Almost all of the extra heat that humans have captured by adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere over the last few centuries has wound up warming the deep oceans. But in the fine balance that runs between the ocean depths and the atmosphere, the effects of centuries of dissipated industrial living, we are seeing the beginnings of the the next couple of centuries of extreme weather. We’re now starting to feel the effects of that excess heat.
The Guardian has had several articles detailing the downstream effects of warming the oceans.
The temperature at the ocean’s surface – like on land – is being pushed higher by global heating but can jump around from one year to the next as weather systems come and go.
But in the 2km below the surface, that variability is almost nowhere to be seen. The rising heat down there has been on a relentless climb for decades, thanks to burning fossil fuels.
“The heat-holding capacity of the ocean is mammoth,” says Dr Paul Durack, a research scientist specialising in ocean measurements and modelling at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“The ocean captures more than 90% of the imbalance of energy that we’re creating because of anthropogenic climate change.”
The ocean is much less reflective than the land and soaks up more of the direct energy from sunlight.
But as greenhouse gases trap more of the energy that’s reflected back – allowing less to escape to space – the ocean tries to balance itself with the heat in the atmosphere above.
A technical chart in a chapter of the latest UN climate assessment laid out the unfathomable heat gain. Between 1971 and 2018, the ocean had gained 396 zettajoules of heat.
How much heat is that? Scientists have calculated it is the equivalent energy of more than 25bn Hiroshima atomic bombs. And that heat gain is accelerating.
A study in January found the ocean gained 10 ZJ more in 2022 than the year before – enough heat to boil 700m kettles every second.
Compared with the ocean, according to a study in January the atmosphere has held on to about 2% of the extra heat caused by global heating since 2006.
To understand what’s happening below the ocean surface, out of sight of satellites, scientists look at a vast network of thousands of thermometers on buoys, ships, underwater gliders and permanent moorings.
Durack says it wasn’t until the early 2000s that a view of the changes in the ocean – long-predicted by climate scientists – started to become clear as more and more data became available.
We have heated the oceans enough now that we’re getting very strong climatic shifts not merely predicted, but now thoroughly measured at the surface of the oceans and into the atmosphere. Not just the wind and rain that has been shaking my top story ridge apartment since October.
In Asia the tropics are getting quite extreme heat.
Asia is experiencing weeks of “endless record heat”, with sweltering temperatures causing school closures and surges in energy use.
Record April temperatures have been recorded at monitoring stations across Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, as well as in China and South Asia.
On Tuesday, four weather stations in Myanmar hit or matched record monthly temperatures, with Theinzayet, in eastern Mon state, reaching the highest, at 43C (109.4F). On Wednesday, Bago, north-east of Yangon, reached 42.2C, matching an all-time record previously recorded in May 2020 and April 2019, according to Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian.
“The poorest of the poor are going to [suffer] the most. Especially, it is devastating for the farming community, the people who are dependent on agriculture or fishing,” said Dr Fahad Saeed, regional lead for South Asia and the Middle East at Climate Analytics, a climate science policy institute.
“The heat is not foreign to this part of land,” he said, but added that temperatures were rising beyond the limits of people’s adaptability.
Note the emphasis on farming, agriculture and fishing. These are the underpinnings of our societies worldwide. They are extremely sensitive to weather and climatic shifts. Our food gathering technology systems worldwide are inherently dependent on having predicable weather and climatic patterns. Not something that has been noticeable in NZ this year, or in Australia over their last decade of drought and floods, or in large parts of Asia this yera.
A lot of that is directly related to shifts in the El Niño and La Niña climatic pattern in the Pacific. The recent changes since 1960 in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are now definitely attributable to the greenhouse gas emissions.
A new study led by researchers at CSIRO set out to determine the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the major climate driver, known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Up until now there had been limited understanding about the role climate change has already played on ENSO, with research primarily looking at future projections.
Lead researcher Wenju Cai said their research yielded significant results, with evidence that El Niño and La Niña events had become more frequent and intense due to increasing emissions of greenhouse gases.
“Previous research projected how El Niño and La Niña will change in the future but was unable to tell whether human-caused climate change has already affected [them],” he said.
“The current paper provides modelling evidence that climate change has already made El Niño and La Niña more frequent and more extreme.”
The swinging pendulum of ENSO plays a major part in year-to-year climate, with recent La Niña and El Niño events having played a hand in devastating flooding and drought events in Australia.
