Archive for October, 2007

  • Russel Norman

    Dairy farmers $750m windfall - by Russel Norman



    The Greens have been getting plenty of stick from Fed Farmers etc for daring to suggest that the dairy industry should cover the cost of their excess greenhouse emissions rather than the taxpayer, as the govt proposes. Well this article puts an interesting light on it. Dairy farmers just received an extra $750m last week [...] read more
    October 29, 2007 5:19 pm - 73 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Sarkozy - by Russel Norman



    Some interesting environment proposals from ‘conservative’ French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The NZ National Party is so far away away from being blue-green party when you compare it to Sarkozy. Even the NZ Labour party is behind some of Sarkozy’s proposals: Oct 25 (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled proposals on Thursday aimed at revolutionising [...] read more
    October 29, 2007 2:45 pm - 53 Comments
  • frog

    Frog week isn’t over yet - by frog



    Hear Dr Phil Bishop, University of Otago Senior Lecturer in Zoology and frog fanatic. Of the 4 endemic frog species NZ has left, 2 are in dire straits and only hanging on due to our offshore island sanctuaries. They’re my ‘brothers in arms’, so please download our frog poster and stick it up at home, [...] read more
    October 26, 2007 2:19 pm - 39 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Movember - by Russel Norman



    As there seems to be a large number of us blokes posting on this site, this may be of interest. I seem to remember a certain former Assistant Green Party Campaign Manager who grew quite a beautiful example of a mo last Movember. Movember – Changing the face of Men’s Health Movember (the month formally known [...] read more
    October 25, 2007 10:43 am - 25 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Greens are global citizens - by Russel Norman



    The folk at the NZ Institute want us to drag the chain on climate change, and the Nats are happy to climb on board this particular barbed wire canoe. There are people like this in every country in the world, and they all say “Let’s wait to see what other people will do before we [...] read more
    October 24, 2007 3:10 pm - 95 Comments
  • frog

    It’s Frog Week - by frog



      Yes it’s frog week, I’ve been too busy partying to let you know about it, but check out the DOC site for what’s happening in the rest of the week or drop the green party a line to find out what they’re doing to protect my green kin. It is a week for celebrating all [...] read more
    October 24, 2007 1:37 pm - 4 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Ross Meurant’s comments on the raids - by Russel Norman



    Ross Meurant’s interview on Morning Report is well worth a listen if you missed it. Meurant is a former leading police officer and right wing politician. Meurant says that “police are a subculture that tend to look at everyone as villains” with a ”tendency to exaggerate”. He says that this filter means that information gathering by [...] read more
    October 19, 2007 6:06 pm - 140 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Why is National in favour of native forest destruction? - by Russel Norman



    So much for blue-green. The Nats are opposed to DoC having an advocacy role. Yet DoC’s advocacy saves important bits of native bush. Below is an exchange from parliament yesterday in which National attacked DoC for protecting old growth kanuka and Chris Carter rightly defended DoC (and picked up on my blog from Wednesday about [...] read more
    October 19, 2007 3:15 pm - 20 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Question time from yesterday regarding police raids - by Russel Norman



    KEITH LOCKE (Green) to the Minister of Police: Has she made any complaints over any aspect of police operations in the last week; if so, on what grounds? Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police): No. There is a necessary separation between the Minister of Police and the Commissioner of Police over day-to-day policing decisions. This [...] read more
    October 19, 2007 1:47 pm - 52 Comments
  • frog

    Big wind to the rescue - by frog



    Contact energy’s plans to built a big momma (650 MW) wind farm in the Waikato is exactly the sort of thing we need to respond to ever rising oil prices and greenhouse gas emissions. A mini-me (100 MW) gas fired plant will also tag along, which is OK I suppose as it can be fired [...] read more
    October 18, 2007 5:37 pm - 62 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    If you want biodiversity, work for justice - by Russel Norman



