Eaarth
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- Date published:
7:03 am, April 26th, 2011 - 46 comments
Categories: climate change, Conservation, disaster, sustainability -
Tags: bill mckibben, book review, eaarth
At the start of the year I reviewed “Here on Earth: An Argument for Hope”, by Tim Flannery. While it was an interesting book, full of information and ideas, warmly and well written, in the end it left me unsatisfied. I felt that as an argument for hope it had failed to make its case.
I’ve recently finished a similar book, “Eaarth”, by Bill McKibben (of 350.org). It focuses on the same topic, the effect of climate change on the planet and how we should be preparing for the future. It doesn’t pull any punches.
Chapter 1: A New World. This chapter starts by noting the climatic stability that we have enjoyed for the last 10,000 years. Stability that has allowed the the development of human civilisation, with its grand cities, agriculture, and specialised culture. A world that was captured in the famous 1968 photo (from Apollo-8) of the Earth from space.
But we no longer live on that planet. In the four decades since, that earth has changed in profound ways, was that have taken us out of the sweet spot where humans so long thrived. We’re every day less like the oasis and more like the desert. The world hasn’t ended, but the world as we know it has — even if we don’t quite know it yet. We imagine that we live back on that old planet, that the disturbances we see around us are the old random and freakish kind. But they’re not. It’s a different place. A different planet. It needs a new name. Eaarth.
McKibben makes the case for the changed planet in example after example, meticulously researched and referenced. A random selection:
So far humans, by burning fossil fuel, have raised the temperature of the planet nearly a degree Celsius … A NASA study in December 2008 fiund that warming on that scale was enough to trigger a 45 percet increase in the thunderheads above the ocean … In fact, total global rainfall is increasing 1.5 percent a decade. …
Or consider the white and frozen top of the planet. Arctic ice has been melting slowly for two decades…
… a U.S. government team studying the tropics recently concluded that by the standard meteorological definition, they have expanded by more than two degrees of latitude north and south since 1980 — “a further 8.5 million square miles of the earth are now experiencing a tropical climate”. …
A new Nepalese study found temperatures rising a tenth of a degree annually in the Himalayas. … across the region the great ice sheets are already shrinking fast…
It’s not just the Himalayas. In the spring of 2009, researchers arriving in Bolivia found that the eighteen-thousand-year-old Chacaltaya Glacue glacier is “gone, completely melted away …
But lay aside the hurricanes and wreckage. Just concentrate for a minute on how the sea is changing. … Even most oceanographers were shocked a few years ago when researchers began noticing that the seas were acidifying as they absorbed some some of the carbon dioxide we’ve poured in to the atmosphere. …
Summing up:
Don’t let your eyes glaze over at this parade of statistics (and many more to follow). These should come as body blows, as sickening thuds. The Holocene is staggered, and the only world that humans have known is suddenly reeling. I am not describing what will happen if we don’t take action, or warning of some future threat. This is the current inventory: more thunder, more lightening, less ice. Name a major feature of the earth’s surface an you’ll find a massive change.
On the fact that we have recognised, far too late, that 350ppm is the safe limit for CO2 in the atmosphere:
We can, if we’re very lucky and very committed, eventually get the number back down below 350. … But even so, great damage will have been done along the way, on land and in the sea. …
We’re not, in other words, going to get back the planet we used to have, the one on which our civilisation developed. We’re like the guy who ate steak for dinner every night and let his cholesterol top 300 and had the heart attack. Now he dines on Lipitor and walks on the treadmill, but half his heart is dead issue. We’re like the guy who smoked for forty years and then he had a stroke. He doesn’t smoke any more, but the left side of his body doesn’t work either.
There’s plenty more of the same in the first chapter, all of it well referenced to original sources, but I think you get the idea. It’s a depressing read.
Chapter 2: High Tide. The focus of this chapter is the end of growth. It can’t go on, we’re hitting the wall.
But now — now that we’re stuck between a played out rock and a hot place — it’s time to think with special clarity about the future. On a new planet growth may be the one big habit we finally must break.
In a solid blow to the mainstream Green position, McKibben doesn’t see “green growth” as a viable alternative.
If we had started 20 years ago, when we first knew about global warming, and when we had the first hints of peak oil, such a plan might have made sense. … But it’s not going to happen fast enough to ward off enormous change. I don’t think the growth can rise to occasion; I think the system has met its match. We no longer possess the margin we’d require for another huge leap forward, certainly not fast enough to preserve the planet we used to live on.
That is a dark thing to say, and un-American, so I will try to make the case carefully. In the first place: this kind of transformation is a big job. Even in normal times, even on the old planet, the transition from one source of energy to another took many decades. …
Wherever we turn, we always bump their heads against the same bottom line: it’s expensive, and it takes a long time to even try to replace our fossil fuel system.
And that’s on the old planet. What we need to talk about now is what it’s like to make massive change on the new one, where we’re suddenly running out of fossil fuel and dealing with a spooky, erratic climate.
McKibben goes on to discuss aspects of the problem that relate particularly to America (huge amounts of infrastructure, such as the national road and bridge network, which is already run down), and those that are truly global:
And the fact that so much of the world remains so poor is also one of the biggest obstacles to actually doing something about the climate. Just as we come into this crisis with an infrastructure deficit and an overhang of debt, so we also suffer from a justice deficit that will slow any attempt at action.
We have seen this all play out at Copenhagen, with a major split between “developing” and “developed” nations.
So the obvious replacement for Plan A — for the now vain hope that the rest of the world can emulate us and messily grow its way into lives of relative comfort and security — is a Plan B, a grand bargain where the global North decides to share with the global South. And in return the South agrees to develop on a different, cleaner path. … Everybody knows this will have to be the eventual bargain, and everybody has spent twenty years trying to game the talks.
And if the “talks” never get it done?
Four major studies in the past two years from centrist organisations in the United States and Europe have concluded that “a warmer planet could find itself more often at war.” Each report “predicted starkly similar problems: gunfire over land and natural resources as once bountiful soil turns to desert and coastlines slip below the sea.” The experts also expected violent storms to topple weak governments — which makes a certain amount of sense to those of us who watched George W. Bush begin his descent in the polls after he bumbled the response to Katrina.
Fortunately we’ve just about reached the bottom of the book’s deep wells of depression. Time to start digging ourselves out.
The second half of this book is based on the premise that we can build durable and even relatively graceful ways to inhabit this new planet.
Chapter 3: Backing Off. McKibben’s ambitions for the future are practical and modest. “That we might choose instead to try to manage our descent”, “that we might aim for a relatively graceful decline”. Doesn’t sound very inspiring does it.
We recoil when faced with a future different from the one we imagine. And it’s hard to brace ourselves for the jump to a new world when we still, kind of, live in the old one. So we tell ourselves that scientists may be overstating our environmental woes, or that because the stock market has climbed back from its lows we’ll soon be back to the old growth economy. As we’ve seen, though, scientists are far more guilty of understatement than exaggeration, and our economic troubles are intersecting with our ecological ones in ways that put us hard up against the limits of growth. This book has been dedicated so far to the idea that we’re in very deep trouble. Now we must try to figure out how to survive what is coming at us. And that survival begins with words. …
So here are my candidates the words that may help us think usefully about the future.
