Thursday September 21st, 2006. 12:48 pm by frog
There’s a lot you can say about Arnold Schwarzenegger being Governor of California, but to his credit, he doesn’t have a bad record on global warming and emissions. Not only has the state passed tough CO2 emissions laws, it is now suing six carmakers for the costs associated with the emissions their cars produce. It sounds extraordinary, but then so did suing big tobacco.
Posted in Environment & Resource Management | Society & Culture | by frog | Thu, September 21st, 2006 |
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September 21st, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Ha ha..only in America!
September 22nd, 2006 at 1:38 am
For sure co2 emissions should be looked at its the GREATEST threat, more than terrorism, islamic world domination, and immorting aids ridden refugees from africa. I doubt he will get very far with suing carmakers tho.
I hear we sold china 500 million worth of black sand, HARDLY co2 friendly country we are. Maybe if we get rid of clark; who cares nothing for the country or our people, but just her political career we might get more movement in friendly car gas such as cane willow ethanol and help cut the +billion dollars we send overseas for our current oil
September 22nd, 2006 at 9:58 am
Good point ekstatek, on the subject of the record balance of payments deficit, I see the ANZ National Bank chief economist says that the only way to solve it “is to have an outright domestic recession”.
Given that something like 70% of the balance of payments deficit is due to buying petrol, surely a recession is not needed, instead getting people out of cars and into public transport, bikes and walking will solve it too? Or as you point out developing an indigenous bio-fuel industry. But maybe such an idea is beyond a chief economist. “Give up my car???!!! Are you mad? I’d rather have a recession.”
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:36 am
Ekstatek - Getting rid of Clark involves letting in the Brash, or one of his ilk. It sure as heck doesn’t mean getting Jeanette into the hot-seat. Realism has to dominate the political considerations, but you are right that we aren’t doing all we might do as a nation.
As for getting people out of cars and into public transit, no more will fit in the rail cars we have here in Wellington. I don’t know what the rest of the country is like but we suffer now from the clear shortage of vision some years ago when the rolling stock should have been ordered and decades ago when the rail assets were privatised in the first place.
Some things simply do not make sense in the private sector. The benefits of supporting mass transit flow on to everyone in the entire metro area and in a diffuse way to everyone on the planet, There is no way to “profit” from that benefit or charge for it sensibly, so taking the transit system private and expecting it to run at a profit is the act of a fool or an ideologue.
Arnie has turned out far better than many people expected. His wife may have something to do with this but he’s no dummy. He’s someone with whom the Republican Administration in Washington has trouble. They can’t swift-boat him, and he doesn’t roll over for them. Will I vote for him? Depends who runs against him.
respectfully
BJ
September 22nd, 2006 at 1:31 pm
You should see the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?”. California’s emission laws are now less arduous than they were in the 90s - back then a manufacturer had to sell a zero emission vehicle in order to be licensed to sell regular vanilla combustion cars in the state. However industry pressure saw this dropped, which is a real shame.
September 24th, 2006 at 12:04 am
To tell you the truth i say let Brash have a go, we have givin helen and her lackies too long a go and she has done NOTHING to help the environment of NZ, she has simply wasted money as in buying all those extra LAV’s (armoured vehichles), importeding aids ridden africans and creating great hardship for windfarms with RMA and such. how many hydrogen plants have been setup in this country.
Brash can’t do much worse, he might actually DO something unlike clark who only wants to allow gays to adopt normal children and ban all hate speech (probably like this rant) and to leave this country and work for the UN.
September 24th, 2006 at 3:02 am
You know, that was the attitude the Greens took in the USA when they ran Nader against Gore and Bush… and we all know how well THAT turned out. Political realities HAVE to be taken into counsel by Greens. It is NOT acceptable to throw up our hands in disgust and dismay because politicians are… well… politicians first. We don’t have a lot of power, we have to spend it wisely. Something I haven’t noticed we make any sort of habit of doing.
respectfully
BJ
September 24th, 2006 at 6:44 am
What the State of California conveniently ignores is that it owns and runs the roads - the car manufacturers produce a product, that people choose to buy, to operate on roads they often don’t fully have to pay for - because the State funds plenty out of sales taxes (so people who don’t drive pay too). It needs to look at itself - a start could be to make all new road improvements tolled, to impose a heavy vehicle distance tax such as in Oregon (and NZ) to recover those road costs, and recover all other road costs from fuel taxes. Then start congestion charging. Congestion charging alone would save plenty of fuel, time and emissions.
