A 12-month run that’s delivered record-breaking deluges and dramatic marine heatwaves has proven New Zealand’s warmest period since observations began more than 150 years ago. That’s according to a prominent climate scientist’s analysis, as global agencies report that 2023 looks likely to go down as the planet’s hottest in recorded history. In assessing the local Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Climate’
An early adopter of electric vehicles, but increasingly I feel duped
Thursday, June 8th, 2023
Electric motoring is, in theory, a subject about which I should know something. My first university degree was in electrical and electronic engineering, with a subsequent master’s in control systems. Combine this, perhaps surprising, academic pathway with a lifelong passion for the motorcar, and you can see why I was drawn into the early adoption Read more
Storm brewing over Pacific climate and debt
Thursday, March 9th, 2023
Across the Pacific, people are picking up the bones of their ancestors like shells on the beach. Burial grounds are being washed away by rising tides. Communities are shoring up seawalls with old tyres. I was raised on the beautiful island of Tonga. When I was a child, my parents and grandparents would come out Read more
Africa’s imperfect storm: food crisis, violence and climate change
Monday, August 15th, 2022
Food insecurity, violence and climate change are forcing Africa into a corner. The continent is facing a looming food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In better times, between 2018 and 2020, Africa imported 44 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. “A striking phenomenon is the link between food insecurity, violence and Read more
Pope’s Climate Warning to Oil-Gas Executives: ‘There is No Time to Lose’
Thursday, July 19th, 2018
Challenging world oil executives to recognise the urgent environmental need to quickly transition from fossil fuel extraction and burning, to clean energy production, Pope Francis called them to take to heart that “Civilization requires energy, but energy must not destroy civilization.” Gathering the heads of some of the world’s largest oil and gas corporations – Read more
Climate revolutionaries of East Africa
Thursday, July 20th, 2017
For a long time polar bears were the poster child of climate change but that is no longer the case. Now it is an image of our fellow human beings, millions of them, battling on the frontlines for survival. While the west debate the merits of climate science, in large parts of Africa, Asia and Read more
The consequences of climate change
Tuesday, November 8th, 2016
Charred by the pulsing heat, the earth has turned to dust. Rivers have thinned to threads. Wells and ponds have parched. Across the sun-punished lands of Colombia’s La Guajira province, the northernmost point of South America, the symptoms of drought are stark. Water carriers walk for hours, bucket handles digging into their hands. Goats and Read more
Climate change — a world at war
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016
In the North this summer, a devastating offensive is underway. Enemy forces have seized huge swaths of territory; with each passing week, another 22,000 square miles of Arctic ice disappears. Experts dispatched to the battlefield in July saw little cause for hope, especially since this siege is one of the oldest fronts in the war. Read more
Laughing in the face of climate change despair
Tuesday, May 31st, 2016
Someone on Twitter asked how people feel about the future, taking climate change into account. I replied that I don’t expect to have grandchildren, but imagine that humanity would remain resilient. Naturally, we segued into survivalist-apocalyptic jokes. My kid wields swords and sticks with a bit of flair, I offered. My friend said that would Read more
Francis: regarding the climate we are on the verge of suicide
Tuesday, December 8th, 2015
“The world is on the verge of suicide if we do not radically change the way in which we deal with problems linked to climate change and the current development model.” Francis said this in his conversation with journalists on board the flight from Bangui to Rome. The Pope also responded to a couple of Read more