Picture Says It All

Hard thing for me to say but on his blog our Bomber Bradbury (borrowed the pic from Bomber) has made a call to overseas activists to Boycott New Zealand Goods on the back of John Key and our flash new government's decision to set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of only 10 to 20 per cent below 1990 levels at climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany, rather than the forty percent that so many Kiwis have called for. And apparently even this is only conditional. We can only wonder to what new depths they can find plummet.

Bomber Bradbury:
"National are purposely misrepresenting the costs because they are the party of the farmers and big business, they refuse to make those industries pay for the pollution they create and National gutted the agricultural tax rebate for research necessary to create the technology to cut emissions. ACT have polluted National’s climate change because ACT are taking huge sums of cash from climate deniers like Alan Gibbs. The whole thing stinks to high heaven and we are losing our clean green image."

Gareth Renowden:
"It is now transparently obvious that this National-led government simply does not understand the real challenges presented by climate change. They do not appreciate the full seriousness of the situation that confronts the planet, they underestimate the need to act, and they have completely failed to make any coherent assessment of what could be done. That amounts to gross incompetence, and they should be held to account for it, both at the ballot box and in the court of public opinion."

Our flash Government, who seem to inhabit a different world from the rest of us, are claiming this ridiculously low emissions reduction target has gone down well at the UN Climate Change talks in Bonn. Not so, states one Geoff Keey, who is actually there. Instead, "at the beginning of day two of the negotiations, the NGOs at the talks put out their daily bulletin - ECO - with a focus on New Zealand. The newsletter is a daily tradition dating back years. It's a good light-hearted view of a deadly serious topic. The content speaks for itself," writes Geoff.

You can view the newsletter yourself by clicking here. It is a pdf file.

Geoff Keey:
"It’d be fair to say that some developed country delegates were relieved that the target wasn’t as low as they thought it was going to be. Expectations of New Zealand around here aren’t great at present. But overall I think it's seen as nothing more than a low opening offer. I also got the impression that negotiators and observers thought New Zealand’s conditional demands were over the top. One long-standing observer said to me, it seems that what New Zealand is doing with its demands is saying: “if the rest of the world is really nice to us and is willing to work really hard to reduce emissions, we’ll condescend to do something inadequate.” He also noted that “Kevin Rudd got a standing ovation in Bali, New Zealand didn’t get a single clap at Bonn.” Given that Rudd’s no climate hero, that’s not very promising."

Actions people can take

So, to people overseas, the only way to hurt this government and make them listen is to hit them in the purse strings, especially with our agricultural products, beef and lamb and dairy. Because the producers of these products are easily identifiable as the lobbyists behind this low emissions target. These are the people who are petrified that they will be forced to clean up their act in order to cut our greenhouse gas emissions.

Also people (no pressure, just a suggestion) might like to send our Prime Minister John Key a friendly little email telling him how you plan to boycott our goods due to our pathetic greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. Overseas public opinion may well go far to change this government's stance.

This is John Key's email address - john.key@parliament.govt.nz

New Zealand The Way It Was,
before this new lot took over; a country we could be proud of. I'd like to be proud of it again one day.

The Future is Here: Climate Change in the Pacific

This winter has really been quite brutally cold with way more rain than we in Canterbury are used to, coupled with fierce frosts and ice that sits there all day under grey cloudy days. The weather people tell us this has been the coldest winter in a decade and I find that quite believable.

But over the last couple of days (1st and 2nd of August - gosh it is the 4th and I still haven't posted this lol - better do it today) the weather has become suddenly quite springlike. A northwest airflow bringing strongish winds at times but also warmer temperatures has coaxed me outdoors into the garden, hooray, and there is so much heat in the sun that yesterday I even got a touch of sunburn.

At least that's how it is in Canterbury.

All of this is very odd because traditionally August (along with July) are usually the New Zealand winter's coldest months. Spring shouldn't be here until September or even October, however the last few years have found me gardening earlier and earlier. In 2007 I noted I was busy outside around the 15th August and I forgot to pay attention last year but for me to be out there cleaning up gardens (mowing even) at the beginning of August is unheard of.

Gareth Renowden, (local Cantabrian science writer and author) in his book, Hot Topic: Global Warming and the Future of New Zealand (2007) mentioned that spring arriving earlier and earlier (nice as it might be for me), is a sign that Global Climate Change is upon us now. Right now. We are in it.





This month Oxfam has brought out a report pertinent to the Pacific region The Future is here: Climate Change in the Pacific, click here to read.





The report details the effects of Global Climate Change that are already being experienced by many of our island neighbours in the Pacific region. Many of the island nations are already being affected by tidal surges, coastal erosion, and flooding from the heavy rainfall following more and more frequent cyclones. Fresh water wells are threatened by salt water intrusion, vulnerable homes and gardens need to be re-sited further from the eroding coastlines. Salt water intrusion affects the growing of plants, vegetables, trees. Many (probably most) islands have the main road between communities running around the coastlines; therefore any kind of flooding or storm surges can break communications and help between island communities immediately.