Durable
Sturdy
Stable
Hardy
Robust… The project we’re now undertaking — maintenance, graceful decline, hunkering down, holding on against the storm — requires a different scale. Instead of continents and vast nations, we need to think about states, about towns, about neighbourhoods, about blocks. … We need to scale back, to go to ground. We need to take what wealth we have left and figure out how we’re going to use it, not to spin the wheel one more time but to slow the wheel down. We need to choose safety instead of risk, and we need to do it quickly, even at the sacrifice of growth. … It’s not just people in poorer nations who are exposed to the elements now, but all of us. We’ve got to make our society safer, and that means making them smaller. It means, since we live on a different planet, a different kind of civilisation.
Distributed networks are more robust than centralised systems. We need to distribute knowledge, skills, resources, agriculture, production and distribution, into communities.
Community may suffer from overuse more sorely than any word in the dictionary. Politicians left and right sprinkle it through their remarks the way a bad Chinese restaurant uses MSG, to mask the lack of wholesome ingredients. But we need to rescue it: we need to make sure that community will become, on this tough new planet, one of the most prosaic terms in the lexicon, like hoe or bicycle or computer. Access to endless amounts of cheap energy made us rich, and wrecked our climate, and it also made us the first people on earth who had no practical need of our neighbours.
Much of the rest of the chapter reviews local community initiatives, such as Transition Towns, farmers’ markets, and local currencies. The last quote I’ll take from this chapter relates to politics:
It’s not at all clear whether a farmers’ market, or a local neighbourhood crime watch, or a community-owned windmill is a liberal or conservative project. It’s some of both. Mostly it’s some of neither — our politics, like our highways, were built for an era of endless growth. Karl Marx as much as Adam Smith thought we’d end up in a material paradise; Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev sparred over whose system will produce better kitchen appliances. In the age now dawning, our hopes will shift and our ideologies will shift with them.
Chapter 4: Lightly, Carefully, Gracefully. What are the essentials for our future? “In order: food, energy, and — yes — the Internet”. Modern agriculture is massively dependent on oil, both to make the fertiliser that increases yields, and to run the machinery, transportation and refrigeration systems that harvests, processes and distributes foodstuffs.
It takes the equivalent of 400 gallons of oil annually to feed an American, and that’s before packaging, refrigeration, and cooking. In 1940, our food system produced 2.3 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil fuel consumed. Now … “it takes ten calories of fossil energy to produce a single calorie of modern supermarket food. Put another way, when we eat from the industrial food system, we’re eating oil and spewing greenhouse gases.”
With peak oil and climate change, neither side of this equation is sustainable. But the work on an alternative approach is under way everywhere. After reviewing a range of case studies McKibben sums up:
So it’s unsettling (but also the first unambiguously good news this book has to offer) to learn that serious people have begun to rethink small-scale agriculture, perhaps just in time to help us deal with the strains of our new planet. In the last ten years academics and researchers have begun figuring out what some farmers have known for a long time; it’s possible to produce lots of food on relatively small farms with little or nothing in the way of synthetic fertiliser or chemicals.
So there will be dinner, if we are resourceful and clever, and if more of us are willing to do the work of farming, and if we build the kind of community institutions that make us more resilient, less vulnerable. It won’t be easy; as flood, drought, and pests spread, we’ll be pressed to keep up. And it won’t work every-place; even the best double-dug community-backed garden still needs water. I don’t know what Las Vegas will do. But many places may still produce enough calories.
What about energy?
First: … We need to cut our fossil fuel use by a factor of twenty over the next few decades. …
Second: it would be nice to replace at least some of that fossil fuel with something else, so that we’re not returned entirely to a world of manual labour …
Third: there’s no easy way out.
Nuclear, biofuels, solar, wind, there is no single viable replacement. It has to be a mixture of conservation, reduced demand (e.g. through less transportation of locally produced food), and local generation and storage methods (the smart grid). “So no silver bullet — but maybe enough silver buckshot if we gather it carefully”.
And that brings us to the last of McKibben’s three key factors for the future.
The Internet may be precisely the tool we need; it’s as if it came along just in time, a deus ex machina to make our next evolution bearable. …
You could make a purely functional argument for the environmental value of the Internet, of course. If you have a computer, you can set up, say, a ride-sharing system that lets people coordinate their commutes or pick up a stranger on the way to the market. Or you can log onto the Freecycle network and find a way not to buy something. The Internet can take waste — that empty seat next to the driver, that old Ping-Pong table — and convert it into something useful.
But I’m thinking less tangibly. It’s not so much the ride to town; it’s the ride somewhere else entirely, into one of the millions of destinations that the net provides. … Mostly, though, it’s decentralised … That decentralisation will be crucial, because all of a sudden we will need vast amounts of information, very little of which can actually come from New York or Los Angeles.
McKibben also stresses the Internet for entertainment, and as a vital tool for combating the downsides of a future where the boundaries of our world are shrinking.
Which is why, if I had my finger on the switch, I’d keep the juice flowing to the Internet even if I had to turn off everything else. We need cultures … that work for everyone, so that women aren’t made servants again in our culture, or condemned to languish forever as secondary citizens in other places. The Net is the one solvent we can still afford… It will need to be the window left ajar in our communities so new ideas can blow in and old prejudices blow out.
Most of the remainder of this final chapter is spent describing the creation of 350.org, and the way that the Net was used to mobilise a community of volunteers all around the globe. Here are the closing words of the book:
The momentum of the heating, and the momentum of the economy that powers it, can’t be turned off quickly enough to prevent hideous damage. But we will keep fighting, in the hope that we can limit the damage. And in the process, with many others fighting similar battles, we will help build the architecture for the world that comes next, the dispersed and localised societies that can survive the damage we can no longer prevent. Eaarth represents the deepest of human failures. But we still must live on the world we’ve created — lightly, carefully, gracefully.
In closing. Everyone should read this book. (Climate change deniers should be forced to copy it out longhand in red crayon, complete with the 25 pages of references, twice.) I’m hugely impressed with the depth and the breadth of the research that has gone in to it, and also with the clarity with which McKibben has thought about the future that he describes. My only major criticism is that the treatment of energy in the future (Chapter 4) is scanty, and doesn’t really address the serious problems raised earlier on this very issue (Chapter 3). Yes it’s a profoundly depressing book, but the smack in the emotional solar plexus is one that we all (in the “developed” world) deserve.
Time to face up and take our medicine. Change is coming, and the future will not resemble the present. If you can accept that fundamental premise, then Eaarth is a hopeful book too. It is hopeful because it is brutally honest. There’s no sugar coating the pill, no false optimism. It sets out the problems that we face, and it sets out what are probably our best strategies for preparing for the future. Having read Eaarth I feel the way I imagine one feels after hearing a comprehensive diagnosis of cancer. The news isn’t good, but at least I know the odds. It’s something to work with.
