The Standard

climate change

Categories under climate change

“Conservation” Minister

Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, December 3rd, 2011 - 103 comments

Quite apart from the broken promise, isn’t it the job of a “Conservation” Minister to, you know, conserve?  Instead of leading the mining charge?

If we stick with the status quo

Written By: - Date published: 4:02 pm, November 24th, 2011 - 14 comments

Another of those pictures that is worth a thousand words.

Integrity or hocus pocus

Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, November 20th, 2011 - 59 comments

I have no sympathy for politicians complaining about their ‘private’ political conversations being made public. What politicians say on politics is inherently of public interest. Don’t say different things in private then in public, and you won’t get caught out. It’s a matter of integrity. We can now reveal what John Key really thinks about climate change.

Nats and climate change deniers

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, November 19th, 2011 - 45 comments

The teapot tape fiasco has forced the Nats to pretend that they are interested in policy.  It’s screamingly hypocritical of them, since they couldn’t even be bothered returning answers to Radio NZ’s policy survey. But let’s not waste this new opportunity.  Let’s start with asking them why they’re endorsing a party of loony climate change deniers.

Two headlines to ponder

Written By: - Date published: 4:18 pm, November 10th, 2011 - 60 comments

IEA: World is hurtling toward irreversible climate change

Government shifts to ETS go-slow

Discuss…

The new hole in National’s budget

Written By: - Date published: 7:24 am, November 10th, 2011 - 99 comments

National would get the books back into the black with a $1.5b surplus 2014/15. It’s on their ads, it’s in the PREFU. So, it’s gotta be true, eh? Well, we already know they’ve cooked the books by claiming both that they would have the revenue from asset sales and the dividends from those sold assets. Now, their ETS changes have opened a second great big hole in their budget.

Climate change predictions

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, November 5th, 2011 - 125 comments

Predictions on global greenhouse gas emissions have turned out to be wrong.  The real emissions are higher than the worst case projections.  Models of warming, however, have been confirmed as accurate.  Here in NZ a joint VUW / Otago study makes damning criticisms of the Nats’ record on climate change.

Slave fishing – NZ’s shame

Written By: - Date published: 6:48 am, October 25th, 2011 - 13 comments

You won’t find much praise for Talley’s on this site. But, fair dues, they harvest their fish with Kiwi crews and have this to say on slave fishing: “If it is uneconomic to harvest a New Zealand resource under New Zealand labour conditions and costs then it is not a resource. Blood diamonds and Asian textile sweatshops use the same justification”

Anti-deepsea drilling petition

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, October 18th, 2011 - 41 comments

Sign Greenpeace’s petition against deepsea oil drilling.

Fools rush in

Written By: - Date published: 1:55 pm, October 14th, 2011 - 55 comments

Labour has announced it will put a moratorium on deepsea oil drilling until it’s proven safe. Good. Basic precautionary principle. Clearly necessary given the piss-poor handling of a relatively small spill. Besides, there’s no rush to dig this stuff up. It’s not going anywhere and we can only extract it once. Will only become more valuable over time.

The denial machine

Written By: - Date published: 1:42 pm, October 9th, 2011 - 7 comments

It’s scary ‘coz it’s true.

Climate change killing Tuvalu & Tokelau

Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, October 6th, 2011 - 9 comments

The low-lying island nations of Tuvalu and Tokelau have declared water emergencies and parts of Samoa are rationing water. Climate change has raised the sea level so that what little freshwater lens the islands have has been reduced. Higher temperatures evaporate more of it. Climate change is also causing more frequent and severe La Ninas, which causes droughts.

Ecocide Mock Trial

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, September 29th, 2011 - 5 comments

The crime of ecocide will be tested, as if it is already law, by barristers before a judge and jury, at the UK Supreme Court in London.

Moving planet

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, September 23rd, 2011 - 7 comments

Moving Planet is a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis. It is being held on 24th September 2011 – a day to move beyond fossil fuels.  Check out an event near you…

Inflating more than a blowfish

Written By: - Date published: 11:34 am, September 22nd, 2011 - 39 comments

It is all rather hilarious to watch exactly how stupid people can expend so much effort to not read actual science. But it appears that your average climate change denier (CCD) is far more concerned with inflated gossip than actually understanding anything. There is a great video looking at an instance of this trait.

