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100% PURE “BULLSHIT”

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« Reply #75 on: October 24, 2014, 04:43:14 am »

NZ among world's best countries to move to, survey finds

5:00 AM Friday Oct 24, 2014


New Zealand has ranked sixth in a global survey on the best places to live abroad, with scenery, landscape and weather listed among the most attractive qualities of life here.

The Expat Explorer poll is one of the largest independent global expatriate surveys. It is commissioned by HSBC Bank and has been running for seven years.

Between April and May this year, almost 9300 expatriates based in more than 100 countries were surveyed about their quality of life, financial wellbeing and ease of raising a family in their adopted countries.

Overall, New Zealand ranked sixth on the list of 34 countries; Switzerland took the top spot.

Among expats surveyed, New Zealand was judged as the best place to raise a child, ahead of South Africa, Germany and Japan.


It also performed well in the health and education sections and nearly nine in 10 expat parents in New Zealand said the safety of their children had improved since moving here, as well as their general health and wellbeing.

"The scenery, diverse landscape and good weather are also factors noted by expats in New Zealand. The vast majority of expat parents highlight the pleasant climate and scenery as a benefit of living there," the survey concluded.

"Alongside the above-average environmental factors, 73 per cent rate the environment as better than their home country, which all make it an ideal destination to raise active, outdoorsy and healthy children."

Six in 10 parents also said their children were more well rounded as a result of moving to New Zealand.


Retirees also rated the country well, with many choosing to move here to be closer to loved ones or to improve their quality of life.

Top Places

1) Switzerland

2) Singapore

3) China

4) Germany

5) Bahrain

5) New Zealand

- NZ Herald

.......""Alongside the above-average environmental factors, 73 per cent rate the environment as better than their home country, which all make it an ideal destination to raise active, outdoorsy and healthy children."


...100% clean and green Wink

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« Reply #76 on: October 24, 2014, 10:24:22 am »


Go and swim in the Mangatainoka River by the Tui Brewery, you clown.

The place where the television adverts showed the Tui Girls frolicking in the river would be about the right spot.

Don't forget to stick your head beneath the surface of that “100% PURE” water a few times while you are at it.

I'll come and visit you in Palmerston North Hospital when you get really sick afterwards, idiot.

Although, somehow I doubt if your intellect (lack-of....ie.....the equivalent of a  bucket of sawdust) will allow you to comprehend what caused your illness....

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« Reply #77 on: October 24, 2014, 11:31:22 am »



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« Reply #78 on: November 27, 2014, 06:32:47 pm »


from The Press....

Govt's pure tourism campaign hypocritical

The government has “failed to take a world-leading stance”
on reducing greenhouse gas emissons, commissioner says.


By SARAH-JANE O'CONNOR and OLIVIA WANNAN | 1:00PM - Thursday, 27 November 2014

FLOODING: Christchurch has flooded several times in the last year. A report suggests it is likely to become more frequent. — IAIN MCGREGOR/Fairfax NZ.
FLOODING: Christchurch has flooded several times in the last year. A report suggests it is likely
to become more frequent. — IAIN MCGREGOR/Fairfax NZ.


THE Government's “100% Pure” tourism campaign is hypocritical as it does little to curb greenhouse gas discharges, the Environment Commissioner says.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright's comments came as her office released a new report today outlining the science behind predictions of climate change-driven sea-level rises.

“Our Government has failed to take a world-leading stance on reducing our gross greenhouse gas emissions, which are projected to rise to the end of 2020,” Wright said.

“I don't think being a fast follower is sufficient for a country that markets itself as being clean and green.”

She also warned that flood events like those experienced in Christchurch and Auckland will become more frequent due to climate change.

Climate change scientists agree and say the Government needs to take a national approach to dealing with the consequences.

She cited several recent flood events expected to become more frequent and severe with rising sea levels.

In January 2011 Auckland's Northwestern Motorway was flooded during a storm surge.

Wright said the flooding was worse than in a similar sized storm in 1936, “largely because the sea was 11 centimetres higher”.

