Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, December 21st, 2009 - 33 comments
I’m trying not to get too depressed about the lack of an outcome at Copenhagen. As one analyst put it – “Leaders came to Copenhagen to rewrite history and left having made a few notes in the margin”. Not good enough. However, with or without a formal agreement, it was always going to come down […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, December 20th, 2009 - 99 comments
So Copenhagen has ended in failure. I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed. As The Guardian reports: Low targets, goals dropped: Copenhagen ends in failure Deal thrashed out at talks condemned as climate change scepticism in action The UN climate summit reached a weak outline of a global agreement in Copenhagen tonight, falling far short […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, December 19th, 2009 - 5 comments
As the final stages of diplomatic chaos play out in Copenhagen, and with at least the possibility of some truly significant goals emerging, the world is teetering on a knife edge this morning. I hope that Obama has had plenty of time to think about this letter – reposted from SignOn: Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:02 pm, December 18th, 2009 - 18 comments
Words: Prime Minister John Key has urged the world’s major economies to listen to the voices of vulnerable nations facing climate change. .. The current system of limited participation under the Kyoto Protocol had to be moved to one of “comprehensive global coverage”, he said. “For this to be achieved we need international commitments from […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, December 18th, 2009 - 67 comments
Photograph: Christian Charisius/Reuters Earlier in the year there was a lot of media attention on the police tactics at the G20 Summit in London. How depressing to see the same heavy handed approach being deployed in Copenhagen. A reported 100,000 protesters marched in a mostly peaceful event last Saturday, and further marches and events followed […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, December 17th, 2009 - 76 comments
Well, that could have been embarrassing. John Key on the world stage, along with leaders of other countries in what has been billed the ‘greatest debate on Earth’ had the potential to be very painful. It goes without saying that he would have treated the whole thing as a PR event. National was already preparing […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, December 17th, 2009 - 41 comments
More details here.
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, December 17th, 2009 - 119 comments
Here’s a prediction. Transmission Gully will never be built. There’s a reason that Labour kept pushing Transmission Gully off. The Benefit/Cost ratio is sh*t. “It is likely that the benefit-cost ratio for the Transmission Gully route is less than 1” says Joyce. Disgracefully, NZTA is too ashamed to publish the actual number. Transmission Gully will […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, December 16th, 2009 - 72 comments
Cartoon by Nick Anderson.
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, December 16th, 2009 - 54 comments
There are some very wealthy industries that make their money off burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases. It is in their financial interest to prevent action to tackle climate change, so they fund lobby groups and denier propaganda. There is a large population of ‘useful idiots‘ who soak up this propaganda and repeat it. They […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, December 15th, 2009 - 40 comments
In a recent post my good friend and fellow concern troll DPF covered the Associated Press review of the leaked “climategate” materials. The review concluded that the science of global warming was genuine. But DPF had some concerns: “My worry is that there is now a mindset where only data that fits the thesis is […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, December 15th, 2009 - 91 comments
According to myth (it seems), Lenin called socialists in the West ‘useful idiots’ – people whose ideological fervour saw them accidentally aid the realpolitik aims of the USSR. Similarly, an army of useful idiots are the greenhouse polluters’ best weapon as they attempt to save their right to pollute for profit. These are people who […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, December 14th, 2009 - 27 comments
I could hardly believe my ears when I heard Waatea News on RNZ this morning. Pita Sharples admitted that the Maori Party knew supporting National’s ETS would mean worse environmental outcomes and would cost the country $110 billion in subsidies for polluters but they did it anyway to keep the price of fuel a bit […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, December 14th, 2009 - 46 comments
In a year when New Zealand factory farming practices for pigs (and earlier for chickens) have been widely exposed and shocked the country, our dairy industry is looking at adopting similar practices for dairy cows. In a year when climate change has been on the world agenda as never before, our dairy industry is attempting […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, December 14th, 2009 - 93 comments
This is the first in a three part series on the climate change denial industry. I’m trying to understand why there is such a powerful, well-funded, and ideologically solid body of opposition to a body of scientific evidence that even the scientists employed by one of the chief denier lobby groups called “undeniable” (in a […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, December 13th, 2009 - 39 comments
I think it is a pity that the currently dominant country / culture in the world, America, has had such a short history. Pakeha history in New Zealand suffers from the same limitation. All of our history has been about expansion and growth. “Progress”. It seems to us to be the natural state of affairs. […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:31 pm, December 11th, 2009 - 116 comments
Strongly worded piece by Chris Trotter this morning: In the war for nature, the deniers are traitors … The question of why war, alone of all our endeavours, possesses the power to inspire such tremendous collective exertions and unstinting sacrifices by human communities is not a new one. Ninety-three years ago, the American scholar William […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:46 am, December 11th, 2009 - 41 comments
Thanks to our dear Prime Minister John Key, New Zealand is being branded an international ‘fossil’ on climate change. Stuff.co.nz reports Prime Minister John Key’s comments on climate change have come to the world’s attention, earning New Zealand a “fossil of the day” award at the Copenhagen climate change negotiations. The awards are a hall […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:19 am, December 11th, 2009 - 8 comments
Fitzsimons: If Barack Obama comes to Copenhagen saying ‘yes we can do much more’ will the Prime Minister say ‘no we can’t, but can I still have a photo-op?’
