Priority One

The root cause of unsustainability?

Jennifer Nickel • Aug 09, 2012

First of all, a thank you to Bryan Walker for reflecting on Bill McKibben’s recent Rolling Stone article in which he names the fossil-fuel industry (his major focus) as rogue and public enemy number one.  Since the writing is so stark it takes some reflecting and it is nice to get to see others doing so too. Read More

Video contests are fun!

Jennifer Nickel • Jul 23, 2012

I really enjoy video contests on the internet! Videos are such a great communication tool! There was one recently by Sir Richard Branson.  He crowdsourced ideas on how to ‘Screw business as usual‘ – an action follow-up to his book release.  For a sustainability nut like me it’s so inspiring to watch others go to the trouble of making … Read More

New beginnings, and How@ Trading Science?

Jennifer Nickel • Jul 13, 2012

Something that I didn’t anticipate when I started my Sustainable Practice course at Otago Polytech is that I would learn so much about social, governance and economic sustainability – way more so than the environmental aspect that everyone first thinks of when I mention the S-word. I think learning about those other aspects really influenced my recent decision to move … Read More

Play Pounamu

Jennifer Nickel • Jun 07, 2012

Whilst Pounamu was instigated as a nationwide game to attract ideas in regards to what could happen if New Zealanders were more scientifically literate (my interpretation), it looks as if it is turning into a thought-outlet for all of the ideas that New Zealanders have for managing our resources and activities better (i.e. in a more sustainable way). The positive imagination … Read More

The Science in Sustainability

Jennifer Nickel • Jun 05, 2012

Wouldn’t it be great if we used our scientific knowledge to come up with some basic principles that would ease our understanding as to whether something is or isn’t sustainable in the long term? Well, back in the 1980’s when the warnings about the detrimental environmental effects of our ‘activities’ were already quite reasonable, a Swedish doctor and cancer scientist … Read More

Four decades of Ecological Overshoot leaves us with…?

Jennifer Nickel • May 15, 2012

Isn’t it fun hearing about how the world is heading towards disaster? No? Well, you’d think so! because we just keep churning out report after report (and scheduling the odd meeting) with increasingly dire predictions as time goes on.  Creating these reports is quite the rapidly growing niche. We must want to hear about … Read More

My curiosity of everything can’t be tamed

Jennifer Nickel • May 07, 2012

So… time for a revamp of this blog, to match the revamp of my life. I’ve been quite inactive and erratic (blog post-wise) in the past because I had no idea what I was doing!  There was lots of interesting stuff to share, but I had no theme!  I was a young recently graduated scientist who, in hindsight, just happened … Read More

The Scale of the Mind Blowing Universe

Jennifer Nickel • Feb 27, 2012

The nature of science often entails the measurement of things to aid our understanding of them.  And if those things and their scale are common to us then we can easily comprehend them.  However, anything that falls outside of this range results in mind blowing… Get comfortable, click here, and scroll wide-eyed … Read More

Weathering Fights & Science – what’s it up to?

Jennifer Nickel • Oct 28, 2011

For those who like a little humour to go with the news… there is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Wednesday’s “Weathering Fights” episode tackles the biggest climate change story of the week… the BEST (Berkley Earth Surface Temperature) study; already addressed earlier in the week by Gareth’s post and Science Media Centre coverage. At 0:50 he recaps Climategate … Read More

Welcome Ban Ki-moon

Jennifer Nickel • Sep 06, 2011

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, was very popular at the University of Auckland today. Multiple lecture theatres were packed to the brim with people excited to watch his speech titled ‘New Zealand and the world: Sustainability and security in a time of global transition’. He is in Auckland to attend the Pacific Islands Forum, after visiting the Solomon Islands … Read More