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Studies show each $1 of spending on walking and cycling infrastructure produces $13 to $35 of economic benefits from higher productivity, lower healthcare costs, less congestion, lower emissions and lower fossil fuel import costs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note ...6 days ago - 99
Dad turned 99 today.Hell of a lot of candles, eh?He won't be alone for his birthday. He will have the warm attention of my brother, and my sister, and everyone at the rest home, the most thoughtful attentive and considerate people you could ever know. On Saturday there will be ...7 days ago - Open Government: National reneges on beneficial ownership
One of the achievements of the New Zealand’s Open Government Partnership Fourth National Action Plan was a formal commitment from the government to establish a public beneficial ownership register. Such a register would allow the ultimate owners of companies to be identified - a vital measure in preventing corruption, money ...7 days ago
- Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt One.
This project analyzes security politics in three peripheral democracies (Chile, New Zealand, Portugal) during the 30 years after the end of the Cold War. It argues that changes in the geopolitical landscape and geo-strategic context are interpreted differently by small … Continue reading ...1 week ago
- Tea and Toast
When the skies are looking bad my dearAnd your heart's lost all its hopeAfter dawn there will be sunshineAnd all the dust will goThe skies will clear my darlingNow it's time for you to let goOur girl will wake you up in the mornin'With some tea and toastLyrics: Lucy Spraggan.Good ...1 week ago - NLTP 2024 released – destroying pipeline of shovel ready local projects
Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Waka Kotahi yesterday released the latest National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) for 2024-27. The NLTP sets out what transport projects will be funded for the next three years, including both central and local government projects. As expected given the government’s extremely ideological transport policy, it’s ...1 week ago
- Can Brown deliver his roads
The Government’s unveiling of its road-building programme yesterday was ambitious and, many would say, long overdue. But the question will be whether it is too ambitious, whether it is affordable, and, if not, what might be dropped. The big ticket items will be the 17 so-called Roads of National Significance. ...1 week ago
- New paper about detecting climate misinformation on Twitter/X
Together with Cristian Rojas, Frank Algra-Maschio, Mark Andrejevic, Travis Coan, and Yuan-Fang Li, I just published a paper in Nature Communications Earth & Environment where we use the Computer Assisted Recognition of Denial and Skepticism (CARDS) machine learning model to detect climate misinformation in 5 million climate tweets. We find over half ...1 week ago
- Excerpting “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies.”
In the late 2000s-early 2010s I was researching and writing a book titled “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Chile, New Zealand and Portugal.” The book was a cross-regional Small-N qualitative comparison of the security strategies and postures of three small … Continue reading ...1 week ago
- Hating for the Wrong Reasons: Of Rings of Power, Orcs and Evil
A few months ago, my fellow countryman, HelloFutureMe, put out a giant YouTube video, dissecting what went wrong with the first season of Rings of Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ6FRUO0ui0&t=8376s). It’s an exceptionally good video, and though it spans some two and a half hours, it is well worth your time. But ...1 week ago - Climate Change: “Least cost” to who?
On Friday the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released their submission on National's second Emissions Reduction Plan, ripping the shit out of it as a massive gamble based on wishful thinking. One of the specific issues he focused on was National's idea of "least cost" emissions reduction, pointing out that ...1 week ago
- Israeli Lives Matter
There is no monopoly on common senseOn either side of the political fenceWe share the same biology, regardless of ideologyBelieve me when I say to youI hope the Russians love their children tooLyrics: Sting. Read more ...1 week ago - Luxon Cries
Over the weekend, I found myself rather irritably reading up about the Treaty of Waitangi. “Do I need to do this?” It’s not my jurisdiction. In any other world, would this be something I choose to do?My answer - no.The Waitangi Tribunal, headed by some of our best legal minds, ...1 week ago
- Just one Wellington home being consented for every 10 in Auckland
A decade of under-building is coming home to roost in Wellington. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday September 2:Wellington’s leaders are wringing their hands over an exodus of skilled ...1 week ago - Container trucks on local streets: why take the risk?
This is a guest post by Charmaine Vaughan, who came to transport advocacy via her local Residents Association and a comms role at Bike Auckland. Her enthusiasm to make local streets safer for all is shared by her son Dylan Vaughan, a budding “urban nerd” who provided much of the ...1 week ago
- 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #35
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, August 25, 2024 thru Sat, August 31, 2024. Story of the week After another crammed week of climate news including updates on climate tipping points, increasing threats from rising ...1 week ago
- An Uncanny Valley of Improvement: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power, Episodes 1-3 (Season ...
And thus we come to the second instalment of Amazon’s Rings of Power. The first season, in 2022, was underwhelming, even for someone like myself, who is by nature inclined to approach Tolkien adaptations with charity. The writing was poor, the plot made no sense on its own terms, and ...1 week ago - Alcohol debris and Crocodile Tears
I write to you this morning from scenes of carnage. Around the floor lie young men who only hours earlier were full of life, and cocktails, and now lie silent. Read more ...1 week ago - When Do We Look Away?
Hi,The first time I saw something that made me recoil on the internet was a visit to Rotten.com. The clue was in the name — but the internet was a new thing to me in the 90s, and no-one really knew what the hell was going on. But somehow I ...1 week ago - The decades just fly by
You turn your back for a moment and a city can completely transform itself. It was, oh, just the other day I was tripping up to Kuala Lumpur every few months to teach workshops and luxuriate in the tropical warmth and fill my face with Char Kway Teow.It has to ...1 week ago - 2024 Reading Summary: August
Completed reads for August: Aesop’s Fables (collection), by Aesop Berserk: Volume XXV (manga), by Kentaro Miura Benighted, by J.B. Priestly Berserk: Volume XXVI (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXVII (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXVIII (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXIX (manga), by Kentaro Miura ...1 week ago - Is recent global warming part of a natural cycle?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with John Mason. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is recent global warming part ...1 week ago
- White Noise
Now here we standWith our hearts in our handsSqueezing out the liesAll that I hearIs a message, unclearWhat else is there to decide?All that I'm hearing from youIs White NoiseLyrics: Christopher John CheneyIs the tide turning?Have we reached the high point of the racist hate and lies from Hobson’s Pledge, ...1 week ago - The Death Of “Big Norm” – Exactly 50 Years Ago Today.
1 week ago
- Claims and Counter-Claims.
