Dr Woods has finally announced a windfarm! She said all we needed was 4.5 windfarms per year several years ago – and now she has one. There is a “really good chance” that a massive $5 billion offshore wind farm capable of powering more than a third of New Zealand
John Maunder New Zealand’s NIWA has an informative review of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) written by Jim Renwick and David Thompson. The Southern Annular Mode (or SAM) is a ring of climate variability that encircles the South Pole and extends out to the latitudes of New Zealand. (Its
Barbara McKenzie stovouno.org Barbara McKenzie has a PhD in German Literature. In July last year, Wellington Mayor Andy Foster addressed a meeting on the city’s Significant Natural Areas policy. Foster had one reply to every question and comment: * The policy is unlawful – ‘ah, but biodiversity’ * The policy is
I spent a great deal of my childhood and early teens in the Otway Ranges, the belt of temperate rainforested hills that are the northern half of the spectacular scenery of the Great Ocean Road. BFD readers might remember seeing the Otways in the horrifying firestorms of Ash Wednesday. In
John Maunder The following data sets and comments are from the climate4you.com website developed by Professor Ole Humlum who is a Danish Professor Emeritus of Physical Geography at the University of Oslo, and Adjunct Professor of Physical Geography at the University Centre in Svalbard. The website climate4you.com which
Remember when Greenpeace campaigned — at times violently — against Shell dumping the Brent Spar oil platform at sea? Despite Shell producing scientific evidence that dumping the platform to create an artificial reef was the “Best Practicable Environmental Option”, Greenpeace campaigned furiously, claiming that it would have a toxic effect on ocean
Matthew Hall Allan Brent Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Dr Matthew Hall is a Senior Researcher at the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) and a Visiting Scholar in the Faculty of Law, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Allan graduated from the University of Otago with Law and
Once upon a time, children were to be seen and not heard — and interrupting adult conversations, let alone temper-tantrums would result in at least a quick trip upstairs to bed without any supper. But, back then we were a serious culture, one which soberly entertained Big Ideas and actually
John Maunder The ‘Maunder Minimum’ is the name given to the period from 1645 to 1715 when the number of sunspots – ‘storms’ on the sun – became almost zero. The period is named after the solar astronomer Edward Walter Maunder (1851-1928), who was working at The Royal Observatory at Greenwich
Recent history is littered with the gold-plated corpses of failed green schemes. From Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard’s billion-dollar, literally deadly, boondoggles like “Cash for Clunkers” and home insulation schemes, to Britain’s disastrous “green homes” scheme, to Barack Obama’s billion-dollar white elephant, Solyndra. Just
Robin Grieve Chairman FARM Farmers are being consulted on options proposed by He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) – a government-appointed body seeking to devise alternative options to the ETS. FARM (Facts About Ruminant Methane ) proposes media commentators take into account various terms, facts about methane and context when covering the
John Maunder The chart below shows that since 1979, when reliable satellite observations became available, there has been an overall warming trend in the average tropospheric temperatures, apart from, at times, milder temperatures since about 1999, but with three significant warm periods associated with the El Nino events in 1998,
Donn Dears cfact.org Donn is an engineer and retired senior executive of the General Electric Company who spent his career in the power sector. He led organizations that provided engineering services for GE’s large electrical apparatus and spearheaded the establishment of GE subsidiary companies around the world. Donn
John Maunder The extract below on “Climate Refugees” is from pages 293-298 of my book. The idea for the book came about when I was visiting my family in Adelaide in January 2020 during a heatwave. One day when the forecast was for 45°C my daughter Denise suggested
Please share this Quiz using the share buttons at the top or bottom of the article.If you would like to access exclusive Member content or just remove the ads to make your reading experience more enjoyable click here to browse our Membership options.
John Maunder Monthly rainfalls for Tauranga have been recorded at several recording sites during the last 122 years. The rainfall for Tauranga for 2021 was 959 mm. From January 1898 to December 1904, the observation site was described as the Tauranga Harbour, from November 1904 to April 1907 the site
