Defusing the goddamn ticking time bomb
Our reliance on fossil fuels is a ticking timebomb, There Are Real Alternatives, and the Green Party have a plan
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james shaw
In Defence of Golriz Ghahraman
Golriz Ghahraman didn’t shoplift “again” – but recent media reports made it sound like she did. This article looks back on her history and her treatment by NZ’s political and media class.
Are we drifting away or falling apart?
What is the antidote for our socio-economic problems and how do we deal with this coalition government?
The Jack Tame and James Shaw korero
This is politics as it should and could be: human, honest while retaining boundaries, insightful without the need for politicking.
A sustainable environment should be a human right
James Shaw’s attempt to create a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is expected to be voted down soon by Parliament. But the New Zealand Supreme Court as well as the European Court of Human Rights have shown a willingness to recognise a right to a sustainable environment that some politicians refuse to.
Chloe Swarbrick’s first words as new Green Party Co-Leader
In her first speech as Green Party Co-Leader, Swarbrick brings the party’s Charter to the fore, and talks about mobilising citizens to be part of democracy.
What’s Left?
From Election 2023’s result through to February 2024 there has been massive loss and damage to the Parliamentary capacity of Labour and Greens. Who still has the capacity to lead? What’s left?
Christopher Luxon is no John Key
Yesterday in Parliament Christopher Luxon showed that he is struggling on the job.
Shaw stands down as Greens co-leader
James Shaw has announced that he is standing down as co-leader of the Green Party and a leadership process will be triggered. He will stay on in Parliament in the meantime.
National set to renege on Paris Agreement
National says it is not interested in meeting its financial obligations under the international Paris Agreement on climate change, signed by the previous National government. Reneging on the accord will have huge trade, diplomatic and reputational damage implications.
A Green surge and fighting for the election
Don’t share defeatist bollocks. It tells swing, undecided and habitual non-voters to not bother voting left. Instead, there are still actions that will make a difference over the next three weeks.
Greens: Climate future of communities on the line this election
“The extreme weather events that Aotearoa has seen this year have been supercharged by climate change. How we go about building resilient and affordable communities that meet everyone’s needs despite the challenges of climate change will be a critical question for the next government. For the Greens, the answer is clear: we must slash our emissions, and take action to protect our homes and communities from extreme weather”
The Greens’ election campaign launch: game on
“No party who wants to work with us after 14th October should ever take our support for granted”
With the urgency of the climate crisis upon us, the Greens are finally willing to use the cross benches card.
How Hipkins Can Still Win
Hipkins being himself is his election-winning attribute.
A government looking at the climate challenges, not with fear but with hope
James Shaw’s speech to the Greens’ AGM is showing us this is the party with the actual plan for how to get through the crisis.
This is what *ending poverty* looks like in New Zealand
Poverty is a political choice, and the Green Party is choosing to end it. – James Shaw
Government announces project that will significantly reduce coal consumption
The Government has done a deal with the owners of New Zealand Steel that will see the company replace its coal fired furnace with a renewable energy supplied electric arc furnace and will significantly reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
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.
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.”
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.
Not A Ripple of Difference
The polls are out and the internal revolt last month to remove James Shaw as Greens co leader hasn’t made a ripple.
Bastards Versus Assholes
This post was written before Gaurav Sharma’s Herald article and should not be taken as validation of his comments. There are necessary bastards in political life, and in developed democracies compared to everywhere else ours are gentle as lambs
National’s weird take on the Government’s Climate Adaption Plan
The Government’s release of the National Adaption Plan to deal with climate change has been met by National with an insistence that who should pay for potentially hundreds of billions of costs should have already been identified.
Really bad takes on the Green’s leadership issue
There have been some spectacularly bad takes on Green Party leadership issues by voices on the right and academia which were all shown to be spectacularly wrong after Chloe Swarbrick announced that she was not seeking the Green Party leadership.
James Shaw and the Green Party co-leadership
The tension in the Green Party is between pragmatism and the need for urgent system change.
For the public, there’s no need to panic. Dissent is valuable and healthy in politics. It sits alongside trusting that the Greens know how to manage their internal processes even if the public at large doesn’t understand them well.
He Waka Eke Noa?
The He Waka Eke Noa report recommends the introduction of farm-level split-gas levy on agricultural emissions. The anticipated savings are very small and reliant on Government proposals for the sector to reaching the Government target of 10% methane reduction. Are we really all in this together?
The Emissions Reduction Plan we voted for
what kind of climate action do we want?
Announcing New Zealand’s low carbon future
The climate crisis is no longer something that’s happening to someone else, somewhere else, at some point in the future. It’s happening to us. It’s happening here. It’s happening now. – James Shaw
Plant based foods
Worrying news has emerged that New Zealand officials sought along with other agricultural nations to remove references to the benefits of consuming plant based foods on climate change from the IPCC report summary.
Our Energy Upheaval
Ministers Wood, Shaw and Parker (Energy, Climate Change, and RMA reform respectively), must pull their eyes downward from the misty clouds of climate change and stuff multiple decades away and down into the jagged, shadowy deal-by-deal path of the transition to clean energy.
The Rules To Save The World
Beyond the NGO emotion and singing and joyous arm waving, country leaders at COP 26 actually have to achieve stuff this week.
Where Is The Real Green Party?
Where’s the hairy knuckle-dragging woke when you need them?
Having a say on how NZ transitions to a post-carbon society
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.
Show me the climate action New Zealand
The Prime Minister is talking about demonstrating a plan for action, but as we move into 2021 we need to settle back into grappling with the urgency of the climate crisis.
Parliament’s climate change declaration
Parliament has finally declared that the country is in a climate emergency. And it has also told the public service that it has to become carbon neutral within five years.
Capitalism’s end game
In Aotearoa New Zealand we are facing a new crisis. Not Covid, although the recent case of community spread is deeply concerning. The crisis is the value of houses.