Owen Jennings: Giovani is Unhappy

Giovani Riveri makes ‘healthy’ sandwiches and ‘coffee to die for’ in the centre of New York, right under the tallest skyscrapers. Giovani is not happy. Some of his best customers and biggest tippers have disappeared. Income is down again. Giovani knows why, too.

“It’s Mamdani. It’s his freakin’ taxes.” He nods up at the glass offices towering above his little bar. “Dey all going to Texas, man. Mamdani is driving the wealthy outa ere”.

Guest Post: The Numbers do not Lie

A guest post from Owen Jennings on Kiwiblog:

Everyone seems to have an opinion on Christopher Luxon’s future. Why not? He is Prime Minster, after all. He has to be open to scrutiny.

But, is what we are encountering the normal, hurly burly of politics and strong media coverage? Or is there some other force at play? Some homework, using Artificial Intelligence, suggests there is and it’s something that should concern every New Zealand voter.

Owen Jennings: Cop30 Ironies

France’s President Macron led the charge for putting taxes on aircraft flights at Cop30 in Belem, Brazil. Aircraft are “killing the planet” with their emissions, apparently. The same day Air France announced its new "La Premiere" cabin -- the first update since 2014. Designed for long-haul Boeing 777s, the "suites" will feature five windows, an armchair and a chaise longue that converts into a bed.

Owen Jennings: A new angle on an old topic

Do you remember the bad old days, flying out of Los Angeles and suddenly passing through that brown gunge ceiling, looking back and thinking, “heck, was I breathing that stuff?” It's heaps better now.

I recall being at a conference in Taipei on a cloudless day and being unable to read signs on the buildings across the street because of the excessive air pollution. Taiwan spent hundreds of millions to improve their factory emissions, and it worked. Their atmosphere is much cleaner now.

Owen Jennings: When Bias becomes a Dangerous Absurdity.

Editors who invite reader’s contributions usually make it clear they reserve the right to not publish any particular letter and normally they refuse to give reasons or even acknowledge receipt of a letter.

The NZ Herald has that policy. It’s a rather arrogant policy if letters sent in for publication are reasonable, not offensive or contrary to law. A media outlet that claims to have influence and status might relish a healthy debate, a robust challenge or comments that reflect widely held opinions in the community.

Owen Jennings: Driving a stake through the steak

You are in your favourite restaurant. You have narrowed down the choices to two fillet steaks. They are both grassfed from New Zealand.

One is proudly claimed to be from a farm that uses management techniques to help lower methane emissions. That has to be a plus, surely. The other steak makes no such claim. You are almost ready to order when you meekly check – “what are these ‘management techniques’ that lower methane emissions?”

Owen Jennings: Stop, Look, Listen

There seems to exist in our society a phenomena that might be deemed “collective madness”. It occurs when an apparent majority embrace a particular viewpoint without rationale, rhyme or reason. It is usually associated with a core of zealots fostering the fires of insanity and a media who seize on the madness as a means of propping up their failing wares.

Owen Jennings: How's Your Amygdala Working?

I learnt a new word today. Amygdala n. an area of your brain responsible for emotional processing, especially fear and anxiety. It also connects emotions to memory and your senses.

According to some experts, one’s amygdala is quite influential to the point it will out compete the more logical and factual foci in the brain.

Owen Jennings: Where is the partnership?

Botanists are usually quite particular people. They have an eye for detail. Those that record findings for prestigious bodies like Kew Gardens have to note everything with care and accuracy. It is somewhat similar for translators. They need to be meticulous in their observations and take pride in their work being scrupulous and exacting.

William Colenso was both. He was a printer by trade and won a job in Paihia in the mid 1830’s helping with translations of the Bible. He became enthralled with botany, was encouraged by Charles Darwin and taught by several leading people in their field. His work was highly regarded by Kew Gardens.

Owen Jennings: Banks Flout their Social Contract

For a civil society to work smoothly and effectively certain ‘social contracts’ need to have broad acceptance and be honoured by all individuals and groups. They are unwritten rules we tacitly observe. They provide a framework of understandings that allow us to live harmoniously.

Some of these ‘rules’ or social contracts get defined or backed by the laws of the state.

