Good to see someone tried it before I got round to it. DomPost ran a story about an attempt to sell some carbon credits on TradeMe.
South Island forest industry executive Peter Weir listed a maximum sale of 2700 tonnes of carbon credits, with bids getting to $34 a tonne, before the auction was cancelled by Trade Me.
It is an idea I think will come to fruition. And by putting out via such an accessible mechanism has the potential for some interesting developments for kiwis to offset. Imagine you want to opt-in to offsetting some travel. A quick visit to TradeMe would enable one to pick and choose between purchasing for restoration projects, forest plantations or adoption of carbon-avoiding technologies. This could be a viable mechanism for kiwis to support developing countries by purchasing carbon credits from sources that will directly help either protect habitats that would otherwise ’suffer’ development, or adopt technologies that will help them off carbon-based fuels.
Powered by ScribeFire.
greenbiz, ideas & innovation, sust dev
Love them or hate them, politicians have a critical role in taking us towards sustainability. Grist have produced their list of 15 top Green Politicians - but to qualify you had to be an elected rep by the looks of it. So there are some big names missing, in my opinion, including the likes of one of my heroes, Jonathon Porritt in the UK, who left the Green Party, largely out of frustration with the political system, and has ended up as Sustainable Development Commissioner. Good call Jonathon!
Here’s Grist’s top 10.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger - the ‘Governator’ of California. What a great actor.
- Wangari Maathai - founder of the Green Belt Movement, member of the Kenyan Parliament and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner. A truly awesome leader.
- Ken Livingstone - left-wing London mayor known as “Red Ken”, aiming to make his city the greenest in the world. Came from the political ashes after meltdown with Labour.
- Helen Clark - prime minister of New Zealand, has pledged to make Kiwiland the first carbon-neutral country. Will deserve this rating if she delivers!
- Marina Silva - Brazil’s environment minister and an avid protector of the Amazon.
- David Cameron - British Conservative Party leader - nuff said. Less substance than our John Key surely.
- Peter Garrett - Midnight Oil frontman and Aussie Labour MP and maybe next Minister of the Environment. Let’s hope he finds his voice again if he does.
- Greg Nickels - Mayor of Seattle.
- Margot Wallström - Former environment minister of the European Union and current vice president of the European Commission.
- Stephane Dion - leader of the Canadian Liberal Party.
Bob Brown made it in to the runners’ up. Yay Bob! Awesome Australian senator, the leader and co-founder of the Aussie Green Party.
Grist welcome your comments.
politics
Holcim are about to launch the next round of their Sustainable Construction Awards. I don’t seem to have received my invitation but then I don’t think my double-glazing efforts will count based on the winners from the last competition.
Of course, Holcim’s plans for a new cement plant at Weston, just outside Oamaru are being opposed by the Waiareka Valley Preservation Society [Scoop story] and the Greens’ Metiria Turei and Russel Norman.
I guess they won’t be planning on using glulam (glue laminated) construction in building their cement plant - but if you are interested in some examples of timber being used for construction that has become dominated by the use of concrete - try these examples from the Glued Laminated Timber Association in the UK, or these by Lilleheden, one of Europe’s leading glulam companies.
alt building, environment
Good to see the DomPost creating more greenspace in its weekend edition. This week had a list of how to ‘insulate your windows’. One option was fitting better curtains. Fair enough, most of us could manage that. But the other four required significant architectural rearrangements or at least major renovations:
- if you have aluminium windows that aren’t ‘thermally separated’ then pull them out and put in timber or ‘thermally separated’ metal ones
- use double glazing
- turn your house around so that fewer windows don’t face the sun
- replace any windows that are shaded by the eaves.
Sorry, but I think that is just asking a bit much of most of us. Especially when it is cold right now! What I had hoped for was some hints on
- cheap but effective temporary DIY double-glazing
- making sure that poorly-fitting windows are sealed with some type of insulating tape or foam.
A quick scan doesn’t show many options in NZ for low-cost temporary double-glazing. My own idea has been to get some thin - say 2mm - perspex or PVC sheets. Glue some magnet strips to it, and to the windows that most need a second layer in our 1920s house. That way I should be able to easily click them in, with a very good seal, and pop them off when we need to give the room a real airing, or when its sunny and we want the heat to come through.
Will let you know how I get on with that idea or if I come up with something better.
environment, greenbiz, ideas & innovation