Archive for March, 2007

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  72 honest mistakes - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  John Howard has lost another Minister, Santo Santoro, after it was revealed that Santoro had made 72 share trades over an 18 month period that he had failed to declare in his list of pecuniary interests. At least four of the share trades appear to involve a conflict of interest with his role as Minister [...] read more
  March 21, 2007 10:45 am - 52 Comments
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  Let the s59 debate continue - by frog

  
  
  
  So the extensive comments on our earlier posting The votes are in, and s59 is on the way out seems to have hit a technical limit. So for those of you who want to keep the debate going, here you are! read more
  March 19, 2007 10:11 am - 336 Comments
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  Global environment poll - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  An interesting new global poll on climate change shows big majorities for taking action in most of the countries they surveyed (see table below). Of even more interest to me is that when people were asked whether trade agreements should maintain minimum environmental standards, there was large support. Which is extraordinary given how little the [...] read more
  March 16, 2007 2:02 pm - 36 Comments
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  Warmest Dec-Feb on record - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  One swallow doesn’t make a summer, and the warmest global Dec-Feb period on record doesn’t “prove” the climate is changing as a result of human induced climate change, but it does add to the string of data heading in this direction. The US National Climatic Data Centre has put out a report into the record-breaking [...] read more
  March 16, 2007 1:38 pm - 1 Comment
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  Evangelicals hold the line on climate change - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  One of the positive developments that I drew attention to in my state of the planet speech this year was the development of a movement to address climate change amongst the evangelical churches in the US. Given the size and power of these churches, it is a very good sign that their leadership has come [...] read more
  March 15, 2007 3:37 pm - 12 Comments
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  Approved GE Corn fails safety test - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Greenpeace has released a reanalysis of the safety data submitted by Monsanto to gain regulatory approval for their GE corn MON863 in the EU, a reanalysis which strongly indicates that the corn is not safe for human consumption even though it has been approved by the regulators. MON863 is genetically engineered to express a version [...] read more
  March 15, 2007 2:07 pm - 17 Comments
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  Welfare for Australian banks - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The Labour United First govt seems determined to pursue a cut in corporate taxes in the budget – from 33% to 30%. The estimated cost is somewhere between $600million and $1billion. The stated aim is to ‘provide better incentives for productivity gains and improve competitiveness with Australia’ But if you think about the finance sector [...] read more
  March 15, 2007 2:06 pm - 11 Comments
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  The drinks are in the house - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The real joy is in the preparation: Conservationist uses wine bottles to build energy-saving house A house in Western Australia’s south-west is being built entirely from recycled wine bottles. Around 13,500 wine bottles will be used in the walls of the house, which owner Peter Little says will save energy. He says by filling the [...] read more
  March 14, 2007 4:08 pm - 30 Comments
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  C02 emissions from shipping bigger than aviation - by frog

  
  
  
  Carbon dioxide emissions from shipping are double those of aviation and increasing at an alarming rate which will have a serious impact on global warming, according to research by the industry and European academics. Separate studies suggest that maritime carbon dioxide emissions from the global fleet of 70,000 ships could rise by as much as [...] read more
  March 14, 2007 3:51 pm - 13 Comments
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  Thatcher, Cullen and roads roads roads - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  I’ve been wondering why Michael Cullen’s claim that “We have started the largest road building programme this country has ever seen, at least since the nineteenth century”, sounded so familiar. Then I was reminded of Margaret Thatcher’s claim that she was engaged in the “biggest road building project since the Romans”. Michael Cullen following in [...] read more
  March 14, 2007 2:54 pm - 13 Comments
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  UK to set binding targets - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The UK Govt has released a draft climate change bill with legally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets. The Press release says the bill has the following features: A series of clear targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions – including making the UK’s target for a 60 percent reduction by 2050 and a 26 to 32 [...] read more
  March 14, 2007 2:12 pm - 5 Comments
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  Now for electrification… - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Two small good news stories for the Auckland rail network today. Firstly the Onehunga branch line is to be reopened by 2009 for passengers and freight. This is coming out of money approved in Dec 2005. It will cost $10m to get it out of mothballs. Secondly, the Auckland Regional Council Transport Committee voted to [...] read more
  March 13, 2007 6:05 pm - 9 Comments
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  Swindle 2 - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Another interesting comment on “The Great Global Warming Swindle”. This one from John Houghton, former co-chair IPCC Scientific Assessment Committee and leading UK climate scientist. The extraordinary thing is that the makers of the programme thought they could get away with all this nonsense in the age of the internet when the science is readily [...] read more
  March 13, 2007 5:13 pm - 31 Comments
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  Carbon storage problem - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  A story in the Herald this morning raises some interesting questions about the feasability and safety of carbon storage options. The coal industry is pushing carbon capture and storage as the solution to the problem of the carbon dioxide produced by coal fired power stations. But that relies on finding safe and economic ways to [...] read more
  March 13, 2007 3:30 pm - 4 Comments
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  Who’s doing the swindling? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Channel Four has aired a new video, The Great Global Warming Swindle, aimed at refuting the hypothesis the human induced climate change is a serious threat. The people at RealClimate have posted a response which, for simplicity’s sake, I have pasted below. Also note that one of the interviewees, Carl Wunsch, is pretty unhappy at [...] read more
  March 13, 2007 2:54 pm - No Comments
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  The AA awards - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  I received the letter below, written to the AA about their recent award to the Volvo S80, which I thought was worth sharing: I thought I would pass a family opinion on about your recent ‘excellence awards’ winner, the Volvo S80. Whilst we are sure the Volvo is a very safe, comfortable and fast car, [...] read more
  March 13, 2007 9:25 am - 2 Comments
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  More peak oil community action - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  One of the interesting aspects of the response to peak oil has been that communities have been getting together themselves to look at the issue and come to their own conclusions about how real it is, and what they should do to prepare. Hampden in North Otago has already done quite a bit of this. [...] read more
  March 12, 2007 1:52 pm - 6 Comments
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  What about Eve? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  For all those of you out there with concerns about the “increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American” bias in Wikipedia, relax, relief is at hand. Conservapedia “is an online resource and meeting place where we favor Christianity and America.” For example, if you’re interested in history and feminism you can learn all about Eve: Eve From Conservapedia [...] read more
  March 10, 2007 10:07 pm - 21 Comments
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  EU takes the lead - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  In what will hopefully be an historic moment in the campaign to save the planet from catastrophic human induced climate change, the EU Council has agreed to a unilateral 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2020. Furthermore the text (starts para 29) commits the EU to reach 30% reduction targets by [...] read more
  March 10, 2007 9:18 pm - 24 Comments
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  OCR - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  So Bollard has increased the Official Cash Rate by 0.25% to 7.5%. The reason is that they have revised upwards their economic growth projections because of: – resilient housing market – wages growth – drop in petrol prices has given households more disposable income – ongoing dissaving by households as they borrow for consumption – [...] read more
  March 8, 2007 11:54 pm - 31 Comments