Yes it is
“Is this a glimpse of Earth’s future?”
Environment
science
Make a submission – Generation Zero video
Dunedin climate consultation meeting
“It was an emotional meeting and I felt in turns angry, frustrated, helpless, very sad, and disillusioned. I also felt privileged to be in the company of so many knowledgeable, passionate people.”
National literally want to hide the costs of inaction on climate change
We the people only learned of Treasury projections on the costs of inaction on climate change (up to $52 billion) because someone screwed up a redacted document. We were never meant to know. And National’s Minister for Climate Change Issues statement on the matter is that Treasury should have done a better job of hiding this vital information from the public.
Climate “consultation” – Fix Our Future
The government is “consulting” we the people on New Zealand’s climate change target. You can use Generation Zero’s Fix Our Future site to make a submission. Do it!
Wild weather
All the best to those coping with the wild weather or its aftermath. We’ll see lots of photos of floods and damage, but no discussion of the increasing risks of extreme weather.
400ppm
A significant milestone has been passed.
Hot Air
The award winning documentary Hot Air, on the politics of climate change in New Zealand, by Alister Barry & Abi King-Jones, is now free to view on Youtube.
The Californian canary
Not that I wish any ill on Californians, but in the grand scheme of things it is probably good for our global chances of action to limit climate change that such a clear example of the damaging effects are playing out in the USA’s back yard.
The pope and climate change
The Pope is calling for action on climate change. Naturally, he is being attacked for it.
NRT: Climate change: Good news on agriculture
New Zealand’s policy on climate change has been one of inaction. A key plank in this is our emissions profile. Roughly 50% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. We couldn’t do anything about them. Instead farmers increase emissions and turn our lakes and streams into toxic sewers. But AgResearch scientists now have a solution for the emissions.
NZ emissions disaster in The Herald!
Well knock me over with a feather. The disaster that is NZ’s greenhouse gas emissions has broken out of the ghetto of Twitter and Parliament TV, and made it on the front page of the (digital) Herald.
California drought
The California drought gives us a case study in how the effects of climate change are going to play out.
Fast followers – not
In which NZ, along with many other countries, flunks the first test of the Paris climate change talks.
Drill baby drill will not work
Simon Bridges announced yesterday the release of the 2015 block offer. Potentially oil companies could be drilling in deep sea pristine environmental areas off the West Coast where the endangered Maui’s Dolphin lives. He calls for a “mixed balance” of energy generation. But all this means is that he wants the good mixed with the bad.
Trying to get the truth out of a Nat
Russel Norman tries to get the truth out of Simon Bridges. Bridges really really doesn’t want to admit that NZ’s emissions have increased by 20% from 2008 to 2012. 5 minutes and 10 seconds of painful nonsense to get an answer…
NRT: Who is lying here?
GST wasn’t Key’s only bungle yesterday. I/S at No Right Turn reports…
Keep it in the ground
The Second Climate Change Problem
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence
NRT: Climate change: The first climate war
One of the predictions about climate change is that climate change-induced drought and famine will lead to more wars. Sadly, it turns out that what is happening in Syria is one of those wars.
Obama vetos Keystone pipeline
Too little, too late, but a victory the environment (and for sanity) none the less.
The Save Invermay Campaign
National is letting the regions wither. None more so than (Labour voting) Dunedin, with the closure of the Hillside Workshop, the underfunding of Dunedin Hospital, and the planned closure of the agricultural research center at near-by Invermay. Check out Dunedin North MP David Clark’s video update on Invermay.
Global divestment day
“We are demanding institutions do what is necessary to avert the climate crisis by divesting from fossil fuels. Together, we are making fossil fuels history.”
The drought
Drought has been declared for a huge region of the South Island. Weather extremes are going to be the new normal – why aren’t we adapting?
If only Key was as passionate about climate change
John Key gave a somewhat rousing speech about how New Zealand would not stand back when dealing with the ISIS tyranny. It made me wonder why he is not passionate about dealing with a problem that has the potential of wrecking much of the world’s environment and making much of it it uninhabitable.
North of 2
The international energy agency’s (IEA) view on climate change is that we are “on track for a 3.5°C rise by 2040” (i.e. 4.2°C relative to pre-industrial).
Fatih Birol – IEA chief economist said (3 years ago)
When I look at this data, the trend is perfectly in line with a temperature increase of 6 degrees Celsius, which would have devastating consequences for the planet….we have 5 years to change the energy system – or have it changed
PM’s science award winners on the sell-off
“The Government’s continuing attempts to divest itself of state housing overlook the enormous benefits to society which these homes produce in alleviating severe housing shortages. They were built up by successive generations of New Zealanders, and to “sell them off” under the pretence of efficiency is a disservice to all of us, whether we’re homeowners or renters.”
Only in Queensland
Queensland Liberal Country Party Premier Campbell Newman has claimed that the Queensland Labor Party is funded by gangs because some people have told him so. Yet he refuses to acknowledge the urgency of climate change even though pretty well every climate change scientist in the world is telling him it is real and we need to act now. Can you detect the scent of hypocrisy?
The last gasp of oil
Fracking has created a short term oil glut. That’s bad news for climate change. Could we at least find a silver lining in this carbon cloud, or will it be business as usual?
2014 hottest year – a good thing!
As widely reported, 2014 was the hottest year on record. And that’s a good thing!
A little place by the beach
2014 has been confirmed as the hottest year on record. If you own a little place by the beach you might want to ponder the implications…
What John Key actually believes in
Charlie Mitchell of the Dominion Post has analysed John Key’s formal speeches since 2007 to see what has from time to time been uppermost in Key’s mind. The results are interesting to say the least.
‘The future will be green or not at all’
Yesterday, on Outspoken at RNZ, Craig McCulloch interviewed Jeanette Fitzsimons, Gareth Morgan and Metiria Turei on the future of the Green Party. Morgan wants the Greens to shift away from “scary” economic policies. Turei and Fitzsimons explain why not.
The Socialist Pope
Pope Francis has created a stir recently. He has been instrumental in the ending by the United States of sanctions against Cuba, he has criticised the Curia for being inwardly focussed and not sufficiently concerned for the poor and he has reached out to Muslims. And to top things off he is intending to issue a Papal Encyclical on climate change and will be urging countries to enter into a meaningful agreement on climate change.
So what is happening with the price of oil?
The price of crude oil has nearly halved in the past six months and is causing massive repercussions throughout the world with both the Russian economy and the American Shale Oil industry under threat. The geopolitical implications are complex.