For more than 13 years, Ursula Rakova has been battling to relocate her people from the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea, which are slowly being swamped by the sea. They don’t want to give up the way of life of generations before them, but they have no choice. More than 3000 people are stuck Read more
The return this month of the first cruise ship to Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour was accompanied by the sort of fanfare normally reserved for visiting foreign dignitaries: a tug boat decked out in bunting, a circling helicopter, even the mayor on hand to welcome the ship. Coming after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic and Read more
Like many people in the southern hemisphere of our planet, winter 2022 is the year of rain, floods and landslips. We have all heard about global warming and seen graphs and projections of changing temperatures, but it takes a constant and sometimes torrential rain for the statistics to become a reality. But has this anything Read more
In June 2022, an EV Mercedes drove from Germany to the UK on a single charge, travelling more than 1,200km (750 miles) without needing to stop. The average petrol- or diesel-powered car would have had to refill its tank three times on the same journey, though there was a catch. The electric vehicle was a Read more
University of Otago professor James Higham, a sustainable tourism expert is calling out New Zealand’s extreme aviation emitters. Air New Zealand revealed its most frequent flyer took 230 flights in 2021. That person flew 96,121km last year alone. Frequent flyers are the cause of the problem says Massey University applied mathematics professor Robert McLachlan. He Read more
A Church-sponsored farmers’ group is promoting organic farming as an eco-friendly remedy to the food shortage caused by the climate crisis in the Korean peninsula. The Catholic Farmers Association (CFA) has developed an ‘environmental conservation-type sustainable agriculture’ and consumption method they call ‘life agriculture’, the Gwangju Catholic Peace Broadcasting Company reported. The term ‘life agriculture’ Read more
The Government is expecting the agriculture sector to subsidise the rest of the economy on climate change, so Groundswell NZ is asking for the evidence from James Shaw, says Steve Cranston, spokesman for Groundswell NZ. “Groundswell NZ has written to Climate Change Minister James Shaw to request any modelling or data he relies on, showing Read more
Vanuatu has become the first Pacific Small Island Developing State to declare it is facing a climate emergency. In a Twitter post, the leader of the opposition Ralph Regenvanu announced parliament passed a 17-point resolution declaring a climate emergency on Friday. Mr Regenvanu said under Point 1 of the resolution, “The Parliament declares that a Read more
In the same week the Government unveiled its Emissions Reduction Plan, I faced a moral dilemma as I traded in my vehicle for a fresh set of wheels. Do I blithely bow to the climate zeitgeist and plump for a plug-in? Do I take a bet each way on a hybrid? Or do I go Read more
Whanganui District Council’s approach to climate change has helped the city win international recognition as a leading model for economic and social development – for the seventh time. Whanganui has again been named a Smart21 City by US-based think tank, the Intelligent Community Forum, and is the only New Zealand town or city to make Read more