Climate Issues by Rich Seager

Subtitle: NZGBC fudges road map via emissions offsets and challenges James Shaw for title of NZ greenwashing king

A critique.

p.4 “The World Green Building Council defines a net zero carbon building as one that is “highly energy efficient with all remaining energy from on-site and/ or off-site renewable sources”. NZGBC has taken this definition one stage further. In the case of new buildings,we think the carbon emitted during construction should also be included in the calculations.””

This sounds good as although I'm told that it's 50/50 between build and use as far as emissions go this of course would be highly variable. So most of the CO2 emissions are probably in the building phase in NZ as energy use after build is mostly renewable due to the high hydro component. The caveat here though is that hydro's share continues to decrease and the current rather useless Green Party thinks burning stuff “as long as it's not coal” is fine but of course that's not the case.

p.4 still
“offset any unavoidable emissions”

Gee that didn't take long to run off track. This is a cheats way of avoiding emissions being calculated as part of the build.

“As noted above, in future, new buildings will have to measure, manage and offset construction emissions in addition to operational emissions if they want to meet the requirement .”

Not good at all. They should move away from concrete and steel instead of trying to 'offset' it. Offsetting is a corporate con.

p.8 This part of the document is expecting industry to make its own rules, not looking for laws to enforce that which anyway need to be supported by wider community to work but in this case I think that they are.

p.11 Argosy's buildings look like concrete, steel and glass structures in that photo. Seriously not emissions neutral.

p.12 “If New Zealand is to achieve its net zero ambitions by 2050, these fossil fuel boilers will need to be replaced with low or zero carbon heat sources, such as heat pumps, wood stoves and wood- fired boilers. “

Seriously NOT zero emissions. Just because you put wood in your burner instead of coal doesn't make you “net zero”. In fact in my view it's worse as not only are the CO2 emissions pretty much the same but there's not enough trees to burn and if you do burn them all well we're fucked. To replace all oil, gas & coal in the US for example would require burning every tree in the United States every year (source Michael Moore's movie). Instead of burning the trees we should build with them, there is lots of wood technology about to help in the build of multilevel wood structures these days. And doing so stores the CO2 instead of releasing it to the atmosphere.

This shit policy (“let's burn wood instead”) is very similar to the NZ Greens under (the corporate sponsored) James Shaw.

p. 13 “Timber is grown from the process of photosynthesis, absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and water and transforming them into sugars and oxygen. The weight of timber is roughly half sequestered carbon. Even when processing is taken into account, timber is usually a negative emissions product and, therefore it will have a negative global warming potential value; this is very positive!”

Agree with this but the way that this is stated makes me wonder if they're dismissive of it in reality. I'd go further though, if there's no or fewer emissions in your processing of the wood (i.e. saws driven by hydro power, chainsaws are electric, trucks that remove logs are electric, drying the wood is powered by hydro) then using logs, or a little less so processed timber, is VERY good for the environment due to the captured CO2 stored in the timber. As long as the trees are replanted of course.

The claim to it having “negative global warming potential” is therefore a little bogus as well. Yes if the stand of timber is replanted after harvesting but no if it is not (imagine every tree on earth being used for housing, are there now any trees left to remove CO2 from atmosphere?).

p.17 Samson looks like they're giving a token response to removing CO2 emissions from buildings, there's no substance to the brief outline of their business.

p.18 Restricting peak level demand is something that citizens need to be a part of. There's no mention of them here. Only building and electricity industries are considered as participants in such a discussion. Will limits on peak level demand be imposed on citizens by these groups to assuage their lack of adherence to making their buildings genuinely CO2 neutral?

p.21 I think Fiona Short, the sustainability spokesperson for Warren and Mahoney, is genuine (I could be wrong, very easy these days) but once again I don't think the company is doing enough. The photos show concrete, steel, glass buildings.

p.22 Airports reducing emissions in buildings is a joke. Maybe they should get rid of their planes, as this is the largest single contributer to CO2 emissions that an individual can impose on the biosphere.

p.24 onwards nothing there of any substance whatsoever.

