The Nats are working over-time on promoting their Blue-Green wing. It is galling to hear it being paraded by MPs who remain silent about any of causes of environmental harm.
One wag recently noted when you mix the two colours you get brown. A water scientist now advises that blue-green algae, known as cyanobacteria, are indicators of serious water pollution in lakes and other bodies – and are sufficiently nasty to kill dogs that drink affected water!
“When water becomes loaded with nutrients from pollutant sources, such as animal (including human) wastes and fertilisers in runoff and leaching, algae “bloom” in response to the high nutrient levels. These are usually compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen. But once the blue-greens get established in the water body, as in Wairewa, (Lake Forsyth, near Akaroa) they present a new problem: they biologically fix nitrogen from the air (the atmosphere is about 79% nitrogen gas which is not a nutrient form) and make it available in the water as nutrient forms such as nitrate, ammonium and organic nitrogen. Thus they contribute nutrient nitrogen right in the lake independently of the sources on land. Once this happens it becomes much more difficult to clean up a lake by controlling land sources. And blue-greens can be highly toxic both from skin contact with and consumption of the water (animals can die from drinking it).”
FYI, blue and green don’t make brown, with either subtractive or additive colour models.
Since slinking into office in November 2008, the Blue/Green National Ltd™ government:
has been caught out repeatedly lying in the run up to and during the election campaign about its real intentions in relation to the environment
celebrated the opening of the foreign-owned Pike River Coal Ltd mine on DOC land adjacent to the Paparoa National Park from which 1 megatonne of coal will be extracted per year for the next 20 years – Pike River Coal Ltd has announced that it has found additional coal in the national park
removed a proposed efficiency standard (MEPS) on incandescent lightbulbs
reversed a moratorium on building new gas/oil/coal power stations
removed the bio fuel subsidy
scrapped the scheme that would have penalised imported vehicles producing high emissions
removed regulations for water efficient new housing
renewed leases on sensitive high country farms which were meant to return to DOC
reversed restrictions on the freeholding of vast swathes of land on the edge of the Southern Lakes
arbitrarily excised 400 hectares from the brand new Oteake Conservation Park, including the most important and, ecologically, the rarest part of the new Park, the tussock and shrubland that went right down to the banks of the Manuherikia River, to enable future access to lignite
said nothing to say in regard to the World Commission on Protected areas of IUCN’s severe criticism of its intention to investigate mineral resources and mining opportunities in protected conservation areas including our three UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Te Wahi Pounamu-South West New Zealand, Tongariro National Park and the Sub Antarctic Islands
approved two prospecting permit applications lodged by Australian iron-ore giant Fortescue Metals Group subsidiary FMG Pacific lodged in June – areas covered by the two-year permits include an 8204-square-kilometre area of seabed adjoining the west coast from Cape Reinga to the Manukau Harbour and a 3798-square-kilometre prospecting area of land from Cape Reinga to the Kaipara Harbour including Ninety Mile Beach, the west side of the Aupouri Peninsula, Kaitaia and the Hokianga.
approved an additional prospecting permit for Fortesque Metals in relation to 3568sq km right next door to the Kahurangi National Park where the Heaphy Track is
was forced to release its Ministry of Economic Development (MED) report under the Official Information Act that proclaims “significant mineral potential” in the Fiordland, Kahurangi and Paparoa national parks – the report said the Waitutu area of the Fiordland National Park had sufficient petroleum reserves to be “worthy” of inclusion in a review of conservation land protected from mining
secretly granted the minerals industry the right to veto proposed National Park boundaries and permission for any such vetoes to be kept confidential – in spite of recommendations from its own officials against any such a veto
Minster of Conservation Tim Grosser, on 29 August 2009, called for caring New Zealanders to halt their “emotional hysteria” and recognise that conservation land should be mined for minerals and went on to say “Mining in a modern, technological way can have a negligible effect”
Associate Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson, in an interview in “Canterbury Farming” rubished her own department, DOC, suggesting it was incapable of looking after the high country reserves and parks under its control
gutted the home insulation scheme
pulled $300 million out of public transport, walking and cycling schemes and added it to a pot of $2 billion to ‘upgrade’ state highways
changed the law to provide billions of dollar in subsidies for polluters via the ETS casino which is now a target for scamming by international criminals
begun a process of gutting the Resource Management Act to make it difficult/impossible for the public to lodge appeals against developers
removed the ability of Auckland to introduce a fuel levy to fund planned public transport upgrades
left electrification of the national rail network up in the air without promised funding commitments
removed the Ministry for the Environment’s programme to make Government Departments ‘carbon neutral’
removed funding for public tv advertising on sustainability and energy efficiency
pulled funding for small-town public litter bin recycling schemes
cabinet ministers expressing public support the bulldozing of Fiordland
reduced Department of Conservation funding by about $50 million over three years
canceled funding for the internationally acclaimed ‘Enviroschools’ programme
usurped the democratic role of local Councils of determining policies for their citizens by requiring the abandonment of the efficient and well-established tree protection rules for urban areas
set about revamping Auckland governance in a way that is likely to greatly reduce the ‘Environmental Watchdog’ role of the the current Regional Council
removed Auckland’s metropolitan limits and opened the gateway for unfettered urban sprawl
defended internationally the importation of rain-forest-wrecking palm kernel and stood silent while Federated Farmers called Greenpeace “terrorists”
stood silent while Godfrey Bloom, a Member of the European Parliament and infamous Climate Change Denialist, publicly rejoiced in the 1985 bombing of the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior – who was doing so while standing on a dock next to the replacement vessel
