Planetary Ecology

My favourite Anzac biscuit recipe

Guest Author • Apr 21, 2021

• anzac,
• biscuits,
• Carbon dioxide,
• New Zealand stories

By Mary Morgan-Richards Every year, in the lead up to Anzac day (25th April) when Australians and New Zealanders remember all those who died at war, we bake and eat sweet biscuits associated with WWI. After 100 years I wanted to calculate the impact of my biscuits on global warming. Each ingredient needs to be harvested, prepared and … Read More

Why did New Zealand’s CO2 emissions blow out so spectacularly in 2019?

Robert McLachlan • Apr 18, 2021

• carbon emissions,
• climate change,
• co2,
• New Zealand stories

Every year in April, the trees start changing colour, the clocks go back an hour, and the national greenhouse gas figures are released and promptly forgotten. They take fifteen months to prepare, so by the time they come out it’s very easy for commentators to point out that they are out of date. Even now that the national media are … Read More

Recreation Transition: low-carbon recreation in the mountains

Guest Author • Apr 07, 2021

• backcountry,
• Environment,
• Nature,
• New Zealand stories,
• tramping

By Jamie Stewart, Federated Mountain Clubs Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC), founded in 1931, represents 96 clubs, 22,000 members and 300,000 people that regularly recreate in the New Zealand backcountry. This article first appeared in the June 2020 issue of Backcountry magazine and is reproduced with permission. (Read the original article). See also “EVs for mountain recreation” ( … Read More

Submit! Submit! Submit!

Robert McLachlan • Mar 25, 2021

• climate change,
• climate change commission,
• emissions,
• government,
• Transport

Yes, it’s time to submit to the Climate Change Commission on their draft advice to the government, if you haven’t done so already. Submissions close on 28 March 2021.   Rod Carr / Portrait of Leo Tolstoy by Ilya Repin @NZAHParallels pic.twitter.com/enU91wnhVJ — Robert McLachlan (@nzcpe) February 28, 2021 Actually, Tolstoy can … Read More

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

Robert McLachlan • Mar 24, 2021

• climate change,
• electricity,
• energy,
• renewable energy,
• wind farm

I first wrote about New Zealand wind farms in May of 2019 (“A long time between drinks“). At that time, Mercury’s decision to build the Turitea wind farm seemed to me to be extremely significant, but also hard to interpret in terms of the larger scheme of things. Could it be that our low-emission transition was actually going to … Read More

Many New Zealand species are already at risk because of predators and habitat loss. Climate change makes things worse

Guest Author • Mar 24, 2021

• Biodiversity,
• climate change,
• New Zealand

Cate Macinnis-Ng, University of Auckland and Angus Mcintosh, University of Canterbury Islands are biodiversity hotspots. They are home to 20% of the world’s plants and animals yet cover only 5% of the global landmass. But island ecosystems are highly vulnerable, threatened by habitat fragmentation and introduced invasive weeds and predators. Climate change adds to all these stresses. In our … Read More

Way to go: Electrifying advice from the Climate Change Commission

Robert McLachlan • Feb 05, 2021

• active transport,
• climate change,
• decarbonisation,
• electric vehicles,
• Fossil Fuels,
• Transport,
• wind energy

The Climate Change Commission’s draft advice on how to decarbonise New Zealand’s economy is refreshing, particularly as it calls on the government to start phasing out fossil fuels instead of relying on offsets and carbon trading. Until now, New Zealand has relied heavily on its Emissions Trading Scheme, but the evidence is clear that it has failed … Read More

Geyserland: Or, What happened at Taupō

Robert McLachlan • Jan 06, 2021

• ecology,
• environmental protection,
• geothermal energy,
• geysers,
• New Zealand,
• tourism

I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the parasailing, and the hole-in-one game. Sometimes a random, generic motel. Read More

We (still) need to talk about cars

Robert McLachlan • Dec 16, 2020

• car industry,
• carbon emissions,
• Clean Car Standard,
• Fossil Fuels

To address climate change, we need to phase out the burning of fossil fuels. The largest share of fossil fuels is burnt in cars and trucks. So it seems clear that fossil-fuelled vehicles need to stop being designed, made, imported, and driven. But anyone who has visited a road or seen a car ad recently knows that that isn’t happening, … Read More

Climate emergency or not, New Zealand needs to start doing its fair share of climate action

Robert McLachlan • Dec 02, 2020

• climate change emergency,
• Climate Commission,
• emissions trading scheme,
• nationally determined contributions,
• Paris Agreement,
• zero carbon act

Following this week’s climate emergency declaration, New Zealand will have to face up to the fact it has one of the worst climate records of industrialised nations. Of 43 industrialised countries — known as Annex 1 countries — 31 are experiencing a drop in emissions. But 12 have seen net emissions increase between 1990 and 2018, and New … Read More