Posts by Carol Stewart
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Envirologue: 1080, "eco-terrorism" and agendas, in reply to David Hood,
I went to the Wellington launch of Vincent O'Malley's monumental new book The Great War for New Zealand a couple of weeks ago, and it was very heartening to hear that a copy is being provided to every secondary school library in the country. Sorry I can't remember who's providing the funding, but what a great initiative.
-
This is an interesting read - Elizabeth Kolbert in the New Yorker, explaining NZ's crusade against mammalian pests to bemused onlookers from other countries.
-
Good on you for reading the PCE’s report. I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the PCE is an enthusiastic lobbyist for pesticide use in general; it’s more that given the magnitude of the problem we’re facing with native bird species threatened with extinction, this particular pesticide seems to be the best tool that we have at present, and that it’s essential that it is available for use, particularly for responding to mast years.
It’s not like scientists haven’t devoted considerable effort to trying to develop alternatives either. As you probably know, 1080 has many advantageous properties as a pesticide – particularly in terms of rapid degradation.
One thing that is coming through in the book, which may not have come through in the interview, is that Dave Hansford does get that it’s very counterintuitive to be distributing poisons in the environments we are trying to preserve. And he does sympathise with people’s concerns, up to a point. But really, the bottom line is that there are decades of research supporting the use of 1080 as the most effective pest control tool that we have. I think Rachel Carson would have approved. -
Rosemary, your comments are a bit unfair. The book is very balanced and even handed in my opinion (I’m about a third of the way through). Note that Hansford’s conclusions are very similar to those reached by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.Here’s her report. Ball’s in your court if you’d like to present a detailed critique of it here.
FYI Dave Hansford has also argued eloquently against dairy intensification threatening freshwaters.
-
Sigh. It's hard to know where to start with such an ill-informed rant. Go away and read Dave Hansford's excellent book then come back for a more informed discussion.
-
Russell, what a lovely tribute to an amazing woman.
-
Hard News: There in half the time:…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Would hauling cargo around (perhaps in a box on the carrier) make much difference in stability and handling and acceleration to the bike you trialled? I’m pretty keen on getting an electric bike for my home/office commute in Wellington, which involves a massive hill, but would want to be carting a laptop bag and probably a couple of bags of shopping as well.
And considering steep downhills, how are the brakes? Do they have disc brakes?Amendment: I can see they have disk brakes - are they good?
-
What a fantastic, informative summary, Hilary. Thank you so much. Our book group recently read Steve Silberman's Neurotribes. I learned a great deal from it.
-
Polity: Hekia's waynebrave, in reply to Emma Hart,
(And actually, when I think about it, I did French by correspondence myself way back in the 80s while attending my local school, because I was the only student taking it past 5th form. I quite literally sat 6th form certificate French exams in a cupboard.)
Me too! Although I made the mistake of taking the grammatical option rather than the conversational option, which meant that although I had a working knowledge of the subjunctive I was pretty rubbish at communicating with people.
I then went on to do 6th form Music by correspondence, for the same reason (the decile 1 school didn't have the resources to offer it to me). And it was excellent. -
Polity: Hidden Costs, in reply to JWT1,
Many Universities have a hurdle that the students have to clear at the end of their first year of PhD studies which helps as long as those involved involved make sure that the hurdle is of sufficient height.
PhD confirmation event. Hugely valuable.