christchurch Archive

• 

  Strong reaction against ECan sacking - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  It was standing room only at a public meeting organised by the Green party in Christchurch last night to protest the government’s sacking of Environment Canterbury. 100 people who couldn’t get into the meeting held an impromptu meeting outside. The meeting hadn’t even been advertised in the media—who knows how many would have turned up [...] read more
  April 15, 2010 2:01 pm - 41 Comments
• 

  Covered with tar, full of smoke and short of fish - by frog

  
  
  
  KiwiRail toys with idea of moving people from A to B (and sometimes C) with trains. Why has this never been tried before? Which reminds me of this quote from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: “The trouble with most forms of transport, he thought, is basically one of them not being worth [...] read more
  April 6, 2010 9:06 am - 56 Comments
• 

  The mysterious case of the missing shipping container - by frog

  
  
  
  Judith Collins is the David Copperfield of New Zealand. Many magicians have attempted and failed to do this trick; I have never seen a disappearing act quite like this one. The Set Up Take one forty-foot shipping container filled with about $5000 worth of timber. Place the shipping container in a non-descript lot somewhere in [...] read more
  March 9, 2010 3:01 pm - 18 Comments
• 

  The last ocean - by frog

  
  
  
  The Ross Sea is described as the world’s last ocean. The Greens support making the Ross Sea a Protected Area, which would mean protecting the Ross Sea’s Antarctic toothfish from fishing. Do you agree? read more
  November 5, 2009 9:33 am - 8 Comments
• 

  Car Free Day – Christchurch - by frog

  
  
  
  I’ve received this Car Free Day report from the Aoraki Greens in Christchurch: Jeanette Fitzsimons joined 5 local candidates plus a dozen active members and engaged with almost 2,000 commuters. We handed out nifty stickers with the message “Super Heroes Don’t Drive Cars” and the recently released Green Party transport policy leaflet, which highlights our [...] read more
  September 24, 2008 9:01 am - 4 Comments
• 

  Greyhounds as pets? Why not? - by frog

  
  
  
  I don’t usually cave into the numerous requests I get to post about people’s pet projects, but I know a little about this one and I couldn’t resist. GAP, or Greyhounds As Pets, finds family homes for retired racing hounds. After success in the North Island main centres, they are trying to get established in [...] read more
  July 16, 2008 11:05 am - 23 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
• 

  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
• 

  Leap Day footage - by frog

  
  
  
  Here’s a link to TVNZ’s coverage of Leap Day, including Metiria dressed as a frog on the steps of Parliament. If you are wondering about the yellow creature in amongst the frogs that’s a canary: ‘Our frogs are being threatened by climate change and habitat destruction. Frogs are like the canaries in the mine when [...] read more
  March 3, 2008 3:03 pm - 5 Comments
• 

  Christchurch plans for peak oil and climate change - by frog

  
  
  
  While Michael Cullen and the central government dither on the possibility of peak oil, Environment Canterbury is taking it very seriously and making provisions for it in all future planning: “Our ever increasing dependence on energy coincides at a time when New Zealand (and Canterbury) is facing significant future uncertainty in the area of availability [...] read more
  November 20, 2007 3:39 pm - 7 Comments