On a global scale, no other single phenomenon yields a bigger influence on whether a year will be warmer, cooler, wetter, or drier than average.
It is a climate pattern that has been operating for millions of years, according to palaeoclimatic evidence.
The CSIRO study, published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, examined extensive outputs from models without greenhouse warming, each for hundreds to over thousands-of-year time scales, to examine how unusual the last 60 years have been.
To understand the change, they then compared ENSO in the 60 years pre- and post-1960.
They found that strong El Niños increased from two events in the pre-1960 to four events in the post-1960, and strong La Niñas from one event to nine events.
Dr Cai said the observed strength was extremely unusual if climate change had not had an impact.
Even without changes to ENSO itself, Dr Cai said the impacts of El Niño and La Niña were expected to be more intense because of climate change.
“Global warming makes their impact more extreme because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, so when it rains it rains harder, and evaporation is higher making droughts more severe, their onsets earlier and harder to get out,” he said.
But Dr Cai said with the changes to the frequency and strength of ENSO the impacts were likely to be even stronger.
The recent years of overheated surface waters around NZ, probably as a result of the last 3 years in a La Niña pattern tend to drive home just how extreme this is likely to be – even here. New Zealand is an island nation, well separated and ocean buffered from any disturbing continental land mass. But the ocean heatwaves around us have been devastating to our marine ecosystems, and to the large fishing and aquaculture industries.
New figures provided to the Guardian by scientists studying ocean temperature shifts show that on average, over the year to April 2023, New Zealand’s coastal waters sat stewing in marine heatwave conditions for 208 days. Some southern regions experienced marine heatwave conditions for more than 270 days during the period. In the north island’s Bay of Plenty, the waters remained in heatwave for an entire year.
With little respite for species to recover between the waves of heat, scientists warn that some ecosystems are reaching tipping points under the surface, with effects that will be felt years into the future. No one yet knows what it will mean for the fish, seabirds, whales, dolphins, and New Zealand’s multi-billion dollar fishing industry.
As scientists and communities begin to reckon with the impact, the conditions hitting Aotearoa provide a preview of the future of the world’s oceans under climate change: waters around the world are projected to rise by about 4C on average by 2100, if the world maintains its course on global heating. Heatwaves around New Zealand are already seeing spikes that high, giving a glimpse of what it can do to species under the surface.
Some of the examples provided are pretty gruesome, with massive wash ups of dead fish, starving penguins, sea sponges bleaching in Fiordland as their algae cooks off, plus fish species and whales disappearing to more benign ocean climates. But it also affects our economy.
The changes in the ocean are so stark they have been noticed outside scientific circles.
In the hills above Blenheim, between the wineries and pine plantations, trucks rumbled through January along the narrow road. They would make the journey 160 times over, through the hot summer months, winding from the coast to the hill and back again. Their cargo was tonnes upon tonnes of fish: king or “chinook” salmon, the most expensive variety of the salmon family, prized enough that a single large fish can sell for up to $1,700.
Usually, it would be sliced into sashimi, or smoked and laid atop hors d’oeuvres. Instead, it lay rotting in the truckbeds, more than 1,300 tonnes of it, carried to be dumped in a pit in the hills.
In Marlborough’s fish farms last year, the fish had died in their thousands, unable to survive the rising temperatures around them. In warmer areas, about 42% of total fish stock died. The country’s largest salmon producer, NZ King Salmon, announced it would have to shut down some of its farms as the climate heated waters around the sounds.
“When I joined this company, I never heard of the term ‘marine heatwave’,” said CEO Grant Rosewarne, as the company reckoned with the losses. “Recently, there’s been three of them.
“We thought we had more time,” he said. “Climate change is a slow process. But faster than many people think.”
New Zealand’s seafood industry plays a key role in the economy, contributing around $2bn in export earnings and employing more than 13,000 people. As sea temperatures warm, they are wreaking havoc with some of the most profitable sections of that industry.
“There’s been definitely changes with marine fisheries – with a lot more warmer water fish being caught further south,” Langlands says. “I really do feel fear. And feel for the price of seafood in New Zealand.”
That stored ocean heat isn’t just going to affect the ocean. What happens in the oceans directly affects what happens on land and especially in New Zealand. Farmers and urbanites can expect to feel the effects in the short-term over the next decade or so.
