Archive for April, 2007

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  Hmmm. Whaddya reckon?

  
  
  
  from Mother Jones blog Ecuador Wants Us to Pay for the Amazon This dilemma cuts to the core of environmentalism today. Ecuador is asking for international compensation to leave alone a major oilfield in the heart of the Amazon. Ecuador’s president says he will wait up to one year for a response before drilling. At stake are not [...] read more
  April 30, 2007 5:29 pm - 14 Comments
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  The bufo marinus option

  
  
  
  The cane toad (bufo marinus) was introduced into Australia in 1935 in an attempt to control the cane beetle in the cane fields of Queensland. It has now spread across Queensland and most of the Northern Territory killing vast amounts of native animals in the process when they eat the toads. Bufo marimus is a poisonous legacy [...] read more
  April 29, 2007 7:07 pm - 63 Comments
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  Big Brother cleans up

  
  
  
  Well, not really, in that there’s still plenty of trash. But the makers of the Australian reality show are cashing in on some Green cache by theming the house ‘green’ , incorporating environmental challenges in the game and using sustainable building practices. Some commentators are saying it’s a cynical attempt to try and claw back an [...] read more
  April 27, 2007 9:55 am - 2 Comments
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  OCR

  
  
  
  So the Reserve Bank has pushed up the official cash rate to 7.75%. This is problematic because it punishes the entire economy for what is mostly a housing asset bubble. I really think it’s time for a rethink about the absolute reliance on one instrument to manage the economy. I’ve put out a few releases [...] read more
  April 26, 2007 5:38 pm - 132 Comments
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  So long, sedition.

  
  
  
  Following a cross – party press conference on Tuesday echoing Law Commission calls to scrap the sedition law, our blogosphere colleague IdiotSavant has asked for people to get active by joining him in writing to Mark Burton. So go forth and letter write…. “Justice Minister Mark Burton responded to the United Future – Green – Maori [...] read more
  April 26, 2007 10:05 am - 2 Comments
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  Maui’s morbidity

  
  
  
  More bad news for one of the most endangered creatures on earth There’s thought to be only around 100 of the wee fellas left, and now an autopsy of a baby Maui dolphin found at the mouth of the Waikato River last year has revealed the presence of the Brucella bacteria. DoC says they’re not entirely sure [...] read more
  April 24, 2007 5:51 pm - 12 Comments
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  Climate Defence Tour update from Jeanette

  
  
  
  After Motueka we hopped over the Takaka hill to the Bay basking in the glorious weather they always seem to have. The street stall at the Village Green couldn’t have been more different from the city. No-one seemed to be in a hurrry. Most people stopped to talk, leaning on their bicycles. Yes, their cars [...] read more
  April 23, 2007 8:41 am - 10 Comments
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  Killing kwila

  
  
  
  Frog’s a teeny bit late on this one, but it’s still well worth a read if you’re so inclined. The Greenpeace releases on the issue, along with the full report (available here) and Marie Leadbeater’s article from the Herald makes for some pretty devastating reading. They also go to remind us again why so many of [...] read more
  April 22, 2007 4:14 pm - 39 Comments
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  Climate Defence Tour Update

  
  
  
  The Climate Defence Tour has been working hard, travelling up the South Island, so far visiting Christchurch, Blenheim and Motueka – spreading the Greens climate change message and encouraging local action. Jeanette has been speaking at public meetings and facilitating workshops and during the day each city has seen a stall in town, where we [...] read more
  April 19, 2007 4:54 pm - 14 Comments
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  Science is inconvenient

  
  
  
  It seems that United Future want to exclude methane from any post Kyoto agreement on limiting greenhouse emissions. The reasoning is, sad to say, laughable really: Ruminant animals (cattle, sheep, deer, goats) manufacture methane gas because they chew the cud and have a stomach of four compartments. In our view the emphasis should be on human [...] read more
  April 18, 2007 5:19 pm - 123 Comments