The death of New Zealand’s glaciers

Revealing deeper climate rumblings, NIWA warns that the country’s glaciers are fast slipping away

Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Thursday, March 31, by Justin Giovannetti. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: New rules to limit vaccine mandates; Transmission Gully already has a big problem; rural delivery of Rats to start; but first, NIWA’s latest survey of the country’s glaciers was gloomy.

Hiking the Franz Josef Glacier, Westland (Getty Images)

Many of the country’s glaciers will be gone in a decade.

NIWA scientists sounded a warning in recent days after the annual end-of-summer survey found snow and ice in retreat across New Zealand. The country has fewer than 3,000 glaciers, most on the South Island. Those that remain are growing smaller and skeletal. “What we’re seeing is a clear retreat, which is no doubt thanks to climate change,” NIWA’s principal scientist told 1News. The ongoing loss of glaciers will have a profound impact on the country’s landscape, tourism and increase risks of drought. The Franz Josef and Fox glaciers are at a higher elevation and will last longer than most, but even they are in rapid decline.

The world’s climate has been acting increasingly oddly.

The Conger ice shelf, twice the size of Auckland, completely collapsed in Antarctica earlier this month. It followed simultaneous heatwaves above the north pole, with temperatures 30C above normal, and Antarctica, where it was 40C above expected levels. Scientific American writes that Conger’s collapse could be a warning that the climate breakdown is accelerating. The unusual heatwaves at the planet’s ends are just the latest in a series of extreme weather events. The Spinoff reported on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s warning of worsening climate patterns in a bleak report released last month. The next IPCC report is due on Monday and is expected to focus on mitigating climate change.

To avoid the worst climate damage, New Zealand is working on a plan to tackle our largest polluter: agriculture.

The prime minister was expected the meet with the farming advocacy group Groundswell this week to discuss agricultural emissions, but the group pulled out. Stuff reports that Groundswell objected to meeting the prime minister along with other agricultural groups. It wants a one-on-one sit down with Jacinda Ardern. With a plan to tackle agricultural emissions expected within months, a rift has opened between farming groups. Groundswell wants no price on emissions and more funding for research, putting it at odds with other established groups and the country’s international obligations. There’s also a growing debate within National, with the party’s new economics advisor arguing that deep cuts to carbon pollution aren’t required at all. Olivia Wannan wrote for Stuff about the ongoing argument about whether to cut emissions or just plant trees (and more). 

Australia’s climate response is going the wrong way.

Our neighbour across the Tasman is once again facing heavy rains and flooding. There’s been a constant drumbeat of deadly weather across Australia this year. Defence and security officials warned the government in Canberra this month that climate change is that country’s greatest threat, DW reports. Scott Morrison’s government, behind in the polls and facing a difficult reelection, splashed billions on new spending and tax cuts in a budget this week. What didn’t do so well was climate change. The Guardian reports that the budget proposes cutting annual spending on clean energy by 35% over the next four years.

There are numerous reasons why governments should take climate change seriously, from massive ice sheets to tiny mosquitoes. In one small but detailed slice, Eloise Gibson writes in Stuff that the only thing keeping an outbreak of dengue fever out of New Zealand is the country’s colder climate. It’s quite a story looking at the struggle to keep mozzies out.

Workers fired for being unvaccinated have no right to get job back.

The government has unveiled new Covid vaccine requirements for businesses and they will see a significant reduction in most workplaces. As Stuff reports, workplaces will need to show a health reason for retaining a vaccine mandate. Workers in health, aged care, corrections and at the border will continue to need to show proof of vaccination. The rules also make it clear that employees sacked under the now ending vaccination policy have no rights to their jobs back and employers are under no obligation to speak with fired workers.

The day it officially opened, the first calls were made to dig up Transmission Gully.

The Wellington region motorway is finally open after years of delay but it has a significant problem already. There are a number of significant mobile blackspots along the 27km road. The mobile industry told the NZ Herald it got limited access to the motorway during construction and plans to remedy spotty reception were ignored. Parts of the motorway will now need to be dug up to install the infrastructure for new towers. The Dominion Post also reports that a rebrand of Transmission Gully is in the works, with local iwi Ngāti Toa asked for a name.

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Rural delivery service coming for Covid Rats.

About 95% of New Zealanders live within a 20-minute drive of somewhere they can get a rapid antigen test. For the other 5%, a delivery service is being introduced. With omicron starting to peak in many rural areas, there are still many people who need the rapid tests, ministers told 1News. With over 250,000 New Zealanders far from tests, some local DHBs have been trying different initiatives. The Whanganui DHB has already been distributing Rats to isolated areas with jet boats and stock trucks.

Scepticism as Russia promises to scale back offensives.

Ukraine’s president says his country isn’t naive after Russia promised to halt its attacks around Kyiv during peace talks. Reuters reports that Ukrainian and western officials expect Moscow to shift its offensive to other parts of the country. Russian attacks have been stopped nearly everywhere in Ukraine as the invaders have faced unexpectedly stiff resistance. The focus of Russia’s attention could shift to the east. There have been reports that the Kremlin-backed, self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine could ask to be annexed by Moscow once it falls completely under Russian military control.

Long read: Pas d'Amazon, pas de problème.

With no e-commerce reliably delivering to their islands, the people of French Polynesia have come up with their own online shopping. They have a scattered population over huge distances and limited internet access, but they’ve now got couriers. Rest of World has the story of how e-commerce has started to fill in the last gaps serving some of the most remote locations in the world.

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz

Right now on The Spinoff:

Charlotte Muru-Lanning & Naomii Seah write about what the end of vaccine passes mean for restaurants, cafes and bars. Alex Casey reports on the day the dogs drove. Naomii Seah discovers weird pets and the people who love them. Sela Jane Hopgood explains that Tongans eat horse and it’s not that big a deal. Don Rowe (partnership) reconsiders everything he thought he knew about hiking.

Amid wide disappointment, Team New Zealand to start paying rent.

Negotiations will start any day to set a market rent on Auckland’s Viaduct events centre after mayor Phil Goff said there’s “no good argument” for Team New Zealand to keep living rent free. The NZ Herald (paywalled) reports that ratepayers have spent $14 million housing the team since 2018. Their lease seems to have an end date of today. A number of people yesterday expressed their disappointment in the team’s decision to move the America’s Cup defence to Spain, including the prime minister. Liam Napier writes an unhappy column in the NZ Herald (paywalled) that “taking the America’s Cup away from home is a slap in the face to New Zealanders.”