This has been easy to observe in the tail end of our last few years of a strong La Niña and its associated devastation in the upper North Island down to Hawke’s Bay, East Cape and Poverty Bay. It included my car getting written off after traversing the St Georges Bay Road River in downtown Auckland. That was rather surreal as the storm water system started blowing its access lids and the rapidly rising waters.
As well as drowning cities, towns, and farmlands, it also demonstrated that our infrastructure was built for a different era – that of the climate we used to have. This plaintive article in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle flooding in February was pointing to the once in 250 year flood in Napier in 2020.
It was meant to be a one-in-250-year deluge but the last big floods in Napier, and the recommendations that followed, were a little more than two years ago.
“In the context of climate change, events such as the November flood may become more common, and Napier should expect and prepare for extreme weather events in the future with changing weather patterns meaning extreme weather events will return on a shorter cycle than they once did,” a Napier City Council 2021 report said.
Nobody died in the November 2020 floods but a report to the council a year later shows it resulted in 173 evacuees, 115 homes deemed uninhabitable, and 2680 homes losing power.
The rainfall was a one-in-250-year event, the report said, but warned “events of this nature, and subsequent flooding, may occur more often”. Other reports downgraded it to once in a century.
Fast-forward 827 days to Valentine’s Day, February 2023 and Cyclone Gabrielle delivered what Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said was “the most severe weather event this century”, submerging a Hawke’s Bay power station, flooding homes to their roofs, killing at least seven in Hawke’s Bay, and creating thousands of evacuees and many unaccounted for.
Multiply that by every city, town, and farmland region in NZ. Look at all of the roads, rail, water systems, power and telecoms and buildings that were and often still are being built for the climate of the last more benign century. Like Napier, instead of all of that infrastructure being tested by weather to see if it fit for purpose every few centuries, now with a changing climate it is likely to be tested within a decade.
This makes it easier to understand why this years infrastructure budget (and the budgets over the last 5 years) have been so enormous. We’re not only having to catch up for the later 50 odd years of laggard investment in infrastructure, mostly by the conservative governments and councils, we’re having to build for ever-more likely devastating weather events.
National and Act of course are vaguely hand-waving that they may have policies to deal with this. None of which appear to have any more substance or detail than simpleton slogans. The reality is that they are both solidly stuck in ideologies of the 20th century – because they’re conservative, obsessed by making sure that the wealthy aren’t taxed, inefficiently chasing the poor with punitive and inefficient policies guided more by slogans than intelligence, and generally pretty damn stupid about dealing with any kind of change. You’d think that they never left the last century when you listen to them.
Quite unlike the budget yesterday. Like the 3 Waters programme, it probably isn’t enough. But at least it is a step in the right kind of direction to deal with the already existing build up of heat in the oceans.
Don’t forget that El Niño is currently slated to become dominant and active in 2023/2024. Based on what has happened in recent El Niño events it will arrive early, bigger and more destructive than expected, and cause more but different events than La Niña. Instead of just heat, wind and rain we get more atmospheric cooling from the south (quite different effects than most of the world). It will probably take a year or two to really hit here. But it is likely to be much more extreme that previous events.
A big part of the government’s recovery and resilience thrust is its focus on infrastructure.
Robertson said: “The government has taken significant steps to address New Zealand’s infrastructure deficit. We have committed $71 billion of infrastructure investment over the next five years in addition to the $45 billion we have spent on infrastructure in the past five years. This is the funding that builds our schools, hospitals, public housing, [and] rail and road networks.
“In the last term of government we set up the Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga, which developed the New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy, identifying the challenges New Zealand is facing over the next 30 years. We know we need to change how we think about infrastructure planning and resourcing.
“Alongside this Budget, we have released our Infrastructure Action Plan, which supports our response to the strategy and which is crucial to continuing to deliver the infrastructure transformation required while providing certainty to the construction sector.”
The Minister pointed to the need to future-proof the infrastructure in New Zealand for the country’s growing and changing population, climate change events, and to make use of the available developing technology.
“The North Island weather events added a level of urgency to our infrastructure investment planning and highlighted the importance of resilience in the face of climate change and increasing extreme weather events,” Robertson said.
“Today I am announcing a major change in how we address our infrastructure deficit and build a more resilient nation. Through Budget 2023 we are investing $6 billion in the initial phase of a National Resilience Plan. This will support medium- and long-term infrastructure investment and focus in the first instance on building back better from the recent weather events.”
According to the Minister, the initial focus of investments will likely be on road, rail, and local resilience. Additionally, telecommunications and electricity transmission investment is high on the agenda as well.
