Tagged: emissions

Which countries are likely to meet their Paris Agreement targets - Climate: Explained

Robert McLachlan • Dec 18, 2019 •

• climate change,
• emissions,
• Paris Agreement

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Which countries in the world have met or bettered their Paris Agreement targets? Robert McLachlan, Massey University The … Read More

How volcanoes influence climate and how their emissions compare to what we produce - Climate: Explained

Guest Author • Oct 23, 2019 •

• climate change,
• emissions,
• super volcanoes,
• Volcanoes

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Everyone is going on about reducing our carbon footprint, zero emissions, planting sustainable crops for biodiesel etc. Is … Read More

I’m so fly, I’m #NoFly! - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • Oct 21, 2019 •

• #nofly,
• climate change,
• emissions,
• flight,
• Transport,
• Travel

#NoFly: Walking the talk on climate change, by Shaun Hendy. BWB Texts, 2019. Reviewed by Robert McLachlan In June 2018, Swede Maja Rosén founded We stay on the ground with a pledge not to fly in 2019, and a goal of persuading 100,000 other Swedes to join her. In August, her compatriot Greta Thunberg began her school strike for … Read More

Fly less, Kiwis! - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • Sep 05, 2019 •

• air travel,
• climate change,
• emissions

Something’s happening here: Climate crisis: ‘We don’t fly to go on holiday now – and it doesn’t cost the earth’ (The Guardian, 10 August 2019) No-fly zone: Could you give up flying if it meant protecting the planet? (Adventure.com, 21 August 2019) Travel the world without destroying it (The Conversation, 22 August 2019) Harry and Meghan … Read More

Emission Impossible? - Planetary Ecology

Steve Trewick • Aug 26, 2019 •

• climate change,
• emissions,
• fuel economy

Everyone knows about climate change and it’s a real drag. All of a sudden most of the things we liked doing are considered wrong. Some people even say we have to give up cars but that’s crazy talk isn’t it? With around 70 million new cars produced each year around the world and a total of about  1.4 … Read More

A long time between drinks: Mercury will build the Turitea wind farm - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • May 02, 2019 •

• emissions,
• emissions trading scheme,
• Meridian,
• renewable electricity,
• Turitea,
• wind energy,
• wind farm

We know what we have to do to beat climate change: electrify everything, and stop investing in things that burn fossil fuels. In New Zealand, that has been hard to do. Thirty years of climate policy have left us with only two main tools: the Emissions Trading Scheme, and an ‘aspirational’ target of 90% renewable electricity by 2025. The ETS … Read More

The bacterial jungle of your car - Chthonic Wildlife Ramblings

Brendan Moyle • Feb 04, 2019 •

• Air Pollution,
• bacteria,
• car care,
• car emissions,
• car safety,
• emissions

A recent article on car cleanliness described the bacteria that abound on car interior-surfaces. The results were shocking, with the headline announcing steering wheels had on average four times the amount of bacteria that public toilets did.  It inspired some to clean their cars . Nonetheless I confess I felt no surprise reading this. This is one of my … Read More

Why you shouldn’t eat beef - Physics Stop

Marcus Wilson • Jan 11, 2019 •

• beef,
• Carbon dioxide,
• climate change,
• Diet,
• emissions,
• meat

“Don’t eat beef.” Such a statement does not go down well in New Zealand,  especially in Waikato, where the cow reigns supreme. I don’t say it as someone who wants to peddle a “Meat is Murder” message. I don’t believe that at all. I say it as someone who wants New Zealand to take Climate Change seriously. Quite simply, producing … Read More

What’s your beef? How ‘carbon labels’ can steer us towards environmentally friendly food choices - Guest Work

Guest Author • Dec 18, 2018 •

• beef,
• climate change,
• Diet,
• emissions

Adrian R. Camilleri, University of Technology Sydney; Dalia Patino-Echeverri, Duke University, and Rick Larrick, Duke University What did you have for dinner last night? Might you have made a different choice if you had a simple way to compare the environmental impacts of different foods? Most people do not recognise the environmental impact of … Read More

Fuel consumption: fewer vehicles means less than fewer emissions - Physics Stop

Marcus Wilson • Oct 11, 2018 •

• emissions,
• fuel efficiency,
• Traffic

So, school holidays are coming to an end.  My son is breathing a big sigh of dismay. And, like so many other commuters, so am I. I’ve enjoyed two weeks of being able to get to and from work (especially the ‘to’) without traffic hold ups and ‘having to go the long way around’.  My 23 km commute from Cambridge … Read More