Posts Tagged ‘climate change’
Only greed can save us
Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, December 3rd, 2010 - 63 comments
Cancun: No will to save ourselves
Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, November 27th, 2010 - 53 comments
On Monday the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference begins in Cancun, Mexico. This is the successor to last year’s spectacularly failed Copenhagen Summit. Nothing useful will be accomplished there. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that we lack the will to save ourselves.
As Nero Fiddles…
Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, November 13th, 2010 - 74 comments
Climate change and a shoals of dirty little red herrings would seem to go together like salt and pepper or cheese and pickle.
Science fights back
Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, May 12th, 2010 - 18 comments
A recent open letter from 255 members of the US National Academy of Sciences (including 11 Nobel laureates) calls for “an end to McCarthy-like threats of criminal prosecution against our colleagues …, the harassment of scientists by politicians seeking distractions to avoid taking action, and the outright lies being spread about them”.
Time for a Just Transition?
Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, December 30th, 2009 - 15 comments
With so much attention on climate change, and such a lack of concern, urgency and commitment to action from the current Tory government you would think it would be something labour would be working hard on, and be busy drafting detailed policy and vocally demanding action be taken. The Copenhagen climate summit was a cop […]
A plague on both your houses
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, November 24th, 2009 - 35 comments
So, as far as National and Maori leaders are concerned, it’s a done deal: “Maori Party to support ETS – bill to become law in days”. Unless (as suggested by Eddie) some Maori Party MPs remember their principles and vote against it, National’s ETS will be forced through parliament under urgency. NRT weighs in with […]
Corporate welfare
Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, September 18th, 2009 - 15 comments
I’ve got no problem with the government helping out those who are genuinely in need but forcing the taxpayer fork out $400 million (or is it 1.6b?) to subsidise corporate polluters is a disgrace. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2864572/Public-to-pay-tab-for-polluters This is corporate welfare at it’s worst. These businesses are simply bludging off the taxpayer. While you’re doing your bit […]
Flood Maps
Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, September 7th, 2009 - 62 comments
Marty G’s last post just reminded me of this – visualise who goes under as the oceans rise with Flood Maps. And yeah, before you start, 14m is a big big rise. Just let it serve as a warning to all you Aucklanders to swap out those incandescent bulbs.
What’s a Poor Pragmatic Key to do?
Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, March 29th, 2009 - Comments Off on What’s a Poor Pragmatic Key to do?
Just when the Kiwi corporate kleptocracy was kicking into high gear to ensure that the taxpayer is properly stuck with the paying the whole of New Zealand’s Kyoto carbon bill according to the time honoured ‘privatise the profit, socialize the loss’ principle, the Labour /Green Opposition may well crank up the thermostat on the Govt […]
Key lacks leadership on climate change
Written By: - Date published: 5:02 pm, May 19th, 2008 - 26 comments
National has pulled its support for the emissions trading scheme which is intended to set limits on the emission of greenhouse gases and penalise polluters. This is the latest in a long line of Key’s shifting positions on climate change. First climate change was a “complete and utter hoax”. Then as the environmental mood gained momentum […]
Transport’s inclusion in ETS delayed
Written By: - Date published: 11:04 am, May 6th, 2008 - 19 comments
The Government has delayed the inclusion of transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme from 2009 to 2011. On the surface, that seems to be a back down or a reduction in the Government’s commitment to tackling climate change but then you have to ask yourself what is the point of the Emissions Trading Scheme? As […]
Rodney Hide answers your questions
Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, April 28th, 2008 - 27 comments
We’re very pleased to have ACT leader Rodney Hide respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? Making the IRD legally and culturally more accountable and responsive and getting my Regulatory Responsibility Bill to the Commerce Committee and, I […]
Flat-Earthers heart climate change deniers
Written By: - Date published: 3:19 pm, April 23rd, 2008 - 4 comments
The Climate Science Coalition is the last of a dying breed; a rabid, climate change denying lobby group. Of late, they have been performing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to slow the introduction of a carbon trading scheme. And, now, it looks like they’ve received some heavy-weight support in the form of the venerable Flat Earth Society:
Interview the leaders V: Maori Party
Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, April 21st, 2008 - 41 comments
