation. That the rocket launching pads will become nesting places for such birds as still fly through Earth’s fetid air.
These are the challenges which Green parties should be preparing us for. The challenges arising out of the fundamental transformations anticipated and demanded in the latest IPCC report. Deluding voters into thinking that somehow the scientists will come up with a way of saving us all: a way which allows capitalism, consumerism and narcissistic individualism to continue unchecked and unmodified; is not something with which any responsible Green should be associated.”
The whole article is here.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-long-term-green-advantage-of.html
Mike Joy, a courageous and independent scientist, has also warned of us of the need to act now or face catastrophic climate change.
“How many barrels of oil does it take to power the economy? Far from the punchline of a joke, the answer outlined by Dr Mike Joy, a senior researcher at Victoria University of Wellington’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, in a public lecture highlights some disturbing truths about our reliance on oil, the importance of energy to the economy, and how we might “transition to a de-carbonised world”.
Starting with the dire warning from more than 20,000 scientists worldwide that “if the world doesn’t act soon, there will be catastrophic biodiversity loss and untold amounts of human misery”, Joy went on to introduce the field of Biophysical Economics and one of its key concepts—Energy return on energy invested (EROI), or “how much energy do you have to put in to get that back?”.
The energy density of our alternatives is so much lower than fossil fuels, but if we want to keep under the 1.5oC threshold, we have to reduce our emissions by 6 percent per year from today,” said Joy.
“Basically we’re going to have to get used to having a whole lot less energy than what we had before, and that’s our only future. We have to figure out how we’re going to do that.”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@future-learning/2018/10/29/297393/energy-makes-the-economy-go-round
Do either articles reference the impact of military and war inc on climate?
Influence of atmospheric damage created through ‘experimental activity’?
To ignore or pretend they are not a major causal element is foolhardy at best…
has also warned of us of the need to act now or face catastrophic climate change.
But isn’t this the opposite of what Trotter is saying? Joy says there is still time to act while Trotter says it’s too late and we should give up and plan for the worst case scenario.
Yet so many governments aren’t ready to face it, let alone try. Capitalism’s all been ‘pay-later’ thinking — little children preferring a definite sweet now to possible sweets later. Feast rather than the long term. Not sure that’s wrong.
As we get to the sharp end of our feast and look out on our children and grandchildren, oblivious in their present comfort to the pre-agricultural deprivation awaiting them , we must do what we can to turn the freighter.
Yawn. So what is Trotter doing about it? What skills is he acquiring?
He’s a lot like you really Ed.
Do you think climate change is a yawn?
Wow…..
If you had been paying attention on this site, you will know I stopped eating meat because of climate change.
What are you doing?
Apart from emailing snide comments?
Woosh!
One of the issues with climate change is that it seems so insurmountable that it has become less of a priority against the daily capitalist grind of making money or survival.
Maybe it needs to be put into smaller segments by what each industry should or could be doing for example, insurance, what are they doing (apart from putting up premiums until they refuse to cover the risks), what is dairy farming doing, what are electrical companies doing, what are councils doing, what is transport doing (in Wellington changing to diesel buses for example, FAIL) etc etc
It has to be changed from two words into the practical legislation of prevention and now.
Trotter is a yawn. He has no idea what “Green” is. He can’t understand that greenies care about ecosystems and not just people. That they want to limit the damage to the environment generally and not just say “fuck it”. Watching him try and comment with relevance on the Green Party is akin to watching a chimpanzee studying an internal combustion engine.
He has an agenda here like always. He wishes to attack the Greens as best he can. If it is the survival of working people that is at stake, then why not attack Labour Party policy? He is a stale old school leftie with zero relevance.
Giving up meat is not preparing for the scenario that Trotter is speaking of. Many of the imported vegan protein sources that you eat would not be available. Are you learning what of these crops could be grown here and where, and how to grow them sustainably? Your ignorance of permaculture that you have shown so many times here would suggest not.
I also don’t believe that you gave up meat because of climate change. This is certainly something you like to hang it off along with animal welfare, but your rigidity on the subject shows that it is a personal thing. You have refused to even consider that animals may have a part in permaculture land systems. Grazing chickens in orchards is one example i have given. Mussel farms would be another animal based culture that could both improve the environment and provide good quality protein.
I’m not doing what Trotter suggests because i am a greenie. I am rather working to limit the damage to the environment by participating in a political party with the same aims.
I am though as part of generally being a greenie landscaping and developing my half acre urban property along permaculture principles and practice.
Trotter is a lot like you Ed because basically you are both full of shit.
Is there anything that Trotter actually wrote that you disagree with? If anything I’d rate his sentiments a tad on the alarmist end of the spectrum; but not unreasonable either. So exactly why do you think all this a ‘yawn’?
Or are you just offended because Trotter has strayed on the Green’s widdling patch?
I think i’ve explained above why i find him a yawn.
Going all doom and gloom would be an idiotic strategy for the Greens in the current context. The first step to progress is to get a general consensus to address the problem. Telling people that it is too late to address the problem will not help.
OK that makes more sense; I agree totally. Doom and gloom nihilism is literally a dead-end response. And Trotter is certainly not the only one to have flirted with it either.
But hell, faced with such an overwhelming prospect you can surely have some empathy for where it comes from.
Part of the yawn is that i don’t think Trotter is being genuine but rather taking an angle to attack the Greens. As i point to above, these criticism would be better addressed to Labour as Trotter shows only concern for people and not the environment too.
I’m not going to quibble how you interpret Trotter’s motives; you’re entitled to your reading of him.
Still he isn’t the enemy either, and not every ally is going to map 100% onto your own motives and values. But that doesn’t mean we cannot reach out and work with people where there is some common ground.
Hey not ruling out working with the guy. Just responding to him attacking the people doing the actual work.
Mussel farms improve the environment? My Marlborough Sounds based relatives would strongly disagree. Maybe if the growers weren’t so greedy…
When done along sustainable principles yes. Mussels filter the water and remove nitrogen and phosphorus and so can help restore our estuaries and harbours.
100% Ed, full marks there.
You are right and others seem to ignore the warnings totally at their peril and ours too.
Phase of the day; “None so deaf as those who will not listen”
The Trotsker seems to be missing the point he is making.
He likes to pointificate.
Ed, I posted this the other day on TS in relation to Trotter’s latest attack on the Greens…..
Trotter hates the Greens and has never really tried to understand them. He wants rid of them.
He is an unreconstructed Old Lefty and writes very well, often brilliantly, about that sector of traditional left-wing union-dominated politics. Nothing wrong with any of that BTW-all power to the unions.
But why he attacks the Greens when Labour will probably never be able to form a government without the Greens I can’t fathom.
Meanwhile the Greens are polling 7% and doing fine.
They are particularly strong on transport-it will be good when Genter comes back from maternity leave.
