I always try to uphold the annual New Zealand tradition of the Nativicado.

Australia's main electricity grid, the NEM, will soon have 40GW/113GWh of storage (not including Snowy2.0). That's enough storage to power the grid for about 4.5hrs at average demand of ~25GW /1

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

Bari Weiss needs to resign from CBS News. Having watched Sunday's well-reported "60 Minutes" torture-prison story Weiss squelched, I can see no way for her to restore even a semblance of professional competency. She's an amateur, in way over her head, humiliating her talented staff of journalists.

Remember you can make Christmas your own. You can choose not to hang out with relatives you don't like, you can have sandwiches, you can decorate with skulls, you can do whatever makes you happy, even if that's ignoring the whole thing and just binging your favourite shows all day.

String candidate here for #2025WorstGraph. From a petroleum engineer's blog

Beckie is a dear friend of mine and we go way back to 2014 when I joined twitter, please help her if you can - a partial denture would be such a Christmas gift for her 🧡 givealittle.co.nz/cause/beckie...

“These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless.”

#nzpol 💪⬇️👏

And... Mike Smith has been granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in Smith vs Attorney General. The Supremes taking an interest in climate change issues. More detail on the case here www.lawyersforclimateaction.nz/news-events/...

You can ask for their dataset. They have it in perpetuity.

Did you know climate work attracts Katharines? 116 of us on Bluesky alone! (This pack includes all creative spelling variations although the original has two A’s, deriving from the Greek καθαρός 😊) This is Day 8 of my 20 days of Climate Starter Packs. For the previous entries please see below ⬇️

My 20-min talk on "Technological optimism", the absurd claim that tech change will solve all environmental problems. With "The Paradise Within Reach of All Men, Without Labour, By Powers of Nature & Machinery", Thoreau's reply, and the amazing Aerial Steam Carriage. www.youtube.com/watch

CIA Realizes It’s Been Using Black Highlighters All These Year theonion.com/cia-realizes...

Today did 1.5min jog 2min walk x7. Thinking about switching to the gentler progression "None to Run" 12-wk programme which looks a better fit for where I am.

The Bats on tour - Paekākāriki Friday 13 March. And some other places.

Although the winter months are not great for solar, the third quarter saw a terrific boost, especially in utility solar (farms) Utility solar 41.2 GWh in Q2, 62.9 in Q3 (+53%) Distributed 128 in Q2, 148.5 in Q3 (+16%) Total up 25% for the quarter, 64% yoy. Next two quarters will be sensational!

Strong comments from the Supreme Court: "Climate change was "so obviously relevant" to a decision that could lead to the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels that it must be considered, the panel of five Supreme Court justices ruled. The full piece: www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa... #climate

Today on Volts: I've got a nerdy one for you! I talk with political scientist @samuel-bagg.bsky.social about the epistemic crisis & its roots in social identity. He explains why factchecking & media literacy classes will never solve misinformation -- why something deeper & stronger is required.

This is gonna drive the Heartland Institute et al completely nuts #climate

The only way to get back on track to the Paris Accords — which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 to 2.0 C — is to pull the “Emergency Brake” climate solutions. Towards the top of the list is curbing methane emissions as quickly as possible. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Bats on tour - Paekākāriki Friday 13 March. And some other places.

One more piece of wonderful news that we're bursting to share before we close up shop: we're publishing Night, Ma by Elizabeth Knox in April 2026! @elizabethknoxnz.bsky.social Cover: Todd Atticus, @toddatticus.bsky.social

This is a BFD because the Supreme Court says the general phrase "the benefit of New Zealand" obviously includes considering climate change. Presumably that will apply in other legislation that has a national benefit or public interest test.

In our latest blog post Dr Lambert Schneider gives an overview on #COP30 negotiations on carbon markets. Learn more about #Article6 and important standards: www.oeko.de/en/blog/...#COP30#Article6#carbonmarkets

Calling it now: 2026 is going to be the opposite of 2016. All the shittiest people are going to die

There's active work in NZ to replace the remaining thermal coal in electricity generation with black pellets (made from farmed plantation pine, not natural forests), but I'd never thought about the potential to replace coking coal. See wsj link below.

