“Is there even a point in having the Greens anymore?”
Yes lefties, there is, and it’s not rocket science.
weka
What the Greens did
A round up of the Green Party’s achievements in the 2020 Budget: funding for nature, the commitment to ending violence, and public housing and insulation. And a look at the pragmatics of what the Greens can currently accomplish.
MSM asking questions in a democracy
Too much repetition, or the wrong questions?
Trump’s not so bad: manslaughter edition
An occasional series
Covid =/= Rogernomics
Using neoliberal ideas to try and remedy a situation where neoliberalism is very sick indeed is kind of like pouring salt on the wound. Fortunately we have new, emerging models of how run society that can also serve us well in a covid and climate world.
Trump’s not so bad: the inject bleach edition
an occasional series.
“The government will never do that”
Say it out loud: Degrowth.
The Green Party list
The Green’s initial party list has three new candidates in the top ten.
Please sort this out MoH
Frontline home care workers and their clients still don’t have adequate protection from covid.
Greenpeace’s Green Covid Response
Oil giant OMV finally leave New Zealand, and Greenpeace releases its Green Covid Response plan to the government.
Tourism is the elephant in the living room
Rather than saving an industry that has multiple sustainability and resiliency failures, how about we regenerate local economies and set them to serve our communities?
Generational astrology
In the time of coronavirus, we can move from blame to connection.
Ardern’s announcement about the new 4 level alert system for coronavirus
Please be strong, be kind, and unite against Covid-19
– Jacinda Ardern.
What kind of system change do we want right now?
As mainstream systems are forced to adapt to the new state of affairs in a covid world, what are the bigger picture changes that need to happen so that we are future-proofing our communities at the same time?
Jacinda Arden’s request of New Zealanders
An update from Labour on covid prevention.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act have a few landlords threatening to quit the business.
Happy cows and land restoration
The point here isn’t to go ‘boo vegans’, it’s to point starkly to the problems with the current food and environment debate, and show case the pathways beyond the meat/no meat binary.
UBI: what is it good for?
Please don’t let economists, lefties, the right, or TOP design a UBI until we start talking about bolting welfare on. Here’s why.
The right politicising the coronavirus
NACT’s values are showing.
Climate and food security: annual cropping vs regenerative agriculture
Science is showing that global food security is now at risk from climate change, farmers and gardeners are showing us how to adapt and mitigate at the same time.
What if plant-based wasn’t the answer?
Instead of burning the world a bit more slowly, how about we don’t burn it at all?
Southland floods and toxic waste
As Southland starts post-flood recovery, the question arises of why 10,000 tonnes of waste known to become toxic on exposure to water was allowed to be stored on the banks of a river with known flood risk in a building with known flood risk?
Trump’s not so bad
an occasional series.
How fast can we transition off fossil fuels?
We’re at the tension point between the fear a fast transition will deprive us vs the fear that not acting fast enough will lead to climate change depriving us. Climate activists fear the latter, incrementalists fear the former.
He wasn’t here to help us, was he
The utter failure of the Australian Prime Minister to lead during the bushfire crisis reminds us that it’s care for our children and communities that drives climate action. When people mobilise politicians will follow.
How To Get There: New Years Day edition
It’s tempting to think of the 2020s as the do or die decade, but deep, abiding, life affirming change will come from framing that also makes people feel good.
Protection from the climate crisis ruled a fundamental human right
In a groundbreaking decision, the Netherlands’ Supreme Court has ruled that the climate crisis is a human rights issue, and “the government must take urgent action on climate change to protect the fundamental rights of its people”.
Having us squabble over the welfare pie
When we hear a supposedly progressive economist talking about elderly people as decrepit, or rendering the elderly poor invisible, it’s time to revisit our moral compass.
Listening to left wing dissent
What stands out for me are the voices of the people who are saying actually, there were solid reasons for abandoning Labour, this is why I did. There’s something important here about really listening to dissent and being willing to engage with views that don’t make sense in the context of our own personal ideologies.
Lefties on The Standard: UK election edition
A dedicated post on The Standard providing a discussion space for left-wing people only.
Thawing after the BRR
“The purpose of fiscal policy should be to ensure ongoing wellbeing for all and the health of our environment.”
Rent increased over 40% under National (Key years)
Now Simon Bridges as a bridge to sell you.
ACC are bankrolling the climate crisis
Why is ACC dragging the chain on fossil fuel divestment, and why is Labour letting them?
The plastics problem
It’s easy to mock the government’s latest single-use plastics ban, but the comprehensive plan it arises from is impressive work from Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage, including the shift to systems thinking and the far reaching implications of the government adopting this approach.
Disarming New Zealand
what are the connections between armed police patrols, gendered violence, and a gun lobby protest outside a school?
The risk of climate tipping points is upon us
Seven senior climate scientists have written a piece in Nature updating the science on climate catastrophe and urging action.