The Standard

Environment

Categories under Environment

North Island weather bomb

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 pm, April 4th, 2017 - 28 comments

Further very heavy rain is expected over the North Island in the next 12 hours. Civil Emergencies have been declared in several places.

Greenpeace got themselves a bigger boat…

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, April 2nd, 2017 - 59 comments

“Yours is an honourable mission with the power to bring alive the conscience of the world”

Trumping Idiocy

Written By: - Date published: 4:59 pm, March 29th, 2017 - 28 comments

If you are absolutely determined to be one of the idiot legion who’re forever squirreling their heads deeper into sand, then don’t read this post.

Right-wing American stupidity is now a global crisis

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, March 29th, 2017 - 47 comments

The Trump regime has begun the process of dismantling environmental protections in America, including those designed to limit carbon emissions / climate change.

Isn’t that convenient

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, March 29th, 2017 - 50 comments

A full report into the Havelock North water crisis has been delayed until (surprise!) after the election.

Another reason for water pricing

Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, March 28th, 2017 - 19 comments

The Government will be embarassed by another example of a corporation planning to extract ten billion litres of fresh water a year essentially at no cost which has arisen.

Down the Gurgler.

Written By: - Date published: 4:18 pm, March 27th, 2017 - 69 comments

Getting sick, tired and angry of this malarkey.

Global oil and global decline

Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, March 26th, 2017 - 26 comments

Peak oil is being talked again with suggestions that it may be only 5 years away.  And Saudi Arabia’s Aramco is thinking of starting to divest itself of its petroleum assets.

Jam tomorrow

Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, March 25th, 2017 - 85 comments

It’s too hard! We’ll do it later! Auckland airport rail is just the latest example.

This Government’s citizenship priorities

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, March 24th, 2017 - 52 comments

Environmental activist Michael Tavares request for an exceptional circumstances grant of citizenship has been refused by this Government whereas right wing libertarian Peter Thiel’s request for an exceptional circumstances grant of citizenship was granted. Why the difference?

Oil prospecting on the shores of Lake Te Anau?

Written By: - Date published: 3:10 pm, March 22nd, 2017 - 22 comments

The Nats are buying another fight with NZ’s nature lovers. Last time they tried something like this 50,000 marched in Auckland and they were forced to back down.

Greenpeace protesting oil conference in New Plymouth

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, March 22nd, 2017 - 3 comments

Greenpeace protestors are blockading an oil conference in New Plymouth. “If we’re to have a future, oil can have no future.”

Climate Change and Us

Written By: - Date published: 4:02 pm, March 21st, 2017 - 4 comments

3 major environmental reports today – the OECD says our economy is beyond environmental limits; a cross party group of MPs sponsor research into the way to net zero emissions; and the World Meteorological Organisation has a stark look at continued climate change.

OECD: NZ growth model reaching its environmental limits

Written By: - Date published: 12:08 pm, March 21st, 2017 - 41 comments

New Zealand is about to reach the limits of growth.

Living Economies Expo

Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, March 21st, 2017 - 2 comments

“Imagine a country which respects the living planet; whose people enjoy fair land tenure, good housing, good health, wholesome food, a rewarding livelihood, free education, a compassionate justice system, and an adequate income: a country with an inclusive democracy grounded in vibrant communities.”

National’s water problem

Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, March 21st, 2017 - 48 comments

The Government’s timid backdown on water charging is placing it in a very uncomfortable position.

NRT: “Too hard”

Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, March 20th, 2017 - 54 comments

No Right Turn: “The real barrier to National … acting on this is because that “no-one owns water, first come, first served” policy disproportionately benefits one group and allows them to profiteer from a public resource while destroying its value to others. That group is farmers – and they donate to the National Party.”

Sunday Book Club

Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, March 19th, 2017 - 32 comments

What if our production methods were designed to produce health, beauty,  and permanence?

Climate change – beyond the politics and the maths and the fear

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, March 17th, 2017 - 66 comments

Climate change is the most important issue of all time. Beyond the politics and the maths and the fear there is simply doing the right thing.

TS Book Club this Sunday

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, March 17th, 2017 - Comments Off on TS Book Club this Sunday

We will be discussing Small is Beautiful – Economics as if People Mattered by E. F. Schumacher.

Nick Smith is a disgrace

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, March 14th, 2017 - 32 comments

In a functioning democracy Nick Smith’s handling of the Resource Management Bill should result in him losing his ministerial warrant.

There are no surpluses

Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, March 14th, 2017 - 38 comments

There are no surpluses in NZ right now, not in any real sense. There is only debt, negative externalities and deferred costs.

Climate change, weather bombs, and the infrastructure that we need

Written By: - Date published: 10:23 am, March 12th, 2017 - 62 comments

The effects of climate change are here, now, playing out in the flooded north. We should be preparing, we should be hardening critical infrastructure like Auckland’s fresh water supply. Instead of building – you know – more roads.

Community groups abandon Smith’s water forum

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, March 11th, 2017 - 14 comments

Will Nick Smith get the message and set in place a realistic consultation process and safe standards, or will he persist with a plan so bad that no one wants to be associated with it?

TOP climate change policy

Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, March 10th, 2017 - 21 comments

Morgan’s TOP climate change policy is out, and it commits to “net zero carbon emissions by 2050”. There’s lots to like…

Roads not health

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, March 9th, 2017 - 98 comments

A new coalition protests health under-funding, while the cost of the holiday highway blows out. Our government has its priorities all screwed up.

Swimmable standards that aren’t for all of our rivers except most of them

Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, March 5th, 2017 - 21 comments

Swimmable standards that aren’t, for all of our rivers except most of them, sometime maybe not now. Nat policy at its finest.

Labour: Greens are the first cab off the rank

Written By: - Date published: 7:38 am, March 3rd, 2017 - 19 comments

Andrew Little has confirmed that the Green Party will be first party Labour looks to for a coalition deal after the election.

The Nats’ new ‘swimmable’ rivers aren’t

Written By: - Date published: 3:08 pm, February 28th, 2017 - 15 comments

Under the new standards we have up to a 1 in 6 risk of serious infection at the times that we actually swim in rivers, and Smith is trying to hide this fact by fudging around with year-long averages. David Parker’s analysis yesterday was bang on.

Green Party Member’s Bill to protect freshwater

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, February 27th, 2017 - 16 comments

You can’t afford a house because of – plants!

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, February 27th, 2017 - 58 comments

I’m used to hearing some pretty pathetic excuses out of the National government. But this will really take some beating.