Archive for February, 2007

  • Russel Norman

    What are the priorities? - by Russel Norman



    OK, so we’ve signed up to the Cooperation Agreement with Labour. They have reluctantly delivered on parts of it, but as Jeanette says not all of it. But now they’ve lost their majority after expelling Philip Field, and Clark has given a speech where she says she cares about sustainability. Seven years into this government [...] read more
    February 14, 2007 6:59 pm - 105 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    The Cooperation Agreement - by Russel Norman



    Helen Clark has just given a speech all about sustainability and Philip Field has gone doggo so that the NZ First/United Future/Labour government needs the Greens to at least abstain to get its budget through. As background it should be noted that both the agreement between Labour and Winston First and Labour and Peter Dunne [...] read more
    February 14, 2007 9:36 am - 36 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Some smart meters not so smart - by Russel Norman



    An interesting article in issue 43 of Energy Watch, the Journal of the Sustainable Energy Forum, about the smart meters being made by Arc Innovation, which is wholly owned by Meridian Energy. (Issue 43 not on line yet) Arc is planning to install 110,000 of these meters in Christchurch over the next couple of years. [...] read more
    February 12, 2007 1:38 pm - 16 Comments
  • frog

    Stephen Colbert vs IPCC - by frog



    The Stephen Colbert from the US Comedy Central channel playing his usual fake fox news commentator. This time his enemy is the science of climate change – enjoy! read more
    February 9, 2007 5:25 pm - 34 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    A climate change game for the weekend - by Russel Norman



    The BBC have put together a climate change game which is kinda interesting. read more
    February 9, 2007 5:23 pm - 1 Comment
  • Russel Norman

    London Greens get some cool stuff - by Russel Norman



    The budget agreement between the Green Party London Assembly members and Ken Livingstone was released on January 23. Under the deal, Livingstone has agreed to a number of Green budget inititiatives for the 2007/8 budget including: * £8 million to increase the energy performance of London’s buildings * £8 million to establish a Climate Change [...] read more
    February 8, 2007 5:05 pm - 11 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Electricity Efficiency in California - by Russel Norman



    Part of the alternative to exponential growth in electricity consumption is energy efficiency. Below is a graph take from the Electricity Commission website which shows the impact of increased efficiency on growth in demand for electricity in California compared with NZ and the rest of the US. It shows that since the 1970s per captia [...] read more
    February 7, 2007 3:05 pm - 19 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Exponential growth - by Russel Norman



    Now this is an interesting article about exponential growth. It points out the obvious problems with exponential growth in a finite world and the problems that we humans seem to have understanding what it means. He also has a handy rule of thumb – if you want to find the doubling time of something growing [...] read more
    February 7, 2007 2:48 pm - 12 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Cool It - by Russel Norman



    But on a more serious note, marie claire’s February edition (Australia) has a feature on the “Cool It” campaign involving various celebs and climate change. There are photos of celebs holding signs about things they’re doing for the environment. Cate Blanchett – “I’ve installed a rainwater tank” Heath Ledger – “I’m changing my ways how [...] read more
    February 5, 2007 10:49 pm - 10 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Rock stars in rehab - by Russel Norman



    Having spent the day reading various “women’s magazines” I can report that my favourite story is from this weeks NZ Womens Weekly. The reality TV company Endemol (Big Brother) is apparently planning a series called Rock Stars in Rehab. They will put a bunch of well known people with public drug problems in rehab and [...] read more
    February 5, 2007 6:00 pm - 6 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    miles and miles of food miles - by Russel Norman



    An article in the Guardian, Carbon labels to help shoppers save planet, indicates that UK food miles labelling will not simply be based on air freight distance – how items have been produced will also be part of the measure of the carbon footprint. Which would seem kinda obvious really. Will go some way to [...] read more
    February 4, 2007 8:56 pm - No Comments
  • Russel Norman

    The problem with investment clauses in free trade deals - by Russel Norman



    It seems that a whole bunch of countries led by the French are calling for a new UN Environment Organisation (UNEO) – with more powers than the current UN Environment Programme. This is a very very very good idea. Moreover, a UNEO needs to have the power to take on the WTO, which seems determined [...] read more
    February 4, 2007 7:44 pm - 50 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    IPCC Fourth Assessment report - by Russel Norman



    So the first part of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report finally came out. The Summary is here, nothing we don’t know: 1. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide levels have increased significantly over pre-industrial levels due to human activities. Carbon dioxide due to fossil fuel burning and land use change, methane and nitrous oxide due [...] read more
    February 4, 2007 5:55 pm - 18 Comments
« Newer entries