Capitalism is killing the planet
It is hard to write an article about climate change without being accused of scaremongering, because of the size and scale of the truly existential crisis that lies before us. The challenge is immense and the effects of it are starting to hit hard across the planet. 2017 has been another record-breaking year to follow […]
A Climate Catastrophe
Last year, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, the world’s governments agreed to keep warming to a 1.5 degrees Celsius limit by a zero increase in carbon emissions from 2030. While they may have agreed to the target, there was no bite to the bark. Each country made a declaration to limit […]
Key’s crocodile tears over dairy disaster
Dairy farmers are hurting, the newspapers say, and politicians are lining up left and right to give them a helping hand. Labour says 25 percent of farmers could face losing their farms, but Mr Key said he was told it would be closer to 5 to 10 percent. Agriculture consultant Peter Fraser told Radio New […]
James Shaw – a New Direction for the Greens?
On Saturday the Greens elected a new co-leader. The winner was James Shaw, a relative newcomer to parliament and national politics. But who is he? Before this election few had ever heard of him. James Shaw grew up in Wellington and completed an MSc in sustainability and business leadership in London in 2005. He continued […]
Dairy Millionaires and the “Monster that hit Vanuatu”
Dairy has been the fastest growing sector of the NZ economy in the last 20 years, making millions for a handful of farmers but also methane – a climate change gas. Vanuatu has just been smashed by Cyclone Pam. These things are connected. Vanuatu president Baldwin Lonsdale has described Cyclone Pam as “the monster that […]
Victory! Patricia Grace Stops the Government Taking Maori Land
The government has been defeated by the author Patricia Grace in the Environment Court and, seeing the writing on the wall, the government will not appeal. Patricia Grace owns part of a block of Maori Freehold Land in Waikanae that was once in a Maori village and is full of significance. The government tried to […]
Banners on the Beach with Oil Free Otago
As Anadarko’s drilling ship lurks some 60km off Otago’s coast, hundreds flocked, flags flying, to Oil Free Otago’s “Banners on the Beach”. As I approached St Clair beach, walking through one of Dunedin’s more yuppyish suburbs, the only sign of a protest I saw was an airplane trailing a banner that read “pro gas for […]
40,000 march against nuclear power in Tokyo
40 00 people took to the streets to protest against nuclear plants and Prime Minister Abe in Tokyo on October 13. Kenji Kunitomi from the Japan Revolutionary Communist League prepared this report for Socialist Review. Right-wing nationalist Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claims radiation from Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor is perfectly under control at his […]
Forestry bosses have blood on their hands
13 forestry workers have died in work related accidents in the past 3 years, 30 in the last 6 years. Just to put this in perspective the death rate in the UK forestry industry is 10.4 per 100,000 workers and in NZ 343 per 100,000. Some bosses blame workers drug use and call for increased drug […]
How the 1 Percent conjured a monster storm
Chris Williams, author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis, examines the man-made factors contributing to the disaster of Hurricane Sandy. “If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that […]
