Questions from Colegio Santa Rosa de Lima (Class 2)

We have made a poll in our city. Now we analyze the results and next week we will be able to answer the questions.

Your Gymnasium Miesbach

West Wind powers Wellington

29 April 2009

"Today Wellington's wind will finally be put to good use, delivering significant benefits to the Wellington region," says Fraser Clark, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Wind Energy Association.

"Wellingtonians are well aware of the energy in Wellington's wind. From today, Meridian Energy's Project West Wind - New Zealand's newest wind farm - will harness this strong and consistent resource to make a tangible difference to security of electricity supply," says Mr Clark. "Project West Wind will supplement existing generation sources and its output will provide a natural complement to hydro generation."

"Wind energy also helps to ensure electricity remains affordable. The low and well-understood cost of operating a wind farm provides generators with confidence in the cost of generating electricity well into the future. It also provides a valuable hedge against the variable costs of other forms of generation," says Mr Clark. Forecasts released last week by the Electricity Commission show the price of gas for electricity generation doubling by 2020. Gas generation will also be subject to a price on carbon emissions when the energy sector enters the Emissions Trading Scheme.

"Wind farms also create important benefits such as reduced transmission losses and the suppression of spot electricity prices." Analysis presented at last week's Wind Energy Conference suggested that generation from the Manawatu wind farms reduces average spot electricity prices by $10/MWh.

"It is pleasing to see Prime Minister John Key support and acknowledge the success of Project West Wind today.

"However, many other locations throughout New Zealand have a similar potential for wind generation. Without strong political support for renewable energy, New Zealand will not fully realise wind energy's benefits," warns Mr Clark. Over 900 megawatts of wind energy capacity is consented, and developers are seeking consent for another 2000MW. World-wide, wind energy is now one of the leading forms of new electricity generation.

"Despite this significant consenting activity, there have been no announcements regarding the construction of any other major wind farms since work began at Project West Wind.

"We need a clear and stable policy and regulatory environment to give wind farm developers confidence in investing in new generation."

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee announced in March the Government's intention to review the New Zealand Energy Strategy, and several other reviews affecting the energy sector are underway.

"Certainty regarding the future of the Emissions Trading Scheme is essential to encourage investment in new projects. Clear recognition of the benefits of wind energy in the New Zealand Energy Strategy and action to improve transmission capacity is also required," concludes Mr Clark.

I think Climate Change brings fear of the unknown because we all know it's happening but it's hard to know how rapidly changes are occuring. Because Climate Change is a gradual process, some people don't realise the consequences and effects it is having on the earth without a smack in the face like a natural disaster.

I think Climate Change brings opportunity to people all around the world. It is a chance for people to make conscious decisions to benefit the environment and to strengthen local, national and international communities because community should be the basis of climate change adaptation and mitigation.

I would tell everyone to read "The Lorax" by Dr Seuss.

It's a wonderful story and tells us about the bad impact humans can have on the environment.

The greedy "Onceler" chops down the "Truffula Trees" to make something called a "Thneed" (that no-one really needs). The "Lorax", who speaks for the trees, warns the Onceler about doing this but the Onceler doesn't listen, and.....well....you'll have to read the book to see what happens.

But as the Onceler says at the end of the book -

"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not!"

See this link for a video of the story: video.google.com/videoplay

We plan to install a wind turbine on the roof of our school building

How we respond to climate change now will determine the shape of our future – our economy, environment, and communities. The debate is no longer about whether climate change is happening, but what we do about it.

Earth's climate is changing. Over the last 50 to 100 years, this process of change has sped up. It is largely recognised that the increasing amount of human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is the reason the globe is warming at an unprecedented rate. The effects of this are already visible, and the changes ahead of us will be much larger and will happen more quickly than any recent natural climate variations.

If we do not take action to reduce global warming, the world is likely to experience a rise in temperature, increasing sea levels, more frequent extreme weather events and a change in rainfall patterns. These climatic changes will potentially impact on our native ecosystems, industries, infrastructure, health, biosecurity and our economy.

If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced significantly over the coming decades, the impacts of climate change would more than likely get steadily worse and the costs could be severe.

The Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand study, published in July 2007, shows that air pollution is associated with around 1,100 cases of premature mortality – that is people dying earlier than they would have if they had not been exposed to air pollution.

It is estimated that the effects from air pollution occur throughout New Zealand – not just in the main cities. The primary sources are home heating nationally, transport in Auckland, and industry.

Other illness caused by air pollution include:

around 1,500 extra cases of bronchitis and related illnesses

700 extra hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac illnesses

1.9 million restricted activity days (days on which people cannot do the things they might otherwise have done if air pollution was not present).

The bulk of effects are associated with particulate pollution (PM10), but there are also effects associated with other pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds.

The total economic costs of air pollution in New Zealand (from both premature death and adverse health impacts) are estimated to be $1.14 billion per year or $421 per person.

we keep working on our wind project

Across the globe we can expect to experience possibly quite dramatic climate change – just as past civilizations have. Societies in the past had to be adaptive and there are plenty of lessons to be learned from their experiences. Some past societies have collapsed when faced with extreme environmental changes, some have been resilient enough to adapt and survive, some lifes even flourished. I am not so sure how we are going to adapt to the actual crisis.

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Wind and solar energy are sustainable, clean sources of energy that have the potential to make a significant contribution to New Zealand’s economy. New Zealand is rich in renewable energy resources. New Zealand’s largest rivers, the Waikato in the North Island and the Clutha in the South Island, flow though several large dams and power stations, and there are many smaller hydro-electric stations throughout the country. Geothermal springs and vents have powered electricity generators since the 1950s, and have also been used for domestic and industrial heating.

New Zealand has tremendous renewable resources providing us with a safe, climate friendly and sustainable energy source well into the future.

Most New Zealanders have access to recycling facilities, with most urban areas offering kerbside collection.One recycled aluminium beverage can saves enough electricity to run a computer or a TV for three hours.

The percentages of energy saved by using recycled rather than raw materials to manufacture are:

Glass 40%

Newspaper 40%

Steel 60%

Plastic 70%

Aluminium 95% (75% when recycled back into aluminium beverage cans)

The main recyclable products in New Zealand are paper and cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminium, steel and plastic.

Every year, New Zealanders send around 3.2 million tonnes of waste to landfill that is over a tonne of rubbish per household. The majority of this waste is not reprocessed or recycled, and doesn’t break down over time.

Disposing of waste at landfills is a sign that we’re not using our resources efficiently, and are contributing directly to pollution.

To improve the environmental future of New Zealand, we need to start taking responsibility for the waste we produce by finding more effective and efficient ways to reduce, reuse, recycle or reprocess it.

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the summit of Mount Victoria for views over the city and Harbour

Tēnā koutou: All Kiwi kids should be given the opportunity to learn Maori from an early age. That would be a sign of solidarity. I’ve heard all the arguments about why it’s wrong for Maori to be compulsory, but the reality is English is compulsory, as is maths, so why shouldn’t Maori be too? Maori is our indigenous language and an official language alongside English.

Being bilingual or multi-lingual has been proven to be advantageous. Children who speak more than one language are likely to perform better at school, be more socially adjusted both in and out of school, and be more tolerant and understanding of cultural differences.

In a global society, those are the attributes our children need and learning Maori will help them acquire them.

Māori or te reo Māori (pronounced [ˈmaːoɾi, te ˈɾeo ˈmaːoɾi]) commonly te reo ("the language"), is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand.

I promote renewable energies

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