The powers that be tell me that around mid-afternoon today (NZ time), Hot Topic will be moving to a new (and with luck, faster) host. It’ll take a while for the DNS changes to propagate, so apologies in advance – normal service will be resumed shortly.
Tag: Hot Topic
Into ecological overdraft
In the final chapter of Hot Topic, I refer to the concept of global overshoot: the idea that human activities are exceeding the planet’s ability to regenerate resources. It’s the ultimate meaning of sustainability – living within our planetary means. This year we started eating into our ecological overdraft on October 6th – three days ahead of last year, and the best part of month earlier than in 2000. The Global Footprint Network calculates Ecological Debt Day:
As humanity’s consumption of resources increases, Ecological Debt Day creeps earlier on the calendar. According to current calculations, humanity’s first Ecological Debt Day was December 19, 1987. By 1995 it had jumped back a month to 21 November. In 2007, with Ecological Debt on October 6, humanity’s Ecological Footprint is almost thirty per cent larger than the planet’s productivity this year. In other words, it now takes more than one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year.
Hot Topic hiatus
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be posting less frequently – I’m donning my truffle hat and heading off to a conference in China. I’ll be checking in from time to time, as internet connections allow, and will try to keep in touch with climate news in NZ and overseas. You may expect me to plant some trees on my return.
Meanwhile, a few interesting links: British dairy farmers are waking up to their carbon footprint – which suggests that our farmers will need to do more than rely on their “global warming hero
There’s no such thing as a free launch
New Zealand melted before our very eyes at Wednesday night’s launch of Hot Topic, but serious flooding of the Minter Ellison boardroom was avoided, thanks to carefully planned adaptive strategies (and two large blue buckets). Scott Gallacher from Minter Ellison got things moving, followed by AUT vice chancellor Derek McCormack, who welcomed the arrival of AUT Media’s first book. I did my mini-Al Gore presentation – just the one slide, showing water plunging down a moulin in Greenland – and then David Cunliffe, who holds ministerial portfolios for Immigration, Communications, Information Technology and Associate Economic Development (standing in at short notice for David Parker, the climate change minister), made it clear to all that the government intended to take the issue very seriously. Then it was down to the real business of assessing the carbon neutral status of Grove Mill‘s products. A good night was had by all, including at least one freeloader, who has subsequently offered the contents of his/her “goody bag
Books at last
The rural postie delivered my first copies of Hot Topic this morning. After months of staring at a computer screen and agonising over proofs, it’s nice to see the thing realised as ink on paper. I’m biased, but I think it looks pretty damn good. The team at HB Media (for AUT Media) have done a great job – the embossing and varnishing of the melting NZ on the cover looks lickable (as they say). Meanwhile, the media schedule for next week’s launch is filling up. We have a launch event at sponsor Minter Ellison in Auckland on Wednesday evening, with special guest David Parker, the climate change minister. I’m told there will be an ice sculpture, which will presumably melt and flood the room. Can’t wait…