Document available here;

https://www.nzgbc.org.nz/Attachment?Action=Download&Attachment_id=2528

#greenwasher #politics #climatechange #co2

Subtitle: Another Dan lockdown inevitable

On this graph I figure the first spurt is a false dawn. Maybe some tests were false-positives (i.e. it is not uncommon for the common cold to register a positive on a COVID test especially early on) or maybe it was confined to a small sector of the population. So in my view the second spurt on this graph is actually round one for Melbourne/Victoria. With a very hard lockdown from Dan Andrews I think it means there will be another round. And Dan will lockdown again. So who is going to win, nature or Dan?

Luckily Melbourne is a pretty warm spot normally, so lots of sun and heat will probably deal to it in January & February and locking down in the Xmas retail period won't be popular at all. I think if Dan is still there in April though, one should expect another lockdown.

.* I'm strictly an amateur epidemiologist having only done a short course via John Hopkins University and fairly extensive but unsupervised study over a few months earlier this year.

#politics #covid19 #danandrews #coronavirus #idiots

Subtitle: The HRC seems to be a pharmaceutical off-shoot

Browsing my favourite hate media (that would be Twitter) today I came across a reference to an “article” in Spinoff late last year about snitching on your relatives via the Human Rights Commission which is a quasi Government organisation;

As if that wasn't bad enough though, a quick visit to viewdns.info to look for other websites that might be on the same IP as the website referenced (givenothing.co.nz) in the above article was very illuminating (which it often is).

When there's only 7 websites on one IP address it normally means that they have a fairly close relationship. In this case, except for the bitcoin site (why is there always a bitcoin site) and givenothing.co.nz all the other sites are pharmaceutical websites, and none of them are targeted towards New Zealanders. The French one is targeted at French children;

The Italian & Denmark ones at asthmatics in those countries.

And one is just purely promoting a drug.

It seems the Pharma companies want you to snitch on family, like East Germany before 1989 and as is familiar from Orwell's 1984. Of course East Germany was also very much into drugging athletes up with hormones....

Finally if you don't already know Spinoff is an offshoot of Bauer Media who recently shut down several print newsmedia in New Zealand.

#politics #pharmaceuticals #pharma #HRC #spinoff

Subtitle: Cruising the hate.

This morning I spent about 90 minutes having a look through Twitter feeds of various locals on the nzpol hashtag and not*. I spend more time off the platform than on it these days, partly due to its terrible attitude to those, like myself, who won't allow ourselves to be gaslit by the woke. So I was able to see a range of tweets I wouldn't have seen logged in, not to mention having the distraction of actually tweeting yourself.

Anyway here's the summary;

@shutthefridge – you are very good, Tracey, you should write more.

@TatsuyaIshida9 – I never knew and always assumed you were a woman. Respect!

David Cormack – various tweets, every tweet, god you're an idiot.

@Tom_Roud – pleased to meet you Tom. Rather odd to find someone who is genuine in their socialism these days and not just merely 'performing'.

Aaron Hawkins – various tweets, every tweet, god you're an idiot. Also don't slur others with your own downfalls, Aaron, or it might end up in court (no I'm not the one suing Otago University and I have no idea who is).

@LostArcNZ – you and Foxy, Scott, have sold your souls.

Ingrid Leary – are you still running for South Dunedin (aka Taieri) or have you gone back to Waiheke? Havn't seen you around.

The NZ Greens – your wealth tax is not a wealth tax, it's an extremely regressive tax on a generation who did not have much to do with putting their kids into lifelong rental properties, and who would have been just as happy if their houses were still worth 237k rather than just over a million. I hope that you lose so badly that your brand becomes as toxic as it deserves to be and takes down every current Green on your list with it.

@_chloeswarbrick – hopefully Auckland Central sends you to political oblivion which is still less than you deserve. Despite your attempts at wordiness and intellect you have almost no substance and your contempt for democracy shines through. You remind me of an Austrian in Munich about 1922 & quite obviously have the Oligarch approval to justify the comparison.

