In Michael Crichton’s State of Fear, an evangelistic environmental politician is confronted with an unpalatable truth: everything has environmental consequences. Nature is dynamic and competitive. Every action – even doing nothing – benefits some species and harms others. Crichton characterised human efforts to “manage” and “preserve” wildernesses as “a history of
Try to imagine a wealthy, privileged white person being carried through the streets on a litter borne on the backs of starving black children. Your average green-left “progressive” would have fifty fits. Yet this is, metaphorically, just what the climate-bothering green left do, every time they get behind
Hobson’s Pledge hobsonspledge.nz Some years ago, the Labour Government refused to take action to clear a channel so that the crater lake on Mount Ruapehu could drain safely, despite failure to do so risking the kind of disaster which destroyed scores of lives at Tangiwai in 1953. Why?
While it is encouraging to see that Labour have finally responded to the 2017 Sea Change report, the Government’s announcement bears the hallmarks of another shallow policy announcement, National’s Oceans and Fisheries spokesperson Tim van de Molen says. “New Zealand’s nearly four years under this Government is
In his excellent Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell argues that the fundamental principle of economics is scarcity. “Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses.” As Sowell says, that “may seem like a simple thing, but its implications are often grossly misunderstood, even by highly
John Maunder Some of the answers to the complexities of the climate system are given in my recently published book Fifteen shades of climate… the fall of the weather dice and the butterfly effect. The following are extracts are from pages 197-201. The Greenlandic Vikings’ Apogee The Greenlandic Vikings’
David Wojick cfact.org David Wojick, Ph.D. is an independent analyst working at the intersection of science, technology and policy. Seems like every big policy gun wants to take a shot at fantasizing the decarbonization and electrification of the energy system. No doubt that is where the government policy
Dear Editor With all of the talk about replacing vehicles that use fossil fuels with electric vehicles, there appears to be no real attempt to address where the additional electricity required to charge a greatly increased fleet of such vehicles will come from. Certainly not from renewable resources, as we
Mark Cameron ACT Primary Industries spokesperson ACT welcomes the Government listening to our concerns about Significant Natural Areas – but there needs to be a complete rethink of this policy not just a pause. Private property rights are under threat thanks to the Government’s directive to councils to identify and
Mark Cameron ACT Primary Industries spokesperson The Rural Communities Minister yesterday showed how fraught the Government’s land grab on Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) is. Private property rights are under threat thanks to the Government’s directive to councils to identify and manage SNAs. At the moment if someone’s
Dear Editor I note the PM announced yesterday that petrol/diesel-powered cars will be phased out and replaced by EVs. I wonder if she has considered the environmental impact her decision will have on our planet as the demand for lithium and cobalt increases? Lithium-ion batteries are a
David Wojick cfact.org David Wojick, Ph.D. is an independent analyst working at the intersection of science, technology and policy. Looking for laughs? The International Energy Agency has produced a laugh filled report, grandly titled: “Net Zero by 2050: A roadmap for the global energy system“. Redesigning the global
Despite having lived in Tasmania for 16 years, I’ve only seen the famous Tasmanian devil in the wild twice. Both were shortly after I moved here. I happened to move to Tasmania right about the time that the devastating Devil Facial Tumor Disease was first becoming widespread. Since then,
Susan Short Secretary democracyaction@xtra.co.nz Anger has erupted around the country over the Government’s much stronger approach to protect indigenous biodiversity, as outlined in the Draft National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB). Due to take effect in July 2021, it contains a set of objectives and
