Are driverless cars bad for the environment?
By Giovanni Circella & Scott Hardman Driverless cars won’t be good for the environment if they lead to more auto use. For years, self-driving car technology has remained tantalizingly just beyond the horizon. Bold predictions notwithstanding, fully automated...
Why won’t carbon farming pine trees truly help mitigate climate change?
By Anne Salmond It’s time for Labour and the Greens to rescue their climate consciences and stop plans to plant vast, environmentally risky pine forests as a way of offsetting our greenhouse gas emissions. In New Zealand, we have a Labour-Green government at...
How did the U.S. come to collectively own over 600 million acres of land? How has that changed over time? 🔊
In this two-part special episode of the Scholars’ Circle, Doug Becker explores the history of public land in the United States. Over 600 million acres of land is collectively owned by the American people. What is the history of public lands and how is the...
What role can New Zealand play to combat climate change?
By Kevin Trenberth Climate change is a global problem requiring a global solution, but individual nations like New Zealand can play a role and must do so, writes Kevin Trenberth. The climate is changing and human activities are the cause: this is confirmed in the...
In what ways can we measure the carbon footprint of the natural world? ▶
In what ways can we measure the carbon footprint of the natural world? James Muirhead says Aotearoa New Zealand is the perfect place to understand the carbon emissions from the natural world. Watch a short video of Muirhead explaining research recognised with a 2021...
What are the problems with New Zealand’s climate strategy?
By Anne Salmond Dame Anne Salmond lays out the fundamental problems with this country’s strategy to use pine forests and overseas offsets to help wish away our climate emissions. New Zealand’s strategy for responding to climate change is fundamentally flawed....
What are the causes of tsunamis?
By Sally Warner What causes a tsunami? An ocean scientist explains the physics of these destructive waves. On Jan. 15, 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in Tonga erupted, sending a tsunami racing across the Pacific Ocean in all directions. As word of the...
How do heatwaves affect biodiversity?
By Cate Macinnis-Ng New Zealand summers are getting hotter – and humans aren’t the only ones feeling the effects. It’s not a mirage, our summers are getting hotter on average and we are experiencing more extremely hot days. News from NIWA that 2021 was New...
What caused the Tongan volcano eruption and what will happen next?
By Shane Cronin Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next. The Kingdom of Tonga doesn’t often attract global attention, but a violent eruption of an underwater volcano on January 15 has spread shock waves, quite literally, around half...Subscribe by Email
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