Robertson said: “As indicated at Budget 2022, the change to the fiscal rules means we can use our balance sheet more effectively to support long-term productive investments such as this programme.
“For too long governments have kicked the can down the road when it comes to investing in resilient and essential infrastructure investment. Today we embark on the long-term nation-building that I believe a responsible government must do.”
Outside this morning, I hear the Auckland Central fire-engines, police, and probably ambulances sirens going their way past, as they were doing through the evening and this morning. Presumably dealing with the consequences of last nights weather…. It was certainly shaking my apartment when I was writing the start of this post last night
BTW: Please keep the dystopian fantasies down to a dullards quiet roar. I've been hearing them for nearly 50 years. As long-term science fiction addict and historian geek, I almost certainly know the scenarios better than most.
This is a post about a upcoming and steadily increasing problem with a little bit about measures that will need to be taken for living with the heat already stored in the oceans. Regardless of future attempts to curb future emissions, the already stored heat will keep coming out of the oceans and affecting our climate and weather for next few centuries. Rapidly building up over the next two decades.
The problem is that we don't exactly have a resilient infrastructure in this country to cope with that. Most of the politics from the right to deal with this as an issue can only be described as chicken-shit and rather stupid. Certainly none that I have heard so far have the vaguest idea about the science or the economics of dealing with this kind of issue. Essentially incompetent to run a government to deal with our responde.
You only have to listen to Seymour or Luxon for a few minutes to realise that they have absolutely no frigging ideas. Both sound like old mean wanting the world to change back to something that they vaguely remember as being a better world for them.
Certainly neither seem to have a clue about how to deal with changing world. Nor do their fawning acolytes.
Labour has been making a start and looks to be continuing that process.
"But air passenger travel is ramping up, anticipating a surge in demand. That translates to thousands more aircraft and new pilots. Boeing estimates that the world will need more than 600,000 new pilots between 2022 and 2041, and the biggest requirement is in Asia. Pilot training is a huge new growth industry, it seems. Aircraft manufacturers are salivating."
the other is acidification of the world's oceans by carbon dioxide absorption
Sure and your point is ????????
FFS my first degree was in Earth Sciences. It isn't exactly rocket science to understand how weak carbonic acid forms.
You really just need to get a sense of scale.
At various times over the last half billion years on Earth, we've had much higher CO2, methane, and other greenhouse gases. Far far higher high ocean heat due to greenhouse gases and much more acidic oceans.
Earths living organism genotypes and ecosystems are perfectly capable of moving into vacant habitats and doing it at a rapid pace. Think of what happened during an after every glacial/interglacial within the recent history since Antarctica started form its deep freeze icecap about 35-40 mya. Colonisation happens within decades. Evolution to ecological niches happens within very very short (for a earth scientist) periods
The present atmospheric concentration of CO2 is the highest for 14 million years.[15] Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere were as high as 4,000 ppm during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago, and as low as 180 ppm during the Quaternary glaciation of the last two million years.[4] Reconstructed temperature records for the last 420 million years indicate that atmospheric CO2 concentrations peaked at approximately 2,000 ppm during the Devonian (400 Ma) period, and again in the Triassic (220–200 Ma) period and was four times current levels during the Jurassic period (201–145 Ma).[16][17]
My point is that I'm not concerned that Earth's biosphere will survive. Or even the small minority of it lives in the oceans and on land surfaces (the ancestral forms in the lithosphere far outweigh the rest). I can't think of anything that humans are capable of, or possibly capable of doing in the very near term that could kill off Earth. There simply isn't enough fossil carbon geologically sequestered to do that.
I'm concerned that our societies and maybe our species survives in something like its current form. Especially if it is relatively easy to do. The decarbonising of the economies is happening at a very rapid pace. It means that we may be able to prevent taking the CO2 ppm up over 600 over the rest of the century. 450 is a pipedream. 500ppm may be possible.
But we're at about 412 now. So some adaption is going to be required both by us and the species who share this world.
So species are already having to adapt back into other and often older forms latent in their genotype. Shellfish start dropping their shells or start using different compositions. Warm loving algae will eventually colonise vacated reefs. FFS we still have algae strains around from both the Cambrian and the peak Quarternary glaciations for the really hot and acidic and freezing cold.
You don't have to look far to see this happening. After all we are the weird bald species that sweats to maintain heat dissipation. A absolute rarity in the animal kingdom.