Since I wrote the above the Greens have had another policy gain with the retention and refurbishment of 15 electric locos that should help to get freight out of trucks and on to rail. Not all Green policies are climate change related; many have major social gains.
“Meanwhile the Greens are polling 7% and doing fine”
Greens vote is ‘usually’ less than their pre election polls. There is only so much their base vote amoungst tertiary educated middle class women will do.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/NZ_opinion_polls_2014-2017-majorparties.png
Poll trend was Greens 7% +-2% and NZ First 6% +-1%
Actual result was Greens 6.2% while NZ first 7.2% One was up on trend the other was down .
2014 election had Greens polling on say 12.2% while election result was 10.7% and similar in 2011.
7% is not doing fine , its saying they will get much the same as now, which is a ‘setback’
On similar lines to Ed’s post above:
Sometimes ‘The Canary’ comes up with little gems!
Extinction Rebellion – 31st October.
“A problem thousands of years in the making
“For around 5,000 years we’ve had a problem as a species. We have lived in hierarchies for most of that time. A few people at the top have control over what the rest of us do.
“And, if we’re honest with ourselves, we know this has never really worked. Because if it had, why has there generally always been poor people at the bottom? Why has there commonly been some human lives that are worth more than others?
“We consider ourselves the most advanced life form on the planet; possibly the universe. Yet throughout our history, the majority of us have willingly accepted a minority telling us what to do. When has it benefited us? And why, in 2018, is society no more truly equal than it was thousands of years ago? Even with all our academic, scientific, and technological advances?
“Today, we may be led to believe that just because we own a car, rent a house, and buy the same shopping each week that we’re ‘more equal’ to Richard Branson than Egyptian slaves were to their Pharaoh. Looks can be deceptive. Because it’s all relative. Many of us may not be physical slaves – but only the Richard Bransons truly have freedom in 21st century society.”
“Original sin
“But moreover, why do we still put up with these damaging hierarchies?
“It’s called greed and power. The first is a human desire; forged over thousands of years by hierarchies. One that tells us having more stuff makes us better than our neighbour. The second is almost a drug, that corrupts many people who have it. Those at the top push both as being in reach of those at the bottom. Together, they’re what drive benefit cuts; make people homeless; allow fracking and destroy the NHS. But now, this greed and power from the ‘one percent’ has literally put every species and the planet at risk. And we continue to be complicit in it; consciously or not.
“This has to end.”
Read the entire article:
https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2018/10/30/our-time-is-up-weve-got-nothing-left-but-rebellion/
“To put it bluntly: we’re fucked. And the only way it will change is by all of us taking drastic action now. We can’t leave it to politicians and corporations to decide. Unless someone can name one point in history when leaving power in the hands of a few has been good for the many? As in every single lifeform on this planet? And when it actually lasted.”
Yes, I would agree with you.
Unless we get rid of capitalism, we are going to see a brutal transition to a simpler sustainable future or even our extinction as a species. It’s that stark.
Our actions have already caused mass rapid extinction that may prove irreversible.
This article came out in the Guardian yesterday.
“Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.
The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else.
“We are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff” said Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF. “If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania. That is the scale of what we have done.”
“This is far more than just being about losing the wonders of nature, desperately sad though that is,” he said. “This is actually now jeopardising the future of people. Nature is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is our life-support system.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/30/humanity-wiped-out-animals-since-1970-major-report-finds
And there’s more sobering, shocking news about human impacts on the planet.
It all puts the corporate media’s discussions about royal visits, All Blacks’ selections and Jono and Ben’s axing in context. Utter trivia, complete distractions.
The media is a major obstacle to humankind acting immediately to avert the oncoming catastrophe.
Unless we approach the challenge and mobilise as if it were WW3, then we can forget passing a habitable world to our grandchildren.
“Scientists in Canada have warned that massive glaciers in the Yukon territory are shrinking even faster than would be expected from a warming climate – and bringing dramatic changes to the region.
After a string of recent reports chronicling the demise of the ice fields, researchers hope that greater awareness will help the public better understand the rapid pace of climate change.
The rate of warming in the north is double that of the average global temperature increase, concluded the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its annual Arctic Report Card, which called the warming “unprecedented”.
“The region is one of the hotspots for warming, which is something we’ve come to realize over the last 15 years,” said David Hik of Simon Fraser University. “The magnitude of the changes is dramatic.”
Whole story here.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/canada-glaciers-yukon-shrinking
“But moreover, why do we still put up with these damaging hierarchies?
It is a paradox. Hierarchy arises from value. The core reason why humans do anything at all is because when we move from one condition to another, we expect the outcome to be ‘better’. And we can only measure this using values; we constantly stack up and compare, we order from best to worst, we are hardwired to create hierarchies of value.
Translating value into action demands performance. And all humans have different competency and we all perform at different levels. For instance I’m an experienced programmer and understand some of the science; but compared to the towering figures at the centre of the computing revolution, Kurt Goedel, Alan Turing and John von Neuman I’m way, way down the hierarchy of value. And of all the computer people who ever worked in the field, only a tiny fraction will make a real, novel and valuable contribution. The rest of us are mere artisans of varying degrees of skill. Something the Pareto distribution (and it’s close cousin Prices Law) describes.
Every field of human endeavour is organised in hierarchies of value; whether we formalise them or not. They are how we know what is ‘better’ and which direction to move in. Hierarchy in inherent and inevitable; it cannot be eradicated without also demolishing entire value structures. If you ‘end’ all values, precisely what will you do today? What is worth doing anymore? Or is the phrase ‘drastic action’ a code for ‘an orgy of destruction because I’m angry and too ignorant to think of anything better’?
The modern world is massively complex; and it creaks and totters in many vital organs. But the person who wrote this article has no fucking clue how to actually fix it. It amounts to thinking you can usefully improve a precision machine with a sledgehammer … and pretending there will be no consequences when it breaks.
I feel you’ve rather missed the point of the article.
Whether we like it or not, the sledgehammer is poised to strike. We’re not going to even approach the beginning of fixing climate change by tinkering at its edges.
Hence the movement’s title – Extinction Rebellion.
The old ways got us into this mess! Well, let’s be anarchists – tear it all down and see what comes out of it all.
Perhaps there are no solutions, only actions.
Well, let’s be anarchists – tear it all down and see what comes out of it all.
I promise you, an even bigger mess. The original problems would only get worse, and our capacity to deal with them would eliminated. Not a smart strategy at all.
Look I’m not unsympathetic to the sentiment; I get it. The outlook is bleak and scary and the temptation to advocate for ‘something dramatic’ is real. But also profoundly irresponsible.
It has been tried before and it has failed miserably every time. It is cute you think the idea is an original one though.
I agree that hierarchies of skill and value are unavoidable. People after all are not equally talented, hardworking, etc.