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, December 10th, 2009 - 82 comments
Climate change has melted the sea ice where polar bears catch seals. Starving, they are turning to cannibalism. Here a male bear takes the remains of a cub, which it had taken from its mother. This is climate change. This is just the beginning. I have a terrible feeling that this picture is an omen of things […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, December 9th, 2009 - 15 comments
In America the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just ruled that greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of the American people”, and that they are pollutants that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Ho hum, so what? Quite the opposite. It isn’t clearly spelled out in much of the media coverage, […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, December 9th, 2009 - 52 comments
O’Sullivan“[Key] indicated that one of the reasons why he had been loath to sign up earlier for the Copenhagen event was because it would clash with the Fleetwood Mac gig”. He went on to make some bad puns about Fleetwood Mac-based headlines. Let me get this straight. Key wanted to skip the meeting to determine […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, December 8th, 2009 - 20 comments
Yesterday 56 newspapers in 45 countries published a “global editorial” – the same joint statement – most of them on their front page. This is an unprecedented step in the face of a profound emergency. You can find a list of the papers (with links to their copies of the editorial) here. It is sad […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:02 pm, December 5th, 2009 - 18 comments
Depressing reading in this piece by George Monbiot on Canada: So here I am, watching the astonishing spectacle of a beautiful, cultured nation turning itself into a corrupt petro-state. Canada is slipping down the development ladder, retreating from a complex, diverse economy towards dependence on a single primary resource, which happens to be the dirtiest […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, December 4th, 2009 - 21 comments
[Post reproduced with permission from No Right Turn] This is a picture of the north-western part of Mount Aspiring National Park, which the government wants to dig up. There’s a full album here. As can be seen, it is a rather distinctive area, flowing from lowland forest like that pictured to the barren subalpine red […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, December 4th, 2009 - 19 comments
So John Key has finally dropped his veils* and is going to Copenhagen. Well, Rob Emmerson correctly predicted how the ineffectual Emissions Trading Scheme amendments by NACT did wind up. Taxpayers pay almost all of the cost, our kids pay even more, and polluters have no incentive to reduce emissions. Now imagine what happens when […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, December 4th, 2009 - 20 comments
Jon Stewart covers developments in the science around making meat without raising and killing an animal. Jon has a laugh of course but this is actually really exciting stuff. I’ve been following the developing science around this for a while. The upsides are huge. You can grow meat without the animal. That means no sow […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:08 am, December 4th, 2009 - 16 comments
Tomorrow Saturday it’s the Planet A Concert and March (the concert to be webcast live): In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, you’ll be able to march, dance, listen to speakers, sing, and jump on bouncy castles in support of a good outcome in Copenhagen. From a massive free public concert in Auckland featuring top NZ bands […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, December 3rd, 2009 - 20 comments
Anyone who thinks that our economic troubles are over because the economy grew 0.1% is delusional. And no-one seriously believes that we don’t have to act quickly to stop the rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A Green New Deal is as necessary now as ever. The Greens have come out with the […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, November 30th, 2009 - 24 comments
I was interested to read in the Herald on Friday that Tip Top is under fire for cutting the size of its 2 litre ice-cream packs to 1.6 litres, without changing the price. Remind you of Cadbury, except without the palm oil? Well, maybe. A dairy owner I happened to pass by the other day for […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, November 30th, 2009 - 73 comments
Mark your calendar, and turn out next Saturday for the Planet A Concert and March (the concert to be webcast live): In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, you’ll be able to march, dance, listen to speakers, sing, and jump on bouncy castles in support of a good outcome in Copenhagen. From a massive free public concert in Auckland […]
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