Whose Foreshore? Whose Seabed? When the Marine and Coastal Area Act was originally passed back in 2011, fears about the coastline becoming off-limits to Pakeha were routinely allayed by National Party politicians pointing out that the tests imposed were so stringent that only a modest percentage of claims (the then treaty ...1 week ago
- Release: Cabinet should stop the Treaty Principles Bill
National Party Ministers have a majority in Cabinet and can stop David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill, which even the Prime Minister has described as “divisive and unhelpful.” ...1 day ago - Release: Staff gagged to keep fast track list secret
The National Government is so determined to hide the list of potential projects that will avoid environmental scrutiny it has gagged Ministry for the Environment staff from talking about it. ...1 day ago
- Release: Labour challenges Te Whatu Ora gag orders
Labour has complained to the Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission about the high number of non-disclosure agreements that have effectively gagged staff at Te Whatu Ora Health NZ from talking about anything relating to their work. ...1 day ago
- Greens call on Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned after letter from Christian leaders
The Green Party is once again urging the Prime Minister to abandon the Treaty Principles Bill as a letter from more than 400 Christian leaders calls for the proposed legislation to be dropped. ...1 day ago - Sign the petition: Keep military-style firearms off our streets
Help us tell the Government that reintroducing military-style firearms should not be up for debate. ...3 days ago
- Vast majority of councils support Māori wards
Councils across the country have now decided where they stand regarding Māori wards, with a resounding majority in favour of keeping them in what is a significant setback for the Government. ...4 days ago
- Release: Government on the wrong side of Māori wards
The National-led government has been given a clear message from the local government sector, as almost all councils reject the Government’s bid to treat Māori wards different to other wards. ...4 days ago
- Release: Labour congratulates Kuīni Ngā Wai hono i te po Paki
The Labour Party congratulates Kuīni Ngā Wai hono i te po Paki on being crowned as the eighth Te Ariki Nui – head of Te Kiingitanga. ...5 days ago
- Green Party welcomes new Maaori Kuiini
The Green Party welcomes the coronation of the new Maaori Kuiini, Te Arikinui Nga Wai Hono i te Po, today in Turangawaewae. ...5 days ago
- ECE teachers deserve better than this Government
The Green Party is unsurprised but disappointed by today’s announcement from the Government that will see our Early Childhood Centre teachers undermined and pay parity pushed further out of reach. ...6 days ago
- Urgent intervention needed on supermarkets
The Green Party is calling on the Government to intervene in the supermarket duopoly dominating our supply of groceries following today’s report from the Commerce Commission. ...6 days ago
- Release: Rainbow youth neglected in mental health funding
Labour backs the call from The Rainbow Support Collective members for mental health funding specifically earmarked for grassroots and peer led community organisations to be set up in a way that they are able to access. ...1 week ago
- Release: Transport in NZ has to be more than just roads
As expected, the National Land Transport Programme lacks ambition for our cities and our country’s rail network and puts the majority of investment into roads. ...1 week ago
- Speech: Barbara Edmonds Building Nations 2024
Tēnā koutou katoa, Thank you for your warm welcome and for having my colleagues and I here today. Earlier you heard from the Labour Leader, Chris Hipkins, on our vision for the future of infrastructure. I want to build on his comments and provide further detail on some key elements ...1 week ago
- Govt transport plan deepens fossil fuel fix
The Green Party says the Government’s new National Land Transport Programme marks another missed opportunity to take meaningful action to fight the climate crisis. ...1 week ago
- Greens call for public to back Wrybill in BOTY and beyond
The Green Party is calling on the public to support the Ngutu Pare Wrybill not just in this year’s Bird of the Year competition but also in pushing back against policies that could lead to the destruction of its habitat and accelerate its extinction. ...1 week ago
- Building consents data bad news for construction
News that the annual number of building consents granted for new homes fell by more than 20 percent for the year ended July 2024, is bad news for the construction industry. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori Pay Tribute to Kiingi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII
Papā te whatitiri, hikohiko te uira, i kanapu ki te rangi, i whētuki i raro rā, rū ana te whenua e. Uea te pou o tōku whare kia tū tangata he kapua whakairi nāku nā runga o Taupiri. Ko taku kiri ka tōkia ki te anu mātao. E te iwi ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Gaps still to be addressed in callouts response
The Government must guarantee New Zealanders will not be at risk after making changes to the way mental health callouts are handled. ...2 weeks ago
- Poroporoaki: Kiingi Tuheitia passing
Haere e te Kīngi o te kotahitangi Haere ki o nui, ki o rahi I te pō ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party pays respects to Kiingi Tuuheitia
The Green Party is paying tribute to the Māori King, Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero XVII, after he passed away earlier this morning. ...2 weeks ago
- Potaka Brings Whakaata Māori to its Knees
Today’s Whakaata Māori announcement is yet another colossal failure from Minister Potaka, who has turned his back on te reo Māori, forcing a channel offline, putting whānau out of jobs, and cutting Māori content, says Te Pāti Māori. “A Senior Māori Minister has turned his back on Te Reo Māori. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National restricts access to disability care homes
With disability communities still reeling from the diminishing of Whaikaha, a leaked document now reveals another blow with National restricting access to residential care homes. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt must help save 230 manufacturing jobs
Labour is calling on the Government and Mercury Energy to find a solution to the proposed Winstone Pulp mill closure and save 230 manufacturing jobs. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt shirks its responsibility to Whakaata Māori
The Green Party has called out the Government for allowing Whakaata Māori to effectively collapse to a shell of its former self as job cuts and programming cuts were announced at the broadcaster today. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ First Member’s Bill To Disestablish Auckland Transport
Today New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will restore democratic control over transport management in Auckland City by disestablishing Auckland Transport (AT) and returning control to Auckland Council. The ‘Local Government (Auckland Council) (Disestablishment of Auckland Transport) Amendment Bill’ intends to restore democratic oversight, control, and accountability ...2 weeks ago - Release: PM fails in constitutional role and leadership
The failure of the Prime Minister to condemn his Minister for personally attacking the judiciary is another example of this Government riding roughshod over important constitutional rules. ...2 weeks ago
- Waititi urges Rotorua Lakes Council to immediately stop works at Lake Rotokākahi
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and Member of Parliament for Waiariki, which includes Rotorua, has written to Rotorua Lakes Councillors requesting they immediately stop sewerage piping works at Lake Rotokākahi in Rotorua. “Mana whenua have been urging Rotorua Lakes Council to stop works and look at alternative plans to protect the ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Patient care at risk from redundancies
Patient care could suffer as a result of further cuts to the health system, which could lose thousands of staff who keep our hospitals and clinics running. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call on Govt to wake up on child poverty
The Green Party says the latest statistics on child poverty in this country highlight the callous approach that the Government is taking on this issue of national shame. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Police are off the beat under National
Foot patrols around the country have decreased 15 percent since National took office, despite National’s Mark Mitchell claiming otherwise. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Climate denial is an insult to Pacific leaders
Winston Peters’ climate denialism at the Pacific Islands’ Forum is an embarrassing new low. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt must end solitary confinement
The Green Party is urging the Government to end the use of solitary confinement within our prisons after new research revealed some prisoners have been held in confinement for more than 900 days. ...2 weeks ago
- Fossil fuels never the answer in climate crisis
The Government’s moves to enable the import of Liquefied Natural Gas is another step away from the sustainable and affordable energy network that this country needs. ...2 weeks ago
- Government must respect Court’s Uber employee decision
Today’s court ruling upholding the rights of Uber drivers is a message to the Government that it must not tamper with employment protections. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Uber court decision recognises workers’ rights