But I don’t believe it’s inevitable, or right, that we jump from that fact into accepting extreme hierarchies of power and reward, which are quite different things.
Yes. Although hierarchy is necessary and unavoidable; it is also prone to being captured and becoming corrupt. Hierarchy endows power which can easily be mis-directed into protecting itself and tilting the rewards unjustly.
A healthy hierarchy provides stability and direction of purpose; while at the same time is open to scrutiny, review and re-invention when the environment changes. In very general terms the right is good at operating the system according to the agreed rules and procedures; the left is good at calling it out when it becomes corrupt and needs refreshing.
No it doesn’t else Donald Trump would be living in a caravan park.
Actually, it’s probably far more likely that they’re just not properly recognised for the work that they’ve done. I recall the story of the guy who invented industrial diamonds. He spent hundred of hours working for no reward and when he accomplished it the company gave him a $10 gift voucher while stating that the discovery was theirs.
As I’ve been saying for years: We cannot afford the rich and Capitalism is the problem.
Nope. Capitalism is essentially the economic expression of the Rennaisance idea of the sovereign individual. It links the idea of the right of every individual to equality before the law and equality of opportunity, to the right to private property. It embeds the notion of human right to dignity and security with the capacity to own their body, their labour and the fruits of it.
The notion of private property is a very old one; but when it met the evolution of the modern credit money systems and legally protected in English common law … the result was the broad system we call capitalism. As an economic tool is has been incredibly successful on its own terms; as a social and environmental tool it has deep shortcomings. Capitalism as we have it right now has problems, but it’s not the problem.
You advocate throwing the tool away and hoping something better will come along; I’m arguing that we study the existing tool closely, regard what it does well, understand it’s limitations and why they arise … and carefully engineer a better version.
This is why competent economists like Steven Keen never talk about ‘the end of capitalism’. Instead he devotes time, talent and energy to understanding the system (his Minsky Model is a masterpiece), and works to train the next generation of economic leaders in more sophisticated implementations of what we already have.
No it doesn’t. It embeds the right of the rich to own everything and thus to live the life of kings on the labour of everyone else.
Yes it is and it’s brought about the collapse of every single civilisation that took it too far. Private ownership needs to be heavily restricted to personal items. The problems begin when it’s extended into owning land, houses and business.
Yes, it’s made a few people very rich at everyone else’s expense.
No I’m not. I’m advocating dropping private ownership of houses, businesses and land. Land and houses will be state owned, city managed. Businesses will be self-owned and run as cooperatives by the people who work in them. There will be no shareholders.
Money to be created by the government and spent into the economy via productive works, 0% interest loans to businesses and a UBI. It won’t be created by private banks whenever they make a loan.
In other words, the system would be very similar to what we have now but without the bludging of shareholders and other forms of unearned income that is detrimental to society.
How come not one single state has attempted your proposed solutions, even the ones who are anti-capitalist like Cuba and North Korea?
Perhaps they simply didn’t think of it.
Why didn’t they think of it given YOU think the solution is so simple and so self evident?
I’m advocating dropping private ownership of houses, businesses and land. Land and houses will be state owned, city managed. Businesses will be self-owned and run as cooperatives by the people who work in them. There will be no shareholders.
In other words you are saying that your version of communism would be less catastrophic than all the ones tried already. I’m not sure whether to admire your optimistic naivety, or call out the dangerous hubris.
it’s made a few people very rich at everyone else’s expense.
You come back to this point so often I have to conclude Orwell was right; you don’t care so much about the poor as you simply hate the rich. It’s not a promising starting point.
Communism hasn’t been tried. All we’ve had is other forms of hierarchy which failed as hierarchies always do.
The present system fails. It has always failed and always will. Eliminating the capitalists will, as a matter of fact, ensure that everyone will get the value that they produce rather than having it syphoned off to bludging shareholders and other rentiers.
The poor will actually be better off as they’ll no longer be paying taxes to the rich.
Communism hasn’t been tried.
Oh yes it has. See below. Maybe you need your nose rubbing in it, I dare you to get past the two hour mark:
Great read it basically sayes EVERYONE is an ARSEHOLE !!!
I first read Gulag Archipelago in my 20’s; it remains one of four or five deeply influential books I’ve ever read.
It’s a chilling and cautionary narrative of one of the most horrible episodes of the 20th century. When I was in Russia about 20 years back I made a point of travelling to the only gulag left in Perm, and just last year a work project took me to Kolyma, the area in Eastern Siberia where the most brutal gulags were located.
And I’ve driven on the “Highway of Bones”. Here are some pics of the region from a random linky:
https://jumboswank.com/employing-the-highway-of-bones-in-russian-far-east-with-my-father/
Yet the there is a deep lesson in Solzhenysen’s work; the entire evil edifice only functioned because the mass of people stopped speaking truth. Everyone knew about it, no-one could speak the truth of it. Yes we are all capable of being utter arseholes, and reading this book permanently convinced me of my own capacity for evil.
Most of us mistake merely being harmless with actively choosing good. Most of us never find ourselves in a situation where we can indulge in being evil with no immediate chance of being caught and sanctioned. Most of the time we don’t do bad things because it’s the easiest thing to do. But faced with the gulags, or concentration camps, or orders to commit genocide … how many of us have the courage to actively choose to be good over evil?
This is what the Archepelago explores. I can barely listen to it now in more than 30 minute segments.
Everyone knew about it, no-one could speak the truth of it.
It’s still happening, and it’s more ruthless than ever….
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-u-s-state-department-deletes-the-occupation-1.6069726
https://www.wrmea.org/013-may/getting-the-words-right-israel-isnt-occupying-palestine%E2%80%94its-conquered-it.html
I’ve traveled some this road last year to get to a job. Watch just the first five minutes of this and understand why you have trouble convincing me:
One of the points that Marx raises is the capitalists working people to death. And we still see it happening today. Pike River Mine, logging deaths and more. That’s in NZ. In other countries we see actual murder to keep the capitalists in power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-union_violence
One body per metre … for 1200 km.
Nice to see some rational solutions to the problems with capitalism there, Red.
Although seriously engaging with Draco about the practicality of his ideas always seems like a bit of a trap
A.
Do you seriously think, when climate catastrophe strikes, as strike it will, all the norms of society will not be thrown into confusion?
We cannot, simply cannot ‘profit’ our way out of what is coming. We need to already be thinking outside the box, and that will probably mean a complete rethink of the institutions of government.
We simply cannot envisage what shit may happen as a result of catastrophic climate change. But what I do believe is – we can’t solve any of the looming problems by ‘capitalistic’ tinkering.
Do you seriously think, when climate catastrophe strikes, as strike it will
There are two reactions to a threat which always fail:
1. Denialism: Pretending it’s not happening OR if it is it doesn’t matter.
2. Catastrophism: Pretending that it’s so bad that either nothing can be done, OR that everything has to be impossibly changed deal with it.
