Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, December 19th, 2012 - 44 comments
Green Party co-leader, Metiria Turei, was confident and clear on TV3, talking about their consistent, disciplined & successful year &: the RONS tax, MP pay rise, government’s poor record, the economy, printing money, jobs, equality issues and child poverty. Little on green issues. Zero on the climate. [Update] Turei RNZ interviews.
Written By: - Date published: 5:16 pm, December 18th, 2012 - 83 comments
This is one of a series of posts I hope to write over the summer based to some extent or other on a recent presentation by Kevin Anderson: Professor of Energy and Climate Change, University of Manchester, Tyndall Centre.
Written By: - Date published: 11:42 am, December 17th, 2012 - 7 comments
I’m sure our thoughts are all with Fiji as it braces itself for disaster.
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, December 14th, 2012 - 42 comments
With the GFC, changing climate and resource depletion, the struggles of the powerless get over-looked. Asia-Pacific has been described as the focal point of a new cold war. Storms in Samoa and the Philippines, a rocket launch from North Korea. How should we respond?
Written By: - Date published: 9:53 pm, December 11th, 2012 - 17 comments
A win for the Nats, a loss for the country. The Maori Council’s request for a judicial review of water rights has been rejected.
Written By: - Date published: 6:48 am, December 11th, 2012 - 10 comments
Auckland City Council is developing a computational model of the predicted sewage-related pollution at its beaches. A forecast for sewage, a Shitcast if you will. I’m not protesting the idea of forecasting pollution. I’m protesting the sad fact that it is necessary in “100% Pure” NZ. I think John Key needs to find himself some different advisors to tell him it isn’t so.
Written By: - Date published: 2:12 pm, December 10th, 2012 - 14 comments
The climate change talks still grind on every year, but nothing useful seems to happen as a result. The recently concluded Doha talks are no exception. By the time the Power Shift generation takes over they will be facing a near impossible task.
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, December 10th, 2012 - 33 comments
Transmission Gully is meant to cost about a billion dollars to deliver about half that in benefits, right? Well, thanks to the magic of Public Private Partnerships, National’s managed to triple that cost! If they manage to get the contract signed before the next election, they’ll lock us into annual payments of $120-$130m – totaling $3 billion over 25 years.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, December 9th, 2012 - 3 comments
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere. This week: Tax-shaming and the real shirkers, climate change, disability month and happiness.
Written By: - Date published: 8:29 am, December 6th, 2012 - 49 comments
“It can only get worse from here.” – that’s the Automobile Association’s numbers man on petrol prices. It’s quite a revelation because, until now, the AA has been firmly part of the dinosaur establishment that has been insisting petrol prices will ‘soon’ fall to ‘normal’. Mark Stockdale also gets the logical response to peak oil – stop building sprawl, reduce consumption.
Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, December 4th, 2012 - 66 comments
Climate Change Minister Tim Groser has defended the Nats’ decision to drop out of the Kyoto treaty, describing the move as “ahead of the curve”. Quite apart from being absolutely stupid short-term thinking and a pathetic abdication of leadership, the idea that this retreat is “ahead of the curve” is a rather unfortunate turn of phrase.
Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, December 3rd, 2012 - 9 comments
A week of [updated: video] protests against the secretive TPP began today outside entrance to Sky City Convention Centre, where the latest round of TPP negotiations are being held. The majority of Kiwis are not happy with the secrecy. Jane Kelsey & Canadian Peter Clark identify problems.
Written By: - Date published: 11:34 am, November 29th, 2012 - 14 comments
Anthony has already mentioned the amazing record of us winning both first and second prize in the first Fossil of the Day awards at the Doha climate talks – quite a remarkable achievement, particularly for a nation that trades on its “100% Pure” environmental credentials. Over at Pundit Claire Browning has an extensive list of […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, November 28th, 2012 - 111 comments
With its head deep in the rapidly warming sands, John Key and the National government have been rolling back climate change measures. We are not even “fast followers”, we are stand-out obstacles to progress, and subject to international ridicule. On climate change they have made me ashamed to be a New Zealander. They shame us all as a nation.
Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, November 27th, 2012 - 103 comments
Today The Hobbit employment dispute is revived, exposing gaps between principle and practice. Jackson defends his role; some of Labour’s ABC club will attend the premier; John Key-speak weaves a contradictory path of populist nonsense, linking the movie, 100%Pure, 100% Middle-earth and Macdonald’s.
Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, November 27th, 2012 - 70 comments
There are some similar things between McDonald’s and New Zealand – they’re both currently run by a clown at any rate – but I didn’t think cynical marketing was one of them. Apparently Key is “lovin’ it” how our rivers and lakes are far from “100% Pure”.
Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, November 26th, 2012 - 50 comments
Reprinted with permission from Local Bodies. See also the anonymous editorial in The Herald today – written no doubt by some genius who has never even looked at Dr Joy’s data, let alone understood its implications.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, November 25th, 2012 - 14 comments
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere. This week: politicians, economies, elections, feminism and climate change.
Written By: - Date published: 7:06 am, November 24th, 2012 - 37 comments
Hot on the heels of his bold stand against environmental scientists, uber-lobbyist Mark Unsworth has come out swinging against the police and crown law over their unpatriotic highlighting of crime in New Zealand.
Written By: - Date published: 3:10 pm, November 21st, 2012 - 47 comments
Humans tend to feel we have conquered nature, but, every now and then, we are reminded that we are dependent on it. Maori have continued to have more respect for the awesome power of nature. Tongariro has had a relatively minor eruption today.
Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, November 21st, 2012 - 20 comments
John Key’s crony-capitalist, neoliberal government is failing NZ on the environment, affordable housing, and a living wage. Mana and the Greens are leading the way on affordable housing and anti-poverty campaigns. The Greens still lead the way on pressing environmental issues.
Written By: - Date published: 3:40 pm, November 19th, 2012 - 4 comments
Two years ago, on this day, the Pike River tragedy began. Twenty nine miners lost their lives, may they rest in peace. Their families are living with the aftermath. A private gathering for around 150 family members is in progress at the Pike River memorial garden in Atarau. A minute’s silence is being observed at the time of the first explosion, 3:44pm.
Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, November 18th, 2012 - 4 comments
These are exciting days as the Labour Party becomes more democratic. In their reports on the Conference, the MSM are failing to focus on the important issues: ones requiring a new direction from the Left, such as damaging white collar fraud and the urgent need for affordable housing.
Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, November 15th, 2012 - 29 comments
Unemployment at record highs, current account deficit in trouble, the economy is stagnant, exodus to Australia, National is failing by every performance measure that they set themselves. The completely frustrating thing is that there is a clear and rational way forward, if only we have the wisdom to take it.
Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, November 13th, 2012 - 70 comments
NZ Herald: ‘David Shearer is brushing off a crescendo of calls for him to step down by left-leaning bloggers and commentators, saying it is “nonsense” and should be ignored.’
Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, November 13th, 2012 - 80 comments
John Key doesn’t want NZ to be a leader in the fight against climate change. Much better to be a lemming (sorry – a “fast follower”) and follow all the other lemmings off the cliff.
Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, November 11th, 2012 - 56 comments
John Key’s selling out of NZ workers’ rights, tourism industry and identity to Hollywood, the TPP and US corporates, has reached a new low. OIA papers reveal the extent to which Warners is dictating the NZ government’s promotion of 100% Middle-earth.
Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, November 8th, 2012 - 25 comments
While the professional mainstream media were all chanting in unison that the American presidential election was “too close to call”, one (famous!) blogger correctly predicted the result – for every state.
Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, November 7th, 2012 - 107 comments
Voting starts. What will the new president do about Climate Change? For good or ill, America has a tradition of global leadership. When it comes to climate change America needs to lead more actively in the world – not from behind, but from the front. Will Obama be that president? Will Romney? Or will we have to wait another four more terrible years of rudderless inaction?
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, November 7th, 2012 - 54 comments
On Monday John Key admitted in an interview that Pike River Coal compromised safety for profits. On Tuesday Jon Key insisted in Parliament that such a suggestion was ridiculous. Which John Key should we believe? Can he even remember what he is saying from one day to the next? Does he care?
Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, November 6th, 2012 - 17 comments
Among the many failures of human cognition, we’re very poor at taking account of warnings of future risk and consequence. We’ve seen two particularly clear and strong examples of ignoring the warnings in NZ politics in the last two weeks. There are many other cases ongoing…
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