As I commented at the top. When it comes to dystopian speculation I don't need much assistance. I could run through dystopian scenarios that you'd be unlikely to even be aware of as possibilities.
My point is that acidification of the oceans means a whole lot of marine organisms, particularly shellfish will probably die out because they won't be able to form shells. That is less food for the higher predators and they will die out in turn.
You can spout out all the science you like to try and impress people but the simple facts that everyone can understand are there: species die out leads to other species dying out.
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is part of a global thermohaline circulation in the oceans and is the zonally integrated component of surface and deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean. It is characterized by a northward flow of warm, salty water in the upper layers of the Atlantic, and a southward flow of colder, deep waters. These "limbs" are linked by regions of overturning in the Nordic and Labrador Seas and the Southern Ocean, although the extent of overturning in the Labrador Sea is disputed.[1][2] The AMOC is an important component of the Earth's climate system, and is a result of both atmospheric and thermohaline drivers.
Climate change has the potential to weaken the AMOC through increases in ocean heat content and elevated freshwater flows from the melting ice sheets.
For what it's worth in 1983 I spent 10 weeks on HMNZS Tui with an oceanographic team plotting out parts of the Southern Ocean segment of this astonishing current. Not a lot was known about it then, and still most people have no idea just how much energy it shifts around the planet.
I look back with nothing but gratitude and respect for all the really interesting people I have been privileged to either meet or work with along the way.
All that is happening here is that I'm a little more willing to be open about my life than most contributors here – because if there is one thing I have learned is almost everyone has an interesting life and something they can teach you. They just fail to see it that way.
I'm no scientist but I love to fish and can clearly see the effect of the rising sea temperatures in my area.
The marlin fishing season is extended by almost 3 months as temperatures stay above 18 degrees longer and we are now regularly catching the beautiful mahimahi- a sub tropical species.
Kingfish are prolific and are breeding on a shallow reef 3 to 4 metres deep which can be reached in 5 minutes by kayak.
I'm enjoying it at the moment but realise it will probably end badly if the oceans continue to warm
We have been getting kingfish down here in coastal Otago occasionally, due to the marine heatwaves. Nice fish to eat sure, but it will end badly. It's not "probably" and "if"
Fish have central nervous systems very similar to humans..
So if you can imagine going about your business..and suddenly a hook in the mouth.. protruding out of your cheek..then being dragged into the water to drown…to be hauled into a vessel..and either left to die.. drowning in oxygen…or to be bashed on the skull..
These are the cruel realities of fishing/eating fish…
Plus fishers…both commercial and recreational..are committing the environmental crime…of fishing species to extinction..
My fishing was done in the bay of islands…when I was a boy…and the ocean then was teeming with fish..
It ain't teeming no more..
This is what fishers/those who eat them…are doing..
And really… it is the only argument you can muster against what I am talking about/living…eh..?
(Tho' I must say… Kathryn ryan interviewed a scientist who works in the field of animal communication…and she had some amazing stories to tell..
And her grand finale was playing a recording of plants communicating with each other…not screaming…but mind-blowing all the same…it sounded like electrical impulses..with a hint of firing up old school landline modem..
So your screaming carrot argument may have some heft..after all
If that is the case my argument will come down to causing least damage/suffering..
But as far as dedicated carnivores are concerned…that other death knell of our export-driven animal exploitation industries..the lab-grown meat…will soon see them sorted..
Looks like the oceans are the main drivers of weather patterns and we are in a downward spiral that will be hard to arrest.
Recent news items showed forest fires in Alberta forcing thousands to evacuate, while northern Italy has suffered extensive flooding (this after months of drought).
Yet international air travel is reported to be at 84.90% of Feb 2019 levels. Go figure.
Yet international air travel is reported to be at 84.90% of Feb 2019 levels. Go figure.
Many people are now aware (on some level) that we're in a "Last Chance to See" spiral – but there's still time (just) to tick off bucket list items, and bolster BAU into the bargain.
GLOBAL TOTAL SEATS (DOMESTIC + INTERNATIONAL)
The air travel data is plotted by week from the beginning of 2019 to w/c 15th May 2023.
The total number of seats in the market is now 3.1% below where it was in the same week in 2019, and 18% above where it was this time last year. https://www.oag.com/coronavirus-airline-schedules-data
yeah but we all got jetskis, chainsaws, hardly davisons, angle grinders, trips to outer mongolia and makoo peekoo and you name it to distract us from the basically aimless infantile consumerist existence we have created
If you were thinking about voting for act or anyone else who has their heads in the clouds on this issue.