There is a third reaction which will also probably fail, given the enormity of the change that is coming:
3. Blinkered thinking/she’ll be rightism. “We can get through this with only small changes to the way we make money.”
Humanity has never faced such a monumental change in such a relatively small period of time. We simply cannot afford to take this threat lightly.
Ah no. Nothing ‘she’ll be right about it’.
But frankly any and all suggestions that we have to tear down the global economy in order to deal with this are fucking idiotic. Lets do that, lets stop everything, shut down the economies of the world tomorrow and stop every skerrick of activity that might possibly cause climate change.
Have you any idea how murderous this would be? The resulting chaos, social disruption, violence and famine would put at direct risk the lives of billions; immediately.
And any possible chance to address the problem without a mass die-off would be lost … deliberately. Maybe this is what you want; it’s hard to tell.
RL, I can’t see into the future any more than you can – but, if the entire tropical band north and south of the equator becomes too hot for human life, do you seriously think there won’t be chaos?
Millions, perhaps as many as a billion, of people will be forced to migrate to more equatable climatic areas – at the same time as the grain-lands of Europe and North America will be coming under climate stress. Already some governments in Europe are digging in their toes about accepting more migrants. And the exodus hasn’t even started yet.
Seriously, the decades from 2020 to 2040 could be a clusterfuck of disruption. Hundreds of millions of people will probably die and the institutions of government will struggle to cope with the catastrophe.
I sure as hell don’t know how we’re going to get through to the other side, but I repeat, I think we should be thinking outside the box already.
But perhaps I’m being too pessimistic? Perhaps capitalism will rise to the challenge, solve the climate change problem and make money at the same time!
Of course I understand everything you say above is a real possibility. I’m not neglecting or discounting that at all. But I do know that plunging the global economy into an immediate crisis is a certain route to an even worse outcome.
Every time we use climate change as the end to justify the means of ‘ending capitalism’ we achieve nothing except amplify and confirm the suspicions of most of the population. Most people are not communists or hard radical left. They don’t want a bar of it. Provoking them with useless talk makes an already monumentally difficult task harder.
There is no single silver bullet solution to this; it’s multi-dimensional and complex. No single person, or organisation, or nation on it’s own stands any chance of succeeding.
But 7 billion people can together do it. The trick is getting us together. Learn to be competent and persuasive; find something you can do, however small, and get good at it. Then people will come flocking to offer you bigger opportunities.
I don’t know the future either; but I do know there is only one strategy which optimises our chances of getting through this without too much devastation. Stop tilting at windmills, learn to use the already powerful tools around media, technology and money to make your case positively. The box of ideas and possible tech to get us through this mess is already huge, you don’t need to invent anything original or unique. Surround yourself with people who know what they are doing and ally yourself with them, even when at first brush you don’t agree with them.
The challenge could turn out even more monstrous than either of us imagine. But we’ve lost already unless we face it skillfully. I don’t intend to be mean here, but recycled neo-marxist tosh will not cut mustard.
Agree with thiz almost 100 percent.
+ 1 draco
Dear Green Party
I’m posting this for those involved in any manner with Canterbury re drought. Please pass this on. The methods as outlined here involve restoration of eroded outlets and installation of ‘dams’ that retain water to be infiltrated into the land. Plantings are also essential for the shade and infiltration aspects provided, including the build up of organic matter which increases a soils capacity for holding water, and decreasing evaporation.
Get cracking showing how it works on a model farm in the drought area. (You do have a decent hydrologist/ecologist/permie designer in your ranks??) Within a couple of years other farmers will be lined up to get their land rehydrated.
The drainage systems covering our country can be converted to retaining water (and draining excess) easily. Simple floodgate control at storm culverts will enable rehydration of the land.
It’s not a far stretch to show how with similar methods you can also turn riparian scrub into highly productive aquaculture/silviculture re: the late Charles Mitchell’s farm. I know his system, too.
Refill the aquifers, restore the landscape. Consultation available. Time wasters will be shredded by my Aspie ire.
Thanks for that great link, WeTheBleeple
Sounds like the opposite of where NZ is going and taking the water out of the aquifers and not being vigilant against ground water pollution, instead these farmers are tying to restore natural water systems, pre colonial times, against drought.
100% support here too.
I watched this last night. It is a prime example of exactly the kind of competent and effective response we truly need to beat this bastard.
Quit the bickering and bitching; watch this and be impressed. Be inspired, and then look around at your own life, look for what is immediately in front of you and fix that first.
My partner has a wry joke that goes “If you’re going to learn cross-country skiing, start with a small country first”.
Then come back here, tell us your success story and help others.
Most people can’t afford to change, to fix what’s in front of them.
Humankind spawned “this bastard” – the mystery is why we continue to nuture it in spite of known threats.
Maybe partly to do with the fact the many (some more than most) have done very well from ‘it’, at least in the short term.
Yes I largely agree with this DK; but to most people the idea of de-growth is deeply unattractive. There are profound psychological reasons why; and it would make a great tangential discussion to explore them.
Look most people have a fair clue that the current setup is a bit fucked. And there are many, many people at least a little open to the idea of changing the way we organise our economies if we can present a competent, credible alternative plan.
No-one wants to go back to medieval living standards; they just won’t voluntarily go there. And there are tens of thousands of people out there right now working on ways to solve the problem. Not all of them will work, but some will. They need our help and encouragement. They need us to be good at this; they don’t need us sitting about renting sackcloth.
And don’t discount the possibility that an entire raft of new tech, some of it very close to coming online, like solid state lithium batteries, perovskite enhanced PV’s, a whole generation of graphene based materials and techniques, HVDC global grids and on to whole rafts of research I’ve never heard of … all have the potential to transform our resource intensity dramatically. We have to bet on this.
And I understand that at core, it is the human heart that will prove most stubborn to change. But at least it can and will change with zero carbon footprint 🙂
We are in Aus currently, and this programme has just aired on tv. Australia’s latest PM supported this idea the previous one dissed it.
It was amazing to see how the hydrated land survived 4 years drought.
It all made so much sense.
Dirty dairying is destroying this country.
SIX MONTHS ON: GAZA’S GREAT MARCH OF RETURN
Has Jacinda Ardern spoken out about this yet? And if not, why not?
Wierd scenes eh Morrissey in the wake of the shooting in the states of the jews in the synagog …maybe my hearings not the best …but i didnt hear a single news outlet explore the possibility thet the reason they got shot might have been something to do with the fact israel shoots palistinians with total impunity on a regular basis .Nope according to the worlds reporters its ANTI SEMITISM .
The shooter was targeting not Israelis but liberal, compassionate, American Jews. He had a particular hatred for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
https://www.hias.org/
“As Facebook and Twitter are purging alternative media outlets, a neoconservative operative at a US government-funded think tank says more censorship is on its way. Max Blumenthal and Jeb Sprague discuss how scaremongering over Russia and China is being exploited to silence dissent on social media.”
