House arrest for Paris activists
Why are the so called leaders meeting at COP21 so afraid of public demonstrations? Let the people have their say…
Environment
Jarrod Gilbert 1 – Windmills 0
About time the Police got around to becoming a “very evidence based” service. Building great relationships with academia is a sensible way to start.
NZ Weather Report (2050)
Jarrod Gilbert is tilting at windmills
The Official Information Act is now moribund and access to information beyond its scope is granted only to a chosen few and under strict conditions.
The People’s Climate March – Saturday or Sunday
With just days to go before the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) it is time for we the people to make our voices heard. See the list of People’s Climate March events around the country this weekend – most are on Saturday, some are on Sunday.
RMA announcement
Changes to the RMA have just been announced.
Updated.
Why the ETS Review needs to include agriculture
John Key has stated that within three to four years New Zealand’s scientists will have a solution for agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. If this is correct why has the Government just released a discussion paper on the ETS ruling out agricultural emissions because there are no practical technologies available to reduce them?
Greenpeace – Climb It Change – protest
This morning Greenpeace activists occupied a NIWA oil and gas exploration vessel. #ClimbItChange
Blueskin Bay
The Blueskin Bay settlement north of Dunedin provides an example of people working collectively at a local level to live sustainably.
The People’s climate march
Nationwide protest marches are planned in New Zealand on November 28 in the run up to the Paris Climate Change talks to give the message to world leaders that real action to address climate change is required.
The future is not going to be an Ecotopia
The way to keep people occupied during this period of “Pretend and Extend” is to keep a steady stream of establishment fairytales (and horror stories) flowing.
Andrew Little on Pike River
The fifth anniversary of the Pike River disaster has just occurred. This post records some comments made by Andrew Little on his recollection of the day after.
National willfully stupidly blind on climate change
As the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment warns of the risks of sea level rises and recommends action, National are clear that they will take none. They are determined to leave all the risks and costs of climate change to future governments.
Chris Trotter is on fire
“What differentiates the Left from the Right is the former’s fundamental rejection of the strongest human-beings’ proclivity to dominate, coerce and exploit the weakest. Without this proclivity, none of the economic and social systems elaborated by armed minorities throughout history could have endured.”
Indeed.
The third Industrial Revolution
The Paris climate change talks will force leaders to confront climate change and the threat of terrorism at the same time. Can they show the same determination to deal with the gradual but inevitable threat of climate change as they purport to show to deal with the immediate threat of terrorism.
Making the Opposition the Enemy –
It takes fortitude to admit you are wrong. That’s right, not weakness but, strength, courage, resilience, grit, determination, endurance, guts, and staying power. When you won’t admit you are wrong you end up having to justify wrong decisions. That takes time and energy (and money) away from what actually needs to be done for the greater good. John Key won’t admit he is wrong. Because of this he has to keep going down several paths of “wrongness”, and because he is Prime MInister, he is taking us all with him. Some people think he does admit he made mistakes. But when you examine the few instances closer (if you can find them), it looks like something else.
EPA to be gutted – for doing its job
Looks like National is planning to take over the Environmental Protection Agency.
The free market’s inability to handle climate change
Two recent events, one involving a WTO challenge to India’s subsidy for local Solar Panel manufacturers and the other the local review of New Zealand’s electricity grid suggest that the free market is not the best mechanism to use to create sustainable electricity supply.
The Pacific as we know it is doomed
“‘Unless the world acts decisively in coming weeks, the Pacific as we know it is doomed,’ says Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama”. Odds of the world acting decisively in the coming weeks – effectively nil.
DoC Staff Striking during Conservation Week
How far removed from a ‘cloth-capped mob of union-stirrers and industrial saboteurs’ would the staff of the Department of Conservation be? These people […]
Fouling our nest
New Zealand is a beautiful country, and tourism is our second biggest earner of foreign exchange. We’d be stupid to trash the place, right?
Indonesia is burning
There is a catastrophic event happening in one of the world’s more populous nations which is receiving very little attention from the media. Indonesia is burning and no one is paying attention
Food Bank Charity
Guest post from Kōrero Pono on the politics and ethics of food banks.
Technology and the law – and going after Hager
A recent supreme court ruling that a “stored sequence of bytes” constitutes property is pretty bizarre – and it seems to be being used to go after Nicky Hager.
Portugal
This is going to end well…
Let them drink beer
Health Minister Coleman provides another salient example of the surreal lengths that National will go to in order to avoid facing up to truths that they don’t approve of.
Pressure mounts to force Auckland to open up land
Serious Fraud Office, Productivity Commission, Council failings, under-supply of houses, Developer Greed… a recipe for disaster
Rugby or global leadership?
John Key seems to prefer that New Zealand provides leadership in entertainment than in the areas that really matter.
Jane Kelsey on Groser’s proven breach of duty
“Throughout the TPPA negotiations Minister Groser sought to justify their obsessive secrecy with a mantra that ‘it’s always done this way’. That was parroted unquestioningly by every fellow travelling journo and politician, and others who were unwilling to challenge the Minister, despite being told that was untrue.
Groser changed his tune during the case, arguing that ‘every agreement is different’ and the TPPA is special. Why the shift?
NRT: Dictatorship in Canterbury, dictatorship in Parliament
I/S at No Right Turn writes on the continued suspension of democracy in Canterbury.
Anat Shenker-Osorio on the creation of left metaphors
Communications Anat Shenker-Osorio has some simple messages for Labour in its quest for Government. The left’s strongest advantage is its care for people rather than the economy and the message that will resonate is a positive one emphasising the care of people and the environment.
Climate and Trade
The proposed TPP is a protection racket – not a trade deal.
Let’s send Renée Rose Annan to Paris to counter Tim Groser
A young Auckland Green, Renée Rose Annan is fundraising to travel to the Paris Conference on climate change.
NRT: An empty strategy
I/S at No Right Turn on the government’s National Statement of Science Investment . (Meant to repost this earlier in the week!)
TPP roundup
A roundup of the best analysis of and reaction to the TPP. The gains are minor and delayed, the losses are real. In NZ we don’t have any democratic input into ratification, but the US does, and the deal may fall there.
Exxon knew
Exxon knew all about global warming and the “hockey stick” all the way back in 1981. Naturally the course of action they decided on was to lie and deny.