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Multi-national minerals company Rio Tinto is threatening to close its Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in Bluff and move its production offshore if the Emissions Trading Scheme is enacted because they say it will increase power prices. This is not the first time Rio Tinto has…
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The Government has delayed the inclusion of transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme from 2009 to 2011. On the surface, that seems to be a back down or a reduction in the Government's commitment to tackling climate change but then you have to ask yourself…
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It's not often National gets something right but their latest flip-flop, on bio-fuels, is a good policy (well, partially and for the wrong reasons). National has announced they will no longer be supporting the bio-fuel requirement in petrol because it may put up the price…
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The Climate Science Coalition is the last of a dying breed; a rabid, climate change denying lobby group. Of late, they have been performing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to slow the introduction of a carbon trading scheme. And, now, it looks like they've received some heavy-weight support in the form…
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Lockwood Smith gave us student debt. Maurice Williamson gave us traffic jams. Now they want to give us global warming. Just days after Al Gore launched his $300m worldwide climate change campaign National retreads Maurice Williamson and Lockwood Smith are refusing to answer questions about…
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Al Gore has just launched a $300 million, bipartisan campaign to try to push climate change higher on the nation's political agenda. The website is www.wecansolveit.org - you can see the debut ad, "Anthem," here. The campaign plans to bring together "unlikely bedfellows" of differing…
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The Vatican's update of sins to include issues of social justice and environment reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a friend from the US. She was telling me that one of the "surprise" groups to come out in support of tougher environmental…
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New Zealand's coal industry is a mess of contradictions. We worry about carbon emissions and Kyoto while State-owned Solid Energy exports coal to dirty Chinese factories. Rather than being energy-efficiently shipped out of Greymouth, coal from the West Coast is taken by rail over the Southern Alps because taxpayer-subsidised Toll gives SOE…
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Frogblog covers Muriel Newman's column in the Dom yesterday: "Climate change, we didn't do it" [whew! back to my environmentally pollutive and destructive ways then]. Muriel's source for this assertion is the recent (and delightfully innocuously named) International Conference on Climate Change. The purpose of…
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The ABC reports: "Today Australia becomes an official member of the Kyoto club after the initial ratification documents were lodged with the United Nations 90 days ago. And a new poll has found that 64 per cent of Australians support Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's act…
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Another video from TED: "I don't think we're going to make it," John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners at…
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Here's a clip that aired last night on TV3. It shows NZ leading the world in our response to climate change in Bali. To quote the reporter, New Zealand is "...putting words into action... [announcing] ambitious plans to go carbon neutral". National on the other…
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Al Gore has just accepted his Nobel Peace Prize for advocacy for action on climate change. In his speech he's lauded Kevin Rudd's immediate commitment to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change - he did it only days after assuming office. The move to…
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It was once a matter of personal preference. Now it's part of the sustainability story. Do you prefer the uniform shape, colour, ease of the plastic fantastic, or was the distinctive aroma of pine sap and rustle of pine needles a defining characteristic of your…
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There's a new taxi fleet servicing Wellington and (in three days time) Auckland. The vehicles are all Toyota Prius hybrids and the company, Greencabs, also offsets the residual emissions making it, they claim, the country's first carbon neutral taxi company. They tell me they're also…
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The PM has launched a new website, sustainability.govt.nz challenging citizens to commit to doing one thing to help contribute to a "sustainable nation".
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From the Guardian: "Australia yesterday joined the fold of rich countries committed to tackling climate change by signing the Kyoto agreement to limit CO2 emissions, at once distancing itself from the US and ending a 10-year diplomatic exile on the issue." So where does that…
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Popular Science has recently announced its "Grand Award Winner" in the "Green" category: PowerSheet solar cells. 'Imagine a solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint, that takes light and converts it to electricity... "You're talking about printing rolls…
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From the NYT: Google, the Internet company with a seemingly limitless source of revenue, plans to get into the business of finding limitless sources of energy... Google said it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars, part of that to hire engineers and energy experts…
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Fortunately we have a government that's prepared to act on climate change rather than gamble with the future. Nevertheless here's an interesting take on the importance of a meaningful response to climate change based on everybody's favourite PHIL101 poser: Pascal's Wager. He's also done a…
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Esteemed Tory Brit-econ-pop-enviro-guru Nigel Lawson, Lord of Blaby, dad of Nigella, is not bonkers. Lord Blaby (Ed: shurely not? Wot? It is true?), who is visiting New Zealand, allegedly to attend a Business Roundtable party, told TVNZ's Breakfast that the world could adjust to global…
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The Business Roundtable has invited Nigel Lawson, British Chancellor of the Exchequer under Thatcher, to speak to them on climate change. Inevitably, Lawson is a climate change denier. His message is that climate change is a replacement for communism and mainstream religion. He says people…
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The BBC has a good roundup of the top 10 climate change denier arguments with rebuttals from scientists who agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: that it's happening, it's due to us, and the potential damage is serious. Worthwhile reading for those who…
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The NZ Institute needs to look a bit more closely before leaping into print. The strangest thing about its exhortation that NZ should be a climate change 'fast follower' is that is precisely the position we're in right now. The government has announced its emissions…
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Lights Out San Francisco is a citywide energy conservation event next scheduled for March 29, 2008. On this night, they invite the entire city of San Francisco to install one compact fluorescent light bulb and turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour. Below are…
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The New Zealand Institute has come out imploring us to be a "fast follower" rather than a leader in the race to reduce greenhouse gases. John Key was predictably on the spot to take the credit, claiming that the Institute was essentially "making the same…
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In an effort to play an even larger part in the fight against global warming the New Zealand government today announced the purchase of 20 specially produced Toyota Prius Hybrid limousines. These fuel efficient, environmentally friendlier vehicles will gradually replace the current crop of Ministerial…
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It's environmental blog action day. Bloggers worldwide are being encouraged to post on an environmental issue of importance to them. One issue. One day. Thousands of voices. DPF got in first this morning but I've got to admit to being a little disappointed with the…
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Gore shared the Nobel prize with the UN climate panel for their for their international work to promote the importance of addressing global warming. This won't come as good news to the climate change deniers out there, one of whom recently challenged the accuracy of…