Public Health Expert • Mar 14, 2017 •
By Prof Alistair Woodward, Auckland University “It is too dangerous.” This is the reason given most commonly for not riding a bike on the road in New Zealand. In this blog, I summarise a paper we have just published quantifying the risk of cycling injury. We found it to be low compared to other activites that New Zealanders commonly engage … Read More
John Kerr • Nov 14, 2016 •
In the aftermath of this morning’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake there has been a solid effort by researchers and authorities to provide timely information to an understandably worried New Zealand public. The most up-to-date source of information on the situation is GeoNet, which is providing updates on aftershock sequences and likelihood estimates of future scenarios. In the most recent news update on the GeoNet … Read More
Lynley Hargreaves • Jul 07, 2016 •
Our ability to care for the environment depends, in part, on our ability to navigate risk. This issue looms large with climate change, says senior Landcare Research researcher Dr Alison Greenaway, who worked on the Royal Society of New Zealand report Climate Change Implications for New Zealand. We need climate-sensitive institutions, says Dr Greenaway, as … Read More
Robert Hickson • Jan 20, 2016 •
It’s Davos time again. As usual the World Economic Forum publish their Global Risks Report to coincide with that. Source: World Economic Forum http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2016/shareable-infographics/ Also as usual, it mostly seems to be the here and now issues that pop to the top. That’s not surprising, given that it is based on a perceptions survey. It … Read More
Eric Crampton • Jan 13, 2015 •
Will Wilkinson on the stuff that encouraged my emigration to New Zealand:Shutting down sledding hills is inspired by the same sort of simpering caution that keeps Americans shoeless in airport security lines and, closer to home, keeps parents from lett... Read More
Waiology • Sep 04, 2014 •
By Daniel Collins As a follow-up to Waiology’s article in June, here is a full map for the flooding of Christchurch on 5 March 2014. The map is derived from photos sent in by the public which were generally taken within a few hours of peak inundation. The blue colours represent the depth of water above the ground surface … Read More
Victoria Metcalf • Mar 20, 2014 •
What’s the future for Antarctic expeditions? Antarctica still holds magical allure as perhaps the most mysterious continent we possess on earth. Even for those that have experienced time ‘on the ice’ it may feel more akin to being on another planet than our own. Part of the attraction is the extreme tag, well earned in this case, with … Read More
Eric Crampton • Jan 29, 2014 •
New Zealand schools are pretty free-range relative to America: no security guards, playground equipment that would have been banned in America a decade ago, pot-luck community lunches without freaking out about allergies or health inspection of parents... Read More
Waiology • Oct 23, 2013 •
By Gary Bedford When it comes to recreational use of freshwater, are we swimming in mixed messages? Fairfax reported that ‘More than 60 per cent of monitored rivers in New Zealand are unsafe for swimming according to Environment Ministry figures’. Dr Mike Joy from Massey University reportedly stated that 95% of New Zealand’s lowland rivers fail … Read More
Bill Kaye-Blake • Apr 30, 2013 •
Slate blogger Matthew Yglesias has been getting flak for his post that appeared quickly after news of the factory collapse in Bangladesh. In it, he explained that economics was all about diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks: Bangladesh may or may not need tougher workplace safety rules, but it’s entirely appropriate for Bangladesh to have different—and, indeed, […] … Read More