NAWAC’s proposed new minimum standard, for ‘enriched’ cages for battery hens, still denies the hens the daily things that bring most joy to their clucking hearts: freedom, and humanity
Read MoreNuclear policy meltdown
Assuming nuclear-generated power for New Zealand is a non-issue, what should be our stance on it globally?
Read MoreImagining a green manifesto
The Greens’ policy platform needs as much rebuilding as any other party’s, to make it strong and sustainable
Read MoreLetter from Pahaoa
There is a sign at the end of the road to Pahaoa. "LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS," it says, and there were two sets of footprints on the beach: mine, going out, and coming back. I climbed a rock, and sat on it. Hours passed, a whole afternoon, I realised later, in what seemed like minutes.
I took these photographs, hardly daring to hope that they would capture how it was at Pahaoa, on Friday afternoon, but they do. I came home with something better: a quiet mind.
Read MoreSolid Energy defi(n)es sustainability in Southland
Putting Solid Energy’s own definition of sustainable business practice to the test, on the ground in Southland
Read MoreMeet James Shaw, Wellington Central Green candidate
In the Wellington Central electorate, Green candidate James Shaw is challenging Green stereotypes. “Give up your old prejudices,” he says, because it takes all kinds to save a world, including kinds like him
Read MoreKia kaha, Christchurch
Outside Wellington railway station this morning is a love note to Christchurch. I thought that Christchurch needed to see it.
Read MoreMackenzie developments, and Trust
High country farmers and Ministers are defending private property interests in the Mackenzie Basin, while speaking the language of collaboration and trust — with a capital T
Read MoreSolid Energy defends its lignite proposals
In which Solid Energy defends its lignite proposals before a Parliamentary select committee, defines sustainability loosely, and fails to define some other things at all, except the megabucks
Read MoreRequiem for Old Man Pine
I plant little trees. My neighbours cut big ones down.
Read MoreThe RMA road map: infrastructure crossroads
To help the government’s goal of “building infrastructure for growth”, the foundations of the Resource Management Act are being quietly reviewed, without a scrap of evidence that infrastructure is being impeded by the current law
Read MoreElection 2011: blue green or true green?
Three parties laid out their wares last week. Nats and Labour gave us a left-right choice: Robin Hood-style tax-grab, or partial SOE sales. Thanks to a tidy paint job, when the ‘Bluegreens’ and Greens offered theirs, the difference was harder to spot, but no less large
Read MoreShorter of breath, and one day closer to death …
Nick Smith’s announced that some highly-polluting airsheds will be allowed until 2020 to meet air quality standards, costing something in the region of several hundred lives, but saving jobs — and why I think this is okay
Read MoreWaste minimisation, writ short
The last New Zealand Waste Strategy had 30 targets. A 2009 discussion document proposed 14. The new strategy has … none
Read MoreGoff’s green smalls, and the new old Alliance
Labour leader Phil Goff tossed off another election strip-tease item yesterday; underneath was something green
Read MoreThe Minister “who took the fish out of fish and chips”
Species ranked ‘nationally critical’ are dying in our fisheries. Legislative fixes have twice been voted down by the National party
Read MoreBrownlee’s bucket list
Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee, and his colleagues, have work to do, according to an offshore petroleum environmental assessment, showing big gaps and serious risks in our regulatory practice
Read MorePCE and Groser: fix the ETS
In which expert advisory work from the PCE illustrates why the ETS in its present form risks a massive lignite subsidy, and Tim Groser — quite rightly — observes that this would be “ridiculous” and “incoherent”
Read MoreCancún climate talks: hui or doey?
Delegates came home upbeat from the Cancún climate talks, although the Copenhagen Accord texts were hardly altered by the Cancún Agreements. Were there good reasons for optimism? Or were the “rounds of cheering and applause,” “at times near euphoria,” psychological symptoms of something else?
Read MoreFull of high sentence, but a bit obtuse: 2010, in review
2010 was all about one question: how, exactly, does one balance economic opportunities with environmental responsibilities? It was a 'politic, cautious' year
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