This Russian fantasy nonsense, lazily recycling Hillary Clinton’s campaign crap, is just as rabid here. Two of the very worst are John Campbell and Bernard Hickey. And then there’s THIS ignoramus….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/jesse-mulligan-sometimes-when-i-read.html
Well you would say that Morrissevich.
Very funny, Gabbieva. But seriously, now, listening to the likes of Campbell and Mulligan channel British and U.S. black propaganda is a hard listen, isn’t it.
Great to see the Minister of Transport reverse the Kiwirail board decision and require them to continue with electric trains rather than diesel.
This refurbishment will keep the Hutt workshop busy for years.
Also very good to.see them considering converting the whole fleet to hydrogen rather than extending electrification.
This would pull out all their diesel and give stronger network resiliency.
They would be better off running the trains on gas turbines.
For all this talk about hydrogen, no one has actually come up with a viable hydrogen propulsion system that has been put into everyday use.
The major problem with hydrogen is storing it effectively. The damn molecule is so small that most metals and materials are like tissue paper to it; it just migrates out of the vessel and is lost at a rate that is very hard to engineer around.
The good news is that graphene (apart from being a bloody wonder material in so many other respects) looks like it has some real potential to solve this key problem:
https://www.greenoptimistic.com/graphene-hydrogen-storage-tanks-20081008/
Alston already has them operating in Germany.
About time Phil woke up to save the electric rail system as he was previously “sidelined by false reports coming out of MBIE old “cherry picked” documents National had made up to show rail was not worth saving or ‘viable’ so twyford thought rail was dead. Thank christ he has come to his senses not a minute to soon.
Our letter to Minister of transport Phil twyford last week;
Protecting our environment & health.
In association with other Community Groups, NHTCF and all Government Agencies since 2001.
• Health and wellbeing.
• East Coast Transport Project.
TO;
Hon Phil Twyford – Minister of Transport.
Hon’ Jacinda Ardern PM.
Hon Winston Peters. Deputy PM.
Hon’ Shane Jones. Minister of Regional Development.
Hon’ Grant Robertson. Minister of Finance.
Hon’ Stuart Nash. MP For Napier Wairoa/ Matawai regions.
Hon’ Megan Woods. Minister of Energy.
URGENT PRESS RELEASE; – ACTION NEEDED HERE BY – Transport Minister Twyford.
26th October 2018.
Dear Ministers, Local civic authorities & rail stakeholders,
We have written to you all multiple times since becoming our new Government requesting to restore our railway to Gisborne that was damaged after a storm in March 2012; – and caused by a lack of rail funding maintenance in 2011 on after funding was cut by Minister of transport Steven Joyce; – http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1302/S00183/kiwirail-admits-lack-of-maintenance-led-to-wash-out.htm
Here is an important study paper from October 11, 2018 by Cody Januszko, Carnegie Mellon University Department of Engineering and Public Policy Transporting freight by road accounts for around seven percent of the world’s total energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Recognizing that heavy road freight is particularly hard to decarbonize, says the paper here.
But the report also claims roads are subsidised by us for truck freight so we need to level the playing field now in favour of “encouraging more rail freight services in all our exporting regions now and not delay the move back to rail freight any more.
QUOTE; “In the U.S., railroads own their own tracks, so they have to build their own infrastructure,” says Vaishnav, an assistant research professor in EPP. “Trucking uses public infrastructure, but does not bear the full cost of the damage heavy trucks do to roads and other infrastructure and indeed to the environment.”
Here attached above are the electronic copies of four of the studies on the benefits of rail we advocate, and Gisborne District Council has produced called “The socio-economic & environmental loss of rail for the Gisborne District” -2012 and we strongly endorse this study report.
6-249607-Socio-economic_&_environmental_impacts_of_loss_of_rail_-on May_2012
We now want all Government agencies to have a copy so distribute anywhere as they need to be mentioned to Government and others as evidence for our cal to restore the Gisborne Napier- Wellington rail service again.
* 6-249607-Socio-economic_&_environmental_impacts_of_loss_of_rail_-on May_2012 (2) *BERL Report November/Dec 2012.
*”The value of rail in NZ produced 2016 by national and kept hidden and released by Labour Minister of transport Phil Twyford Feb 2018. (Plus press release promising regional rail.) (Twyford) then kiwi rail press cover of rail study.
*Bolland report produced for Ministry of Transport 2010 but kept hidden by National and never released. Shows rail saved NZ lots of money and without rail how much a year it costs us.
Your response to our call is requested
The electric wire catenary system is only ever going to be partial – it will never replace the need for a diesel fleet, because it is never going to stretch all the way from Whangarei to Bluff to Nightcaps to Whanganui – or indeed to Gisborne.
If Twyford gets a really good case from NZTA and Kiwirail to replace the entire fleet to a new carbon efficient system, that is good for the country. On all sorts of policy dimensions.
The rebuilt of the old electric trains only buys them a decade of future operation if they are lucky. That buys them a bit of time.
There is a good case to replace the entire rail engine system, rip out the electric system completely, and have a major national mode that needs neither electricity generation nor petroleum as its main energy base. Nothing like a good strong innovation case for a further massive step-change in rail.
The rebuilt of the old electric trains only buys them a decade of future operation if they are lucky.
The EF class is around 32 years old, but it can be considered mid-life with a decent electrical overhaul. The fantastic old DFB’s and DX’s date back to the 60’s and 70’s and mechanically are still trucking along fine.
Ah yes there is a tiny little bit of unreconstructed railfan in me 🙂
I am interested in any information on the use of regenerative braking on central north island electric locos gooogle seems not to be my friend today (ie i havent found the right question yet) any links anyone on this subject.
xanthe
Our electric locomotives are traction regenerative I believe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_EF_class_locomotive
“The locomotives are supplied electricity from 25 kV AC overhead lines. These lines draw electricity from New Zealand’s national grid at four locations along the electrified section: Bunnythorpe, Tangiwai, Taumarunui, and Hamilton. The locomotives are fitted with regenerative braking as well as regular air brakes, so the traction motors can be turned into generators when the locomotive is coasting downhill and feed electricity back into the overhead lines and the national grid.”
https://www.connectorsupplier.com/regenerative-braking-systems-rail-applications/
“Key global locomotive manufacturers such as GE, EMD, and Vossloh have embraced the notion of the hybrid diesel locomotive while Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier, Mitsubishi, and Kawasaki have committed to the electrical systems approach with their offerings. All of these manufacturers have commercialized vehicles and systems which are now finding their way onto the global stage”.
