Archive for January, 2009

• 

  Sailing into the future - by frog

  
  
  
  Last week’s Business Herald had a feature article about the future of shipping. I covered the recent success of Beluga SkySails in a related post last year, so I followed up on the E/S Orcelle part of the story. The Orcelle is a concept Green Ship that incorporates all the latest renewable, fuel cell and [...] read more
  January 31, 2009 11:41 am - 25 Comments
• 

  Industrial dairy dries up Gore’s bores - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  I’ve just been down Southland and couldn’t help but notice the impact of industrial dairy down there. But perhaps one of the more surprising impacts is that Gore has had to stop people using sprinklers because the bores that feed the town’s water supply are drying up. If the council could draw the amount of [...] read more
  January 30, 2009 5:55 pm - 15 Comments
• 

  Ban Ki Moon adopts our Green New Deal - by frog

  
  
  
  A bit tongue in cheek perhaps, but there is no doubt that the principles of the Green New Deal spelled out by Russel at last week’s Picnic for the Planet resonate widely as the real solution to the world’s economic woes. Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, called on all governments at Davos to [...] read more
  January 30, 2009 3:53 pm - 5 Comments
• 

  Greens support Buller District hydro - by frog

  
  
  
  It’s a bit lazy, but Kevin Hague’s press release says all I want to say! The Green Party’s West Coast-based MP Kevin Hague today lodged a submission in support of a proposed hydro scheme on the Stockton Plateau. Hydro Developments Ltd has applied for consent to divert water contaminated by mining from the Stockton area [...] read more
  January 30, 2009 2:42 pm - 16 Comments
• 

  Conservatives call for effective ban on thermal generation without CCS - by frog

  
  
  
  The debate in the UK has been slowly heating up since the middle of last year, when a right-wing think tank called on the Labour government to impose gradually reducing emissions standards for all power plants. The effect would have been a ban on new coal plants without Carbon Capture and Storage, (CCS), while allowing [...] read more
  January 30, 2009 10:52 am - 3 Comments
• 

  Removing Roads Speeds Urban Travel - by frog

  
  
  
  Yes, you read it right. More roads leads to more congestion and slower travel times, even if the amount of cars/drivers remains the same. It seems that the Nash equilibrium, which drivers achieve simply by acting in their own self interest is not the most efficient way to move people across our cities. An article [...] read more
  January 30, 2009 9:51 am - 34 Comments
• 

  Carbon Capture and Storage not right for NZ - by frog

  
  
  
  Now that Gerry “Sexy Coal” Brownlee holds the Energy portfolio, it’s time to look once again at his favourite meme. Should we be investing in new coal fired generation, in the hopes that Carbon Capture and Storage, (CCS), will rescue us from the emissions downside? Recently published research says that CCS is questionable at best [...] read more
  January 29, 2009 3:54 pm - 8 Comments
• 

  Donate or Else - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  As the school year kicks in many parents are looking at lists of required items and “donations” wondering how on earth to pay. The once free public education system has morphed into a quasi privatised business model and is gradually increasing the pressure on the pockets of the poor. One of the saddest examples is [...] read more
  January 29, 2009 2:34 pm - 20 Comments
• 

  Is the Murupara killing the tip of the iceberg? - by frog

  
  
  
  Given the main stream media’s love of over-reporting violent crime in New Zealand, I find it strange that yesterday’s killing of a 16 year old boy in Murupara barely made the papers today. There is a complex confluence of issues at work here so I am asking questions rather than offering firm opinions. TV3′s Sunrise [...] read more
  January 29, 2009 12:48 pm - 47 Comments
• 

  Picnic for the Planet 2009 - by frog

  
  
  
  Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand co-leader Dr Russel Norman delivers the annual State of the Planet Speech in Henderson, Auckland. Delivered on Sunday, January 25th, 2009. This is part 1 of 3. This is part 2 of 3. This is part 3 of 3. read more
  January 28, 2009 2:35 pm - 2 Comments
• 

  Armstrong should know better - by frog

  
  
  
  Many thanks to John Armstrong for a bit of coverage in today’s Herald, but really he should know better than to say we have changed our tune. John says: Having slammed the door shut to working with National a mere three months ago, the Greens now want to reopen it. The Greens’ co-leader’s language in [...] read more
  January 27, 2009 4:44 pm - 86 Comments
• 

  Lowest paid should not be expected to bear the cost of recession - by Sue Bradford

  
  
  
  Rumours are growing in Wellington that National will not increase the minimum wage this year. A Government announcement is expected on or before 9 February. Intimations that Kate Wilkinson, the new Minister of Labour, will recommend a nil minimum wage increase to Cabinet have hit the blogosphere despite her own Department supporting a rise from [...] read more
  January 27, 2009 1:57 pm - 105 Comments
• 

  Save Happy Valley celebrates 3rd anniversary - by frog

  
  
  
  The Save Happy Valley Coalition celebrated the occupation’s 3rd anniversary on the weekend. The valley is home to endangered kiwi and snails in a precious forest-edged red tussock wetland. Destroying this special place to mine coal that will contribute to climate change is doubly criminal. While the occupation has so far protected the valley from [...] read more
  January 27, 2009 9:43 am - 1 Comment
• 

  At last, peak oil has an official date - by frog

  
  
  
  A frogblog fan reminded me about this lovely article from Monbiot just before the Christmas break. The Guardian’s video of the interview is here. It seems the IEA spent all of 2008 doing what it should have been doing all along – analysing all the world’s conventional oil supply to see when we are going [...] read more
  January 26, 2009 3:27 pm - 44 Comments
• 

  Should voluntary tanning standards be made law? - by frog

  
  
  
  Today is the day when a new joint Australian/New Zealand standard for the use of sunbeds comes into effect, albeit a voluntary one for New Zealand. This is the result of lots of work by the standards authority following a damning report that I posted about last January in Death by Tanning. The Cancer Society [...] read more
  January 26, 2009 10:18 am - 15 Comments
• 

  Trees dying faster as climate warms - by frog

  
  
  
  From the Washington Post: The death rates of trees in Western U.S. forests have doubled over the past two to three decades, according to a new study spearheaded by the U.S. Geological Survey, driven in large part by higher temperatures and water scarcity linked to climate change Nathan L. Stephenson, one of the lead authors, [...] read more
  January 25, 2009 9:27 am - 28 Comments
• 

  Bike Lane concept a good one - by frog

  
  
  
  A colleague of mine sent this to me. It is apparently a laser projection around the cyclist to make car drivers aware of the clearance required by the cyclist. Brilliant concept, although I agree with one of the commentators at the Dustbowl site that perhaps red isn’t the best colour given the huge percentage of [...] read more
  January 24, 2009 6:34 pm - 22 Comments
• 

  Gitmo is going, going, almost gone - by frog

  
  
  
  It was with great pleasure this morning that I awoke to the news that President Obama has formally ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year. Within hours of his swearing in, his chief of staff had executed his order suspending all military trials at Gitmo for 120 days while he worked [...] read more
  January 23, 2009 9:34 am - 48 Comments
• 

  A farewell salute from Tom Tomorrow - by frog

  
  
  
  I could not resist this cartoon over at Salon.com …   read more
  January 22, 2009 3:34 pm - 19 Comments
• 

  Eat local on ice - by frog

  
  
  
  I have long been a fan of Grist.org, an online portal of environmental news and humour out of the USA. One of my favourite regular columns is Ask Umbra, where readers write and ask Umbra to solve some of the quirkier questions that plague those who wish to tread more lightly on the world. I [...] read more
  January 22, 2009 1:01 pm - 14 Comments