Even amateur, part-time bloggers sometimes make mistakes, and last week we didn’t send Clark her questions until Wednesday, rather than Monday, due to a miscommunication between ourselves. So, we extended her deadline to this Wednesday. We’ll post her replies when we get them. In the meantime, here are the questions to ACT’s Rodney Hide that […]
Lockwood: unsurprisingly relaxed about global warming
Written By: - Date published: 4:59 pm, April 3rd, 2008 - 28 comments
National retreads deny climate change
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, April 2nd, 2008 - 36 comments
Lockwood Smith gave us student debt. Maurice Williamson gave us traffic jams. Now they want to give us global warming. Just days after Al Gore launched his $300m worldwide climate change campaign National retreads Maurice Williamson and Lockwood Smith are refusing to answer questions about whether or not they even believe climate change is happening. […]
Al Gore’s new climate change campaign
Written By: - Date published: 11:44 am, April 1st, 2008 - 2 comments
Al Gore has just launched a $300 million, bipartisan campaign to try to push climate change higher on the nation’s political agenda. The website is www.wecansolveit.org – you can see the debut ad, “Anthem,” here. The campaign plans to bring together “unlikely bedfellows” of differing political stripes and use shows like American Idol to promote […]
What would Jesus drive?
Written By: - Date published: 2:25 pm, March 26th, 2008 - 10 comments
The Vatican’s update of sins to include issues of social justice and environment reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a friend from the US. She was telling me that one of the “surprise” groups to come out in support of tougher environmental regulation over there were a number of the large evangelical […]
Calling coal to account
Written By: - Date published: 11:17 am, March 26th, 2008 - 18 comments
New Zealand’s coal industry is a mess of contradictions. We worry about carbon emissions and Kyoto while State-owned Solid Energy exports coal to dirty Chinese factories. Rather than being energy-efficiently shipped out of Greymouth, coal from the West Coast is taken by rail over the Southern Alps because taxpayer-subsidised Toll gives SOE Solid Energy and Pike River a cut-price deal to haul […]
Birds of a feather…
Written By: - Date published: 3:45 pm, March 14th, 2008 - 28 comments
Frogblog covers Muriel Newman’s column in the Dom yesterday: “Climate change, we didn’t do it” [whew! back to my environmentally pollutive and destructive ways then]. Muriel’s source for this assertion is the recent (and delightfully innocuously named) International Conference on Climate Change. The purpose of the conference is to promote doubt over the increasing scientific […]
Most Aussies support Kyoto protocol
Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, March 11th, 2008 - 26 comments
The ABC reports: “Today Australia becomes an official member of the Kyoto club after the initial ratification documents were lodged with the United Nations 90 days ago. And a new poll has found that 64 per cent of Australians support Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s act to ratify the Kyoto protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions. […]
John Doerr on “Greentech”
Written By: - Date published: 2:37 pm, December 17th, 2007 - 21 comments
Another video from TED: “I don’t think we’re going to make it,” John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers embarked on a greentech world […]
NZ leads the world on climate change in Bali
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, December 14th, 2007 - 28 comments
Here’s a clip that aired last night on TV3. It shows NZ leading the world in our response to climate change in Bali. To quote the reporter, New Zealand is “…putting words into action… [announcing] ambitious plans to go carbon neutral”. National on the other hand has no credibility on climate change. They don’t have […]
Bush absent at Bali conference
Written By: - Date published: 5:21 pm, December 12th, 2007 - 4 comments
Al Gore has just accepted his Nobel Peace Prize for advocacy for action on climate change. In his speech he’s lauded Kevin Rudd’s immediate commitment to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change – he did it only days after assuming office. The move to ratify leaves the United States as the only developed nation […]
Xmas trees & when all that glitters
Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, December 11th, 2007 - 11 comments
It was once a matter of personal preference. Now it’s part of the sustainability story. Do you prefer the uniform shape, colour, ease of the plastic fantastic, or was the distinctive aroma of pine sap and rustle of pine needles a defining characteristic of your Xmas experience? Well now there’s the ethical question to add […]
Greencabs – Toyota Prius taxi fleet
Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, December 11th, 2007 - 7 comments
There’s a new taxi fleet servicing Wellington and (in three days time) Auckland. The vehicles are all Toyota Prius hybrids and the company, Greencabs, also offsets the residual emissions making it, they claim, the country’s first carbon neutral taxi company. They tell me they’re also the cheapest in town – presumably because the fuel consumption […]
Do your part for sustainability
Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, December 7th, 2007 - 15 comments
The PM has launched a new website, sustainability.govt.nz challenging citizens to commit to doing one thing to help contribute to a “sustainable nation”.