Please go back and re-read this post.
We have no choice, we actually have to be decisive leadership now, and whilst you may not like labour (me either) – they do not have their heads up their asses on this. And are offering leadership, albeit a bit slow.
My only issue with you post lprent and it's minor, is that any exploitation of any new gas and coal needs to be stopped – to quote brother Malcolm X – by any means necessary.
If someone is considering voting ACT, then your advice is good. If someone is considering voting Labour, then the advice needs to be to vote Green. It's the Greens who have been leading on this for a very long time, and it's long past time for NZ to empower them. Labour will still form government, but having 15 – 20 Green MPs in government with them would be a game changer on climate and transition.
Unfortunately looking to Wellington and the wee parade of political options isn't where the solution lies. While touting infrastructure budgets and paying lip service to mitigation, they are still chasing trade deals that keep the global merry-go-round going round.
Sure, there are a few things that must be imported. However, there is no need, as an example, for American or Belgian potato products on our supermarket shelves.
You and I need to make the changes that matter. Transition Towns are a good example of building resilience and moving to a low carbon lifestyle.
Thank you Lprent, I read this over and over with huge sadness. So much damage done by our species. I agree that our choice of who we vote for has never been more stark.
Local and personal resilience could slow things, but we have already made recovery difficult and dangerous. Our behaviour over water shows the problems ahead.
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The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
New Zealanders have been asked to conserve energy this morning to combat a possible electricity shortfall, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A call to conserve power New Zealand is facing a possible electricity shortfall, with people up ...
Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
Wellington City Council should keep its 34% ownership share in Wellington International Airport, argue Unions Wellington spokespeople Finn Cordwell and Ashok Jacob. Insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wellington City Council (WCC) is yet again proposing to dispose ...
New Zealand’s largest book publisher has undergone drastic changes this week, leaving its future role in local publishing uncertain. Two of the most recognisable local publishers in New Zealand are among those restructured out of Penguin Random House, it was announced this week. Head of publishing Claire Murdoch will leave ...
In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund launched the Te Rito Journalism project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decades-long shortage of Māori and Pacific journalists in the media industry. It was billed as New Zealand’s ...
The Black Ferns Sevens appeared to be a mile behind Australia at the halfway point of the 2023-24 SVNS international circuit. Winless in three tournaments, a cup quarter-final exit in Perth was one of their worst results. To add insult to injury, talismanic skipper Sarah Hirini had been ruled out ...
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Successive governments have tried, and failed, to count Māori. But with the return of social investment, it’s more important than ever to get good data. The post Government looks for a better way to count Māori appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Experts in financing social investment initiatives say New Zealand is in a prime position to tackle social issues via a social investment approach The post What will Willis’ social investment fund look like? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Our heat battery in the oceans 
Back in February 2023, I made the cardinal mistake of getting my hopes up. Warner Brothers declared that fresh Middle-earth movies were in the works: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/02/24/it-never-rains-but-it-pours-warner-brothers-and-impending-tolkien-adaptations/ My assumption, based on which rights were available, and what had already been done, was that this was a stab at either the Angmar ...12 hours ago
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...13 hours ago
Buzz from the Beehive Reporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...15 hours ago
Late last week The Treasury released a new 40 page report on “The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections” (productivity forecasts and projections that is, rather than any possible fiscal implications – the latter will, I guess, be articulated in the Budget documents). In short, if (as it has) ...17 hours ago
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...19 hours ago
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...21 hours ago
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Open access notables A Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future: Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...1 day ago
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Fakes can come in many forms.A Rolex, for instance.A tan can be fake. Read more ...2 days ago
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...2 days ago
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...2 days ago
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...2 days ago
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...3 days ago
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Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...4 days ago
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TL;DR: Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...5 days ago
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TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...5 days ago
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Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...17 hours ago
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BTW: Please keep the dystopian fantasies down to a dullards quiet roar. I've been hearing them for nearly 50 years. As long-term science fiction addict and historian geek, I almost certainly know the scenarios better than most.
This is a post about a upcoming and steadily increasing problem with a little bit about measures that will need to be taken for living with the heat already stored in the oceans. Regardless of future attempts to curb future emissions, the already stored heat will keep coming out of the oceans and affecting our climate and weather for next few centuries. Rapidly building up over the next two decades.