The Court of Appeal decision that Uber drivers are entitled to employee rights such as minimum wage, sick leave, holiday pay and collective bargaining is welcome news for the drivers involved and their unions. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour calls on Govt to divest from illegal settlements
The Labour Party is calling on the Government to tell the two major wealth funds, the NZ Super Fund and ACC, to withdraw investments from companies listed by the United Nations as complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt backtrack on fast-track still not enough
Labour welcomes news that the National Government is backing down on its reckless proposal to give Ministers final sign-off on significant projects, but it’s still not enough. ...2 weeks ago
- Fast track still on track to environmental destruction
Our environment remains at risk despite the Government's proposed changes to its controversial fast-track legislation. ...2 weeks ago
- Ohinemuri River pollution highlights mining risks
The harrowing images of the severely polluted Ohinemuri River caused by an old mining shaft could become a more common occurrence under the mining regime the Government is looking to roll out. ...2 weeks ago
- Interim fix to GST adjustment rules to support businesses
Inland Revenue can begin processing GST returns for businesses affected by a historic legislative drafting error, Revenue Minister Simon Watts says. “Inland Revenue has become aware of a legislative drafting error in the GST adjustment rules after changes were made in 2023 which were meant to simplify the process. This ...2 hours ago - Strong uptake for cervical screening self-test
More than 80 per cent of New Zealand women being tested have opted for a world-leading self-test for cervical screening since it became available a year ago. Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti and Associate Minister Casey Costello, in her responsibility for Women’s Health, say it’s fantastic to have such ...3 hours ago
- Ministry for Regulation’s first Strategic Intentions document sets ambitious direction
Regulation Minister David Seymour welcomes the Ministry for Regulation’s first Strategic Intentions document, which sets out how the Ministry will carry out its work and deliver on its purpose. “I have set up the Ministry for Regulation with three tasks. One, to cut existing red tape with sector reviews. Two, ...4 hours ago
- Māori Education Advisory Group established
The Education Minister has established a Māori Education Ministerial Advisory Group made up of experienced practitioners to help improve outcomes for Māori learners. “This group will provide independent advice on all matters related to Māori education in both English medium and Māori medium settings. It will focus on the most impactful ways we can lift ...5 hours ago
- First of five new Hercules aircraft takes flight
Defence Minister Judith Collins today welcomed the first of five new C-130J-30 Hercules to arrive in New Zealand at a ceremony at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base Auckland, Whenuapai. “This is an historic day for our New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and our nation. The new Hercules fleet ...6 hours ago
- Have your say on suicide prevention
Today, September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day, a time to reflect on New Zealand’s confronting suicide statistics, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “Every death by suicide is a tragedy – a tragedy that affects far too many of our families and communities in New Zealand. We must do ...7 hours ago
- Action to grow the rural health workforce
Scholarships awarded to 27 health care students is another positive step forward to boost the future rural health workforce, Associate Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “All New Zealanders deserve timely access to quality health care and this Government is committed to improving health outcomes, particularly for the one in five ...1 day ago
- Pharmac delivering more for Kiwis following major funding boost
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour has welcomed the increased availability of medicines for Kiwis resulting from the Government’s increased investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the Government,” says Mr Seymour. “When our Government assumed office, New ...1 day ago
- Sport Minister congratulates NZ’s Paralympians
Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop has congratulated New Zealand's Paralympic Team at the conclusion of the Paralympic Games in Paris. “The NZ Paralympic Team's success in Paris included fantastic performances, personal best times, New Zealand records and Oceania records all being smashed - and of course, many Kiwis on ...1 day ago
- Government progresses response to Abuse in Care recommendations
A Crown Response Office is being established within the Public Service Commission to drive the Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. “The creation of an Office within a central Government agency was a key recommendation by the Royal Commission’s final report. “It will have the mandate ...4 days ago
- Passport wait times back on-track
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says passport processing has returned to normal, and the Department of Internal Affairs [Department] is now advising customers to allow up to two weeks to receive their passport. “I am pleased that passport processing is back at target service levels and the Department ...4 days ago
- New appointments to the FMA board
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister has today announced three new appointments and one reappointment to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) board. Tracey Berry, Nicholas Hegan and Mariette van Ryn have been appointed for a five-year term ending in August 2029, while Chris Swasbrook, who has served as a board member ...4 days ago
- District Court judges appointed
Attorney-General Hon Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new District Court judges. The appointees, who will take up their roles at the Manukau Court and the Auckland Court in the Accident Compensation Appeal Jurisdiction, are: Jacqui Clark Judge Clark was admitted to the bar in 1988 after graduating ...4 days ago
- Government makes it faster and easier to invest in New Zealand
Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour is encouraged by significant improvements to overseas investment decision timeframes, and the enhanced interest from investors as the Government continues to reform overseas investment. “There were about as many foreign direct investment applications in July and August as there was across the six months ...4 days ago
- New Zealand to join Operation Olympic Defender
New Zealand has accepted an invitation to join US-led multi-national space initiative Operation Olympic Defender, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. Operation Olympic Defender is designed to coordinate the space capabilities of member nations, enhance the resilience of space-based systems, deter hostile actions in space and reduce the spread of ...5 days ago
- Government commits to ‘stamping out’ foot and mouth disease
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says that a new economic impact analysis report reinforces this government’s commitment to ‘stamp out’ any New Zealand foot and mouth disease incursion. “The new analysis, produced by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, shows an incursion of the disease in New Zealand would have ...5 days ago
- Improving access to finance for Kiwis
5 September 2024 The Government is progressing further reforms to financial services to make it easier for Kiwis to access finance when they need it, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Financial services are foundational for economic success and are woven throughout our lives. Without access to finance our ...5 days ago
- Prime Minister pays tribute to Kiingi Tuheitia
As Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII is laid to rest today, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has paid tribute to a leader whose commitment to Kotahitanga will have a lasting impact on our country. “Kiingi Tuheitia was a humble leader who served his people with wisdom, mana and an unwavering ...5 days ago
- Resource Management reform to make forestry rules clearer
Forestry Minister Todd McClay today announced proposals to reform the resource management system that will provide greater certainty for the forestry sector and help them meet environmental obligations. “The Government has committed to restoring confidence and certainty across the sector by removing unworkable regulatory burden created by the previous ...5 days ago
- More choice and competition in building products
A major shake-up of building products which will make it easier and more affordable to build is on the way, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Today we have introduced legislation that will improve access to a wider variety of quality building products from overseas, giving Kiwis more choice and ...5 days ago
- Joint Statement between the Republic of Korea and New Zealand 4 September 2024, Seoul
On the occasion of the official visit by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of New Zealand to the Republic of Korea from 4 to 5 September 2024, a summit meeting was held between His Excellency President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as ...6 days ago
- Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the goal for New Zealand and Korea
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. “Korea and New Zealand are likeminded democracies and natural partners in the Indo Pacific. As such, we have decided to advance discussions on elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive ...6 days ago
- International tourism continuing to bounce back
