New Zealand's government, the Coalition of Cruelty, have just announced a greedy and shameful initiative to bring back mass tourism, in an attempt to shore up an allegedly "failing" economy. The newly appointed Minister for Economic Growth phrased it like this:

This is a sad example of what to expect en masse in Aotearoa New Zealand when economy, development and overseas investment trump environment, wellbeing and community involvement, as the Fast Wreck Assaults Bill and the planned RMA reforms by the Coalition of Cruelty will undoubtedly foster.

Beef farming has an energy efficiency of about 2%, meaning it requires 50 times the energy input of its output. If beef farming was a new technology that had just been invented, it would never get past the experimental lab stage, and no venture capital investor would put any seed funding towards it.

Today the tiles shown below appeared on my Google feed. Whangarei Falls has a rating of 4.7, whereas Whangārei Falls is rated 4.8. So when you visit, make sure to choose the te reo Māori version, for a better and authentic waterfall experience, instead of boxticking just another tourist attraction.

While the U.S. are working hard on becoming Gilead, Iceland has just formed a progressive coalition government headed by three women, with a focus on welfare and addressing several well-known and all too common crises. I wish Aotearoa New Zealand would follow that example at the next election.

I've grown to like the "degrowth" approach. While the word seems to suggest austerity, regression and stone-age living (and is deliberately mistaken in that way by many), the mindset is in fact about rightsizing our economy and eliminating (or at least reducing) harmful and destructive activities.

In October 2023 a slim majority of New Zealand voters voted for parties covering the right wing of the political spectrum. The resulting Coalition of Cruelty has since embarked on a mission driven by the neoliberal ideology of endless growth that is harmful, disrespectful and utterly unsustainable.

Earth Overshoot Day 2024 puts New Zealand on 11th April, between Austria and Norway, about a week earlier than in 2023, so it's getting worse. Not something to be proud of, and probably a direct result of reduced ambitions to take climate action, both politically and socially.

Recent electricity generation data in New Zealand, from Transpower's consolidated live data. What a difference to the panic mode back in August, when hydro and gas capacities were low for a time. We're getting there. Demand management will be an important component in the future.