Tagged: Environment

Why compostable plastics may be no better for the environment - Guest Work

Guest Author • Aug 03, 2018 •

• compostable plastics,
• consumer action,
• Environment,
• plastic

Thomas Neitzert, Auckland University of Technology As companies move to get rid of single-use plastic bags and bans on microbeads are coming into force, new biodegradable or compostable plastic products seem to offer an alternative. But they may be no better for the environment. Recently, European scientists argued that existing international industry standards are insufficient and … Read More

Thinking beyond the impossible burger - Ariadne

Robert Hickson • Jul 12, 2018 •

• agriculture,
• animal ethics,
• Environment,
• farming,
• future,
• future of food,
• futures methodology,
• meat exports,
• New Zealand

The agricultural sector has long been called a “sunset industry”. If so, it’s more a long drawn out polar twilight than a quick tropical dusk. Rosie Bosworth has written about New Zealand becoming the ‘Detroit of Agriculture’. Scary stuff, for some. A welcome transformation for others, if you read the opinion pieces. But are predictions of the … Read More

Six ways to improve water quality in New Zealand’s lakes and rivers - Guest Work

Guest Author • May 02, 2018 •

• contamination,
• degradation,
• ecology,
• Environment,
• freshwater,
• government,
• Havelock North,
• Lake Taupo,
• lakes,
• New Zealand,
• nutrient,
• Pollution,
• Rivers,
• streams,
• water

Troy Baisden, University of Waikato This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Two years ago, New Zealanders were shocked when contaminated drinking water sickened more than 5,000 people in the small town of Havelock North, with a population of 14,000. A government inquiry found that sheep faeces were the … Read More

Opinion: Economic growth within Environmental limits - The Dismal Science

Michael Reddell • Apr 20, 2018 •

• agriculture,
• capital,
• carbon emissions,
• ecology,
• Environment,
• exports,
• GDP,
• immigration,
• immigration policy,
• Labour Party,
• markets,
• MBIE,
• Ministry for the Environment,
• New Zealand,
• Population growth,
• productivity comission,
• rental housing,
• rents

That was the title of a speech David Parker gave a couple of weeks ago.  Parker is, as you will recall, a man wearing many hats: Minister for the Environment, Associate Minister of Finance, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, and Attorney-General.  Since he was speaking to a seminar organised by the Resource Management Law Association, this speech looked … Read More

The urgency of curbing pollution from ships, explained - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 19, 2018 •

• conservation,
• crude oil,
• diesel fuel,
• ecology,
• Economy,
• Environment,
• fuel,
• global trade,
• greenhouse gases,
• marine environment,
• maritime,
• pollutants,
• Pollution,
• public health,
• ships

James J. Winebrake, Rochester Institute of Technology and James J Corbett, University of Delaware This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency that regulates global shipping, is writing new rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions from ships by 2050 as … Read More

What children can teach us about looking after the environment - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 18, 2018 •

• adults,
• children,
• climate change,
• CPR dilemma,
• ecology,
• Environment,
• fishing communities,
• global warming,
• lobster,
• Maine,
• Paris Agreement,
• Psychology,
• Risk management,
• social patterns,
• source,
• stratefies,
• success

Rebecca Koomen, Max Planck Institute This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. United States President Donald Trump sparked outrage last year when he announced that the US would pull out of the Paris climate agreement. The decision frustrated world leaders because it undermined the process of global cooperation, … Read More

Cuddly, Charismatic and … Cursed? - Guest Work

Jean Balchin • Apr 18, 2018 •

• books,
• cheetahs,
• commercials,
• conservation,
• ecology,
• Environment,
• giraffes,
• gorilla,
• marketing,
• movies,
• PLOS Biology,
• Polar Bears,
• protection,
• toyrs,
• west Africa,
• wild lion

Who hasn’t seen Madagascar, the animated comedy depicting four hapless animals – a lion, a zebra, a giraffe and a hippo – stranded in Madagascar? I have eight younger siblings, and was forced to watch it myriad times. I have a perverse hatred for Alex the Lion, and have refused to watch any of the sequels.  It is generally considered … Read More

Plants use advertising-like strategies to attract bees with colour and scent - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 17, 2018 •

• advertising,
• bees,
• chemical traps,
• clover,
• colours,
• conservation,
• ecology,
• Environment,
• flowers,
• honey,
• nectar,
• pollination,
• pollinators,
• scent,
• spectrophotometer

Aphrodite Kantsa, University of the Aegean and Adrian Dyer, RMIT University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Watching plants and pollinators such as bees can teach us a lot about how complex networks work in nature. There are thousands of species of bees around the world, and they … Read More

The northern white rhino should not be brought back to life - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 11, 2018 •

• Biodiversity,
• conservation,
• de-extinction,
• ecology,
• endangered species,
• Environment,
• extinction,
• habitat loss,
• Kenya,
• museum exhibit,
• poaching,
• Sudan,
• white rhino,
• wildlife,
• zoos

Jason Gilchrist, Edinburgh Napier University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. A geriatric semi-captive rhino died in Kenya recently. “Sudan”, a 45-year-old northern white rhino was put to sleep as vets decided, after months of ill health, that his condition had deteriorated to the point where the levels of … Read More

Electric vehicles are their consequences - Ariadne

Robert Hickson • Mar 25, 2018 •

• Airbnb,
• cars,
• electric cars,
• energy,
• energy network,
• Environment,
• green paper,
• New Zealand,
• power,
• technology,
• transport,
• vehicle

Electric vehicles are increasingly popular, but for society they aren’t as simple as “plug ‘n drive”. Vector energy have produced a useful green paper on the implications of electric vehicles for NZ’s energy system I wrote last year about some of the issues facing a growing electric vehicle fleet here. Vector explores some of … Read More