.* the hashtag doesn't seem to be in wide use these days, my point is that it was the NZ twittersphere users that I was looking at, and I have my own list of favourite tweeters for that.

#politics #nzpol

Subtitle: FO “Cate”

No amount of nasty appropriation of the stereotypes that one has of the opposite sex will ever address an ordinariness that hides itself under an intolerant veneer.

You can stop reading this blog now “Cate”. As that's the last I have to say on you.

#politics #transgender

Subtitle: Jenny says I don't want anything to do with the Victorian Labor Party.

Jenny Mikakos, the health minister of the Victorian Labor Government has resigned. She hasn't just resigned from her position as Health Minister but has resigned from Parliament as well which to my mind is a giant FU to Daniel Andrews. Andrews has been asked if he's going to resign by media and has said no, he's going to work through the night instead. 'Working through the night' is a meme that his trolls have been very keenly pushing and some are saying that those trolls are from Chinese Troll Farms. The context for such theories is that Victoria is the only state of Australian currently signed up to China's Silk Road initiative. I have no thoughts on those/that particular claim(s) but it is noticeable that the Labor Government of Queensland, not signed up to this initiative of China's, is also being particularly unfriendly to its residents & others unless of course you're an AFL star or family of such sportspeople. It's a little bit like Ancient Rome.

To make your mind up about just how unpleasant Dan Andrews is, here's the latest interview, where it is also obviously the case that the journalists are not on his side. He addresses them all by name as well and I don't think that I like that as the reason for it to be, it seems to me, is for later analysis.

Daniel Andrews corona virus press conference, 26th September 2020

Who made the call on the private security guards? Mikakos denies that it was her and I believe her. Andrews is just an evasive prick. So I think that we may have some 'Strong Cities Network' involvement here. Andrews needs to go.

#politics #auspol #australia #victoria #queensland #danielandrews #jennymikakos

Subtitle: foiled by the folding stuff

I did actually go to enrol as a candidate today, the last day that I could (cutoff was midday). I had thought about it a lot but was still somewhat reluctant as I was lacking some organisation. But I hadn't stopped to take the $300 out of the bank so in the end I was foiled by a lack of cash (not for the first time) and a lack of time. I guess I could have pushed a little more & transferred via the phone but rules are rules. That's ok, I wasn't really ready anyway although the hospital build was a motivation as it is something that needs to be opposed now, before it gets silly.

So this idea of standing, borne of Labour & the Greens dances with the devil, will be up and going for the next one, for sure. Hopefully we still have a democracy.

Some have asked Ingrid Leary if she intends staying in Taieri if she loses. Realistically I think you could ask her the same question if she wins. You could probably ask Liam Kernaghan the same questions, because is he going to get a flat in Wellington or continue to stay with Ma & Pa in Maori Hill which is in the Dunedin electorate rather than the Taieri electorate. Personally I figure it will be the former, as he is now a fish out of water in lil ol Dunedin. Ditto Scott Willis as he lives in the Waitati which is also in the Dunedin electorate (unless he's in the next electorate up, Waitaki). The NZ First guy has his truck and permanent sign parked up Mornington way which is also in the Dunedin electorate. Basically I wonder if any of them have lived in the electorate for the last 3 years, which I think should be a requirement. South Dunedin has been poorly served for a long time.

I shall have to have a think about who to recommend, it's not an easy task, but I have one recommendation and that is that you shouldn't vote NZ First. Their only saving grace, Tracey Martin, has recently swallowed more gender nonsense so just give them the flick. And I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see Ingrid Leary resign before the election. I guess that leaves Scott Willis but if you vote for him you must not Party Vote the Greens.

And in the Dunedin electorate? There's not much choice there either but I would like to see the Greens Party vote knocked about there. Most of that is based at the University.

#politics #NZlabour #NZgreens #ingridleary #davidclark

Subtitle: Wai hek!

