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Daily blogs from the frontlines of the Greenpeace planet down under. 

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  • Greenpeace Budget Response: Meridian Sell-Off Could Cost Economy Billions

    Blogpost by NBennet - May 16, 2013 at 14:54
    Responding to today’s Budget, which includes plans to sell off New Zealand-owned Meridian Energy, Nathan Argent, Greenpeace’s chief policy advisor, said: “The half-baked decision to sell clean energy gem Meridian could lose the economy billions of dollars."

    “The cash generated by selling this company will look like peanuts compared to the huge rewards on offer if the Government actually backed our clean energy expertise, rather than flogging it.

    “The global clean energy market is booming. But New Zealand’s chance to use the innovation and expertise that is fostered in Meridian, and pocket the billions of dollars on offer in this worldwide industry, has just been kicked into touch.

    “This is not a budget for New Zealanders. This is not a Budget backing our Kiwi innovation and experti... Read more >

  • 2013 Budget Must Back Kiwi Innovation

    Blogpost by NBennet - May 16, 2013 at 14:38

    Backing home-grown clean energy in today’s Budget could kick-start a multi-billion dollar bonanza for New Zealand’s economy, creating tens of thousands of jobs.

    Investing just $500million in clean energy innovation could see the country’s coffers topped up with billions of dollars over the next few years.

    A successful Budget will see the announcement of three clean energy innovation platforms:

    A Green Investment Bank to invest in clean energy, energy efficiency and sustainable transport fuels. This would seek to co-finance clean energy projects with the private sector, working with the market to build industry capacity.

    A Clean Energy Innovation Agency to provide government support for research and development, demonstration, commercialisation and deployment of clean energy. This would ... Read more >

  • The world’s slowest emergency response

    Blogpost by Karli Thomas - May 16, 2013 at 14:22

    If you don’t like the idea of New Zealand becoming the first country to oversee the extinction of a marine dolphin, you should be very worried. I sure am. Six months ago, the NZ Government sought public feedback on its emergency response to the extinction looming over Maui’s dolphin – of which there are estimated to be only 55 adults left.

    You wouldn’t want this lot in charge of civil defence, because six months later, we haven’t heard a thing about what they’ve decided to do. Hardly the speed you’d expect in reaction to an emergency, particularly one that could wipe these native dolphins off the face of the planet, forever.

    When the public consultation ended last November, Wellington artist Sheyne Tuffery produced 55 beautiful artworks  representing the 55 remaining adult Maui’s dolphins. ... Read more >

  • Carbon dioxide reaches levels never seen by humans

    Blogpost by Stephanie Tunmore - May 14, 2013 at 8:44

    The levels of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. The last time levels were this high global average temperatures eventually reached 3 or 4C° higher than now, the polar regions were up to 10C°  warmer than today the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets were smaller and Sea level ranged between five and 40 meters (16 to 131 feet) higher than today.

    There are two reasons to be seriously worried by this year's CO2 measurements from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. We are hitting the symbolic limit of 400 parts per million, showing how far we have come from the pre-industrial levels of 280 and the relative safety of 350. Even more alarming, though, is the fact that this year the levels have risen faster year-on-year ... Read more >

  • United we sail – Mauritian fishermen, Greenpeace protest against overfishing

    Blogpost by Oliver Knowles - May 7, 2013 at 12:18

    Fisherman's Flotilla Accompanies Esperanza in MauritiusThis week, politicians, scientists and fisheries managers from around the world are coming to Mauritius to attend the annual Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) meeting. This organisation is charged by governments to protect tuna stocks across the Indian Ocean, but right now it is abjectly failing in this task.

    Tuna fishing across the region is poorly controlled – too many boats are taking too many fish, and often these boats come from wealthier, distant nations that use wasteful and destructive fishing techniques.

    On Sunday morning, I sailed on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza from the Mauritian capital, Port Louis, along the coast towards Grand Bay where the IOTC meeting is being held, to deliver an important message. But the Esperanza did not sail alone. We were joined by a flotilla o... Read more >

  • EU bans three bee-killer pesticides: a light of hope for bees and agriculture

    Blogpost by Matthias Wüthrich - May 6, 2013 at 10:30

    The next time you see a bee buzzing around, it’s worthwhile remembering that much of the food we eat depends significantly on pollination these insects provide. But bees and other pollinators are declining globally, particularly in North America and Europe, putting this essential role in doubt.

    Bees

    In the US, the loss of 30-40% of commercial honeybee colonies since 2006 has been linked to “colony collapse disorder”, a syndrome characterised by disappearing worker bees. Since 2004, losses of honeybee colonies have left North America with fewer managed pollinators than at any time in the last 50 years. In recent winters, bees colony mortality in Europe has averaged about 20% (but up to 53% for some countries).

    Without insect pollination, about one third of the crops we eat would either ha... Read more >

  • John Key and the Oil Cowboys

    Blogpost by Nathan Argent - May 2, 2013 at 8:18

    The threat posed to our marine and coastal environment by the Texas oil company, Anadarko

    “This government is very clear, we won't let cowboys operate here in New Zealand”. That’s what our Prime Minister John Key said as he welcomed a wagon trail of ten gallon hat-wearing oil executives in Auckland this week.

    The thing is, Key is bending over backwards to welcome cowboy oil operators to our waters. And you don’t get more cowboy than one particular Texan company.

    The company is Anadarko and they were heavily involved in  the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. It was the worst environmental disaster in American history.

    An investigation published yesterday exposes just how involved they were. They were up to their oily elbows in the disaster.

    The dirty dossier against them is compelling. The Government's crackdown on our proud tradition of protest at sea lo...

    Read more >

  • Chilean Seabass – why Monterey has lost its way

    Blogpost by Peter Young - April 30, 2013 at 9:31

    The Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) is a great ally of the oceans but its recent decision to include Chilean Seabass as ‘best choice’ in their Seafood Watch has bewildered many. Chilean Seabass includes Antarctic Toothfish from the Ross Sea, which, as the name implies is neither Seabass nor from Chile. In a blog justifying that decision, Alison Barratt from MBA said “while fishing is ongoing (in the Ross Sea), our recommendation reflects the current status of that fishery.”

    The ‘current status’ is based on the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of the Ross Sea toothfish fishery as sustainable (I have yet to find MBA’s or MSC’s definition of sustainability). It is of great concern that the MSC’s assessment is strongly contended by many leading Ross Sea scientists as this short clip ... Read more >

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