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=150711
thanks cleangreen, i had found the wikipedia claim that they “feed electricity back into the overhead lines and the national grid.” and so I have always believed, but so far I cannot find any confirmation of this claim or technical details which concerns me given that power is supplied as 25Kv 50hz. of course as they are being given an electrical upgrade in 2018 achieving this is very do-able but I would like to be confident that is is and will be done.
I can confirm that this happens at least in some locations. Reinjected power is at 55 kV. I wouldn’t say the quantity of electricity reinjected was huge, but no doubt every little helps.
A.
My understanding the power generated during braking is dumped as heat by large resisters on the locos.
Thats apart from the brakes themselves for lower speeds.
Proposals for NEW electric locos said they could be equipped for regeneration.
http://www.kiwirail.co.nz/uploads/Publications/Better%20Business%20Case%20NIMT%20Performance%20Improvements.pdf
Wikipedia stories on the existing EF locos have unsourced material saying they regenerate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_EF_class_locomotive
Here is a link for Ad’s story:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/10/government-scraps-national-s-plan-for-kiwirail-diesel-trains.html
Refers specifically to trains between Hamilton and Palmy. Seems sensible although I am curious about the cost/benefit overall.
A.
It’s always the benefit horizons that bedevil rail investment compared to road.
and objectives,
a solution that will return maximum return to investors/shareholders may well be different to one that provides best cost benefit to users/public
so the question becomes who do they take their advice from.
Since rail is a publicly owned system the investment framework for it is through the NLTP. That’s where it gets reconciled however imperfectly. Next NLTP version will be smoother.
“however imperfectly” – i.e. driven by the preferred transport mode of the Government of the day
A.
>It’s always the benefit horizons that bedevil rail investment compared to road.
Are you saying that rail doesn’t typically tend to stand up over a standard length CBA (20-30 yrs) but pays off over a longer term (Say 50 yrs), and that this holds in this particular case too?
A.
This particular business case hasn’t been released to the public yet.
But generally yes that’s always been the tenor of the arguments.
Should be some way of factoring it in through e.g. terminal value adjustments (though perhaps hard to quantify).
A.
Interesting that the NZTA was assuming top ‘principal position as transport advisor to Government on transport” but “NZTA is only a road controlling authority” (RTA).
Ministry of transport (MoT) is the “key principal advisor to Government” for all forms of transport” – not NZTA!!!!!!
So Labour/NZF need to amend this anomaly and fund equally Ministry of Transport (MoT) as they do NZTA in future.
https://www.transport.govt.nz/about/
Quote;
About the Ministry of Transport
Last updated on: 14/08/2018
The Ministry of Transport is the government’s principal transport adviser. The majority of our work is in providing policy advice and support to Ministers.
Through our advice we aim to:
improve the overall performance of the transport system
improve the performance of transport Crown entities
achieve better value for money for the government from its investment in the transport system.
We help the government give effect to its policy by supporting the development of legislation, regulations and rules. We also manage and account for funds invested in transport.
The Ministry represents New Zealand’s interests internationally, particularly in aviation and maritime.
We work with Crown entities
We assist the government in its relationship with the transport Crown entities to ensure they are effectively governed, and are accountable for their performance and monitoring arrangements for transport sector Crown entities.
Visit the Transport Sector Functions page for more information
We work with local government authorities
Local government authorities own, maintain and develop New Zealand’s local road network and perform important regulatory functions. Regional councils (and unitary authorities) are required to develop regional land transport strategies that guide the decision-making of local councils. In the Auckland region, the Auckland Transport carries out these functions. Some local authorities own seaports and airports, or share ownership with the Crown.
> So Labour/NZF need to amend this anomaly and fund equally Ministry of Transport (MoT) as they do NZTA in future.
Sorry but you have no idea. NZTA needs billions of dollars per year to fund the country’s land transport network. MOT is just a few bureaucrats – bums on seats.
A.
Antoine;
You have no idea ‘why NZTA needs billions’ !!!!
https://trid.trb.org/view/1125281
Quantifying Incremental Pavement Damage Caused by Overweight Trucks
Quote
Significant increases in commercial truck loadings across the Saskatchewan road network have resulted in accelerated damage to the provincial highway system. This accelerated damage has decreased the expected performance life of many of these roads and also increased maintenance and rehabilitation requirements and costs.
Unquote;
Antoine; – It is because truck freight who are responsible wholly for totally wrecking our roads and causing the road maintenance to accelerate to such high levels now we need to change road freight companies the full cost of their damages now.
You need to learn the real truth here.
Here is an important study paper from October 11, 2018 by Cody Januszko, at the Carnegie Mellon University Department of Engineering and Public Policy Transporting freight by road accounts for around seven percent of the world’s total energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Recognizing that heavy road freight is particularly hard to decarbonize, says the paper here.
But the report also claims roads are subsidised by us for truck freight so we need to level the playing field now in favour of “encouraging more rail freight services in all our exporting regions now and not delay the move back to rail freight any more.
QUOTE; “In the U.S., railroads own their own tracks, so they have to build their own infrastructure,” says Vaishnav, an assistant research professor in EPP. “Trucking uses public infrastructure, but does not bear the full cost of the damage heavy trucks do to roads and other infrastructure and indeed to the environment.”
Clearly NZTA must not be used to make rail studies up as they are principally geared to funding truck freight activities for private companies some which are foreign owned. Stop subsidising the trucks.
You are not making sense
A.
MoT is just a speedbump barely registering in Wellington to NZTAs actual funding and execution.
Would be better if they were reformed into a new proper transportation system regulator.
100% Ad.
And replace Steven Joyce’s well placed “tarmac lovers” sitting still inside the NZTA at the same time please.
I’m with Fred Eaglesmith on this one
Another good decision. Keep them coming Phil. Such a pleasure to see integrated planning involving communities.
Hydrogen for power is a complete waste of electricity, it takes far, far more electricity to make enough hydrogen to achieve the desired outcome.
yes Hydrogen is a detour off the highway to reducing carbon.
The easiest/cheapest way to ‘make’ the hydrogen is from natural gas- they hide that fact with waffle as ‘only a backup method’ or CO2 sequestration – is if they would pay for that.
It wouldn’t hurt to be looking seriously at highspeed rail.
The energy equation is not much different to conventional, but the speed allows it to compete favourably with carbon heavy domestic air services.
TransTasman traffic could probably run on something similar to the Busan Shimonoseki ferries, again with substantial carbon savings.
These things might take years to scope out – better to begin that sooner than later.
Hydrogen is a bit like fusion – a wonderful tech with no working prototypes. If we were determined to embrace the new, maglev at least has working prototypes.
SPORTS NEWS:
Knocking up a quick half century before lunch
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/10/its_about_the_policy_not_the_people.html/comment-page-1#comment-2346591
This is interesting. The UK has had enough of Facebook etc not paying taxes and has gone it alone with a digital services tax, albeit not very tough.