The problem is that we don't exactly have a resilient infrastructure in this country to cope with that. Most of the politics from the right to deal with this as an issue can only be described as chicken-shit and rather stupid. Certainly none that I have heard so far have the vaguest idea about the science or the economics of dealing with this kind of issue. Essentially incompetent to run a government to deal with our responde.
You only have to listen to Seymour or Luxon for a few minutes to realise that they have absolutely no frigging ideas. Both sound like old mean wanting the world to change back to something that they vaguely remember as being a better world for them.
Certainly neither seem to have a clue about how to deal with changing world. Nor do their fawning acolytes.
Labour has been making a start and looks to be continuing that process.
well, fuck.
Excellent post Lynn.
Brilliant summation. I wonder of our main stream media channels will pick it up and run with it. Well, it costs nothing to dream.
Meanwhile…
"But air passenger travel is ramping up, anticipating a surge in demand. That translates to thousands more aircraft and new pilots. Boeing estimates that the world will need more than 600,000 new pilots between 2022 and 2041, and the biggest requirement is in Asia. Pilot training is a huge new growth industry, it seems. Aircraft manufacturers are salivating."
https://www.interest.co.nz/business/121293/us-data-better-except-house-sales-australian-jobless-rate-rises-freight-rates-ease
The line must go up!
Just ask any airline CEO (or ex-airline CEO).
na its the cows i tell ya
lol….so some say
The heat problem in the oceans is not the only problem, the other is acidification of the world's oceans by carbon dioxide absorption.
Sure and your point is ????????
FFS my first degree was in Earth Sciences. It isn't exactly rocket science to understand how weak carbonic acid forms.
You really just need to get a sense of scale.
At various times over the last half billion years on Earth, we've had much higher CO2, methane, and other greenhouse gases. Far far higher high ocean heat due to greenhouse gases and much more acidic oceans.
Earths living organism genotypes and ecosystems are perfectly capable of moving into vacant habitats and doing it at a rapid pace. Think of what happened during an after every glacial/interglacial within the recent history since Antarctica started form its deep freeze icecap about 35-40 mya. Colonisation happens within decades. Evolution to ecological niches happens within very very short (for a earth scientist) periods
FYI: Wikipedia
My point is that I'm not concerned that Earth's biosphere will survive. Or even the small minority of it lives in the oceans and on land surfaces (the ancestral forms in the lithosphere far outweigh the rest). I can't think of anything that humans are capable of, or possibly capable of doing in the very near term that could kill off Earth. There simply isn't enough fossil carbon geologically sequestered to do that.
I'm concerned that our societies and maybe our species survives in something like its current form. Especially if it is relatively easy to do. The decarbonising of the economies is happening at a very rapid pace. It means that we may be able to prevent taking the CO2 ppm up over 600 over the rest of the century. 450 is a pipedream. 500ppm may be possible.
But we're at about 412 now. So some adaption is going to be required both by us and the species who share this world.
So species are already having to adapt back into other and often older forms latent in their genotype. Shellfish start dropping their shells or start using different compositions. Warm loving algae will eventually colonise vacated reefs. FFS we still have algae strains around from both the Cambrian and the peak Quarternary glaciations for the really hot and acidic and freezing cold.
You don't have to look far to see this happening. After all we are the weird bald species that sweats to maintain heat dissipation. A absolute rarity in the animal kingdom.
As I commented at the top. When it comes to dystopian speculation I don't need much assistance. I could run through dystopian scenarios that you'd be unlikely to even be aware of as possibilities.
/sarc
My point is that acidification of the oceans means a whole lot of marine organisms, particularly shellfish will probably die out because they won't be able to form shells. That is less food for the higher predators and they will die out in turn.
You can spout out all the science you like to try and impress people but the simple facts that everyone can understand are there: species die out leads to other species dying out.
Sure, but eventually other species come along and fill the ecological niche(s).
I can't recall the book I read, which looked at the effect on the oceanic pump system that regularly recalibrated, but there's a good precis here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturning_circulation
For what it's worth in 1983 I spent 10 weeks on HMNZS Tui with an oceanographic team plotting out parts of the Southern Ocean segment of this astonishing current. Not a lot was known about it then, and still most people have no idea just how much energy it shifts around the planet.
You appear to have led a very interesting life, RedLogix.
I look back with nothing but gratitude and respect for all the really interesting people I have been privileged to either meet or work with along the way.
