Aotearoa has been super sizing its vehicle fleet for over a decade and given Jacinda Ardern claim that Climate Change as her generation’s nuclear-free moment, why is her government not smacking ute owners and other gas guzzlers much harder than the just the feebate? Large vehicles increase climate change and wild weather. Fringe Benefit tax is payable on them and usually not collected. Plus they are deadly dangerous to pedestrians and other vehicles.
For those that understand the cyclical, interconnected nature of reality and why growth is inherently limited in the physical world, kia kaha, we’re making headway.
With record floods in Marlborough, half of Westport evacuated, disastrous flooding in Germany and the North East and the threat of record bushfires in the North West of the United States Mother Nature is passing rather cruel judgment on Groundswell NZ’s recent protest.
The Groundswell farmers movement want the new freshwater policy scrapped, the “ute tax” removed, lots of imported labour for farm work, parts of the ETS dumped the new Significant Natural Area policy dumped, the draft policy on indigenous biodiversity scrapped and Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill stopped. How likely is this?
Farmers aren’t the problem here, they’re the mirror New Zealand is holding up to itself. We say we want change, despite the evidence.
Lawyers for Climate Action are taking the Climate Change Commission to court over their lax budgets and dodgy accounting.
So I was just driving around thinking, “Ugh it’s hot. Ugh there’s a new fire starting near me at least every other day. Ugh, how is this my life, also this is just the beginning, I feel like I should be waking up from this nightmare at some point and yet I am not,” when the editor finally reached me.
Waikato Regional Council (WRC) has approved a transport plan which assigns just 3% of its 10-year budget to walking and cycling, and only 5% to public transport. This must inevitably increase overall transport emission pollution in the region. In my opinion the law requires the plan to reduce transport emissions to achieve consistency with central government transport policy. If emissions will rise under the plan this makes the plan unlawful and places WRC at significant risk of a successful legal challenge.
For the first time since the election Winston Peters has reemerged. But instead of talking about the country’s problems such as climate change, child poverty and recovering from the global pandemic he chose to concentrate on the “over” use of Te Reo, cycleways and gangs.
Beyond the cycle/car wars.
I am pleased the right have moved on from overtly racist attacks on minorities. But I am bemused by the current level of vitriol that has been thrown at a group who apart from wearing lycra is doing nothing wrong.
Labour and the Greens have announced the establishment of a Feebate scheme to incentivise the purchase of electric vehicles and disincentivise the purchase of gas guzzlers.
Last week’s announcement of major changes to the New Zealand Upgrade program in my view was welcome.
Greenpeace says there is still a cow-shaped hole in both the Climate Change Commission’s advice and the Government’s approach to climate action, following the release of the Commission’s finalised climate plan.
As they said they would, the Government has today released the full advice from the Climate Commission, taking into account all the submissions and all the big fat evidence.
This Sunday Aucklanders have an opportunity to protest the catastrophic failure of NZTA to generate a cycleway from the North Shore to the CBD, and to promote a practical proposal to “liberate a lane” on the Harbour Bridge which would do the job in the meantime.
Don’t knock local politics until you’ve had to stand up and defend a cycleway in public.
Research is now showing the advantages of regenerative agriculture. Are we wise enough to make best use of them?
New Zealand is about to enter a transition phase in energy that’s going to affect absolutely everyone.
This is tough information to take in. I feel better when I try to take action to support the Climate Justice Movement which has known for decades that capitalism must be transformed and replaced for decent survival. Individual-collective action is possible. Keep going. – @climateben
One of the many regretful aspects of the Trump presidency was the United States open hostility to doing anything about climate change. It looks like Joe Biden will do his best to make up for lost time.
As we lead up to Budget 2021, there’s much more shape to the whole direction of this government.
The very hardest climate challenge New Zealand has is in transport, but the latest National Land Transport Plan is pretty much like the wind being resisted by the Climate Commission air conditioning unit. Time to face our reality not our words.
The Guytons’ 25 year old food forest in Riverton is a showcase of sustainability practice and knowledge.
Greta Thunberg is now aged 18. And her activism is still strong.
it looks like just 1.5 degrees will be enough to cook most of the tropics:
The announcement comes with little fanfare, but marks another huge moment for people power, for iwi, hapū, environmental groups, and the hundreds of thousands of people who for the last decade have maintained one of the most relentless campaigns of the modern era to put an end to deep sea oil exploration in New Zealand.
Over in the US of A in the great state of Texas and in surrounding states locals are experiencing unusually cold weather and are suffering from the effects. But instead of blaming their not fit for purpose electrical systems they are blaming the Green New Deal, even though it has not been implemented.
The first New Zealand study to look at the effects of food hardship on pre-schoolers’ nutrition has found that nearly half of families struggle to access healthy food in their child’s first year of life.
What if we actually planned to reduce energy usage significantly while revamping the economy to promote happiness and well-being? Then it would be far easier to replace our remaining energy usage with renewable sources. – Richard Heinberg
Lawyers for Climate Action is threatening to take Auckland Council to court if they reneg on their climate action promises in the upcoming consultation on the Regional Land Transport Plan.
In this series so far I’ve examined three of the four terms in the Kaya Identity, population, economic intensity, and energy intensity. It […]
The huge tyre fire near Amberley in North Canterbury last Friday is in an area with a high water table, extreme fire risk in summer, two kilometres from a town of 2000 residents, and on the edge of one of NZ’s premier wine regions.
Now is the time for people power. The government is about to ask us what we think about New Zealand’s plan on climate action.
UPDATED with links to the report and media analysis.
You would think that after the Trump years the media would be turning away from the reporting of “both sides” of an issue and in many cases they are. But there is a recent example of a hold out urging that extremist views should be given media attention.
On his first day in office Joe Biden executed 17 executive orders making wide scale change to the Trump Administration’s policies.
