Archive for March, 2008

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  Green for election year - by frog

  
  
  
  Guess which party wrote this: “The lakes have become an embarrassment; badly polluted with sewage, nutrient run-off and algal blooms and are no longer the tourist magnets that they have been in the past.  Our ‘clean, green’ image, that we hold so dear, is under threat when we allow this to occur. “We are fortunate [...] read more
  March 26, 2008 1:00 pm - 7 Comments
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  Sour grapes - by frog

  
  
  
  Doesn’t the police response to the Rainbow Warrior protest yesterday sound a little bit unnecessarily miffed? It’s a bit hard to blame Greenpeace for a lone constable being attacked in a brawl in central Christchurch, when it was the police that decided protecting the property on a coal export ship was 30 times more important [...] read more
  March 26, 2008 10:19 am - 6 Comments
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  Don’t vote for a colour, vote for real food - by frog

  
  
  
  The Standard occasionally claims it supports the Greens, but I see this week it’s using the M&M candy election to promote the type of Labour Party we haven’t seen for many a decade. It turns out though that the Green M&M candidate may have more liberal morals than the Standard feels comfortable with. Just in [...] read more
  March 26, 2008 10:04 am - 2 Comments
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  Greenwash fishing - by frog

  
  
  
  This advert currently resides at Wellington Airport. Given the role Talley’s plays in the current state of our fisheries I imagine the advertising agency that designed this particular piece of greenwash would be washing their hands with bleach. Talley’s is currently selling Monkfish on special: As a sustainable resource, Monkfish allows our customers to benefit [...] read more
  March 26, 2008 8:21 am - 6 Comments
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  Rainbow Warriors target NZ’s coal export industry - by frog

  
  
  
  The great thing about blogs is their ability to respond to breaking news. Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior blog is currently right at the centre of the Lyttelton Harbour news of the three activists from the Rainbow Warrior who have made it across to the coal exporting ship, Hellenic Sea, in a fast inflatable boat and have [...] read more
  March 25, 2008 7:47 pm - 15 Comments
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  Peace Sign Turns 50 - by frog

  
  
  
  From the BBC News article: It started life as the emblem of the British anti-nuclear movement but it has become an international sign for peace, and arguably the most widely used protest symbol in the world. It has also been adapted, attacked and commercialised. Gerald Holtom, a designer and former World War II conscientious objector [...] read more
  March 25, 2008 2:23 pm - 2 Comments
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  Climate change pass-times - by frog

  
  
  
  The Guardian has a spectacular series of photos on climate change and environmental destruction. This one below is a coal fired power station in Yorkshire, England The coal-fired power plant emits more CO2 – 22.8 million tonnes annually – than the 100 least-industrialised nations combined. Drax provides 7% of Britain’s electrical power. Burning fossil fuels [...] read more
  March 25, 2008 11:21 am - 17 Comments
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  Gore’s climate change remix - by frog

  
  
  
  Celsias reports that this time last year Al Gore gave a speech to the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill. Here’s the musical remix. It’s a bit shorter than An Inconvenient Truth, so if you like your Al Gore in small inspiring doses without all the science this might be for you: Meanwhile Dot Earth watches [...] read more
  March 25, 2008 10:51 am - No Comments
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  $0.5 billion trade debt with Thailand. China is next - by frog

  
  
  
  Last week I covered the growing trade deficit with Singapore since New Zealand signed a preferential trade agreement with Singapore in 2001. I also talked a bit about BERL‘s analysis of the beneficial effect that import replacement [pdf] could have on the economy. As well as Singapore New Zealand also signed a preferential trade agreement [...] read more
  March 25, 2008 9:35 am - 2 Comments
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  62,000 jobs or trade with China - by frog

  
  
  
  The latest statistics from our Overseas Merchandise Trade show that last year we exported $2.0 billion dollars worth of stuff to China. But we imported $5.6 billion dollars worth of stuff. That’s a total trade deficit of $3.6 billion with China alone (our trade deficit with the rest of the world tells a similar story) [...] read more
  March 24, 2008 1:19 pm - 28 Comments
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  Peak Uranium - by frog

