Flat earthers on a recruitment drive

The shorter Owen McShane:

"[Brian Rudman] quotes global sea level rises, which are no more than a statistical artifact with no relationship to what is happening on our own coastlines, where tectonic plate and earthquake movements have far more impact."

Translation: Since the Pacific Plate is sinking underneath the Australasian Plate, New Zealand's sea levels are sinking too.

"Also, sea level rising has slowed, not increased as Rudman claims. Sadly, many councils have rushed to regulate coastal development on the basis of these global predictions even though actual measurements show their local sea levels are falling rather than rising."

Translation: Muddle the use of present continous and past tenses to confuse the average reader. The "rising has slowed" is not the same as "levels are falling rather than rising".

"Much "global warming" has been "assisted" by downright fraud and alarmist claims."

Translation: Greenland isn't melting, the glaciers aren't receding. It's all an optical illusion (much like the impression that the earth is round) or a vast leftwing green conspiracy against capitalism.

The Kaukapakapa Green must be strong stuff.

My ecological footprint

You need for:
Food 1.2 global hectares
Mobility 1.3 global hectares
Shelter 0.3 global hectares
Goods/Services 1.2 global hectares

TOTAL FOOTPRINT: 4 global hectares

In comparison, the average ecological footprint in your country is 8.7 global hectares per person (1.8ha per person is currently available worldwide)
If everyone lived like you, we would need 2.2 planets.

Check your ecological footprint here.

I'm not surprised my footprint is about half the New Zealand average: I use full-time public transport for work and we have no reticulated water. Plus our home is quite small and we can grow some of our food ourselves.
Becoming more energy independent will be hard work: solar panels are still unaffordable and there is not much on the horizon that can replace ferry and bus diesel sustainably and without adding CO2.
I'll have to drink more Waiheke Island wine.

Bali Hai

I'm doing my bit to reduce my carbon footprint by consuming huge amounts of locally made Waiheke Island wine at various Christmas parties around town these days, so blog writing has been taking a backseat for the time being.
Something topical regards climate change caught my eye the other day on DW TV when a reporter travelled to Siberia to look at methane emissions as the permafrost melts. The hardy and lonely Russian climate researcher in Siberia said methane emissions were five times larger than previously estimated, and methane is a greenhouse gas that is far more efficient in greenhousing than carbon-dioxide. That release may dwarf carbon-dioxide emissions we are all fretting about and is creating a feedback loop that emission caps, carbon taxes or trading would not stop. The Siberian tundra is busy collapsing into a huge amount of tiny lakes and broken hillsides due to the methane release - lighting the methane gas bubbles coming up from under the ice looked spectacular and singed more than the reporter's eyebrows. The whole area would become even more inaccessible as it is now. That might not be a big deal unless you want to go there but it just showed to me that that there is no way out of climate change no matter what Bali negotiators, carbon traders and technology buffs come up with.
Will this mean in the future all fresh air will have a tinge of rotten egg smell to it? Will sea levels rise by 15 metres so we will have our own boat jetty at the bottom of our driveway? Is there any way to be optimistic in the climate issue?