Australia ends 10-year Kyoto exile
Written By: - Date published: 2:46 pm, December 6th, 2007 - 15 comments
From the Guardian: “Australia yesterday joined the fold of rich countries committed to tackling climate change by signing the Kyoto agreement to limit CO2 emissions, at once distancing itself from the US and ending a 10-year diplomatic exile on the issue.” So where does that leave the US? And as for Mr Key, he’s struggled […]
PopSci award winner: printed solar cells
Written By: - Date published: 2:54 pm, December 5th, 2007 - 5 comments
Popular Science has recently announced its “Grand Award Winner” in the “Green” category: PowerSheet solar cells. ‘Imagine a solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint, that takes light and converts it to electricity… “You’re talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, […]
Google invests in renewable energy research
Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, November 29th, 2007 - 12 comments
From the NYT: Google, the Internet company with a seemingly limitless source of revenue, plans to get into the business of finding limitless sources of energy… Google said it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars, part of that to hire engineers and energy experts to investigate alternative energies like solar, geothermal and wind power. […]
Pascal’s Wager on climate change
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, November 20th, 2007 - 1 comment
Fortunately we have a government that’s prepared to act on climate change rather than gamble with the future. Nevertheless here’s an interesting take on the importance of a meaningful response to climate change based on everybody’s favourite PHIL101 poser: Pascal’s Wager. He’s also done a follow-up to answer some of the questions and objections that […]
- Daily crossword, Thursday 21 November
.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-title { font-size: 1.2em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .entry-meta { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: center; margin-top: 0.5em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-meta { font-size: 0.8em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .avatar { height: 25px; width: 25px; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .post-thumbnail{ margin: 0; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .post-thumbnail img { height: auto; width: 100%; ...5 days ago - NZ downgraded in global climate rankings
New Zealand has dropped seven places to 41st in the global Climate Change Performance Index, which ranks countries based on their emissions, deployment of renewable electricity, overall energy use and climate policy.The announcement of the latest update to the index, which has been running since 2005 and is considered an ...5 days ago
- Police research adds to evidence against gang patch ban
As Te Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti gathered at Wellington’s Waitangi Park on the waterfront on Tuesday morning, the MC welcomed “brothers of the patched world and sisters of the patched world”.He told the Māori members of the crowd that their whakapapa – carried through tā moko – survived on the ...5 days ago
- Young families are leaving many large US cities − here’s why that matters
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Biswa Das, Associate Professor of Community and Regional Planning and Extension Economist, Iowa State University Parents and educators rally at Boston City Hall demanding urgent action to improve the city’s public schools. Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Young families ...5 days ago - Australia’s $230 billion Future Fund encouraged to invest in housing, energy transition, infrastru...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government has rewritten the mandate of the Future Fund – the nation’s sovereign wealth fund – to urge it to direct investment into the “national priorities” of housing, the energy transition and infrastructure, ...5 days ago
- Third Reading Of Samoa Citizenship Bill In New Zealand Parliament Today
Explainer - New Zealand's Parliament will, on Wednesday, hear the third and final reading of a bill that will, if passed, restore a pathway for citizenship to a group of Samoans stripped of it decades ago. ...5 days ago - Christopher Luxon Says ‘No Need To Meet’ With Hīkoi At Parliament
The Prime Minister says organisers were "closely aligned" with Te Pāti Māori, but acknowledged it was "a significant day". ...5 days ago
- ‘685’s to the world:’ Restoring Citizenship Bill passes with unanimous support