Christchurch has also been swamped by a series of flood events, most notably in March when heavy rain coincided with high tide and a storm surge.

“Some areas of Christchurch have experienced an effective sea-level rise of half a metre or more due to land dropping after the Canterbury earthquakes. Flood insurance has become harder to get and more expensive for some homeowners in the city.”

Wright said that in her seven years as Commissioner she had “consistently said that climate change is the biggest environmental issue we face”.

Since about 1900, sea levels have risen by about 20cm. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted sea levels to rise a further 30cm to 100cm by 2100.

Wright said the IPCC was "inherently cautious" because it relied on hundreds of scientists reaching consensus.

“A 30cm rise may not sound like much, but it will be disastrous for the millions of people in Bangladesh and other countries who live in low-lying river deltas,” Wright said.

“In New Zealand, the impact will be significant at a national level and potentially devastating for some land owners.”

“It's coming whether we're ready for it or not ... We're a maritime country with most of our towns and cities around the coast. There's potentially a lot of infrastructure affected: roads, rails and homes, sewage systems and wastewater systems.”

Wright plans to release a second report next year to show which towns and cities are most vulnerable to sea level rise and assess the risk to infrastructure in those areas.

GNS Science palaeontologist Dr James Crampton hoped Wright's second report would not focus on an “arbitrary 2100 end-game”.

“Sea-level rise will be ongoing and, quite possibly, still accelerating by the end of the century. Our children's children will be dealing with changes occurring after 2100.”


‘WE DON'T GET ANYWHERE BY FINGERPOINTING’

Wright also criticised the Government assertions on New Zealand contributing a fraction of the world's total emissions and the implication we have little responsibility.

“But if every city in China said that and every state in the United States said that we'd get nowhere. We don't get anywhere by fingerpointing, we're all in this together,” she said.

“We're constantly hearing about how New Zealand has very high renewable energy, but we are and we aren't – we're very high with renewable electricity.”

Meanwhile, the country's high transport fossil fuel use gets less airtime, she said.

Wright hoped the Government would pledge to cut both gross and overall greenhouse gas outputs at international climate change meetings drafting an agreement in Peru next week and finalising it in France next year.

Ensuring countries acted to keep climate change in check could prevent some projected sea-level rise, Wright said.

Victoria University climate change professor Martin Manning said Wright's report highlighted the lack of a clear response strategy.

“It is showing that delegation of responsibility to local governments to plan for major changes to our coastline, without the guidance or coordination that can be set by national standards, is just creating more problems.”

University of Otago sea level studies lecturer Dr Paul Denys said it was extreme events that would prompt the general public and government to act, but the slow and “imperceptible” effects that were most difficult to mitigate.

“In my view, the problem of planning for sea level rise is too big to be delegated to the local authorities. Government needs to take a lead and be proactive at the national level,” Denys said.

The report also called for central government to provide more leadership to local authorities.

Wright said councils often drew the ire of current residents by future planning, noting the example of the Kapiti Coast District Council's coastal erosion lines. Affected property owners challenged the council's mapping in the High Court.


“Changing climate and rising seas: Understanding the science”  (1.93MB PDF document)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/63590077/govts-pure-tourism-campaign-hypocritical
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« Reply #79 on: February 10, 2016, 05:50:01 pm »


from Fairfax NZ....

Repeated cattle in water sightings a
‘marketing disaster’ — tourism industry


Criticism mounts about stock in waterways as figures show
some farms received complaints about it repeatedly.


By CHARLIE MITCHELL | 5:16PM - Sunday, 07 February 2016

Cattle in the water at Selwyn Hutts in Canterbury. — Photo: Martin Hunter/Fairfax NZ.
Cattle in the water at Selwyn Hutts in Canterbury. — Photo: Martin Hunter/Fairfax NZ.

SOME FARMS have been subject to more than a dozen complaints, in some cases spanning over a decade, for repeatedly allowing stock to wade in waterways.

Complainants say they have watched their local rivers be destroyed while nothing is done.