    The Greens are founded on a series of interdependent principles – sustainability, justice, peace and democracy. This piece from Grist nicely illustrates the way that the four of them are linked in a regime which is not democratic or just, uses violence against its citizens, and is destroying forests. We are probably importing the forests [...] read more
    October 18, 2007 4:21 pm - 27 Comments
  • frog

    Foreign labour doesn’t need to come to NZ to hurt kiwi workers - by frog



    Yesterday New Zealand First’s Peter Brown used question time in the House to launch an attack on New Zealand’s immigration policy, arguing that cheap foreign labour was taking skilled kiwi jobs. “Would the Minister agree that the ability for employers to bring in cheap, foreign labour… has now created the perverse consequences of employers forcing [...] read more
    October 18, 2007 3:21 pm - 8 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Bob Brown’s speech to National Press Club - by Russel Norman



    With the launch of the election campaign, Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens, addressed the National Press Club yesterday. This is the start of the his speech: A decade ago The Greens had a very simple slogan – “No environment no economyâ€?. Today that is even truer. Ten years ago it was a warning. Now, [...] read more
    October 18, 2007 10:46 am - 13 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Ngati Whatua and Maui - by Russel Norman



    Recent statements by Naida Glavish, chair of Ngati Whatua, are extremely worrying for those of us who care about the survival of the last of the maui dolphins. The maui are being killed by set nets but restrictions on set nets would affect some fishing. It would not be the end of fishing but just the end of [...] read more
    October 17, 2007 2:46 pm - 45 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Biofuels must be sustainable - by Russel Norman



    Last night Parliament was debating the biofuel sales obligation. The Greens pushed hard to get an amendment to the bill to ensure that all biofuel supplies are sustainable. As Jeanette said: “However not all biofuels are environmentally sound. The Green Party is totally opposed to the clearing of old growth tropical rainforest, the last refuge [...] read more
    October 17, 2007 2:10 pm - 11 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Greenpeace establishes Forest Defenders Camp in Sumatra - by Russel Norman



    In the lead up to the UN Climate Conference in Bali in December, Greenpeace has established a Forest Defenders Camp in the jungles of Sumatra to draw attention to forest destruction. Deforestation is responsible for 20% of global greenhouse emissions and means that Indonesia is the third biggest greenhouse emitting country, after the US and [...] read more
    October 17, 2007 1:52 pm - 4 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    DOC saves taxpayer $2 million - by Russel Norman



    Three weeks ago the National Party and Federated Farmers attacked the Department of Conservation’s advocacy for a large area of native forest on Waikatea, a Northern Hawkes Bay farm. FedFarmers called DOC a “bully”, and called for “removing tax payer funded advocacy”. National said “it is an absolute disgrace that DOC is continuing to meddle [...] read more
    October 17, 2007 12:02 pm - 4 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Reaganomics Finally Trickles Down To Area Man - by Russel Norman



    On a slightly lighter note from the Onion: October 13, 2007 HAZELWOOD, MO—Twenty-six years after Ronald Reagan first set his controversial fiscal policies into motion, the deceased president’s massive tax cuts for the ultrarich at last trickled all the way down to deliver their bounty, in the form of a $10 bonus, to Hazelwood, MO [...] read more
    October 17, 2007 11:53 am - 7 Comments
  • frog

    Hopping up and down for your rights - by frog



    The blogosphere has been running hot since the police raids on Monday. Speculation has been rife and all sort of theories seem to be floating around. The truth of what did or did not happen will one day become apparent, but for now there are more important issues at stake. Namely, the potential for the [...] read more
    October 17, 2007 11:52 am - 16 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Police raids - by Russel Norman



    There is still a fog around what the police are up to today. I’ve heard that the Wellington CIB turned up at various Save Happy Valley people’s houses this morning in Christchurch, but had no warrants and couldn’t talk their way into people’s houses so were sent away.  128 Abel Smith st was raided by [...] read more
    October 15, 2007 5:50 pm - 130 Comments
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