2013-01-30 15:06:36 // Josh Pemberton
// The Idealog Blog
Josh Pemberton, an intern at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, describes the Ag Dialogue exercise Motu ran last year. This short film exploring what reducing emissions really means for New Zealand’s farming communities was one result.
2012-11-09 10:13:07 // Josh Martin
| 3 comments
A diluted Emissions Trading Scheme, which continues to exclude agricultural emissions, has passed its third reading in Parliament – resulting in calls of “ecocide” from the Greens.
2012-08-06 10:40:09 // Damian Christie
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Are agricultural growth and environmental protection mutually exclusive? Or can a balance be struck? Damian Christie takes a dip.
2012-07-02 13:54:55 // Keren Sim
The follow-up to the 2003 Dairying and Clean Streams Accord will focus on choosing targets and demonstrating self-improvement, say representatives from Dairy NZ and Fonterra.
2011-09-27 11:46:42 // Sustain Team
// The Idealog Blog
While Environment Southland’s report on water quality didn’t bode well for the water quality of the area, a new OECD report on water quality describes the overall state of New Zealand’s water as ‘good’ relative to most OECD countries. But the report does point out the quality is deteriorating, in large part because of diffuse pollution from agriculture. New Zealand’s water quality picture was recently revealed by one of the report’s authors, Kevin Parris of the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate, who spoke at a water pollution conference in Rotorua on Friday.
2011-09-22 10:25:09 // Aaron Smale
// The Idealog Blog
What would cause more than 500 people in China to flip company cars and storm the offices of a solar company? Solar may be heralded as a viable solution to our energy woes, but it takes power to make power and what you never hear about are the associated by-products created in the manufacturing of solar products. In protests that began on Thursday, protestors flooded the office of Jinko Solar Holding, a company that manufactures photovoltaic panels, wafers and cells. Protesters claim waste from the factory, located in Haining city in the Zhejiang province, is killing fish in a nearby river.
2011-09-21 10:34:21 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
As freshwater experts from around the world converge in Rotorua this week to partake in a five day international conference on water pollution, comes news that Southland’s rivers and streams aren’t faring so well when it comes to water health. Environment Southland has just released its Southland Water 2010 report showing that of the 69 sites tested, 89 percent were deemed to be either poor or very poor. Just one river, the Monowai Rover, found its way into the good category.
2011-08-25 12:14:33 // Jerome Partington
// Idealog #34: workshop
| 1 comment
What if we mapped our key city, Auckland, into its own bioregions? Or Christchurch, or even Hamilton? What if we identified the social capital and ecological resources available and mapped them over existing infrastructure?
2011-07-20 13:08:09 // Sustain Team
The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord may have been created with the aim of minimising the negative impact of dairying on New Zealand's waterways, but not surprisingly, the pollution just keeps coming. Last week four Bay of Plenty farmers were prosecuted in Tauranga’s Environment Court for various degrees of contamination to waterways. Last week four Bay of Plenty farmers were prosecuted in Tauranga’s Environment Court for various degrees of contamination to waterways.
2010-05-18 11:06:13 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #27: celsias
Environmental activist, lawyer and famous son, Robert Kennedy Jr says the best argument for environmental protection is neither moral nor scientific—it’s economic.
