EVs and planting trees a ‘no-brainer’
Capturing and storing carbon doesn’t have to be a burden, a visiting climate studies expert says.
Oxford University professor and chief scientific adviser to the UK Government’s Department of the Environment Gideon Henderson spoke in Nelson for the annual Thomas Cawthron Memorial Lecture.
Henderson’s work focuses on the carbon cycle.
He said there was a perception that reducing and removing carbon from the atmosphere were difficult or expensive tasks, but that wasn’t the case.
‘‘It can be a very beneficial thing for the economy and for individuals.’’
He said the goal was for the world’s greenhouse gas production not to be zero, which he said was not yet possible, but to reach a net zero, or to remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as was produced.
‘‘It’s technically possible, it’s economically possible, it’s not even expensive. It’s whether it’s politically possible,’’ he said.
He said there were several known methods for removing carbon from the atmosphere, some of which were relatively easy and established, and others that needed more investment or research.
He said the key was removing carbon from the atmosphere, and then storing it in a secure and stable form that would not then ‘‘leak’’ back into the atmosphere.
‘‘You might think that taking your food-waste and burying it is good, that it removes carbon from the cycle, but actually that waste decomposes and will release gas back into the atmosphere. ‘‘The most obvious way, it’s really a nobrainer, is reforestation. You’ve got to grow trees every year that you are emitting carbon; you have to leave them there and make sure that they don’t get burned or cut down.’’ He said even forests that were cleared could still lead to a net loss of carbon from the atmosphere, depending on the logging process and the ultimate destination of the wood.
New Zealand was very wellplaced for electric vehicles to make a significant impact on net emissions, as about 80 per cent of the country’s electricity production is renewable, he said. A man who claimed to have made a chain mace with a spark plug holder has been sentenced to community work.
Jason Michael Hawes, 34, pleaded guilty to charges of possession of a knife in a public place, possession of an offensive weapon, being unlawfully in an enclosed yard, failing to answer bail and breaching community work.
The court heard how on the evening of July 29, Hawes had an altercation at a house on Waimea Rd. He left the house, climbing over fences and running through properties until he reached Kawai St. The property owner heard the disturbance, called police and Hawes was arrested. He was found with a folding knife and a chain and mace. Hawes said he feared for his safety.
Defence lawyer Kelly Hennessey said there was a strange set of facts around the offending. The altercation arose after Hawes and the complainant had a discussion about Hawes’ expartner, who he and others had been searching for as she had been missing for several months.
Hawes got into a car to leave the Waimea Rd address but found