Archive for December, 2007

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  Biochar profs - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  In what is a good piece of news, Jim Anderton has announced the establishment of two bio-char professorships at Massey Uni. Biochar is a kind of charcoal produced from biomass. The great thing about biochar is that it is a way to take carbon out of the atmosphere and put it into long term storage [...] read more
  December 17, 2007 4:51 pm - 7 Comments
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  The fourth Labour Govt and campaign finance reform - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Mike Moore’s comments on campaign finance reform do draw attention to the history of the fourth Labour Govt, of which he was a key member. That Govt was well rewarded for their program of privatisation and deregulation and the money flowed into Labour. Some of the donors made handsome profits out of the activities of the Govt. A [...] read more
  December 17, 2007 3:52 pm - 23 Comments
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  Pre Christmas polls - by frog

  
  
  
  The splash of voter intention polls over the weekend indicate that we might have one of two elections next year.  We could have a 2005 election, where the two largest parties battle out for supremacy to the exclusion of any nuance or debate in the campaign.  Or we could have a 2002 election where one [...] read more
  December 17, 2007 8:39 am - 34 Comments
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  Bali and forests - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Well it seems Bali wasn’t a total disaster but didn’t make any real progress. The US blocked any commitments to emission reduction targets for the industrialised countries, but at least the negotiations trying to reach a post-Kyoto deal will continue. (I wonder if the role of US oil and car companies in funding election campaigns [...] read more
  December 16, 2007 7:21 pm - 3 Comments
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  Green Achievements to 2007 - by frog

  
  
  
  December 7th was the eight year anniversary of a Green caucus in parliament. Sure, Rod and Jeanette were both in parliament for a term with the Alliance, but the Greens really began to punch above their weight class when they were joined by others after victory in 1999. This video was made to celebrate Green [...] read more
  December 16, 2007 1:55 pm - 30 Comments
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  Oil exporters increase internal demand - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  One of the factors that could quickly tip oil prices upward is the rapidly increasing internal demand in oil exporting nations. Indonesia recently went from being an oil exporter to an oil importer as production slowed and internal demand increased. The NY Times has a piece looking at this issue (thanks to the Energy Bulletin [...] read more
  December 15, 2007 5:23 pm - 12 Comments
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  Melbourne Age article on money and politics - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  I am spending far too much time looking at campaign finance reform, but I did come across an interesting article from the Melbourne Age  – the article in 2006 looked at the question: “Are our politicians for sale?” The article is worth a read but here are a couple of quotes which point to the problem of money and [...] read more
  December 15, 2007 5:10 pm - 1 Comment
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  Are Tim Shadbolt’s ads caught by the EFB? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Tim Shadbolt’s advertisements to retain funding for the Sourthern Institute of Technology have been dragged into the muck surrounding campaign finance reform. Predictably, National and the NZ Herald have said that Tim’s ads could be caught by the Electoral Finance Bill. So could they? In my opinion, no. I had a good look at the ad that Tim [...] read more
  December 15, 2007 10:43 am - 33 Comments
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  The ALP stops campaign finance reform in NSW - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Campaign finance reform is something that Greens in NSW have been working for also. And just like here, the major parties don’t like it much. However, the difference is that Labor in NSW are not open to any kind of reform, even of the limited kind found in the NZ Electoral Finance Bill. In NSW, [...] read more
  December 15, 2007 9:37 am - 12 Comments
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  Target Practice - by frog

  
  
  
  Well, it looks like the US, China, Canada and Japan are going to hold Bali to ransom and prevent anything substantial from coming out of it. Not that I expected any grand outcome, just a decent framework to keep the post-Kyoto negotiations going. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a link to The Big [...] read more
  December 14, 2007 3:18 pm - 7 Comments
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  ANZ campaign goes international - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The campaign against ANZ for providing finance to Rimbunan Hijau in PNG, to enable RH to carry out illegal and unsustainable logging, has linked up with the campaign against ANZ as the potential financier to the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania. We had protests in NZ while the greens in Oz had similar protests earlier [...] read more
  December 14, 2007 2:50 pm - 1 Comment
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  Melchester Rovers – playing and trading fair - by frog

  
  
  
  Dunedin football team, the Melchester Rovers is the first team on this side of the world to exclusively use fair trade footballs for training and match play. Dave Peck, the promoter of fair trade sports balls and a Green Party member, plays in goal for Melchester and was interested to discover that fair trade balls [...] read more
  December 14, 2007 8:49 am - 9 Comments
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  Canada, Japan and US must commit to binding targets - by frog

  
  
  
  There’s an expression that goes something like ‘this is where the rubber hits the road’.  Well, that’s probably the opposite of the outcome we want from Bali. But the time has definitely come to find whether our global representatives can commit to doing something before they leave the Indonesian island. The UN is clearly worried [...] read more
  December 13, 2007 3:27 pm - 3 Comments
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  This summer Monsanto is back - by frog

  
  
  
  This summer, once you are bored with the beach, the picnics and the bike rides (and maybe the occasional game of monopoly while you wait for the rain to clear), you might be looking for something else to do, something retro – maybe a little bit 2001/02.  Because one of the international superstars of the [...] read more
  December 13, 2007 2:46 pm - 37 Comments
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  Pope calls for science-based approach to climate change - by frog

  
  
  
  The Daily Mail writes; ‘Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.’ I’ve got to assume that the Pontiff is taking the proverbial Michael. Although, as Live Science points out [...] read more
  December 13, 2007 10:21 am - 8 Comments
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  Facebook politics - by frog

  
  
  
  For those of you on Facebook, once you have finished poking members of the Green Party caucus, you may want to check out some of the statistics on the NZ Politics application. Putting aside that it has only marginally more scientific credibility than Augie Auer talking about climate change, it is quite amusing. Overall things [...] read more
  December 12, 2007 8:13 pm - 4 Comments
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  A local Innocence Project - by frog

  
  
  
  It is nearly ten years since New Zealand spent its summer holidays watching on the news what might these days have been termed CSI Picton.   A few weeks ago Nandor called for case of the murders of Olivia Hope and Ben Smart to be re-opened.  This followed further yachties coming forward and saying they saw [...] read more
  December 12, 2007 3:55 pm - 38 Comments
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  Living in the city - by frog

  
  
  
   This year is the first time ever more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. So the Freakonomics blog has a fascinating debate going on (as always) on urbanisation. It has analyses from a range of urban experts on trends for the future: James Howard Kunstler argues that climate change and peak oil [...] read more
  December 12, 2007 12:05 pm - 21 Comments
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  Hello, my name is Bosco the Canadian robot… - by frog

  
  
  
  How are you to day?  I am calling to talk about next year’s election with you.  Don’t worry about replying, I can’t actually hear you.  Just sit back and listen. Did you know the Green Party plans to legalise bestiality?  And, many of them smell bad and don’t sing the national anthem properly.  Also, I [...] read more
  December 12, 2007 10:54 am - 17 Comments
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  Former Qantas chief says corporate donations major threat to democracy - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  While the Herald is crusading against campaign finance reform in New Zealand, more responsible newspapers are throwing the sterilising light of publicity on what’s happening in Australia. The Melbourne Age ran an article back in 2004, “Can power be bought”, which had some interesting quotes from those that should know: John Menadue, a senior public servant in [...] read more
  December 11, 2007 5:29 pm - 15 Comments