Thank you for raising this. It is privatisation without consultation with huge effects on local communities. Lower Hutt loses 70 state houses, with Housing New Zealand reinvesting proceeds from sales where it sees fit, which is not Lower Hutt according to Sharon Girven, Manager Government Relations (Acting), Housing New Zealand in a March letter. There is a waiting list for state housing.

And now we find It's happening again for slightly different reasons in Petone where more units are being bulldozed without any intention to rebuild, while many state units in Epuni are boarded up, slowly, slowly waiting for a decision about earthquake strengthening http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/hutt-news/10087147/Bulldozer-time-for-HNZ-units

I can't help but imagine what the alternative version of this story might look like: Housing New Zealand working in partnership with these communities and the City Council on a process of gradual regeneration and a commitment to ongoing building of quality state housing throughout the city - because we know the benefits of secure tenancy and diversity to the health and well-being of everyone.

We have skype and the internet as alternatives to flying now too. Not quite the same as seeing people face to face.
I think it's great if we can live low-carbon (and I know it's easier for some than others), but even better if we are working to make collective change. e.g. Tom Bennion's No Flying as a movement or this - A Just Transition: climate change, unions and the future of work https://www.facebook.com/events/691727760874417/?ref=22
I've wondered if civil defense and local resiliency could be the way we start talking about it in my flood and earthquake prone neighbourhood. Or maybe it's through supporting the Living Wage, which aims to give people enough time in a family so they can participate in civil society. Or the Oil Free movement which could be the Nuclear Free Movement of our era. Wouldn't that be great?

There has been lots of work on ways of reducing methane through manipulating stock feed http://www.nzagrc.org.nz/methane-faq.html and http://www.globalresearchalliance.org/
I can't help but feel this is a hope that may materialise at some future time but could also end up being appropriated in the name of growth. Fonterra made great energy efficiency reductions so its carbon per unit of output went down - but its total footprint has grown.
So I put my energies in campaigning to keep fossil fuels in the ground - not that I'd be much use in the lab.
I would love to hear people's thoughts about Russell's question - is there a better way to talk about this? I see multiple conversations. I'd love to see the one inspired by Tom Bennion's proposal to get high profile folk to give up flying . I'd also love to see more happening around community resiliency - which could be along the lines of this: http://www.agresearch.co.nz/our-science/land-environment/climate-change/Pages/default.aspx. And I'd love to see more ways we can connect this to the inequality discussion. I felt disgusted by Tim Groser's response to the IPCC report last week. His comments on RNZ on Sunday seemed to say when we got our insurance bills we'd start to act, that there was no need for central government to show any more leadership. What about the conversation with the other 50% of NZers who do not own their own homes?