Results released today from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) confirm international tourism is continuing to bounce back, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey says. The IVS results show that in the June quarter, international tourism contributed $2.6 billion to New Zealand’s economy, an increase of 17 per cent on last ...6 days ago
- Government confirms RMA reforms to drive primary sector efficiency
The Government is moving to review and update national level policy directives that impact the primary sector, as part of its work to get Wellington out of farming. “The primary sector has been weighed down by unworkable and costly regulation for too long,” Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. “That is ...6 days ago
- Weak grocery competition underscores importance of cutting red tape
The first annual grocery report underscores the need for reforms to cut red tape and promote competition, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “The report paints a concerning picture of the $25 billion grocery sector and reinforces the need for stronger regulatory action, coupled with an ambitious, economy-wide ...6 days ago
- Government moves to lessen burden of reliever costs on ECE services
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says the Government has listened to the early childhood education sector’s calls to simplify paying ECE relief teachers. Today two simple changes that will reduce red tape for ECEs are being announced, in the run-up to larger changes that will come in time from the ...6 days ago
- Over 2,320 people engage with first sector regulatory review
Regulation Minister David Seymour says there has been a strong response to the Ministry for Regulation’s public consultation on the early childhood education regulatory review, affirming the need for action in reducing regulatory burden. “Over 2,320 submissions have been received from parents, teachers, centre owners, child advocacy groups, unions, research ...6 days ago
- Government backs women in horticulture
“The Government is empowering women in the horticulture industry by funding an initiative that will support networking and career progression,” Associate Minister of Agriculture, Nicola Grigg says. “Women currently make up around half of the horticulture workforce, but only 20 per cent of leadership roles which is why initiatives like this ...6 days ago
- Government to pause freshwater farm plan rollout
The Government will pause the rollout of freshwater farm plans until system improvements are finalised, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard announced today. “Improving the freshwater farm plan system to make it more cost-effective and practical for farmers is a priority for this ...1 week ago
- Milestone reached for fixing the Holidays Act 2003
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden says yesterday Cabinet reached another milestone on fixing the Holidays Act with approval of the consultation exposure draft of the Bill ready for release next week to participants. “This Government will improve the Holidays Act with the help of businesses, workers, and ...1 week ago
- New priorities to protect future of conservation
Toitū te marae a Tāne Mahuta me Hineahuone, toitū te marae a Tangaroa me Hinemoana, toitū te taiao, toitū te tangata. The Government has introduced clear priorities to modernise Te Papa Atawhai - The Department of Conservation’s protection of our natural taonga. “Te Papa Atawhai manages nearly a third of our ...1 week ago
- Faster 110km/h speed limit to accelerate Kāpiti
A new 110km/h speed limit for the Kāpiti Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS) has been approved to reduce travel times for Kiwis travelling in and out of Wellington, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy. ...1 week ago
- IVL increase to ensure visitors contribute more to New Zealand
The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) will be raised to $100 to ensure visitors contribute to public services and high-quality experiences while visiting New Zealand, Minister for Tourism and Hospitality Matt Doocey and Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka say. “The Government is serious about enabling the tourism sector ...1 week ago
- Delivering priority connections for the West Coast
A record $255 million for transport investment on the West Coast through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s road and rail links to keep people connected and support the region’s economy, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Government is committed to making sure that every ...1 week ago
- Road and rail reliability a focus for Wellington
A record $3.3 billion of transport investment in Greater Wellington through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will increase productivity and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering infrastructure to increase productivity and economic growth is a priority for our Government. We're focused on delivering transport projects ...1 week ago
- Record investment to boost economic and housing growth in the Waikato
A record $1.9 billion for transport investment in the Waikato through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more efficient, safe, and resilient roading network that supports economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “With almost a third of the country’s freight travelling into, out ...1 week ago
- Building reliable and efficient roading for Taranaki
A record $808 million for transport investment in Taranaki through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Taranaki’s roads carry a high volume of freight from primary industries and it’s critical we maintain efficient connections across the region to ...1 week ago
- Supporting growth and resilience in Otago and Southland
A record $1.4 billion for transport investment in Otago and Southland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more resilient and efficient network that supports economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and productivity in Otago ...1 week ago
- Delivering connected and resilient roading for Northland
A record $991 million for transport investment in Northland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s connections and support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We are committed to making sure that every transport dollar is spent wisely on the projects and ...1 week ago
- Top of the South to benefit from reliable transport infrastructure
A record $479 million for transport investment across the top of the South Island through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will build a stronger road network that supports primary industries and grows the economy, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We’re committed to making sure that every dollar is ...1 week ago
- The documentary Killjoy captures the personal and the political of family violence and gender activi...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Crozier-De Rosa, Professor in History, University of Wollongong Stan At 16, Kathryn Joy applied for a passport. To do this, they had to obtain their mother’s death certificate. After growing up in a house in which their father had killed ...33 mins ago - James Earl Jones has died – but as the voice of Darth Vader, he will live forever
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Golding, Associate Professor, Swinburne University of Technology It is difficult to imagine a world of pop culture villains without Darth Vader. The masked and cloaked figure now casts perhaps the longest shadow of any film character on popular culture. When Vader ...33 mins ago
- ‘There’s coal and there’s coal’ – Climate Minister defends opening up ...
"The coal we produce in New Zealand, in the South Island, isn't used to be burned at Huntly - it's used to put in your mobile phone that's right in front of you," Simon Watts says. ...38 mins ago - Gang, gun law changes ‘absolutely’ followed process – Luxon
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yawn.
Ahh, the voice of “ACT on campus”. I’ll send you guys a box of red crayons. Try not to hurt yourselves with the pointy ends.
His argument is clearly so powerful it doesn’t need explaining.
heh!
Yawn indeed, everybody knows that climate change isn’t real; just ask the intellectual heavyweights from the act party who brought us ‘Edison hour’..
(cheers for the review, I share your criticism though, I don’t think he’s ever been the strongest when it gets down to the real details & complicated stuff, will have a read of it tho)
Thanks for the review! I’ll buy a copy.
(Yet another book that neither Kobo nor Kindle have.)
But Auckland Libraries does have it & several copies & no waiting list.
[hit refresh before making comment, VOR, anti-spam word typed correctly, using firefox]
That worked :).
And thanks for the review.
R0B, good write up – I’m going to see if the local library has this book. I’m glad it’s brutally honest because all the solar and wind farms in the world will not allow us to run things at their present rate – people will need to get off the Disney ride fast.
Don’t know if you’ve seen this National Geographic film called ‘World Without Oil’ but I think it would be good for Obama (as he presides over the world’s most wasteful and don’t care nation) to see it because the visuals would be easy for him to digest as he appears tone deaf/blind to any other means re America’s predicament – first of three:
The NG film shows how quickly people would have to get used to their new energy diet and laid out the fuel versus food arguments where crop sowing was concerned. Scenes were enacted where people were clamouring for food from distribution trucks and armed guards were posted outside grocery stores for the purchase of half dead produce that in times past would be on a rubbish truck. The change to air quality from vastly reduced FF emissions belching into the atmosphere is also laid out.