Interesting thing here is that it breaks all the normal tax rules because it is based on turnover not profit and the tax authorities will make other assumptions as to company structure rather than rely on what it is being told by Facebook etc.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/29/uk-digital-services-tax-budget-facebook-google-amazon
Labour in the UK has called the tax a pittance….but it is a start and once in place can be upped. The Yanks have been blocking a tax for years.
The digital people are screaming. Music to my ears. Come on Jacinda lets do it.
Yes.. tax these monoliths.
GST is based on turnover !
Where did you get the idea it wasnt, as its plain and simple.
What they will do is base the tech tax on turnover like VAT but without any deductions for the tax on goods supplied.
Sorry I wasn’t thinking about GST which is actually a tax added to turnover not part of it. But you can see the point of the digital services post I hope?
BTW I’m a qualified accountant (lapsed).
I think the map we use has a lot to do with some euro western feelings of superiority – like they’re better than everyone else or they are the sum total of what’s gone before – you know, the white superiority stuff.
“As most of us know, the world map we grew up with isn’t exactly the most accurate vision of the world. Currently, the Mercator projection—which was created by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569—is the standard map projection. Though we’ve known for quite some time that this projection significantly distorts the size of landmasses, for nearly 450 years nothing better has become the standard.
More than just a cartography error, many critics have said that the Mercator projection is a visual representation of Eurocentricity and historic colonialism, as Africa and South America appear much smaller than they actually are.”
https://mymodernmet.com/world-map-accuracy/
Who actually uses Mercator these days? My atlas doesn’t; nor does Google Maps (which is my main go-to for maps nowadays); nor, I would think, do most maps in NZ classrooms.
A.
Oh hmmm
“Most people go through life perfectly happy in the knowledge that the real earth looks like it does on a standard Mercator projection map.
… The comic (link below) by Randall Munroe at XKCD looks at What your favorite map projections says about you (assuming you have one).”
https://brilliantmaps.com/xkcd/
That’s a good XKCD
My kid came home with a map centred on the South Pole which I liked.
A.
Centre it on Aoteoroa and be surprised. (Easy in google earth.)
Really, this is why we invented 3D computer graphics.
You know who didn’t need no damn Mercator projection.
http://thenonist.com/index.php/thenonist/permalink/stick_charts/
You are complicit Parker as are all of labour.
“Parker described it as a “momentous” day for New Zealand and world trade, and said the CPTPP had become even more vital now the World Trade Organisation was in such a parlous state.
The CPTPP represented 13 per cent of the worlds GDP, and its member countries had a combined annual gdp of just under $15 trillion New Zealand dollars.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108238830/cptpp-trade-deal-over-the-line-after-final-nations-ratify-pact
One of our strongest-supported pieces of legislation in a while.
If the WTO starts failing by end of next year, such agreements may be the closest to rule-based trade that small states like us can get.
The structural entropy is accelerating.
Supported by who?
I still haven’t seen majority support for it from the people. Only the idiots in government and business.
Parliament.
Obviously.
We’re supposedly a democracy which would indicate that it needs the support of the people.
Does it have that support?
Yes. Through every single party’s votes in the New Zealand Parliament except the Greens. For the formation and passage of legislation, that is the very definition of democracy.
So yes, by an overwhelming democratic majority, it has that support.
Legislation is passed through the democratic system called parliament.
It sailed through.
It had that democratic support by the truckload.
See, that’s not actually a democracy. That’s a dictatorship no different from the feudal system.
You just pop down to parliament and give them a jolly good piece of your mind. Chant around it and see if it levitates for you.
You know how many anarcho-syndicalists does it take to change a lightbulb?
They just stand on a chair, hold the lightbulb up, and wait for the whole world revolve around them.
that’s a good ‘un
That’s awesome!
I’ve got one for you…
Q:How many kids with ADHD does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: “Do you wanna go bike riding?!”
(Maybe will have offended someone with that but I’m sure the lord will forgive me)
Dissing on ADHD Kids now …. How hypocritical You are !
“I still haven’t seen majority support for it from the people.”
Thats because a minority of a minority party – Greens- are opposed and cant sleep at night over the possibility of an investor sueing the government. They are sleepless I tell you.
What a load of bollocks.
I haven’t seen anything since that shows the support for this increasing.
That poll in 2015 wasnt the revised TPPA agreed to by Labour in 2018.
So you say you havent seen the support for TPPA increasing ?
Luckily I found something for you- but was same yr 2015
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11566580
only 27.4 per cent support TPP on the basis it would be good for New Zealand’s economic well-being, although that is up 4.5 points from September when just 22.9 per cent supported it.
Almost the same number, 25.8 per cent oppose it on the basis of the investor-state dispute settlement provisions, down 5.5 points from the same questions asked in September.
But 45.9 per cent formed no view on it, the same as September.
Thats means 73% have no view or support it . They are sleeping well at night.
Likely the revised investor -state dispute provisions – which mean local operating companies that have overseas owners have to go through local courts- means only a rump oppose it totally now.
Other polls
https://yournz.org/2016/02/28/tppa-poll/
Of course not much polling since then as its low concern to most.
So, we’re all about to get poorer – goodo.
100% Draco.
Labour sold us down the river as National did so they were both in bed to strip us of our Sovereignty.
Damn them all.
Defense firms see only hundreds of new U.S. jobs from Saudi mega deal
So, it’s really just another deal to boost the profits for the bludging shareholders of the military-industrial complex.
Kathryn Ryan, who’s incapable of recognizing bullshit
when it’s rubbed in her face, needs to talk to more children.
Nine to Noon, RNZ National, Wednesday 31 October 2018, 11:32 a.m.
During a discussion with Young Adult fiction author Melanie Rodriga, the host affected her most serious voice and intoned….
Melanie Rodriga, who seemed to be a bright person, was too polite to acknowledge the clanging, jangling irony of that statement.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/02/bradley-manning-show-trial-begins-in.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/dame-ann-leslie-arrrrgggh.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/is-it-possible-national-radio-is.html
So that first link – you cut and paste from here onto your blog and then post back here to direct people to your blog where a copy of the conversation from here is. Did enjoy seeing some old and long gone quality commenters there ta.
Thanks, Marty. That blog of mine I started many years ago, but only put two items on it and forgot about it until late last year. I’m paranoid about sites closing down and everything getting lost, as happened with the old Planet Rugby chat site, and the willful destruction of Google Groups. I have been trying to harvest everything I’ve done online since 2003.
Often I’ll link straight to The Standard or wherever I first posted, but since so much of my stuff is now on the blog, it’s often more convenient.
Yes your system works.
I’ve given up on my blog – a good record of the time though.
The poor wee devotees of liberalism will struggle with this one. It shows up just how far down the rabbit hole the fubar ideology has gone. Plus funny as.