Chart o’ the day: Not on target

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, September 20th, 2011 - 74 comments

Slow follower

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, September 16th, 2011 - 16 comments

When it comes to making any kind of effort to saving the planet from catastrophic climate change I guess being even a “fast follower” was just a little too ambitious for the Key government.

Remember

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 16th, 2011 - 59 comments

When the Nats say they must cut early childhood education funding – remember their new $500m subsidy to polluters.
When the Nats say they have to cut women’s refuge money – remember their new $500m subsidy to polluters.
When the Nats say they have to sell our assets to pay their debt – remember their new $500m subsidy to polluters.

Ecocide

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, September 9th, 2011 - 64 comments

If a corporation can have the legal rights of a person, why can’t the environment can’t have the legal protections of a person too?

NRT: Some “strategy”

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, August 31st, 2011 - 39 comments

National’s Energy Strategy has been roundly criticised. The promises of more renewables and energy efficiency are more ‘aspirational’ fluff with no plan to actually get there. And, worse, the heart of the strategy works against sustainability and environmental responsibility – it’s all about drilling up and burning more oil. I/S at NoRightTurn explains.

Irene sounds yet another warning

Written By: - Date published: 7:23 am, August 30th, 2011 - 53 comments

Irene is yet another example of the significant increase in extreme weather that we’re seeing all around the globe.  But this warning will be ignored like all the rest.

Ocean Acidification

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, August 29th, 2011 - 32 comments

We know that our carbon pollution is damaging the climate – making the atmosphere warmer and less stable – but it also makes the sea more acidic. Ocean Acidification means the aquaculture industry could be in big trouble by the middle of the century, not to mention the rest of the fishing industry. But the government blithely ignores the problem.

Revolution and hunger

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, August 28th, 2011 - 44 comments

What provokes a populace to take to the streets in violent uprising?  Is it the inexorable power of a demand for justice and democracy?  Or is it something much simpler than that…

The decades of consequences

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, August 21st, 2011 - 11 comments

Peter Sinclair has been putting out great videos for years on climate change as Climate Crock of the Week. They focus on having a close look at climate change deniers claims. The following video looks at a series of talking heads claiming that the world is cooling. Such a pity that their own favorite crank […]

Myth busting – reducing agricultural emissions

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, August 8th, 2011 - 60 comments

We commonly hear the vested interests (Fed Farmers, National, Fonterra) saying that agriculture should continue to get a 100% subsidy on its greenhouse emissions because there’s no way for farmers to reduce their pollution aside from producing less. That’s rubbish. In fact, as BR shows, agriculture is already producing more value for less pollution.

NoRightTurn on the ETS

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, August 2nd, 2011 - 20 comments

I/S reviews the ETS so far. It has worked, as Labour promised, to bring down emissions – helped by the recession. But don’t forget there are still massive subsidies for the emissions that are happening thanks to National’s changes. It’s nuts that you and I are forking out so that foreign-owned factories can spew out carbon dioxide on a more profitable basis.

Generation Zero

Written By: - Date published: 12:44 pm, August 1st, 2011 - 40 comments

It is one of the failures of our society that far too many young people are politically disengaged or apathetic. Many – but not all! Meet Generation Zero.  Please go visit their website, join up, or spread the word…

American heatwave

Written By: - Date published: 2:22 pm, July 28th, 2011 - 11 comments

Monckton not worth debating

Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, July 17th, 2011 - 74 comments

Local climate change deniers want to organise a debate featuring visiting “celebrity” Christopher Monckton.  I’m all for scientific debate of course.  But you can’t have such a debate with Monckton, because he’s a serial liar.

Go Gillard!

Written By: - Date published: 7:54 am, July 16th, 2011 - 30 comments

I’ve been impressed with Labour on both sides of the ditch lately.  Here of course Phil Goff’s Labour party has moved very boldly on the CGT.  But across the ditch in Oz, Labor leader and PM Julia Gillard is fighting an even tougher battle on carbon pricing.  Go Gillard!

A real plan to save the world does exist

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, July 12th, 2011 - 112 comments

A feasible plan to power 100 percent of the planet with complete renewables exists. This plan excludes Nuclear and Biofuels, which the Scientific American authors of this plan also considered to be ultimately unsustainable technologies as well. Instead this plan revolves around Wind, Water and Solar – WWS