Archive for June, 2008

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  John Key’s chance - by frog

  
  
  
  Here’s a small Green item that I let slip past last week but which deserves commenting on.  Last week Jeanette wrote to John Key asking to see what would be in his alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme and when he would introduce it. National has said for some time that it favours an emissions [...] read more
  June 25, 2008 10:58 am - 8 Comments
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  Should Zimbabwe have a unity government? - by frog

  
  
  
  With Zimbabwe falling into chaos, or worse, tyranny, it was timely that I should receive an email call to action from global poverty and peace campaigning group Avaaz.  I normally reflexively support whatever Avaaz is campaigning on.  But this time I paused because its email to me was calling for a unity government – lead [...] read more
  June 25, 2008 10:26 am - 43 Comments
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  Business Council for Sustainable Development’s internal ructions - by frog

  
  
  
  The Business Council for Sustainable Development’s report arguing that an emissions trading scheme could lead to more than $12 billion of investment over the next 10 years and create nearly 10,000 jobs has certainly thrown the cat amongst the pigeons. The interesting thing to me is not so much the validity or not of NZBCSD’s [...] read more
  June 25, 2008 9:50 am - 33 Comments
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  Woman’s Weekly goes green - by frog

  
  
  
  Yay for the NZ Woman’s Weekly and its first ever green issue.  This week, has it got ‘57 pages of stories aimed to both inform you and inspire you to think green’. ‘Outrageous Fortune star Robyn Malcolm tells eco-warrior Francesca Price about why she’s getting back to basics and learning that less is really more.’ [...] read more
  June 24, 2008 3:31 pm - 17 Comments
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  Opposing the common good - by frog

  
  
  
  Also giving his Federated Farmers AGM speech this morning was Keith Kelly, chair of the Meat and Fibre Section (in this bloggy context ‘fibre’ means wool rather than broadband): The biggest problem of all however, could be the emissions trading legislation already through the first stage of the select committee process. By my calculations this [...] read more
  June 24, 2008 1:32 pm - 17 Comments
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  Stolen water - by frog

  
  
  
  Frank Brenmuhl, chairperson of the Dairy Section of Federated Farmers, has just given his AGM speech in which he bemoans that attacks that he perceives dairy farmers face from the Greens and other environmentalists.  The basis of his defence is very Rousseau-ian: The physical resources that we use, to produce food is what we have [...] read more
  June 24, 2008 1:04 pm - 4 Comments
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  Painfully cute, even for a frog - by frog

  
  
  
  The Southland Times did an article on Kakapo chicks visiting Invercargill last weekend. It’s a killer photo, which was not credited. What more needs to be said? read more
  June 24, 2008 1:00 pm - No Comments
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  Putting oil companies on trial - by frog

  
  
  
   It is a peculiarly American approach to problem solving – find yourself a judge and head off to court.  So, little surprise then that James Hansen, who I’ve devoted a bit of time to this week, is calling for the CEOs of large oil companies to be put on trial for ‘crimes against humanity and [...] read more
  June 24, 2008 11:00 am - 78 Comments
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  Peak Oil Quotes of the Week - by frog

  
  
  
  I am a regular reader of ASPO USA’s (Association for the Study of Peak Oil) weekly Peak Oil Review. Part of it is a list of relevant quotes from the week past. Here are this week’s quotables: “Oil is no longer cheap; indeed, it has never been more expensive. Moreover, there is growing concern that [...] read more
  June 24, 2008 10:05 am - 6 Comments
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  Greens send S.O.S. to Japanese Media - by frog

  
  
  
  Kiwis of all stripes have been hitting the beaches in support of the Green Party’s Sand Whale Campaign. We promised to put all the photos from around the country together and send them off to Japan. Here is a short video from MP Metiria Turei to say thank you to all those who sent photos [...] read more
  June 23, 2008 1:45 pm - 4 Comments
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  USDA Suspends Pesticide Reporting to Benefit Monsanto - by frog