Greens MP Teanau Tuiono says it's "a significant step for Pasifika justice here in Aotearoa and around the Pacific". ...5 days ago - What is methanol? How does it get into drinks and cause harm?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide cdrin/Shutterstock Two Australian teenagers are severely ill in hospital in Thailand after experiencing suspected methanol poisoning while they were travelling in Laos. The pair are reportedly among several foreign nationals to become ...5 days ago
- Politics with Michelle Grattan: Special Minister of State Don Farrell on getting ‘big money’ out...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government says it will take “big money” out of election campaigns – or, more realistically, curb it – with its legislation imposing donation and spending caps and real-time disclosure. But crossbenchers and other ...5 days ago
- The hīkoi and Parliament: A photo essay
The House - Parliament protests run the gamut between solo vigils and a few thousand with amplified speeches. The hīkoi was an entirely new category. ...5 days ago
- Why NZ is protesting over colonial-era treaty bill – a global perspective
An overview for our international readers of Asia Pacific Report. BACKGROUNDER: By Sarah Shamim A fight for Māori indigenous rights drew more than 50,000 protesters to the New Zealand Parliament in the capital Wellington yesterday. A nine-day-long Hīkoi, or peaceful march — a Māori tradition — was undertaken in protest ...5 days ago
- The NT and ACT might have small populations but their economies are growing faster than the bigger s...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra sweettoiletpaper/Shutterstock The Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory have won bragging rights for having the fastest growing economies within Australia. Their growth was highlighted in annual data ...5 days ago
- NZ chips in $10m from existing funds to pay for climate losses
It will help pay for losses suffered by poorer countries because of climate change. ...5 days ago
- New law gives up to 3,480 Samoan elders back their right to NZ citizenship
The Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading. The bill’s author reflects on what it means for the Samoan community. It’s rare for MPs across the political spectrum to unite behind a piece of legislation. Rarer still is for an opposition MP’s bill to ...5 days ago - Gang patch ban: Senior Black Power member concerned about impact on families
"What people wear is not the issue," one Black Power member told RNZ. ...5 days ago
- Budget update will revise down company tax receipts but treasurer Chalmers welcomes economy’s ‘s...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next month’s federal budget update is expected to revise down company tax receipts for the first time since 2020, amid continued low economic growth in the near term. In his Wednesday ministerial statement on ...5 days ago
- Schoolies means more drink spiking warnings. Why is the burden still on women to stay safe?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Ison, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director, Reducing Gender-Based Violence Research Group, La Trobe University, La Trobe University Christian Bertrand/Shutterstock Schoolies season is here – and with it, warnings about staying safe while partying. For girls and women, this often means ...5 days ago
- Speaker’s handling of hīkoi ‘overkill’ – Te Paati Māori
Staff were locked from being able give water to protesters, and wifi access was blocked too, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said. ...5 days ago
- Richard Chambers announced as new Police Commissioner
Richard Chambers is replacing outgoing commissioner Andrew Coster. ...5 days ago
- Richard Chambers to be announced as new Police Commissioner
Richard Chambers is replacing outgoing commissioner Andrew Coster. ...5 days ago
- Government designates Hezbollah as terrorist entity
The government has also slapped a similar designation on the Houthi movement. ...5 days ago
- Cost of road cones, temporary speed limits ‘eyewatering’ – Transport Minister
Simeon Brown had previously raised concerns over the cost of road cones and temporary speed limits, asking the ministry to look into it. ...5 days ago
- 10 years after the Lacrosse building cladding fire, the defects and disasters continue
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trivess Moore, Associate Professor, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Metropolitan Fire Brigade, CC BY Ten years ago, a late-night cigarette started a fire that spread rapidly up 13 storeys on the Lacrosse apartment building in Melbourne. The ...5 days ago
