Dedicated to democracy, enjoying and restoring the Mahurangi, meaningful climate action, and curiosity—
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No reason to distrust scientist as opposed to politician
Every catchment issue is set to become more acute. Scientists and economists are warning us with increasing urgency of impending environmental and social calamities—damage, ozone depletion, and energy depletion caused by humanity’s excesses. Politicians…
Advantage of green pure genius
The concept’s catching on like wildfire. Since Pure Advantage launched on Thursday evening, the number of registered supporters has shot to more than 1000—responding to the call: The greater our numbers, the greater our influence on business…
Paleoclimate implications for human-made climate change
Paleoclimate data help us assess climate sensitivity and potential human-made climate effects. We conclude that Earth in the warmest interglacial periods of the past million years was less than 1°C warmer than in the Holocene. Polar warmth in…
A unique role for Mahurangi and public transport
The public transport needs of the Mahurangi, in most ways, are unremarkable. Warkworth and Mahurangi East have long needed both a local bus service as well as better connectivity to Auckland’s bus system. But what is unique about the…
Much-needed storms of our granddaughters
Dick Smith writes entirely eloquently. Which should mean that Dick Smith’s Population Crisis gets to be read by a usefully broad audience. It also helps that his just-published book, at 198 pages, is not too dauntingly lengthy, given the inherently daunting…
First-past-the-post ‘win’ argument for preferential
It is easily overlooked. Aotearoa may enjoy exemplary proportional representation, but electorate representatives are still elected by the multiply flawed first-past-the-post system. Voters in last Saturday’s by-election were allowed to express…
Regional sea-level rise chapter revisited
North Carolina has gone one better. Aotearoa merely curtailed work on a national environmental standard on sea-level rise, in a calculatedly cynical strategy to oblige each local territorial authority to run its sea-level rise policies by a gauntlet of…
Tāne’s Tree Trust project saving Lake Taupō
Lake Taupō is the largest lake in Aotearoa. With an area of 622 square kilometres, the lake arose in its present form from the Oruanui eruption of 181 ad. It contains an enormous body of exceptionally pure water. The iconic status of the…