Last month, it was revealed nearly 500 complaints had been made to Environment Canterbury (ECan) since 2011 regarding stock wading in waterways.

No farmers have been prosecuted in Canterbury for breaching stock exclusion rules.

Cattle belonging to the country's top judge, Dame Sian Elias, and her husband, businessman Hugh Fletcher, were photographed in Lake Taylor in January.

It prompted an outcry from environmental groups such as Fish and Game, the Green Party, and now the tourism industry, which called it a “marketing disaster”.

Tourism Export Council chief executive Lesley Immink said it showed government policy for protecting fresh water was not good enough.

“New Zealand will not be able to hide should international media grab hold of our freshwater quality,” she said.

“For a country which relies on tourism and our clean green image as our largest source of income, current policy and government commitment to freshwater protection is simply not good enough.”


A cow urinating in the Grey River, on the West Coast.
A cow urinating in the Grey River, on the West Coast.

ECan records revealed some farms had been subject to more than a dozen complaints, in some cases spanning over a decade.

Near the Banks Peninsula town of Little River, a farmer and his stock had been complained about for 15 years.

The Okana River, where his stock were often seen, had been virtually destroyed, various complainants said. An angler described the river as brown in colour and in “a terrible mess”, and another witnessed cows “defecating and urinating” in the water.

A high country farm near Arthurs Pass had been subject to at least 15 complaints in five years for allowing stock unfettered access to Lake Grasmere and Lake Pearson.

When approached by ECan, the farmer had his solicitor — described as “pushy” in documents written by ECan staff — confront the regional council.

Near Rakaia, police were called on a farmer with a “huge list of complaints” against him, who had repeatedly allowed his stock to roam in the river and onto neighbouring properties.

One complainant near Oxford said she had been threatened by farmers she tried to dob in, and was too afraid to give ECan her name.


Stock in a river on Mairehau Road last year. The complainant had reported the property on several occasions.
Stock in a river on Mairehau Road last year. The complainant had reported the property on several occasions.

Despite a small group of repeat offenders, stock exclusion rates in Canterbury were high.

According to Fonterra, stock were excluded from 99 percent of significant waterways in Canterbury, and exclusion was a big part of its Sustainable Dairy Accord, the industry's voluntary good management guidelines.

Farmers did not deserve the level of public condemnation they had received over the Elias situation, Ashburton farmer Chris Allen said.

Allen — who was also Federated Farmers' national environment spokesman — said further clarity about stock exclusion rules in Canterbury would improve compliance.

The Land and Water Forum recommended a risk-based framework, which focused on farms that were most likely to cause environmental problems, he said.

“Farmers are very good at following the rules. When there's clarity around a rule, and it's come into place and it's sensible, there's no problem with farmers.”

It had been “depressing and frustrating” to see how combative the debate about Lake Taylor had been, he said.

“This hysteria that's going on in the media … it's a real them and us type thing.”

“We've got to stop this ‘I saw 50 cattle standing in a waterway and they're making a hell of a mess’. Were they making a mess? I don't know, but someone saw cattle in the waterway, so they must be bad.”

“We've got to get away from that.”


Stock in a creek near Rangiora.
Stock in a creek near Rangiora.

SOME OF THE WORST:

  • Complaints dating to 2000 of farmer near Little River township leaving gate open for stock to access river. Noted damage caused to riverbanks, cows seen urinating and defecating, river “a terrible mess,” complainant said last year.

  • On a farm near Rakaia, complainants described major pugging, colour change, and abundant faeces in the Rakaia River. Calves were eating flood protection plants. “Huge list of complaints” against farm, according to ECan staff, with calves seized due to mistreatment.

  • Near Amberley, complainants described a river with significant pugging, and about 200 cows at a time seen in a lagoon. Person at property reportedly said it was biodiversity group's fault as it had not paid for fencing.

  • Hundreds of cows at a time spotted in the Pahau River in Hurunui: farmer said stock had been accessing river bed for 40 years. Several complaints.