I saw Ingrid Leary yesterday (Thursday 18th September) in St Clair. It's the first time that I've seen her in Dunedin. She was dressed to the nines in red with a matching handbag. She was alone and heading to one of the restaurants on the Promenade. I also have my suspicions that she's driving around the South Dunedin neighbourhood in a car unsuited to a Labour Candidate but I am not able to confirm this as yet. There was no sign of it yesterday in St Clair.

Leary has recently been castigated (justifiably) for her comment on Auckland's Waiheke Island radio (where she spent lockdown) that if she lost the seat then she'd likely never return to Dunedin. Waiheke is upmarket and off the coast of Auckland for those who don't know, about as far away from South Dunedin as you can get and still be in the same Country. She said it with an addition of a slight laugh of contempt as well.

I think Liam Kernaghan is in with a chance to win the seat of South Dunedin. Scott Willis, the Green candidate, is also capable of dragging votes away from Labour and I think he'll get 3-4,000 votes although thankfully the (woke) Greens won't get the party vote. Kernaghan is more likely as an upset winner though as for Willis to win he'd need to get at least 9,000 votes. I doubt that's going to happen. There's just not enough Green voters in South Dunedin (or Taieri as it is called now) probably NZ's safest Labour seat of the last 100 years or so. The complication for Kernaghan is the NZ First candidate but he's unlikely to get the support he needs from South Dunedin. He'll take Clutha comfortably though.

But Ingrid Leary is as hopeless for the seat as Clare Curran was and it was arrogant in the extreme for the Labour Party to parachute her in. She's quite obviously under pressure for being an upper middle class woman from Waiheke Island when South Dunedin (still the major part of the revamped Taieri seat) needed a traditional and local Labour Party person. Kernaghan isn't really local either but he's from the next door electorate North Dunedin (now Dunedin) and not parachuted in from the North Island. He's an upmarket boy as well although he claims that his father is originally from the working class suburb of Brockville. He still went to Johnnies though and both he and the current South Dunedin Labour MP Clare Curran are from the elite suburbs of Roslyn/Maori Hill. Before Curran South Dunedin hosted as its Labour MP the tennis ball fan and establishment adjacent David Benson-Pope. So much for its working class solidarity.

One wonders if Jacinda Ardern had anything to do with Leary's candidature. I suspect that she did as it sounds like the local branch was leaned on. There's also a kiwiblog reference to Leary having done a hosting stint on TV3 on June 19th (she's a journalist). That's not kosher.

Anyway here is Ingrid Leary gaslighting Musselburgh (nobody wears a mask around South Dunedin and she wasn't wearing one at St Clair). Anybody get the feeling that she's trying to protect herself from criticism rather than COVID-19, long absent from the South Island, with the mask?

Will Kernaghan be a good MP for South Dunedin? NO. Too young, too Tory, too stupid about Climate Change. Simon.

#politics #Labour #IngridLeary

Subtitle: Which is being repeated all over the world courtesy of the Green Parties especially, but in Scotland it's by the Scottish National Party

#politics #greenpartyNZ #TRA #NAH

Subtitle: do as I say not as I do

The two Green co-leaders, Marama Davidson (pointing in the photo) and James Shaw (the only male* in the photo) fly into New Plymouth to talk to Taranaki principals who are understandably livid about the 11.7 million dollars granted to the Green School con. So do they drive in their electric car from Wellington (4.5 hours) or from Auckland (slightly less than 4.5 hours). Not on your nelly. They fly of course which is the most unsustainable way, in regard to CO2 emissions, of getting to New Plymouth. It would also mean 30 minutes to the airport, 45 minutes at least in Departures & 20 minutes at arrivals, plus the time taken to get to the actual destination. Plus an hour in the air. Hopefully no delays. How long? Yes you guessed it, at least 4.5 hours.

Green MPs should not be allowed to fly by air in the North Island which is where they're all based. In fact a decent arrangement for the whole country should be no flights between two airports on the same island, until, or if, we have sustainable air transport.

God I hate these Greens.

Green MPs land at regional airport. Marama goes, is that Mount Taranaki, I've never been here before

.* adult human male.

#GreenPartyNZ #politics #climatechange