took a 0% emissions reduction target to Copenhagen. Yes, seriously, that isn’t a misprint – that was the lower bound of their negotiation platform – then missed the 01/02/10 deadline for commitment to action it had agreed to – meanwhile 55 of the 80 countries which attended did make the deadline
secretly cancelled the internationally recognised scheme for the mandatory labelling of exotic woods to ensure the timber has not been taken from rain forests in direct contradiction of its own statements made at the 13th World Forestry Congress in Argentina
supported the Department of Conservation’s decision to open up the pristine Cathedral Cove to an ice-cream franchise
given the Department of Conservsation $1.7 million to further develop commercial activities on DOC land and started an “off set” plan allowing company’s to damage the conservation estate if they agree to improve land elsewhere – no monitoring regime has been suggested on put in place
left DOC director-general Al Morrison to announce that DOC is to charge for services that had been free and, to soften the public up to the idea that there will be more “energy generation schemes” operating on DOC land
taken no action to reduce existing pollution pouring into the Manawatu River and is “leaving it up to industry” to come up with solutions to heal the river which was described by the Cawthorn Institute as “one of the worst polluted in the Western world”
announced a $1.1 million industry subsidy to kick start marine farming without identifying no-go areas nor putting in place a consultation process for individiuals, communities, and other general coastal users
blamed New Zealanders after a Japanese whaling ship deliberately smashed into a smaller, more vulnerable craft in the open sea
was forced to release documents under the Official Information Act which confirm that DOC has “giving up” on ecologically valuable high-country land in the Mackenzie Basin because of funding cuts. The released documents cite “statements made by ministers”, “diminishing funding” and the Government’s new high-country policies as reasons for the changed stance – the comments from DOC were made after Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which manages the tenure review process, ignored DOC’s previous conservation recommendations for the farms
used former National Party minister and current director of Open Country Cheese – a company convicted of filthy farming practices – Wyatt Creech to head up an enquiry into Environment Canterbury which had been standing up the dairy farmers’ demands for more and more water resources and less and less regulation. The Creech report recommended the Environmental Canterbury be sacked and replaced with government appointments and the voters of Canterbury do without democracy until the water situation had been resolved. The Canterbury area holds 50 percent of New Zealand’s fresh water reserves and 50 percent of the water required for hyrdo energy. The Creech report said Environmental Canterbury put too much focus on the environment.
had nothing to say about New Zealand being subject to international criticism for its almost complete lack of knowledge about the health of its fisheries – National Ltd has no comment
New Zealand is subject to international criticism for its backing of commercial whaling which National Ltd supports
Government-owned company Solid Energy runs an essay competition entitled “The role of coal in sustainable energy solutions for New Zealand” for school children. First prize is a trip to New Zealand’s largest coal customer, China.
. . . the list goes on and only provides more evidence that the John Key National Ltd™ government is 100% BS.
Whats good for the goose is good for the gander:
The red weed (also referred to as the red creeper or the red swamp) is a fictional plant native to Mars in the novel The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.
It is this plant that supposedly gives Mars its dull red color. It is one of the several types of plants brought to Earth possibly accidentally by the invading Martians, but the only one that truly was able to adapt and grow widespread on Earth.
When it is exposed to water, it grows and reproduces explosively, flooding the neighboring countryside as it clogs streams and rivers.
I saw a programme about Manly in Sydney the other day. The beaches in Manly are beautiful and clear. Here in Auckland they are brown, mainly because we use these beaches to deposit out waste. We are the city of sails but our beaches, which ought to be a major feature are pretty awful.
I dont get how a city the size of Sydney can have clear water beaches and we cannot.
@BLiP – Well put.
And Bob Parker did proudly open a sewer pipe out to sea! 
@Tracey – Yuck yes!
WOW Blip – thats a pretty impressive list of things – and if I was worried before, I am more so now.
By goodness me – they had better keep their grubby little fingers off Fiordland – it is one of the most stunning places ever, and to marr its landscape would be a crime.
The longer they retain this ‘Blue-Green’ brand the more it will begin to stink of hypocrisy. Kaye is in particular trouble over this. It’ll sink her at election time.
Help!
Quick bring Gerry in to change metaphors.
Get rid of any Nat postcards with that colour or with any references to blue-green.
(mmm … how about blue-blackcoal-gold?)
BLiP, that is a great comment. It takes real work to keep up with these details.
Wilkinson must be the worst Minister of Conservation, ever.
She is determined to push a Federated Farmers’ agenda onto DoC, and demoralize its staff.
So she fronts up with Brownlie, to defend some of the flimsiest data we have ever seen put forward for a major change in policy.
Blip, would you like a job? Fantastic list.
Mark, interesting to note you had to go to fictional extra-terrestials to find toxic Reds!
@Brendon
Really I prefer The War of the Worlds but if you insist:
A red tide “Red tide” is a term often used to describe HABs in marine coastal areas [13], as the dinoflagellate species involved in HABs are often red or brown, and tint the sea water to a reddish colour.
Red tides are not new. The first of the 10 plagues of Egypt, described in Exodus, may be one of the earliest recorded instances of a red tide (”… and all the waters that were in the river turned to blood. And the fish that were in the river died, and the water stank …”). Red tides occur on both sides of the Atlantic, off Florida, and along the Pacific coast into Alaska.
So there you go the red tide is a plague of biblical proportion
@Blip
The list goes on?
That is a long list already.
Brendon – Spud released a thought in my head – How bout Labor gets Thatcher out for the next National party mining talks – Probably get some of the other mines closed as well.
LOL