All that is happening here is that I'm a little more willing to be open about my life than most contributors here – because if there is one thing I have learned is almost everyone has an interesting life and something they can teach you. They just fail to see it that way.
I'm no scientist but I love to fish and can clearly see the effect of the rising sea temperatures in my area.
The marlin fishing season is extended by almost 3 months as temperatures stay above 18 degrees longer and we are now regularly catching the beautiful mahimahi- a sub tropical species.
Kingfish are prolific and are breeding on a shallow reef 3 to 4 metres deep which can be reached in 5 minutes by kayak.
I'm enjoying it at the moment but realise it will probably end badly if the oceans continue to warm
We have been getting kingfish down here in coastal Otago occasionally, due to the marine heatwaves. Nice fish to eat sure, but it will end badly. It's not "probably" and "if"
Fish have central nervous systems very similar to humans..
So if you can imagine going about your business..and suddenly a hook in the mouth.. protruding out of your cheek..then being dragged into the water to drown…to be hauled into a vessel..and either left to die.. drowning in oxygen…or to be bashed on the skull..
These are the cruel realities of fishing/eating fish…
Plus fishers…both commercial and recreational..are committing the environmental crime…of fishing species to extinction..
My fishing was done in the bay of islands…when I was a boy…and the ocean then was teeming with fish..
It ain't teeming no more..
This is what fishers/those who eat them…are doing..
Think on..!…eh..?
Philip I realise meat is off the menu but if carrots scream when cut and fish are gone then what shall we eat?
Aah..!…the screaming vegetable argument..
The last/only resort of the defensive carnivore…
And really… it is the only argument you can muster against what I am talking about/living…eh..?
(Tho' I must say… Kathryn ryan interviewed a scientist who works in the field of animal communication…and she had some amazing stories to tell..
And her grand finale was playing a recording of plants communicating with each other…not screaming…but mind-blowing all the same…it sounded like electrical impulses..with a hint of firing up old school landline modem..
So your screaming carrot argument may have some heft..after all
If that is the case my argument will come down to causing least damage/suffering..
But as far as dedicated carnivores are concerned…that other death knell of our export-driven animal exploitation industries..the lab-grown meat…will soon see them sorted..
Animal flesh with no animal suffering..
What's not to love about that…?
Looks like the oceans are the main drivers of weather patterns and we are in a downward spiral that will be hard to arrest.
Recent news items showed forest fires in Alberta forcing thousands to evacuate, while northern Italy has suffered extensive flooding (this after months of drought).
Yet international air travel is reported to be at 84.90% of Feb 2019 levels. Go figure.
Many people are now aware (on some level) that we're in a "Last Chance to See" spiral – but there's still time (just) to tick off bucket list items, and bolster BAU into the bargain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Allwood
yeah but we all got jetskis, chainsaws, hardly davisons, angle grinders, trips to outer mongolia and makoo peekoo and you name it to distract us from the basically aimless infantile consumerist existence we have created
If you were thinking about voting for act or anyone else who has their heads in the clouds on this issue.
Please go back and re-read this post.
We have no choice, we actually have to be decisive leadership now, and whilst you may not like labour (me either) – they do not have their heads up their asses on this. And are offering leadership, albeit a bit slow.
My only issue with you post lprent and it's minor, is that any exploitation of any new gas and coal needs to be stopped – to quote brother Malcolm X – by any means necessary.
If someone is considering voting ACT, then your advice is good. If someone is considering voting Labour, then the advice needs to be to vote Green. It's the Greens who have been leading on this for a very long time, and it's long past time for NZ to empower them. Labour will still form government, but having 15 – 20 Green MPs in government with them would be a game changer on climate and transition.
Very sobering.There is a lot to digest.
Unfortunately looking to Wellington and the wee parade of political options isn't where the solution lies. While touting infrastructure budgets and paying lip service to mitigation, they are still chasing trade deals that keep the global merry-go-round going round.
Sure, there are a few things that must be imported. However, there is no need, as an example, for American or Belgian potato products on our supermarket shelves.
You and I need to make the changes that matter. Transition Towns are a good example of building resilience and moving to a low carbon lifestyle.
The solutions are local.
Thank you Lprent, I read this over and over with huge sadness. So much damage done by our species. I agree that our choice of who we vote for has never been more stark.
Local and personal resilience could slow things, but we have already made recovery difficult and dangerous. Our behaviour over water shows the problems ahead.