  • Near Arthurs Pass, stock had free access to alpine lakes for several years, major pugging and faeces seen. One complainant saw many cows “stomping around the edge of the lake making a right mess of it.” At least 15 complaints concerning Lake Grasmere and Lake Pearson alone.

Cattle grazing on the shore of Lake Ellesmere, as seen from the Little River Rail Trail.
Cattle grazing on the shore of Lake Ellesmere, as seen from the Little River Rail Trail.

THE RULES:

Since 2012, ECan rules have prohibited intensively farmed stock (such as dairy cattle) and stock grazing on irrigated land from all natural waterways.

Natural waterways include rivers and streams, lakes, and wetlands.

The rules caused some concern, particularly among high country farmers, who said the nature of high country farming meant there were few water quality issues, and fencing all waterways would be virtually impossible.

Stock exclusion rules were clarified late last year in the final version of Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan, which added stronger rules for farms on the plains and lowland hills.

Similar rules may soon be rolled out nationwide: in its latest report, the Land and Water Forum (LAWF), which brings together various industries and environmental groups, recommended national regulations around stock exclusion.

It recommends beginning mandatory stock exclusion in high risk areas, particularly intensively farmed areas in the plains and lowland hills.

The LAWF's recommendations will go out for public consultation this year.


__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • Nearly 500 complaints about stock in waterways, no prosecutions

 • Cattle belonging to Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias repeat offenders


http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/76359682
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« Reply #80 on: May 01, 2016, 12:15:19 pm »


CLEAN & GREEN
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« Reply #81 on: May 01, 2016, 12:16:37 pm »


Perhaps what is really needed is a “Why Nick Smith is a traitorous MORON” thread.


FAVOURITE SWIMMING SPOTS
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« Reply #82 on: September 06, 2016, 03:44:50 pm »


CLEAN AND GREEN
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« Reply #83 on: October 28, 2016, 04:35:32 pm »


from Fairfax NZ....

Mike Joy: Orthodox economics conceals real costs of agriculture

Orthodox economics has the attributes of a religion rather than real science.

By MIKE JOY and GEORGE PREDDEY | 9:38AM - Friday, 28 October 2016



A RECENT EDITORIAL in New Scientist magazine argues that “"evidence-based policy is good medicine for society's ills (and) political decisions should be based on demonstrable evidence”. The cryptosporidium poisoning of 4,700 Havelock North residents provides a topical example of how neoliberal free market economics (hereafter “orthodox economics”) can trump peer-reviewed evidence-based science (hereafter “real science”).

Real science progresses when a disprovable conjecture becomes accepted as scientific fact, requiring it to be supported by theory, observational evidence, and successful predictions. As an illustration, the conjecture that carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels cause climate disruption was published 120 years ago by the Swedish physicist Arrhenius.

Unequivocal proof of Arrhenius' conjecture has been provided by decades of real science consolidated in a fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR5, 2013). AR5 predicts that population and economic growth without “mitigation measures” will increase global temperatures by 3.7 to 4.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, contravening the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celcius (which was silent on “mitigating measures”). Meteorological data has confirmed 2015 as the hottest year since 1850.

Orthodox economics has the attributes of a religion rather than real science. A mythical free market is not only constructed and regulated but is also manipulated. Free trade in child labour or heroin would be unacceptable to most people. Faith in a mythical "invisible hand" that somehow maintains market equilibrium by optimally matching supply and demand defies rational explanation and is contradicted by ongoing economic crises and market crashes.

Faith in a mythical “trickle down” mechanism that somehow benefits the poor is contradicted by rampant global concentration of wealth. Currently, 85 individuals own one-half of the world's wealth. The divide between the rich and the poor, despite “trickle down”, is growing faster in New Zealand than in any other developed country. Currently 305,000 New Zealand children are living in poverty. Increasing homelessness can be attributed to orthodox economics.