Some small islands may have to be abandoned because of rising sea levels in favour of the bigger islands, perhaps very soon. Some island nations have no islands with higher ground, Kiribati for example. President Tong speaks of the need to up-skill the Kiribati population in readiness for the day when all 100,000 of them will have to move elsewhere and participate in labour markets.

Where Will The People All Go?

Do you know how many people live in the Pacific? By about 2050, 75 million people may have been forced to leave their homes in the Asia-Pacific region due to climate change. This is real.

One thing that needs to be done now is for both Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand to reduce our carbon emissions by 40% by the year 2020 and by at least a whopping 95% by the year 2050. And we need to start now, should have started yesterday or last month or something ...

right: Coastal erosion in Saoluafata, Upolu, Samoa, 2005

BUT here in New Zealand our super flash and utterly selfish new government wants to limit our global emissions target (post-Kyoto) to something in the range of only 15%. To help avoid catastrophic climate change New Zealand needs to be signing on to a 40% by 2020 emissions reduction target at the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen this December.

What you can do ...

Please sign the Feel The Heat Petition here even if you don't live down in Aotearoa/New Zealand or in the Pacific. Our Prime Minister John Key and his coalition buddy Act leader Rodney Hide need to hear what the voters think, but also to know that the eyes of the world are upon them.

Or you can click on the banner below or the similar one on the right rail for more information. Thank you. Arohanui.

The Chocolate Wars

The last time when I wrote about chocolate, my focus was on slavery and the exploitation of children in particular. This time the focus is on palm oil plantations and specifically on the Cadbury Corporation.


The palm oil industry (as most of us know) is knocking down rainforests and burning peat across Indonesia and Malaysia to expand production to meet the increased demand. This is resulting in the release of massive amounts of greenhouse gases and the destruction of the habitat of endangered animals such as the orang-utan. Deforestation contributes about twenty percent of global carbon emissions; a figure widely accepted and commonly used at United Nations climate change conferences. Most of this country's palm kernel imports come from Indonesia, with the remainder from Malaysia. Both countries are currently experiencing large-scale clearance of rainforest for palm oil plantations.

Below is the latest Whittakers commercial comparative advertising their chocolate product to Cadbury's amongst the recent controversy about (1) Palm Oil being used in the Cadbury's Chocolate bars, (2) Cadbury moving production to Australia resulting in unemployment here in New Zealand and (3) the packaging size changes.



http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/19582/ 13th July

Auckland Zoo, located in New Zealand's largest city, has decided to banish the iconic chocolate brand, Cadbury, from its shelves. because the chocolate maker, one of the country's largest and most popular chocolate manufacturers, has substituted some of the cocoa solids in its products with palm oil, from plantations in South Asia.

“We are advocates for wildlife,” said Auckland Zoo's conservation officer, Peter Fraser. “The biggest threat for animals is encroaching palm oil plantations. The plantations lie in a biodiverse hotspot. Orangutans are critically endangered,” he said. But so are the Sumatran Tiger and Rhino, the small clawed Asian Otter, [and] reptile, and plant species.


Palm oil is derived from mainly from plantations in Indonesia, Borneo, Malaysia and South America. Currently only four percent of palm oil comes from sustainable sources. “We had to look at our shelves and see if there were any Cadbury products,” Mr. Fraser said.

The zoo has been selling Cadbury chocolates in it's shops and restaurant, and palm oil products also form part of the zoo's animal feed.

“If we talk the talk, we have to walk the walk.”

Mr. Fraser said it was not currently possible to remove all palm oil products from the zoo as, in the case of some animals' feed, there is no replacement right now.

Cadbury's Response

Cadbury spokesman, Daniel Ellis, told the Sunday Star Times that Cadbury was a member of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a body tasked with ensuring responsible and sustainable palm oil crops.

Greenpeace Response

Vanessa Atkinson, Greenpeace New Zealand climate campaigner said that, [being] “RSPO certified doesn't mean that the palm oil you buy is sustainable or that it hasn't caused rainforest clearing or climate impact. There is no segregation of suppliers in the supply chain."

Greenpeace warns that the carbon dioxide released by the draining and burning of peatlands for palm oil plantations in the South Asian region is responsible for four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Chocolate Eaters Respond too

Many Cadbury's customers are also dismayed and outraged. The outrage is such that bloggers are criticizing the altered product and promising to switch to competitors' products. A petition asking Parliament to put out warnings about palm oil is also in progress. Some consumers are disillusioned with the taste of the new product and are urging Cadbury to bring back the old recipe while others are angry over the effect of palm oil plantations on rainforests.

Apparently Cadbury Australia has been adding palm oil to its products for some time but New Zealanders have only recently been surprised with downsized bars of chocolate which have a different taste and texture to how they tasted before.