Extinction Rebellion: The Big One
XR are back. New strategy, same smart and bold action.
Environment
science
Go well Jacinda
Today is Jacinda’s official last day on the job as a member of Parliament.
RMA reform will not solve the climate crisis
National has proposed RMA reform as the basis for accelerating the roll out of renewable energy generation. It appears that it has never met a problem for which the solution is either a tax cut or RMA reform.
Climate change – the final final warning
The latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change has synthesised reports on the climate crisis from hundreds of scientists over the past eight years and has boiled it down to one message: act now, or it will be too late.
The great policy bonfire
Chris Hipkins continues with his shock and awe campaign and has torched a number of policies that National and Act were using to foment unrest.
Did bacteria exist before we had microscopes?
So much of the ongoing debate about Mātauranga Māori is based on belief, and often unevidenced belief about what Mātauranga Māori is and how it is being used.
The government needs to understand that climate mitigation and adaptation are twins
James Shaw and Greenpeace on why mitigation and adaptation need to be paired.
Triangulating climate change
Yesterday morning there were suggestions that the Government would properly address climate change by placing greater emphasis on public transport and walking and cycling. But by the afternoon the proposition had been watered down.
But How Do You Pay For It?
To pay for recent flood damage Grant Robertson has to decide on what proportion of this will be paid by new debt, what proportion by reallocation of expenditure, and what proportion by special tax levies. Is an Australian style levy under consideration?
How Activism Dies
If anything progressive is to come out of this current government other than disaster recovery, really focused protest must prevail. It isn’t.
School Strike 4 Climate nationwide this Friday
This climate crisis is a structural issue…. What it requires is a mass movement of citizens protesting for policy change and a dramatic redesign of our economy.
– Climate striker Aurora Garner-Randolph
The New Climate Denial: adaptation over mitigation
What if unmitigated climate change is more than we can adapt to?
What To Do About Climate Change
West Auckland’s activism, through such examples as the Arc in the Park sanctuary to the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area through to the protection of the environment provided by the South Titirangi Neighbourhood Network, provides examples of the sort of activism that may be needed if Aotearoa New Zealand is to deal properly with climate change mitigation.
Climate change – do we mitigate or do we adapt?
The political debate about climate change is coming to an end as the North Island is battered by the third huge climate change induced storm in a month. The focus will not be on what to do? Do we still mitigate the effects by reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Or do we dig in and adapt?
This is really awkward
National MP Maureen Pugh has questioned the existence of human induced climate change.
Windfall tax on bank super-profits needed to help fund repair
The repair bill for the recent cyclones will be similar to the direct cost to government of the Canterbury earthquakes, in the $13 billion region. Banks are currently making obscene profits. The time is right to impose a one-off banking windfall tax. If a conservative Margaret Thatcher can do it, it is pretty hard to argue why a Labour government can’t.
Why right wing media is bad for democracy and the planet
Newstalk ZB hosts have rightfully been criticised for minimising the danger posed by Cyclone Gabrielle. Which funnily is that they have been doing about climate change for the past few decades.
Prime Ministerial
Chris Hipkins has so far not put a foot wrong. Since he became PM he has quickly and competently reformed the Cabinet and jettisoned policies that were for one reason or another causing problems. And he has quickly asserted control over two massive storms, the first which pummeled the country’s major city and the second which has caused massive floods to much of the East Coast of the North Island.
Climate Minister James Shaw: If we do not act, it will get worse
“There will be a certain crowd who say … let’s give up on stopping climate change and its focus entirely on responding to the effects of climate change and I cannot state enough what a catastrophic mistake that would be, because every tenth of a degree of warming increases the frequency and the severity of these events.”
Is it too early to talk about climate change?
Two unprecedented summertime storms in Auckland suggest that the threats posed by climate change are not in our future but are here now.
Protecting poor people: the call for a rent freeze in Auckland
As property investors indicate an intention to raise rents, Renters United and 20+ community groups call for a rent freeze in Auckland.
Super City’s handling of the storm event
As Auckland slowly recovers but ready itself for further storms there is some attention being given to review Council’s response to the super storm. The initial impression, and this is held widely is that the response was sub optimal.
Take Care Auckland and Northland
Heavy rain has caused severe flooding in Auckland, leading to evacuations, power outages, and high risk warnings of sewerage on beaches.
People are being urged to stay home if safe, and stay off the roads. Please also check on neighbours and people who may be struggling especially disabled people, elderly, those on their own, and those with young children and pets.
Why do rationalists position Science against Mātauranga Māori?
Another piece on the internet by a Western scientist calling indigenous knowledge superstitious woo that should be separated from the Mighty Western Science way of knowing. Take that as a content warning either way if you are reading on.
German riot police defeated by some kind of mud wizard
Who said climate action can’t be funny?
The climate fight
What are we fighting exactly?
Dog whistling climate change
National MP Stuart Smith has tweeted suggesting that students should not be taught about climate change but should instead be taught the skills to decide for themselves if it exists.
The weather sucks
I’m back at work at my home office desk today and the weather sucked in Auckland and the north of the North Island over my break. Waiting for Luxon and minons blaming the government for not controlling La Niña – now in the third year of her current reign.It seems like all that National can do these days – blame the government for external events.
New Zealand is in a terrible state *
* or is it?
The Standard’s political awards for 2022
It is that time of year again where the events of the year are reviewed and what was notable, noteworthy and notorious.
Federated Farmers – climate change “probably” exists
Federated Farmers leader Andrew Hoggard thinks that climate change is probably happening but we will have to wait 50 to 100 years to see the effects.
Richard Heinberg: The Final Doubling
Can humans decouple resource overuse from economic growth?
Sustainability Sunday
So many good initiatives that demonstrate that sustainability and community resiliency are intertwined. The sheer numbers of people involved now is heartening at a time when we are inundated with what is going wrong.
We’ve never had so much choice in what we can do to effect good change. We know the problems, now is the time to put our attention to the solutions, what is already working. and then get on with it.
James Shaw, Climate Minister: before us lies a simple choice
New Zealand National Statement at COP27, and the call for all of us to act.
The power companies are rorting us
FIRST Union, NZCTU, and 350 Aotearoa have just released a joint report suggesting that the privatisation of our power companies by National were not only disastrous for the country’s finances but also disastrous for the planet.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Pause With Map In Hand and Scratch Their Heads
If 2020 was the worst year in my lifetime how does 2022 compare?