Owen Jennings: Now Here’s a Funny Thing

Airlines have trees to offset their CO2 Greenhouse Gas emissions. That’s recognised and acceptable. More than that it is encouraged and subsidised.

Farmers have grasses to offset their CH4 (methane) Greenhouse Gas emissions. That’s not recognised and it’s not acceptable. More than that, they are heavily criticised and are threatened with severe penalties.

Owen Jennings: Now Here’s a Funny Thing.

Airlines have trees to offset their CO2 Greenhouse Gas emissions. That’s recognised and acceptable. More than that it is encouraged and subsidised.

Farmers have grasses to offset their CH4 (methane) Greenhouse Gas emissions. That’s not recognised and it’s not acceptable. More than that, they are heavily criticised and are threatened with severe penalties.

Humans emit CO2 Greenhouse Gas. We are not penalised because we are part of a closed, natural cycle where we eat greens that are grown by photosynthesis that uses CO2. That’s IPCC policy.

Owen Jennings: Country Update From Klaus

Memo to: Executive Council

From: Klaus

Date: May 2024

Subject: Country Update – New Zealand

Guten Morgen.

Our operatives report that plans are in hand in New Zealand. Despite a seeming shift to the despised right, Prime Minister Luxon and his sidekick, Climate Change Minister Watts, are holding the line on warming and are staying staunch on our demands for tight emission targets.

Owen Jennings: Radio Spectra and Methane

I am old enough to remember getting out of bed at 3.00am on cold mornings to listen to the radio broadcast by Winston McCarthy of the All Blacks playing in South Africa. No TV’s back then. McCarthy’s inimitable voice captured not just the passage of play but managed to lift excitement levels several notches even in dull games.

Owen Jennings: Fairness – A Requirement of Taxation

“Dear sir, your tax bill this year is $15,000. Please pay immediately. Kind regards IRD”.

Imagine getting that demand, out of the blue. One of your first questions would most certainly be, “Just how much income are you assessing that on?”

Owen Jennings: The mind of James Busby

It is worth stopping and thinking about the events around the 6th of February 1840. James Busby, a Scotsman was thinking about his 38th birthday, due the next day. More likely he was wondering if a large gathering of Māori chiefs who were arriving were going to oblige his new acquaintance, William Hobson by signing a document he had pulled together hastily the night before. It was to become the Treaty of Waitangi.

Owen Jennings: Catastrophic Gullibility

Climate change is big business in New Zealand. Government and local authorities now have a small army of people employed in the climate change industry paid by our taxes and rates. An even bigger army work as consultants where the pay is better. It’s an industry with massive ‘oil tanker' impetus.

Most of their work is predicated on the claim that things are getting worse. Higher temperatures are driving the climate into chaos. Weather events have already become more extreme and will get a heap worse.

But is this assumption true? Do the facts support the chaos, ‘everything-is-getting-worse' claim?

Owen Jennings: Farmers Deserve Better

My first farm was mainly old sand dunes with thirty to fifty mm’s of good soil on the tops.  We farmed cows and pigs, collected the manure and spread it on the ridges.  Within a few years we built the soil humus to 200 to 300mm’s.  We called it humus or topsoil. Today, we call it “carbon”.

In fact, we built thousands of tonnes of carbon all taken from atmosphere.  It was a ratio of 8:1 – it took eight tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere to build one tonne of carbon in the soil. We call it ‘sequestering’.  It all happens via photosynthesis and the carbon cycle you learnt at school.  CO2 in the atmosphere gets taken in by plants, animals eat plants and burp methane back into the atmosphere that eventually becomes CO2 that the next lot of plants need.

Owen Jennings: Truth – a Lost Pillar

I loved playing rugby at school and looked forward to Friday afternoon when time was set aside for sport. I was much more interested in getting out onto the field than trying to figure Shakespeare or remember what an isosceles triangle looked like.

Friday rolled around and I was itching to get free of the books when our teacher intercepted one of those stupid, crude notes that got passed around furtively – something that wouldn’t happen today in an era of cell phones. The teacher demanded to know who started the little chain. No one owned up.

Owen Jennings: Critical questions

A number of critically important questions have been raised in recent discussions I have had with farmers about their greenhouse gas emissions. They deserve answers. The mainstream media ignore them preferring to bag the farming community saying they are getting off lightly and are not meeting their responsibilities.