Guest Author • Feb 07, 2019 •
Nick Golledge, Victoria University of Wellington Last week, rivers froze over in Chicago when it got colder than at the North Pole. At the same time, temperatures hit 47℃ in Adelaide during the peak of a heatwave. Such extreme and unpredictable weather is likely to get worse as ice sheets at both poles continue to melt. Our … Read More
Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Jul 23, 2018 •
The Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund is now in its third round, with applications closing this week, which seems like a good time to celebrate some of the great journalism that’s been enabled by the fund. It’s the first independent journalism fund dedicated to furthering coverage of the science-related issues that impact New Zealanders. Dr Rebecca Priestley, winner … Read More
Gareth Renowden • Aug 07, 2017 •
The excellent new single from Sir William of Bragg. Always right on, our Bill, and often right. See also: Between The Wars. Now talk amongst yourselves… … Read More
Guest Author • Feb 06, 2017 •
By Prof Tim Naish, Director of the Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University Wellington By the end of the century it is predicted that rising sea-level will directly impact more than 200 million people around the world. The damage to property and infrastructure, groundwater, and the prospect of widespread displacement of people will indirectly affect every one of us on this … Read More
Peter Griffin • Jun 14, 2016 •
A team of New Zealand filmmakers has released a documentary focussing on the estimated 30 million people in Bangladesh likely to be displaced by the end of the century as a result of sea level rise. The documentary was funded by the United Nations and features a short, powerful interview with our own Helen Clark, administrator of the UN Development Programme and a front … Read More
Guest Author • May 09, 2016 •
By Simon Albert, The University of Queensland; Alistair Grinham, The University of Queensland; Badin Gibbes, The University of Queensland; Javier Leon, University of the Sunshine Coast, and John Church, CSIRO Sea-level rise, erosion and coastal flooding are some of the greatest challenges facing humanity from climate change. Recently at least … Read More
Lynley Hargreaves • Apr 21, 2016 •
Professor James Renwick With sixteen percent of New Zealanders living in the coastal zone, and two thirds in areas prone to flooding, most of us are likely to feel the watery effects of climate change. A new Royal Society of New Zealand report, Climate Change Implications for New Zealand, says your local council should be thinking about … Read More
Guest Author • Mar 16, 2016 •
Patrick D. Nunn, University of the Sunshine Coast Last month I spent some time in Navunievu, a coastal village near the western tip of Vanua Levu island in Fiji. The people of Navunievu worry about sea-level rise and their concern is not exaggerated. Every high spring tide, much of the lower part of the village is flooded (it … Read More
Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Feb 16, 2016 •
Though we are already locked into sea level rise of at least 20 centimetres by 2050, the window of opportunity to act has not yet closed on us, climate scientists say. Victoria University professors James Renwick (Physical Geography) and Tim Naish (Antarctic Research Centre) presented a keynote address on Monday at the Pacific Climate Change conference, hosted by … Read More
Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Feb 15, 2016 •
Anote Tong wants to build a sea wall around a church. It’s the only thing remaining in a Kiribatian village: the rest has been washed away by the rising sea. “There is a village where the people are all gone, because there is no village.” The President of the Republic of Kiribati says the church needs a sea wall to … Read More