Archive for April, 2008

• 

  Water – the under-reported resource crisis - by frog

  
  
  
  Such is the very interesting article by Fred Pearce at the Guardian. (as yet not online) After stating that biofuels are only just beginning to contribute to the food crisis, he describes how water, which underpins all agriculture, is the truly scarce supply. Here are a few excerpts: The great slow-burning, under-reported resource crisis of [...] read more
  April 24, 2008 9:52 am - 8 Comments
• 

  Oil US$118 per barrel - by frog

  
  
  
  Petrol prices are going up so, rather than responding as the market says we should by buying less petrol and finding an alternative, we have the petrol burning lobby asking for government intervention. Gaah! Interestingly the same debate is occurring in the US where a totally different government with a somewhat more brutal approach to [...] read more
  April 24, 2008 9:46 am - 43 Comments
• 

  A coal mining ditty - by frog

  
  
  
  A reader has sent in this ballad; Old King Coal was a dirty old soul And a dirty old soul was he; He stuffed up the air, to the climate’s despair; So he called for the CSC. Every denier has their denial, And a very fine denial has he; But there’s none so rare, as [...] read more
  April 24, 2008 8:54 am - 17 Comments
• 

  Solidarity movement aims to send Zimbabwean arms back to China - by frog

  
  
  
  A few days ago Nandor reported on a shipment of arms that Zimbabwe was attempting to import from China but that had been blocked from unloading in South Africa because of a solidarity movement led by a South African dock workers’ union.  Well as the US and UK have also stepped in to apply pressure [...] read more
  April 24, 2008 8:40 am - No Comments
• 

  Solid Energy and Jeanette’s double act - by frog

  
  
  
  There’s a gentle irony, following yesterday’s coal protest, to see that Jeanette is one of the heroes in Solid Energy’s media release today. Both Solid Energy and Jeanette have been celebrating Mairehau High School which is, with the help of a Renewable Heating for Schools Grant from EECA, switching its heating system from coal to [...] read more
  April 23, 2008 5:02 pm - 13 Comments
• 

  Champion of the Earth - by frog

  
  
  
  Congratulations to Helen Clark on being named a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations for the heroic manner in which she talks about sustainability and carbon neutrality. “We take pride in our green identity as a nation and we are determined to take action to protect it” In other news I understand John [...] read more
  April 23, 2008 2:42 pm - 21 Comments
• 

  The drug deal - by frog

  
  
  
  One of the things we will be trading with China under our new preferential trade deal is drugs. And Sue Kedgley has just pointed out that provisions in the preferential China trade agreement require most goods to be fast tracked through borders within 48 hours. It seems highly likely that this will weaken the safety [...] read more
  April 23, 2008 12:27 pm - 3 Comments
• 

  Toll Rail Trials Bioloco - by frog

  
  
  
  Toll is having a go with B5 in one of its freight locos and one of it’s commuter locos in a project with Shell NZ. This is a humble beginning but a good one. Frogblog readers may not know that Toll was the 2007 winner of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Award for innovation in [...] read more
  April 23, 2008 10:09 am - 5 Comments
• 

  Support for ‘keep coal in the hole’ - by frog

  
  
  
  Greenpeace called last night for Labour and National to support Jeanette’s six-point plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coal. Coal is the most climate-damaging fossil fuel. “It smacks of hypocrisy for New Zealand to claim any leadership role on tackling climate change while coal-mining continues to expand,�? said Mr Boxer. “Political parties need to [...] read more
  April 23, 2008 9:05 am - 7 Comments
• 

  Peak suburbs - by frog

  
  
  
  Last night I saltated along to another public screening of The End of Suburbia, this one in Newtown.  Which was a little ironic, because Newtown is one of those places that are closer to the beginning of suburbia.  It’s compact, walkable and full of local businesses and community organisations.  It’s got a regular public transport [...] read more
  April 23, 2008 8:50 am - 39 Comments
• 

  Keep the coal in the hole - by frog

  
  
  
  This afternoon Jeanette presented Solid Energy with a gift from the Green Party to mark Earth Day – a stocking containing a lump of coal – a traditional gift at Christmas for naughty girls and boys. But, as Jeanette says, it’s not just Solid Energy that has a coal addiction problem: [I]mportant as oil is, [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 5:21 pm - 28 Comments
• 

  A Sustainable Biofuel Consensus - by frog

  
  
  
  Could there be a growing international consensus on what constitutes a sustainable biofuel? I have had a fair bit to say about it here on frogblog and Jeanette has been doing battle in the deep recesses of the corridors of power to ensure that the new Biofuel Sales Obligation Bill (BSO) doesn’t encourage shonky biofuel. [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 2:42 pm - 13 Comments
• 

  Coal - by frog

  
  
  
  Tonight Jeanette will be speaking in Ilam, Christchurch, and releasing the Green Party’s coal policy. In the mean time here’s some coal related videos. You may have heard Gerry Brownlee talking about ‘sexy coal‘ but this General Electric ‘ecomagination‘ ad campaign from a couple of years ago actually uses sex appeal to sell coal. No [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 1:45 pm - 11 Comments
• 

  Earth Day - by frog

  
  
  
  In case you missed the street parades and glitzy advertising campaign, I thought I’d better remind you that today is Earth Day.  A traditional Earth Day activity is to show a picture of the Earth, which reminds us how compact and small our planet is, such as this one taken from Apollo 8 in 1968. [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 1:20 pm - 6 Comments
• 

  Trading dolphins for diplomats - by frog

  
  
  
  ECO has contrasted the Department of Conservation’s job cutting efforts to save $8 million (and the subsequent likely loss of 56 conservation staff) to the recently announced Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade announcement of $104 million per year to help them negotiate new trade deals. It seems to me that this is an unfair [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 11:32 am - 1 Comment
• 

  Buying our way out of trouble - by frog

  
  
  
  This is nice little counterbalance to today’s Michael Pollan post. Hat tip: Celsias read more
  April 22, 2008 11:19 am - 2 Comments
• 

  Pollan asks ‘why bother?’ - by frog

  
  
  
  One of my current favourite political authors, Michael Pollan is on his way to New Zealand to promote his new book, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. On Sunday he had an opinion piece in the New York Times where he asks that dark question that troubles many  environmentally aware people – why bother [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 9:06 am - 7 Comments
• 

  Ladies - by frog

  
  
  
  I enjoyed Hillary Clinton’s attempt to make a joke about Helen Clark.  Presumably her comment was premeditated and her motive for even bothering to name Helen Clark was to highlight that other countries had female political leaders.  I guess at least that is one thing we in New Zealand don’t seem to need to contest [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 8:28 am - 18 Comments

• fresh news from the Cape - by Nandor Tanczos

  
  
  
  Well, I’m still in Cape Town. Don’t know if NZ media is reporting much about it, but Zimbabwe is still the big news here. A shipment of arms from China, ordered three days after the election, docked in Durban for overland transportation to Zimbabwe late last week. The Government said they had no legal grounds [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 4:47 am - 6 Comments
• 

  With oil forecasts, green is still better than red - by frog

  
  
  
  Well here it is, as promised, the updated version of my chart from last November. I’ve said so much about all of this in other posts, so I’ll just recycle many of the excellent links that were put up by readers last November. Simon Tegg’s excellent in-depth look at MED’s assumptions. Plus MED’s original workshop [...] read more
  April 21, 2008 1:30 pm - 10 Comments