BJ, if you think privatisation has anything to do with the lack of rolling stock in Wellington then you’re in fantasyland. Wellington’s commuter rail system nearly fell over in the late 1970s because of lack of rolling stock, the Muldoon government ordered most of the current trains to replace 1908-1915 vintage carriages that were being dragged around by 1930-1950s locomotives. State ownership saw Wellington’s system get virtually no investment from 1955 to 1981. Under private ownership, under contract with the regional council - the current electric units were refurbished, and now the old English Electric ones are being refurbished for the J’ville/Melling lines, “new” ex British carriages are being refurbished for the Wairarapa line and new rolling stock wil be ordered in the next year.
regards
September 24th, 2006 at 8:34 am
“You know, that was the attitude the Greens took in the USA when they ran Nader against Gore and Bush… and we all know how well THAT turned out.”
What? You mean Gore got 540,000 more votes? This is a completely different elecotral system, where people’s choices actualy matter. Here, if the Greens get enough votes, Labour doesn’t lose, but the Greens get the power they need.
September 24th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Yessir - and that electoral system (and its distortions) are why I and my children are here instead of in Los Angeles. Think about rats and sinking ships if it pleases you
My point is that “Letting Brash have a go” is quite analogous to the Green USA position that was that there was no effective difference between Bush and Gore. The unspeakable results in that case highlight that the difference is not between the little care that Clark seems to take and zero, Brash is not Bush, but the neo-conservative movement has demontrated clearly that zero is not as low as you can go.
We have to be smart enough to learn from our mistakes. Greens in the USA did not. Kerry was ALSO forced to run with part of his base MIA. I don’t LIKE some of what the Democrats stand for, but they have a shot at beating the scum, and Greens in the USA can’t… and haven’t yet had the courage to look at themselves and realize that their ideological purity and political naievity are big reasons why Iraq and 9/11 were recently so unfortunately linked.
Death Toll from 9/11/01 attacks: 2937
U.S. Deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan: 2937
Libertyscott… I am not saying that public transit systems are always done well, the state may or may not act responsibly. It is subject to varying levels of motivation and ability in its efforts to provide for and protect its citizens and its infrastructure. My point is that a private system has only the single goal of “profit” in an economic environment that cannot measure or value the natural environment. There is no “magic wand” envisiioned… just the observation that publicly subsidized and managed mass transit CAN work for a society while privately run mass transit cannot, unless we magically include the cost of use of the commons in the economic system that we are using. If we could DO that, I’d be happy to see private enterprise take over.
I know of no way to do that.
Remember I demand PRACTICAL answers. If you propose some means of costing the commons without invoking government in your reply, it has to be one that actually can be implemented.
respectfully
BJ
September 24th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Liberty - The State of California didn’t built the Interstates in a vacuum, and it has no supporting infrastructure in place NOW to allow people to react to higher prices (tolls) for road travel. The infrastructure to run the tolling is also costly. Much of the rail was ripped out at the behest of GM and the big oil companies decades ago.
I agree that the cars are getting a hell of a state subsidy in the form of roading infrastructure and we could do with a little less of that in the USA. Here the roads have not been built up to the same extent… at least not here in Wellington. YMMV, but I took one look at the roads here and gave up the ideal of fast cars…. there’s noplace to drive ‘em.
The solution you propose however, puts the State and Federal governments at loggerheads because much of the subsidy comes through the feds. There’s a political knot that has to be undone… and we cannot just cut it.
respectfully
BJ
September 24th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
Libber : What the State of California conveniently ignores is that it owns and runs the roads
Dead right. Aiding and abetting. Accessory before the fact. Conspiracy to cause CO2.
So, what they need to do is sell off the roads, then prosecute the new owners. Good with that?
September 25th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Biofuels will damage the natural world … biofuels are the “deforestation diesel”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5369284.stm
September 26th, 2006 at 12:18 am
Stuey
In the end all the petroleum on the planet is a biofuel, the processing takes a long time, but it all comes from the same conversions. When the oil runs out we still have to have something a vehicle can use EASILY, and H2 doesn’t do it… and won’t IMAO, because it is too damned hard to store.
The other adjustments we must make to make it work were all part of the article you linked to… it wasn’t one-sided… but your point is well-taken in the end.
The one answer that would work is binding sequestered carbon to the H2 to create methane. That would give us the requisite storage and photoelectrolysis the H2 supply. No plants need to be burned, but the efficiency of conversion is not better than photosynthesis. The advantage to the process would be that it can be used where plants don’t grow so good.
but…it’s harder than making bio-diesel so people will starve and destroy the Amazon and all the other bad things FIRST, and then they’ll think about doing it smart… except I reckon that someone who’s starving but well armed will start a war and that’ll do more damage faster than anything else we all worry about.
sometimes being right sucks too.
respectfully
BJ
September 30th, 2006 at 5:31 am
But where is the NZ Green Party policy on Climate Change??? It should be plastered all over your site by now.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Grimp :
It is. It has been for years.
You could try here
and here
and here and get back to us when you’ve finished with that.