Farmers can only hazard a guess as to what weather they may have to endure in the future and therefore crop failure. It constantly amazes me that they’re not storming government bodies about how their livelihoods will be largely destroyed if no action is taken. For the general populace they would prefer to sleep on or gaze at the TV of an evening.
Change is all very well in individuals but the real heft will only come from the top – can’t see that happening with Key, the high priest of jest in charge.
Great Post Rob.
Humans have so much trouble seeing past the end of there nose’s. The shear waste that goes on as we speck is breathtaking, how about this.
“800 million gallons of gas are burned yearly by Americans mowing their lawns.”
No I don’t have a lawn!
M: People aren’t storming anything because they don’t know. They don’t know for a variety of reasons: don’t WANT to know; aren’t curious about anything much really (and it’s corollary: “It’s boring.”).
Curious people already know. But they are relatively few in number and these few aren’t going to be one of 30-40 people storming anything and then be described as “radicals” or leftists” by the media….and dismissed.
The rest generally are happy to not know anything. This allows them to avoid any responsibility. It means they can throw a tantrum when they don’t get what they want. After all, it can’t be THEIR fault.
Our society operates on a very infantile model.
some thoughts on why
http://www.clivehamilton.net.au/cms/media/why_we_resist_the_truth_about_climate_change.pdf
It’s obvious when you think about the phrase anyway.
About a year ago I heard an interview with the 90+ year old English chappie whose name escapes me, but he was regarded as responsible for the birth of the conservation movement. He said that he had previously been totally opposed to atomic energy production but now has done an about face.
In spite of the negative publicity from Chernobyl in which about 50 people died (and now the Japanese disaster) he argues that the insatiable appetite for energy and the advent of global warming, means that atomic power is the only viable alternative. The rising sea levels alone would lead to catastrophic loss of arable land and most cities are within reach of rising sea levels. Millions and millions of people would be at risk.
Maybe this is in the mind of Bill McKibben but is a very unpopular suggestion to make.
James Lovelock.
You’re bluddy marvellous Joe! Will bookmark James for future ref. especially in light of the anti-nuclear climate at the moment.
I think you will find a lot more than 50 people died or are still dying from Chernobyl try between 4000 and 500,000
I can’t argue about the detail but the fact that it is somewhere between 4000 and 500,000 suggests that the number is uncertain and therefore unreliable.
50 was the number of clearly identified deaths directly attributed to the explosion.
The principle that James Lovelock argues is that the balance has shifted. Weighing the destruction from a Chernobyl against the potential catastrophic destruction from global warming is the debate. He says also that the marine, wind solar energy cannot meet the growing appetite for energy. And that oil, and coal is a problem which must be dealt to.
The question of nuclear power should be debated but I hope not from closed minds. The Japanese problem was not from the earthquake but the tsunami and colours the debate. A bad time.
Ianmac you seem to be saying, just because we don’t know the exact numbers killed (and never will) we should take your word that it was “about 50 people”, “50”,”less than 50″, sorry mate can’t swallow that when reliable sources like the WHO http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr38/en/index.html are saying up to 4000
The other major problem you seem to forget is in an increasingly unstable world nuclear power plants are prime targets for terrorists.
Yes, health effects are still a battleground, apart from the people who died from severe radiation numbers are not really known. People are still calling for proper research into the issue of long term effects
There are some really good pics of the area here If nuclear is the answer then the question is wrong, I think.
Except for the minor technicality that nuclear power isn’t actually viable.
viable – capable of being done with means at hand and circumstances as they are.
Sure, we can make them, it’s just not worth it.
Fixed up your definition of the viability of nuclear power there…
If mankind were to suffer a severe disruption in the next week or two, there are an awful lot of nuclear reactors around the world which need to be shut down safely, without which they will fatally contaminate thousands of square km each.
And shutting them down has been demonstrated to be a hell lot harder than one might have thought.
Gen III+ and Gen IV (not yet designed) nuclear reactors promise much safer operation, but the problem of what to do with the resulting nuclear waste for the next 10,000+ years is still intractable.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/apr/24/nuclear-waste-storage?INTCMP=SRCH
Somewhere at the height of the Fukushima crisis a senior nuclear industry spokesperson admitted that not one of the 450 odd commercial reactors currently operating in the world can sustain a 3 day loss of power to the cooling pumps.
Not one. Regardless of how modern or recent the design.
What the hell were we thinking when we made these things?
ianmac: Dr Helen Caldicott has recently released a book that apparently reports on over 5000 Russian documents previously not translated into English. They (it is claimed) show that Chernobyl has actually killed about 1 million people.
Thanks Steve. The outright death toll was fewer than 50 I believe but the evidence of such numbers as Dr Caldicott quote are less sure.
Anyway the possible effect of global warming, might have a far greater harm on people than damage from a 50+ year old ill-designed plant at Chernobyl. A bit like saying air-travel is too dangerous because look what happened to the Hindenburg airship. Sort of.
There’s a difference between the Hindenburg and Chernobyl – several thousand years of difference in fact. The Hindenburg went up in 30 seconds but that was it, over. Chernobyl will be poisoning the area for another few thousand years.
Ukraine seeks Funds
How long before the sarcophagus needs to be rebuilt again? and again?
DTB: I believe that the millions needed for the final solution for Chenobyl is slow in coming from other nations. Recently I think that the money is coming.
But this should not stop the debate.
Lots of on topic reading at the pro-nuke Brave New Climate.
So what’s the solution?
The only solution has to be the overthrow of the social system that has created the problem – production for profit and not need. Our big need is to survive, but that is not profitable. So we eliminate profits and survive. Look to the Arab revolution and the educated youth coming up against the moribund profit system that starves and represses them. They revolt demand democracy and form democratic organs to fight. Dictators kill the unarmed masses, yet the revolution strengthens. No Fear. The barbarism cause armies to defect, and dictators billions to buy mercenaries runs out. The 1% cannot buy the 10% needed to kill the 90%. Total system dysfunction and breakdown. Masses win, unite across borders to form regional, continental and ultimately global socialist society in which allocation of resources to meet basic needs are met. By-product? Eaarth.
