Archive for April, 2007

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  Hmmm. Whaddya reckon? - by frog

  
  
  
  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 [...] read more
  April 30, 2007 5:29 pm - 14 Comments
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  The bufo marinus option - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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 - by frog

  
  
  
  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 [...] read more
  April 27, 2007 9:55 am - 2 Comments
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  OCR - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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. - by frog

  
  
  
  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 – [...] read more
  April 26, 2007 10:05 am - 2 Comments
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  Maui’s morbidity - by frog

  
  
  
  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 [...] read more
  April 24, 2007 5:51 pm - 12 Comments
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  Climate Defence Tour update from Jeanette - by frog

  
  
  
  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 - by frog

  
  
  
  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 [...] read more
  April 22, 2007 4:14 pm - 39 Comments
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  Climate Defence Tour Update - by frog

  
  
  
  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 - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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 [...] read more
  April 18, 2007 5:19 pm - 123 Comments
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  3rd Annual New Zealand Human Rights Film Festival - by frog

  
  
  
  “The theme of the 2007 festival is ‘Identity’. From films in which people attempt to assert their right to be recognized as a state, to situations where expressions of identity are taken to the extreme with disastrous results for others.  Identity politics is an issue that underpins many of the debates that take place in [...] read more
  April 18, 2007 1:33 pm - 44 Comments
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  Vanity Fair - by frog

  
  
  
  So Vanity Fair has put out another ‘Green’ issue …. And the reaction has ranged from downright condemnation, kudos for trying, and top marks for the cute, cuddly widdle polar bear on the cover. Here’s some of the strident criticism that their inaugural ‘Green’ edition was met with. Here’s the woeful tale of how they [...] read more
  April 18, 2007 12:03 pm - 6 Comments
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  Climate Defence Tour launched - by frog

  
  
  
  The Greens’ Climate Defence Tour started on Sunday afternoon at the Lyttelton Port when about 30 people, including Jeanette Fitzsimons, gathered to watch the launching of an experimental wave machine being investigated by Industrial Research Limited. Jeanette addressed the crowd, stating that the Government needed to foster small engineering projects that contribute to the research [...] read more
  April 18, 2007 11:48 am - 4 Comments
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  Snippets - by frog

  
  
  
  Looking forward to Taito Phillip Field’s new ‘family values’ party ? Aren’t we all? After all, allowing migrants desperate to stay in the country to work for free on one’s private property in return for a word in a well placed ear, wink, wink, must surely encapsulate the type of upright, decent moral values missing [...] read more
  April 17, 2007 9:38 am - 133 Comments
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  G7 not much help - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Finance ministers from the G7 took time out from their calculators on Friday to tell the world how well it is doing. Which I am sure it is, if your perspective happens to be that of a finance minister in one of the seven most wealthy countries in the world. Sadly the G7′s assessment of [...] read more
  April 16, 2007 6:19 pm - 13 Comments
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  How about polluter pays? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Interesting piece by Brian Fallow regarding the submissions from the forestry sector and the farming sector on greenhouse emissions. The issue revolves around the projected increase in agricultural emissions of 38 million tonnes CO2 equivalent from 1990 levels during the 2008-2012 period of the Kyoto Protocol. From a political perspective, what is interesting is that [...] read more
  April 16, 2007 6:14 pm - 3 Comments
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  Video from electrify rail public meeting - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Here is a report from Triangle TV‘s Darpan Local News about the public meeting in Auckland in support of electrifying the Auckland rail network – the electrification item starts about 10mins 20s into the bulletin. 200 people at the meeting was a good turnout, let’s hope it translates into action soon. read more
  April 16, 2007 3:53 pm - 2 Comments
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  Westpac wins, but what about Prometheus… - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Westpac has won the award for having the most socially responsible banking product, according to the Sunday Star Times. Their Green Home Loan has vouchers to make it cheaper for home buyers to install insulation, solar hot water and other environmentally friendly stuff. It is good that Westpac have done this and I congratulate them for it. [...] read more
  April 15, 2007 2:17 pm - 15 Comments
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  Could be messy - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The story about plugging an extinct volcano in Auckland with human waste caught my interest. Could be messy I thought… but fortunately: Auckland University vulcanologist Ian Smith said Aucklanders need not be concerned that they would be showered in “biosolids” in the event of an eruption. Formed 30,000 years ago, Puketutu Island is one of [...] read more
  April 15, 2007 2:07 pm - 1 Comment
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  The icing on the cake - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  It seems that George Bush’s administration only goes from bad to worse. The US Attorney’s scandal really is extraordinary, even by the standards of an Administration that alters scientific reports to downgrade the evidence of climate change. According to a fascinating article in the New Yorker, it seems that Bush’s Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has [...] read more
  April 13, 2007 5:02 pm - 38 Comments