Marvellous news www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Interested in pursuing a career in climate governance, policy or politics research? Do you have a relevant PhD degree in political science, public administration or international relations? Then you should check out this opportunity! www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Who should fund switching? Govt, MGUG members, noone? Or should there be loans as Mike Casey suggests? #nzpol #gas #renewable Households ponder pros, cons of gas against electricity as supply dwindles www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

The Christmas chocolate climate crunch New analysis finds Christmas chocolate prices nearly double and tub sizes shrink after a series of climate-driven shocks at home and abroad have disrupted supplies of key ingredients like cocoa, sugar and milk. eciu.net/media/press...

A nice overview from our media folks of the theoretical and observational work our team has out so far on interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS ☄️

The real story isn’t “renewables are cheaper” — we already knew that. An 82% renewable grid breaks marginal pricing. Once wind, solar + batteries dominate, fossil generators stop setting peak prices. Scarcity rents collapse. Volatility dies. That’s the system shock incumbents fear — not ideology. ⚡🔋

Slightly obsessed with "the most important chart in British politics", explaining everything since the financial crisis - posted by @stephenkb.bsky.social in his excellent newsletter. Click on the link to be able to cycle between indicators in the chart; it is very stark. www.ft.com/content/704c...

BREAKING: The High Court of New Zealand has granted PATHA’s application for interim relief, declaring that the Crown should not take any steps to enforce the incoming ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers to transgender children and young people. More to come:

NZETS price still trading below $40

Kauri: Kauri are among the world's mightiest trees, growing to over 50 m tall, with trunk girths up to 16 m, and living for over 2,000 years.

I'm not sure if people realize the murder strikes are taking place across a large region. It's quite staggering. www.newsweek.com/map-us-strik...

If you're not in Aotearoa New Zealand, but would like some lil sprinkles of joy today, look at the posts tagged #secretsantaaonz. This is an entirely volunteer-run gift exchange, where hundreds of people buy / assemble / make gifts for someone they've been assigned. The gifts NEVER fail ❤️

Hey whanua with dual UK citizenship. Bad news. When the ETA travel authorisation comes in from February, UK citizens MUST use a UK passport to enter the UK. You are not allowed to get an ETA in your NZ passport if you are a UK citizen. www.gov.uk/guidance/ele...

A single Chinese state-owned company is buying more solar panels and wind turbines to deploy in 2026 than the entire US market is likely to build. www.pv-magazine.com/2025/12/15/c... 🔌💡

I lived thru the end of public smoking. Early in my career I presented to city councils who were smoking, in front of audiences who were smoking. Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals… All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it. We CAN change things.

Note that the purpose of the Clean Car Standard (per the Land Transport Act) is to *achieve* rapid reductions in car emissions, not to *incentivise* them as the Ministry claims.

Interesting schematic showing various discourses of delay, from a new paper "Countering the Climate Change Counter Movement: Six lessons from Canada's climate delays" by Samuel Lloyd and Ekaterina Rhodes (link in next bleet).

Run 4 of couch-to-5k done, feeling a very long way from running 5k. Week 2 is 5 x 90s running with 2min walk between, three times during the week. Tide was high so did laps of the park. Link below if you'd like to support by donating to Rainbow Youth.

It's me! Aspirational Chippy! I'm here on Bluesky, so you know it's not that other fella. I'm here to lead and inspire! I'm standing up for Labour values, for fairness and equality. Together, we can make Aotearoa a better, fairer place, for everybody. #nzpol

If you’re up in the wee hours tonight and there are clear skies where you are, you might like to try look for the Geminid meteors. Look north east between 2am and sunrise.

This piece, to be specific.

And the final thing to note is that we're a rich country. If a NZ adult has wealth over ~NZ$380k (40% of us) they are among the wealthiest 10% of adults globally. #nzpol

From their database: NZ adults individual wealth in $NZ 11% have negative wealth Quarter less than $62k One third less than $115k Half less than $260k One third have more than $488k One quarter more than $684k 20% have more than$852k 10% more than $1.5M 1% more than $6.8M 0.1% more than $24M #nzpol