  
  
  
  Celsias reports that the safety of our food supply is under further threat by the USDA’s decision to stop reporting on pesticide use. On May 21, the US Department of Agriculture, or USDA, announced that it would stop its annual publication on the kinds and amounts of pesticides applied to crops in the U.S. This [...] read more
  June 23, 2008 11:30 am - 14 Comments
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  US drivers cut back by 30 billion miles (48 billion km) - by frog

  
  
  
  Labour has used the excuse that high oil prices are curbing demand, so we don’t have to bring transport into the ETS just yet. New figures released in the States support the claim of reduced car travel. From a USA Today article: Americans drove 22 billion fewer miles from November through April than during the [...] read more
  June 23, 2008 10:33 am - 52 Comments
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  A climate hero: The testimony - by frog

  
  
  
  Worldwatch Institute and Grist have joined forces to bring you a series on one of climate science’s early heroes – Jim Hansen. This is the guy whose tenacity brought the global warming topic back into the political arena at a time when conservatives simply did not want to hear it. How did they force the [...] read more
  June 22, 2008 10:39 am - 6 Comments
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  A climate hero: The early years - by frog

  
  
  
  Worldwatch Institute and Grist have joined forces to bring you a series on one of climate science’s early heroes – Jim Hansen. This is the guy whose tenacity brought the global warming topic back into the political arena at a time when conservatives simply did not want to hear it. Theories of climate change first [...] read more
  June 21, 2008 4:51 pm - 30 Comments
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  Working with National’s vision - by frog

  
  
  
  I thought it was strange to read Fran O’Sullivan suggesting that ‘Coalition mates need to be ready for National’s vision‘. Most of the parties in Parliament have a record over recent years of working together in governing or support arrangements of some sort or another. Among the few notable exceptions is National (by dint obviously [...] read more
  June 21, 2008 2:26 pm - 51 Comments
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  Criminal Procedures Act amendments - by frog

  
  
  
  Last night Parliament voted overwhelmingly to amend a whole range of provisions in the Criminal Procedures Act. Like far too many of Labour’s bills it was packed full of a great deal of different issues, limiting Parliament’s ability to pick the good and reject the bad. Most notably these amendments included a change that allows [...] read more
  June 20, 2008 5:04 pm - 12 Comments
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  Rudd gets a familiar grilling - by frog

  
  
  
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd got a very familiar grilling this week from ABCś Kerry O’Brien. It sounded so much like Jeanetteś grilling of Michael Cullen in the House, it was uncanny. Kevin Rudd, if we can start with oil. You and Brendan Nelson are both arguing over very small savings at the bowser, although his [...] read more
  June 20, 2008 3:54 pm - 7 Comments
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  Nandor blasts useless tagging legislation - by frog

  
  
  
  In his classic style, Nandor ripped into the House last night, telling those who support the tagging legislation that it is irresponsible to pass useless legislation just to send a message. He pointed out that everyone who spoke in favour of the legislation railed about the evils of tagging and its link to violence, while [...] read more
  June 20, 2008 11:43 am - 69 Comments
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  Australia’s supermarket inquiry finds tainted submissions - by frog

  
  
  
  The chief of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Graeme Samuel has just announced that powerful vested interests have been making ‘tainted submissions’ to its inquiry into grocery pricing.  Jeanette called last month for a similar inquiry to the impact of supermarket pricing on both farmers and consumers here in New Zealand.  Here is snippet [...] read more
  June 20, 2008 8:53 am - 8 Comments
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  350 - by frog

  
  
  
  One of the world’s most famous climate scientists, James Hanson, is receiving an unnecessarily early eulogy at present from WorldWatch.  (Here are parts one and two of its tribute.)  Hansen became most famous for testifying to the US Congress in 1988: There is only a 1 percent chance of an accidental warming of this magnitude…. [...] read more
  June 19, 2008 3:52 pm - 2 Comments