Posts by Kyle Matthews
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Because your backyard is on the planet we should be trying to save.
I'm thinking globally, acting locally. If a bunch of Chinese got together and did the same thing, there'd be one less aluminium smelter, and one less Huntly power station.
That reserve will make a nice reef, i guess.
Your argument is that Aramoana smelter should have been built because it will stop the beach going underwater? That's an interesting line to take.
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Unfortunately I'm tall and if the person in front lent back even slightly I had to dislocate my neck to see the screen properly.
I think I'm even taller than Lyndon. My one experience with a personal screen I never had this problem, but PEOPLE WHO PUT THEIR SEATS BACK WHEN THERE IS SOMEONE BEHIND THEM are inviting plane rage of unprecedented proportions.
Seriously, did you not see me walk past you and sit down? Didn't you look up as I walked down the aisle with my head bent sideways to avoid it hitting the plane ceiling and think "wow, that guy is really tall. bet he'd be good at basketball".
And can you not feel my knees digging into your back? It's not because I'm doing it deliberately, it's because that's how long my legs are. They don't compress for your comfort!
If the seat wasn't there would you lean all the way back and fall asleep on my lap? No? Cause the chair is having the same effect on me.
Excuse me while I feed my daughter (allergic to salicylate acids) tomatoes and onions and then hold her up over your head waiting for her to vomit. Oh sorry about that.
</public service announcement>
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TV1 basically found a dairy owner/manager/lad behind the counter who was willing to mouth off and built this up into a story. The upshot of this was the usual "there are terrible bad things going on and we need to be protected". So many NZ media stories follow this model: boy racers, binge drinkers, gang members, graffiti artists - all needing to be suppressed.
I didn't see the story, but I saw the adverts for it or the headlines or something.
If some dairy owner is knowingly supplying products in quantities and prices for the production of what almost everyone seems to admit is a dangerous drug which has had serious impacts upon individuals and society... in full knowledge that that's what he's doing.
I'm presuming that isn't against the law, and in that case, being shamed by the media, and hopefully stopping doing it, is the next best thing.
Probably won't make any difference in the world at all, but the guy is making it a little bit easier for people to produce the drugs that are making the mess. I hope he got the shock of his life when he found he was caught on TV and his business is affected as a result.
Maybe that's a social authoritarian media. Sounds OK in this instance to me though.
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The other smelters of the world are less carbon efficient than Tiwai Point - opening one in China will mean more AGW.
Only if one that opens in China follows that path. There's nothing inherent in the smelter that makes it more or less polluting, it was just designed that way. China could build as good a smelter if they wanted to. In fact, given that Tiwai is almost 40 years old, they could probably build a better one using new technology and designs.
And I fail to see why we should adopt a policy of "New Zealand will take on pollution for the rest of the world because we're slightly better at it." Not in my backyard thanks very much.
On that basis, when I took my dogs out to run on Aramoana Beach, we'd be walking past a bloody great big smelter instead of a reserve.
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It's racist. Using racism for marketing purposes is racist. Being misogynist for marketing purposes is misogynist. Full stop.
49% of respondents to the poll disagree. Bizarre.
When I protested that most people would find it incredibly offensive, the owner suggested I put my money where my outrage was: "for fifty bucks you can remove it from the shop".
What an insensitive asshole. I'd be so sad when someone threw a brick through his shop window, costing him way more than $50.
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We will still need aluminium, if it is not smelted here it will be smelted somewhere in those 95% of smelters that are worse and most likely by powered by thermal generation.
That's great if the world all holds hands and sings "we are the world". Or if China wants to make me the boss of "things China can and can't do". New Zealand is responsible for New Zealand, we can't control what other countries do.
And your argument is wrong btw. The difference in the world, if Tiwai was to leave NZ, would be the closing down of Huntly, and the opening up of another coal fired station in China. Same amount of coal-fired power stations the world over, just less in New Zealand, one more in China.
Just because Manapouri power feeds Tiwai, doesn't mean that closing down Tiwai would mean the closing down of Manapouri, or reduction in its output. Its power would just go elsewhere, carbon trading would mean that Huntly would be on the block.
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The manufacture of aluminium at Tiwai Point is inherently clean and green
From wikipedia:
The process also emits large amounts of greenhouse gases, though the smelter is hailed as being amongst the Top 5% of all aluminium smelters worldwide in terms of limiting its emissions.[5]
It's, y'know, still a smelter. It still produces greenhouse gases and a pile of toxic waste. Just because it has a green power source doesn't make it green.
And Tiwai Point doesn't own Manapouri. The opportunity cost of Tiwai smelter is Huntly power station. If we didn't have the smelter, we could refocus our electricity priorities, take the hit in terms of transmission loss, and shut Huntly down. Which would be a massive improvement in our carbon footprint.
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to say nothing of electric chainsaws...
I'm hoping that you have to check all electric chainsaws into your bags to go in the hold.
Because if someone sits next to me having put one of them in the overhead locker, I'm getting off the plane, power supply or not.
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Technology got us into this mess not taxation and legislation and it's the only thing that can get us out and off planet.
This is the George Bush theory of fixing climate change.
Lots of technology got us into this mess, what we need is more technology, that'll fix it!
There's value in technology, and it's going to be part of the solution. But it also looks like the "screw that, I ain't changin' my ways. Someone else can fix that shit, ain't my problem" answer.
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Be clear we are talking about emmissions from the processing of bauxite to aluminium, not the electricty production which in this case does not emit carbon.
Yes. But Comalco has a bottom line to keep them in the country, and that's really balanced by negotiating for dirt cheap electricity, which is a major cost for them. If they pay more tax, carbon credits etc, they'll rip it out the other side in their electricity negotiation. Given that at present there's no where else for the electricity from Manapouri to go, they can get heavy with the electricity supplier and throw their weight around.
To be honest, if they leave and take the workers with them doesn't that solve our problems? We get to keep the power and we don't have pay Unemployment Benefits to the workers ... lets call their bluff!
I'd love to call their bluff, and tell them to bugger off. Tiwai is a rather archaic idea, from the 1970s when the government was running around with big ideas paid for by stupid borrowing.
It's the same system that a lot of third world countries get subjected to - give us a great deal on taxes, electricity, the environment, labour standards etc, and we'll bring our big plant here and give your people jobs. And if you don't keep things comfy for us, we'll bugger off.
But let's not pretend that it wouldn't hurt if it shut down. Yes, many of the skilled workers would go with it, but not all. And the unskilled workers, the administrative workers etc, would all be out of jobs and collecting unemployment in Invercargill. Hundreds of them, with flow on effects in terms of the money leaving the region. Bluff would die as a town, shops shutting down, schools downsizing etc etc.
And then if you upgraded the lines and shut down Huntly (which would be great), then you've also impacted similarly up there.