  
  
  
  Several times I have promised a post on Peak Uranium and haven’t delivered. It’s a complex subject because building nuclear reactors is such a slow moving thing and subject to so many economic and social factors. So Peak Uranium, in this context, is not as clean a concept as it is for say oil, where [...] read more
  March 23, 2008 1:59 pm - 46 Comments
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  Fleming on a roll - by frog

  
  
  
  Cricket keeps rearing its head on frogblog, so here is another post in support of the Black Caps. As I write, Fleming is giving Anderson a lesson in arithmetic by fours and will soon pause for lunch…  This is the post for BB, Toad and any other cricket fans to sort out the line up [...] read more
  March 23, 2008 12:24 pm - 37 Comments
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  A lazy Easter post - by frog

  
  
  
  Yes, just whole series of links: Treehugger Pop Quiz: How much water does it take to “grow” a hamburger? Today is World Water Day 2008 and: for many of the world’s poorest, particularly in Africa, Asia and Latin America, water is costlier than oil, more precious than oil and yet less available than clean air. [...] read more
  March 22, 2008 8:40 am - 19 Comments
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  SkySails’ Successful Maiden Voyage - by frog

  
  
  
  There was so much interest here from my last post about wind assisted shipping, that I had to follow up. Let’s see if we can crack the 55 comments level again… After all, SkySails, with there undersized prototype, managed to save 20% fuel on a significant real world trip around the Atlantic. From their press [...] read more
  March 21, 2008 10:07 pm - 24 Comments
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  They don’t like it - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Yesterday’s question time was another sad day for Labour and NZ First. They got together to try to attack Keith personally in order to try to distract from the real question of whether NZ should sign a preferential trade deal with China, especially when they are abusing people’s human rights even worse than usual in Tibet. [...] read more
  March 21, 2008 3:20 pm - 14 Comments
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  Our freshwater fish - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Our freshwater fish are generally nocturnal so don’t get seen much. Early settlers thought the rivers were empty. But there are 40 odd species of native freshwater fish and they are great. They are in trouble because of forest clearance and pollution from agriculture, sewerage and industrial outflows. Here Dr. Mike Joy talks about some [...] read more
  March 21, 2008 2:27 pm - 13 Comments
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  Trade and debt - by frog

  
  
  
  If it’s true as the evidence seems to indicate that New Zealand’s free trade for growth agenda is leading to larger and larger current account deficits, what does that mean for our economy? I thought it was worth reposting this comment of Andrew’s from yesterday for debate: Trade deficits have the opposite problem in that [...] read more
  March 21, 2008 8:02 am - 13 Comments
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  Peak Everything, by Don Elder - by frog

  
  
  
  I have just finished reading Richard Heinberg‘s latest book, Peak Everything. It is a collection of essays that explore the causes and effects of many resource limits. In short, we’re in for a bumpy ride and I highly recommend the book. Today, for some reason I’ve already forgotten, I was reviewing the powerpoint of Don [...] read more
  March 20, 2008 4:02 pm - 59 Comments
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  A sensible amendment to the Electoral Finance Act - by frog

  
  
  
  Another interesting question time today with Bill English asking the Minister of Justice about the authorisation requirements for election advertising and, in particular, giving the Green’s Proud to be Green billboards a bit of airtime on Parliamentary TV by waving round a photo of one of them. While I support the Electoral Finance Act as [...] read more
  March 20, 2008 3:54 pm - 24 Comments
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  70% of plants now threatened species - by frog

  
  
  
  Lester Brown who wrote Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, has recently released the update (or sequel?), Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization I haven’t read 3.0, which can be downloaded for free (not that I’m advocating you print it off), but I’ve browsed through 2.0 and [...] read more
  March 20, 2008 2:04 pm - 1 Comment