Yes, we’re screwed
On Monday, New Yorkers discovered their free rightwing rag, the New York Post, had suddenly come over all green. The front-page was typical […]
Environment
Understanding political behaviour
It seems political scientists could learn a thing or two from anthropologists after all. “Neanderthals were not the gentle, almost-human creatures portrayed in […]
Wake up
The Global Climate Wake-up Call is happening today. It’s a grassroots way for people to say we want our leaders to do more […]
Nats’ ETS a polluters’ charter
Rod Oram, as usual, has set the standard in commentary with his piece on the National-Maori Party ETS. The full article is here […]
Politics more than politicking
I get sick of hearing our illustrious fourth estate refer to some piece of politicking as ‘good politics’. Who decides what’s ‘good politics’? The commentators, […]
CCD Myth: The planets are warming
We haven’t seen much of this myth in NZ. However it shows some good examples of selective reading of news articles and papers […]
Sniffing the breeze on climate change
Climate change and the Emissions Trading Scheme are front and centre of political comment at the moment it seems. I thought this item […]
Open Country polluting our rivers too
The Talleys and National Party-linked Open Country Cheese is currently trying to run its factory without its workers as it attempts to bust […]
CCD Myth: 1998 and all that
If you are in love with the concept that 1998 was the warmest year on record (wrong by the way), don’t watch this. […]
Peak metals
We’re probably all now aware of the idea of peak oil. The earth is finite, and we can’t suck an infinite amount of […]
A solar future?
You can read more about it here.
Fed farmers frothing
A virulent attack on Greenpeace in a press release by Federated Farmers president, Don Nicholson, convinces me that Greenpeace are hitting the mark. […]
Corporate welfare
I’ve got no problem with the government helping out those who are genuinely in need but forcing the taxpayer fork out $400 million […]
Nick Smith’s dirty dealing
Labour’s Charles Chauvel has released the paper records of Labour’s attempts to agree a bi-partisan ETS with National. In total, Labour presented three […]
It isn’t a game
People who treat politics as a game annoy me. People who see it all in terms of power and cliques and scoring points […]
Foreshore nomoreshore
Two chilling articles from last week’s Guardian Weekly just finished, both about the consequences of the world’s water getting warmer faster than expected. […]
Short term thinkers
It never ceases to amaze me what short term thinkers National are. The plan (with the Maori Party) to gut the ETS highlights […]
Taxpayer shafted again
National seems to be making a bit of a habit of shafting the taxpayer. Before the election we were promised significant tax cuts, […]
No deal
Hot Topic has obtained a copy of a draft memorandum of understanding for a meeting on the ETS that was meant to take place […]
Kaupapa for sale
A few important passages from the special select committee report on the Emissions Trading Scheme: In the long term, price caps stand in […]
It’s the economy, stupid
What a lot of people don’t seem to understand is that an emissions trading scheme has two points: 1) encourage reductions in emissions […]
Maori Party to help Nats kill carbon emissions cap
Nick Smith has just announced a deal with the Maori Party to replace the existing Emissions Trading Scheme with a do-nothing joke. The […]
Examining the scientific consensus on climate change
There was an interesting preview paper published back in January by by Peter Doran and Maggie Kendall Zimmerman. It sheds light on how […]
Labour and the RMA
No Right Turn and Frogblog both have pieces up on Labour’s decision to vote in support of the Government’s moves to gut the […]
Climate cast aways
That prolific climate campaign – Sign On – has been casting its mark across the Capital, with a new motif popping up on […]
Shock, Horror – Infratil managers strike for more pay!
Yesterday Infratil got their NZ Bus hand-puppets to announce that they will be going on strike. On Wednesday, if the bus-drivers refuse to […]
Rod Oram: Burn after reading
As usual Rod Oram presents an insightful argument: New Zealand’s climate change credibility is hanging by a thread. If the government indulges in […]
Heavy-handed tactics from NZ Bus
Auckland bus drivers have been in negotiations with NZ Bus (which is owned by Infratil) for a 70 cent an hour pay rise. […]
Flood Maps
Marty G’s last post just reminded me of this – visualise who goes under as the oceans rise with Flood Maps. And yeah, […]
Climate change in action
The world’s oceans reached a record high temperature in July of 16.37 degrees, 0.59 degrees above the 20th century average. That might not […]
Climate change is racist
Climate change is racist. Not literally of course, but in the sense that how people are affected by climate change is going to […]
Diffusion of responsibility
Diffusion of responsibility means that the bigger the group the less chance that anyone in the group will take action. In a typical […]
10:10
The scientists say we need to reduce our greenhouse emissions by 40% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 if we want to even […]
Protect our natural heritage
The Greens are leading a petition campaign, asking Parliament to: reject any move to mine our national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, marine reserves, protected […]
Are you smarter than a 10th year?
Meet Robert Wadlow. When he died in 1940, he was the tallest ever recorded person, standing 8 feet, 11 and a half inches […]
Foodstuffs: Voluntary regulation fails
I find myself in the curious position of sympathising with a company reneging on an environmental promise. Foodstuffs announced yesterday that the charge […]