- What is premenstrual dysphoric disorder? And how is it different to PMS?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eveline Mu, Research Fellow in Women’s Mental Health, Monash University Austin Guevara/Pexels Periods can feel like an unwanted guest for many women and gender diverse people who menstruate, bringing cramps, mood swings and exhaustion. But how do you know ...5 days ago
- Bill would ‘render the treaty worthless’ – world reacts to national Hīkoi
RNZ News International media coverage of Aotearoa New Zealand’s national Hīkoi to Parliament has largely focused on the historic size of the turnout in Wellington yesterday and the wider contention between Māori and the Crown. Some, including The New York Times, have also pointed out the recent swing right with ...5 days ago
- PPTA Urges Government To Act For Children In War Zones
Children are our future and have the right to access education wherever they live. We must do everything we can to uphold this fundamental human right. ...5 days ago
- ‘I’ll try any synonym under the sun’: Jacqueline Bublitz’s crimes against language
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers, and guests. This week: Jacqueline Bublitz, author of new crime novel Leave the Girls Behind. The book I wish I’d written I was so impressed by the big reveal in All the Colours ...5 days ago
- Financial forms of family violence affect 1 in 7 New Zealanders – but the law is lagging
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ayesha Scott, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, AUT Business School, Auckland University of Technology and Senior Lecturer in Finance & Financial Planning, Griffith University Economic harm – restricting access to, sabotaging or exploiting another person’s financial resources, and impeding their economic autonomy – is ...5 days ago
- Who is the new Police Commissioner, Richard Chambers?
He is known to have long-held ambitions for the top job and is considered a favourite of frontline police. ...5 days ago
- COP29 Ends In Promise To Send More Taxpayer Money Overseas
This decision proves how out-of-touch this tax more, spend more, ship more overseas Government is with New Zealand taxpayers. Fix your house first before you go fixing the neighbourhood. ...5 days ago
- Richard Chambers to be announced as new Police Commissioner, RNZ understands
RNZ understands Chambers will take over from Andrew Coster, who stepped down last week to head up the new Social Investment Agency. ...5 days ago
- New Zealand a very difficult place to be blind – advocate
Jonathan Mosen says New Zealand is the worst country in the Western world in which to be blind. ...5 days ago
- A beginner’s guide to yum cha
Let Jean Teng show you how to do yum cha right. All photos by Jin Fellet. Yum cha is ritualistic. Being absorbed into the cacophony of Sunday morning chaos at a Cantonese restaurant pretty much always feels the same, no matter which one it is. There’s the same families ...5 days ago
- Vietnam war vets’ financial support claims boosted by new ruling
Sir Wira Gardiner made a claim in 2021 to have his brain tumour treated as a defence service-related condition. ...5 days ago
- Taxpayer-funded Hīkoi Organiser Shows Parliament’s Budget A Political Slush Fund
Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said “Taxpayers’ money is not a political slush fund. MPs shouldn’t be able to hide how they’re wasting our money, and it’s long-past time their budgets were covered by the OIA.” ...5 days ago
- Public Comments By Auckland CCO Bosses Demonstrate Need For Duty Of Political Neutrality
"Dean Kimpton is the poster child of what an undemocratic CCO model has led to," says Jordan Williams, a Spokesman for the Ratepayers' Alliance. ...5 days ago
- Modern cars are surveillance devices on wheels with major privacy risks – new report
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katharine Kemp, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law & Justice; Lead, UNSW Public Interest Law & Tech Initiative, UNSW Sydney Varavin/Shutterstock New research reveals serious privacy flaws in the data practices of new internet connected cars in Australia. It’s yet another reason ...6 days ago
- The world reacts to te Hīkoi mō te tiriti
International media seem to agree the Treaty Principles Bill and national hīkoi put New Zealand at a pivotal moment in history. ...6 days ago
- City Rail Link: Mayor Wayne Brown unsure it will get across the line in time
Auckland's mayor has lost confidence that the City Rail Link will be finished on time, despite assurances from officials. ...6 days ago
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