“Sustainable economic growth”, a principal objective of orthodox economics, is an oxymoron according to a real science conjecture that growth within any closed system — including population and economic growth within Earth's closed biosphere — is ultimately unsustainable. The Limits to Growth report published in 1972 by the Club of Rome tested this conjecture through computer simulations of a future Earth under various assumptions. Its “business-as-usual” simulation predicts catastrophic “overshoot and collapse” of the global economy, natural environment, and human population from about 2020 onwards. Disconcertingly this projection has accurately tracked 40 years of subsequent statistical data. Accordingly it must be heeded as real science.

Einstein's warning in 1954 about the ongoing threat posed by nuclear weapons is also applicable to the threat posed by overshoot and collapse. “We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”

Dairy NZ reports there are 4.9 million dairy cows in 11,927 herds that produce 1,800 million tonnes of milk solids annually, earning NZ$18.1 billion (2013-14) or 37 percent of New Zealand's merchandise exports. The downside is that dairying contributes about one-quarter of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions through belched methane and deposited dung/urine, and urea fertiliser. An average herd of 413 cows excretes 3,719 tonnes of dung/urine per year which is partially relocated downstream under gravity into rivers and aquifers.

Over time, dairying has transitioned from traditional pastoral farming to a more intensive, corporate model, impacting on the environment (fresh water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions) and also eroding the clean/green brand upon which agriculture and returns to farmers are dependent. Intensification has required increased inputs of imported fertiliser, palm kernel supplementary feed, and fresh water that impose external costs (“externalities”).

The orthodox economics of intensive dairying discounts these externalities because they are met by the public, economically and environmentally, not by farmers. Costs include conversion of pristine rainforests to palm kernel plantations, eutrophication of rivers and lakes by dairy runoff, climate disruption by greenhouse gases, and contaminated drinking water. Since a typical dairy herd excretes the same amount of dung/urine each day as 1.05 million birds excreting 0.01kg/bird/day, Havelock North's mass poisoning was probably caused by cows, not birds, despite a Ministerial assertion to the contrary.

Orthodox economics does not adequately incorporate the costs of environmental externalities nor the true value of natural resources and services, including Earth's life support systems. Market prices are distorted when true costs of production are understated, causing overproduction and overconsumption and encouraging damaging activities such as intensive dairying particularly when these result in substantial private benefit.

Scientists at Massey University's Institute of Agriculture and Environment have recently published robust real science estimates of the environmental externalities of intensive dairying (KJ Foote et al, 2015). Even although extremely conservative, these cost estimates substantially exceed total dairy export revenue. Orthodox economics is concealing a bizarre reality that dairying is a net cost for the New Zealand economy when externalities are included.

Even more bizarrely, Fonterra has announced a forecast payment for the 2016/17 season of $4.25/kg of milk solids, contrasting with Dairy NZ's estimate for the current break-even point for dairy farmers of $5.25/kg. Not only is dairying a net cost for the New Zealand economy but it is also a net cost for dairy farmers.

Many reports by government agencies and statutory bodies identify the adverse environmental effects of agriculture, especially intensive dairying. Public opinion surveys have consistently established that water quality is New Zealand's most significant environmental issue and that intensive agriculture is a primary cause.

New Zealand's point of difference in differentiating its products in world markets centres on its natural environment. Its “clean and green/100% Pure” image is promoted as a global brand. Without this brand, New Zealand has little to command market status and an attractive international identity.

To endure, the brand must have genuine integrity, requiring New Zealand agriculture to make the transition to genuine environmental sustainability underpinned by real (peer-reviewed evidence-based) science. A faith-based regime that promotes environmentally unsustainable agriculture underpinned by orthodox (neoliberal free market) economics has no secure future.


Dr Mike Joy is a senior lecturer in environmental science/ecology at Massey University.

George Preddey is a retired upper atmospheric physicist (DSIR).

__________________________________________________________________________

Related stories:

 • ‘Dirty dairying’ figures drop, but environmental groups say they are misleading

 • Hauraki inspections show dairy effluent a problem on some soils

 • Marlborough's dairy farms improving but progress slow

 • Hundreds of dairy farmers caught breaking rules

 • Councils prosecuting fewer farmers for ‘dirty dairying offences’


http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/85789735
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