I don’t share your confidence in the ability of the masses to overthrow anyone in Western countries. Look at the Libyan situation, at first the rebels where doing okay but eventually started losing badly in the face of the superior weaponry of the government’s forces. The only reason the rebels are still around is because of the support of even more powerful weapons courtesy of NATO. Imagine what chance the general population of a modern Western country (except maybe NZ) would stand if their military was turned against them. Basicallly, as modern weapons provide a huge advantage to anyone possessing them, even 0.1% of the population could successful beat back at revolution of 99.9% of the population. The only chance would be if the whole military refused the carry out their orders and defected, and that is a big if.
wtl your logic leads to a few drones run from the Pentagon ruling the world. Or maybe the Death Star ruling the empire. I think there is a lot to be said for the ragtag army especially a geek ratbag army. Advanced weapons systems still rely on communications and power sources. The Libyan revolutionaries are caught in a contradiction only because the rest of the Arab revolution hasnt caught up yet. If the Egyptian army had already split (is hasnt because its playing cool along with US) then it would have more than dealt to Gaddafi. As it is NATO has its own reasons to get rid of Gaddafi, and its not trying very hard, but that is not equal to installing a new US friendly regime, yet. Once the rats are out of the bag… The main point is that imperialism cannot be cool it has to destroy. Democracy is too costly. For that reason the mass fight for survival and democracy will win.
“God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact.” –Tyler Durden
Maybe that’s why ordinary people accept the laws passed to help the rich Ropata. I am going to be one of the rich soon so good on the Government.
Thanks for raising this issue. It gets almost no mention, other than on Common Dreams, Climate Code Red, Nature Bats Last etc.
392 ppm and rising by around 2 ppm per annum. Not that anyone in government or local government is the least bit interested in that. Their attitude can be summed up by: “We must have growth, whatever the cost! Oh, and rugby. We must have rugby. Lots of people flying and driving, so we can the oil used up quickly and get the CO2 level over 400 ppm soon.”
It is not the current crop of moronic politicans (and civil servants) who ignore all the evidence or the fools who vote for the morons who are going to suffer the worst effects of the environmental meltdown that is underway: it is their children.
The present generation of adults is the first in history to demand continuation of an economic system which destroys their own children’s futures. It’s quite surreal when you think about it.
And yes, ‘green growth’ -the slight tweaking of business as usual- certainly won’t save us. In all probability we are now so far down the wrong track that even if the global industrial economy collapsed next week it wouldn’t help. Positive feedbacks are already kicking in and we are likely to see a rise in temperature that will cause the release of humungous amounts of carbon dioxide and methane from the permafrost, and methane from clathrates. A worst case scenario sees the Earth will be largely uninhabitable by mid-century.
The big question is: Will the collapse of the globalised industrial economic system -flagged for around 2015- will come fast enough to prevent complete meltdown of the environment? Which will we run out of first, oil to burn or air to burn it?
However, we can be quite certain this issue will not be mentioned during the forthcoming election campagns, nor anything else that is happening in the real world.
A lesson most consumers caught in the web of deceit that characterises western societies: Nature doesn’t negotiate.
Nope, we’ve already gone too far.
http://www.peakoilblues.org/blog/?p=2666
Nice one Rob.
‘Eaarth’… What’s the extra ‘a’ for??
There are communities of people who’ve been talking about and finding working solutions to this for some time. As well as the Transition Towns networks, permaculture has also been working on ‘energy decent’ or powerdown. David Holmgren’s work is good because it places the ideas and solutions in an Antipodean context. See this write up from a CSIRO newsletter in 2005 on how to transition our suburbs. Here we can address the crucial issues of food and energy.
http://www.bml.csiro.au/susnetnl/netwl49E.pdf
I really like what McKibben is saying about the internet, and hope the geek communities are readying too to step up and set up localised networks that will survive increasing outages from the big providers.
Having said that, James Lovelock, mentioned earlier in the comments as being a new proponent of nuclear power in the medium term, also says we should be putting all our knowledge into hardcopy locally (because digital is so dependent on oil).
There’s also people in NZ already developping farming and local food production that are better prepared for peak everything and climate change. I agree the situation is really fucking serious, but I also think that it helps to look at what already works and know that we’re not completely unprepared. People get scared when they realise that all our food is dependent on oil and unstable economies. But we still have time to support the people who are already doing the critical work to help us through this mess. Find out who they are in your communities (they’re already there) and how you can support them.
asw: eaten
Government should be putting $4B-$5B a year into projects and regulations focussed on creating and strengthening enduring sustainability infrastructure and robust, localised community networks.
Individual community initiatives are great, and there are several of them around, but we can’t ignore the fact that 95% of people have no contact with anything like that and there is a complete absence of central co-ordination/vision.
Many local bodies do not get it either (although some really do).
Govt should be putting money in, but they’re not and we don’t have time to make that political change happen.
I think alot more than 5% of the population is aware of the issues and starting to make changes. Most of that is due to economics (fuel and food prices) but also the quakes and things like recent years where storms have taken out power supplies for days at a time. The shift in the mainstream in recent years around local food production for instance is heartening.
Networks like TT and permaculture are doing the crucial work without waiting for govts to act or endorse or lead. We can sit on The Standard and wring our hands about what the govt is not doing, but please also support the people in our communities that are already sorting these issue out. Many Maori also are doing important work, and there are other groups as well – if TT and Pc are too fringe try the local Farmers Market or Ooooby. It’s not accurate to categorise these networks as merely ‘several’. It’s also inaccurate to call them individual community initiatives because it renders invisible the importance of the network and how those networks function in the wider community and with each other.
But then I live in the SI where community self reliance is still a core value in most places.
I think that localised leadership (and I’m not talking Councils) is just as important as localised food and energy. We’ll be in much deeper shit if we wait for the politicians to lead us on this one (I know that is anathema for a political blog, but it’s pretty simple – you can’t expect people to vote for you on a three year term if you scare the shit out of them).
Great article, I’ll definitely be looking out for a copy of this book.
I tend to concur with the sentiments being expressed by those who understand the ruling elite are antagonistic to any kind of social or economic change that would diminish their personal status and standard of living. I don’t accept that most people are willfully indifferent to the dangers facing humanity, I believe the information on which they exercise their decision making processes has become so heavily loaded with corporate misinformation campaigns that they have been effectively alienated from reality.
I have faith that corporate propaganda will end up being one of the main ropes from which the class enemy will hang. Telling the big lie often enough does not work when reality is at an observably contrary extreme. It is in all our interests, for those of us who have the time and inclination, to absorb the information provided by the likes of McKibben and relay it as clearly and articulately as we possibly can. We may be shouted down, laughed at or ignored, that does not matter when reality is so relentlessly demonstrating what we say is occurring with greater immediacy.
The current uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa are harbingers of the social upheaval the West will experience at home.
Great review. I am going to kill myself now.
Hopefully, taking a few others with me
It will be good for our “Clean Green Image”
I was just reading about your performance at hot topic. If you’ve determined that this course of action will allow you to haunt the blogs more effectively, then I couldn’t possibly stand in your way. But I would urge you to not take anyone else with you. This is your own private matter rather than being an opportunity to be further exercise your exhibitionistic tendencies.
However I would counsel you that it is unlikely to change anyone’s mind apart from making me more willing to report such random threats to the police.
Personally I would suggest that actually learning some science to the point that you understand what people are talking about is a preferable course of action. Yes I know that it is a harder row to hoe. Bu then you might be able to understand some of what you have been reading for many years.