+1 Adam – some of the best videos there are on foreign policy. Probably explains why our defence force now is expected to defend foreign and domestic corporations rather defend NZ people and sovereignty. Thanks neoliberalism.
“A movement, calling for ‘Blexit’ or exit of blacks from the Democratic party has been launched,..”
Not surprising really after Hillary’s latest unpleasant comment.
Lol Kanye is into it so it must be quality – nah it’s not.
Its fake news, the same as the Clinton message.
Hint she said No twice, when asked about 2020.
meanwhile Pence turns up in Pittsburgh with a ‘fake rabbi’ to offer prayers – In the name of Jesus – I kid you not!
“As he began his prayer, it became immediately clear that the rabbi, Loren Jacobs of Congregation Shema Yisrael in suburban Detroit, would not be considered a Jew by any of the four major denominations of Judaism. In his prayer, he mentioned the “saving power” of the Lord and concluded, “In the name of Jesus, amen.”
Rabbi Jacobs believes that Jesus is the Messiah, a conviction that is theologically incompatible with Judaism.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/us/mike-pence-rabbi-jacobs.html
Doesnt sound like there will be a jewish exodus from the democrats next week.
Clintons are all now confirmed as stool pigeons for the Global elite of course. They are still funded by George Soros the convicted criminal and attend “the Bilderberg Group” secret meetings.
Thank goodness we have decent gun control in NZ.
Ha!
Kia ora The Am Show Its good that thousands of new houses built are on the market in Auckland .
Is it a coincidence that there was a housing crisis in America Britain Canada NZ Banks love houses a safe bet they can most time’s claw there money back if thing go wrong Banks caused it with there lending policy’s I see one made a cool 2 billion .
Becoming a Republic do we need more political fighting for the head of states job do we want to have politics like they have in America at the minute I think not.
Maori and Pacific people won’t go for that we have other reason to if it aint broke don’t fix it one will end up with a big mess.
There you go all shonkys m8 are making billions banks retailers a lot of business profits at least % 30 higher after 9 years of national then bill decided to kick our youth.
Ka kite ano
I believe there is a God and Heaven we are living in Heaven now its just people don’t treat Te Papatuanuku / Mother Earth like a Heavenly thing and respect her and her creatures .
Men are chasing money and destroying our planet in 3 small life times we will only have % 10 of the wild creatures left this is why Eco Maori pushes for more wahine to become world leaders as MAN IS TURNING OUR HEAVEN INTO HELL we need wahine to kick there ASSES out and back to reality.
If one keeps shitting in one own back yard you end up in the SHIT not much logic needed to work that out.
The Maori view is that we are related to all the creatures and what do you know hundreds of years later scientist prove that thought to be fact the matrix genealogy .
The Maori view on our connection with Papatuanuku and her creatures is a common view of most indigenous cultures around Papatuanuku .
The neo liberals capitalist are running this heaven into hell all for there greed of prophet over everything else in the world change COMPANY Constitutional needed to have clauses in them to put our earth and decedents well being before profit .
Its a crying shame what man is doing to the world at the minute.
Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.
The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else. Ana to kai ka kite ano link below
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/30/humanity-wiped-out-animals-since-1970-major-report-finds
Some music for my other post its cool that some are getting the big picture we need all the common people to stand up and fight with there votes if we all vote the pollies will BUCKLE and start making laws that benefit all creatures.
Man does not own the Earth we are just caretakers for the next generations wake up
History shows that, when presented with unpalatable evidence of the undesirable effects of our decisions, we either bury our collective heads in the sand, or order the problems we face in terms of their tractability. Where they are judged to be intractable, as in this instance, they are relegated for later attention. We cannot continue to delude ourselves that the transition to near-zero fossil fuel use is possible without global mandation.
The overriding message located between the lines of the IPCC report is that we must lead our lives within the planet’s means. In all conscience, we are currently locked into a process that will inevitably result in passing on a dying planet to our children and their successors. Should this not be at the absolute top of the international debating agenda? Ka kite ano
My link to the story above multi tasking Ka kite ano.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/30/climate-change-action-effective-ipcc-report-fossil-fuels
The go oil party are big cheats taking minority people right to Democracy right to vote with corrupt laws. The federally-recognized Spirit Lake Tribe filed a complaint Tuesday against North Dakota Secretary of State Alvin Jaeger that reads: “Jaeger’s implementation of the residential address requirement has imposed severe—sometimes insurmountable—burdens on the right to vote for many voters on reservations.”
Every time the secretary of state’s Alvin Jaeger is asked a question that indicates deceit on his and his office behalf he showed Eco Maori he was lying the eyes are A direct view into ones true intentions the mouth can lie but the eyes reveal those LIES .
Kia kaha wahine and fight for the right of our childrens future. link is below ka kite ano
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/31/politics/native-american-tribe-suing-north-dakota-voter-id/index.html
Mana Wahine Barba Streisand has a new Album Just released Kia kaha.
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute
Just five countries hold 70% of the world’s remaining untouched wilderness areas and urgent international action is needed to protect them, according to new research.The UQ and WCS study, published in the journal Nature, identifies Australia, the US, Brazil, Russia and Canada as the five countries that hold the vast majority of the world’s remaining wilderness. Link is below Ka kite ano.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/31/five-countries-hold-70-of-worlds-last-wildernesses-map-reveals
Kia ora Newshub The banks have been shutting down banks in rural places leaving people with banking services .I see shonky have his bull line in the herald to he made the problem and is throwing up a smokescreen he should go play golf with trump.
There you go those Saudi sisters have lost there lives it doesn’t look good for the Saudis they will never become a major place for all people to visit if they carry on treating wahine and the lower class people like dirt .
That’s cool the goverment has a new housing development plan’s for Porirua . I say the Law commission or whom ever is advocating law changes should worry more about the common poor person not getting a fair go from New Zealand laws 6 times the system has underarm bowled Eco Maori cheated me
Carbon based fuel is going to be a thing of the past the faster the better the fuel company’s should invest in green energy that’s the future or else you are pushing up hill.
No comment on the police pay I seen two following me at the supermarket with uniform I gave them a ki ora they could not even look at me I blasted the Rock radio music and drove off respectfully on Tuesday.
Ka kite ano
Ki ora James & Storm from The Crowd Goes Wild
The coach has confidences in his players who are playing Japan test team the Japan team have there Kiwi connection coaching staff .
That was a good game of T20 cricket for the Kiwis and Pakistan.
Hope the white ferns have a good run at there T20 cricket matches kia kaha ladys.
The wife loves her horrors not me comedy science and doco’s .
Josh rafting with the Aussies nice tat one should know that if they are encouraging you to sit some ware its a set up.
Money makes the soccer ball go around Qutar wining the football world cup.
Ka kite ano .
Maori TV Te Kaea I got side tracked helping my offspring .Kia kaha ka kite ano