John Key

Human stupidity and the NZ election (Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)

by Gareth November 23, 2011

I’ve been writing about climate science and policy for the last five years, and taking an interest in the subject for far longer, but I’ve seldom read more depressing news than Fiona Harvey’s Guardian article last week — Rich nations ‘give up’ on new climate treaty until 2020. According to Harvey, expectations for the UN [...]

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We must change the way we think about the future, now

by George November 18, 2011

Hot Topic’s NZ election 2011 series continues with an excellent piece by Dr George Laking, an Auckland-based medical oncologist. George is a member of OraTaiao: New Zealand Climate and Health, a group of senior doctors and other health professionals concerned about the effects of climate change on population health. This article first appeared in the [...]

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A snake swallows the elephant in the room and then flogs a dead horse – climate change politics in NZ Election 2011

by Mr February November 16, 2011

Possible the longest ever title on a Hot Topic post: Simon Johnson continues our series on the NZ election by examining the entrails… So whats happening with climate change in the election? I was originally thinking about writing a wonkish post comparing climate change policies between parties. You know the sort of thing. Which parties [...]

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Agriculture: National’s double whammy on the environment

by cindy November 15, 2011

Here’s the first in a series of NZ election special articles from Hot Topic’s contributors. More pithy comment to follow… Last week I was open-mouthed when I heard the National Party release its environment and climate policy pretty much in the same breath as  releasing the agriculture policy (same province, same day). I can’t figure [...]

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Three years of “very serious” climate policy failure

by Gareth November 9, 2011

A damning review of the climate policy of the current government by three leading academics finds that it has made “little substantive progress” on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that work on adapting to climate change impacts has been “even more deficient”, and that current policies are likely to be “economically wasteful”. End-of-term review of the [...]

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Baby steps: Australia’s carbon tax passes Senate vote

by cindy November 8, 2011

Today could be viewed as an historic day for Australia, where the carbon tax has just today been voted through the Senate. Historic, yes, because it’s taken 20 years for Australia to finally implement this legislation. Finally, a price has been put on carbon in Australia. O my, what a fight it has been. If [...]

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Hansen in NZ: final roundup

by Gareth June 5, 2011

Here’s a high quality video of Jim Hansen’s talk at the University of Canterbury last month (excellent work by the audiovisual team at UC). Well worth watching, if only because it provides a succinct summary of Hansen’s current thinking. As Dr. Chuck Kutscher of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the US said: If you [...]

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Grim news on emissions

by Bryan Walker May 30, 2011

The Guardian, with the exception of the foolishness of its analysis of the climategate emails, is one of the world media’s bright spots when it comes to recognising and communicating the realities of climate change. It carried grim news yesterday. Environment correspondent Fiona Harvey reported International Energy Agency (IEA) unpublished estimates that greenhouse gas emissions [...]

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Hansen’s parting shot: show leadership, John Key

by Gareth May 26, 2011

Before he left New Zealand, Jim Hansen wrote an open letter to prime minister John Key on behalf of the youth of New Zealand, and specifically 350.org. It’s well worth reading in full, because it encapsulates the case for taking action here, and now. I would be most interested in seeing a meaningful response from [...]

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Don’t Hide your love away: Don Brash, climate and a very particular kind of coup

by Doug Mackie April 30, 2011

The most right wing political party in New Zealand that is represented in parliament is the Act Party. This blog post by Bryce Edwards, a political scientist at the University of Otago, is a little long and a little out of date now (November 2009) but it gives a reasonable summary of the state of [...]

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