A second life for our throw-away clothing: Jeff Vollebregt, Upparel
New Zealanders on average throw out textiles equivalent to 200 t-shirts every year. Finding a new home for all those garments is the mission of Australasian textiles recycler Upparel. Jeff Vollebregt, director of Upparel’s New Zealand operation, talked Ross Inglis through the business of circular clothing.
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Harbour bridges! Potholes! Light Rail! – with Paul Winton
The transport sector has experienced its share of drama this year, starting with Cyclone Gabrielle wiping out so many roads and bridges across the north island.
The cyclone was blamed for a sudden change in direction in government policy. Back in February, Minister Michael Woods announced a climate-friendly plan, in its three-year transport plan, the Government Policy Statement. For the first time it prioritised the emissions impact of transport.
But just days later, he reversed many of those priorities to focus on rebuilding damaged roads.
Last week the government also announced five options for a second harbour crossing and reiterated its commitment to the tunnelled version of a light rail network.
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What the heck just happened to the carbon market? Dr Christina Hood
Last week the quarterly auction for carbon credits hit a remarkable snag: it failed to meet the clearing price. This means none of the 4.5 million carbon permits on offer were sold. The failed auction was attributed to Cabinet’s decision to allow more credits to be issued, in an attempt to keep the carbon cost low. And it worked! The carbon price slumped from $90/tonne to $65/tonne. Cost of living crisis averted. The upshot is that the government just issued 40m tonnes of additional emissions –taking us even further away from our climate targets.
To explain all these shenanigans, I’m joined by Dr Christina Hood, a policy expert in climate change, energy, and carbon pricing. She has over 16 years of experience providing analysis and advice to developed and developing countries, including a former role as head of the International Energy Agency Climate Change Unit.
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Josh Purcell – Founder at NZA Simulations
Paul Spain is joined by Josh Purcell, Founder at NZA Simulations to discuss how they are bringing New Zealand Airports to life in the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator NZ update, as well as tech news of the week including:
- Zero Latency VR game experience, launches in New Zealand
- Bullitt’s fob allows satellite connectivity via Bluetooth
- Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
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A decade of B-Corp. Now what? Qiulae Wong, NZ manager of B Lab
It’s 10 years since the first companies were certified as B-Corp in New Zealand and since then the movement of ethical and environmentally responsible businesses has grown to over 500 in NZ and Australia and more than 6000 worldwide. But as the movement shifts from cutting-edge to mainstream, growing pains are emerging. Last year a group of 30 B-Corps were horrified when Nespresso was certified despite, as they say, ‘Nespresso’s abysmal track record on human rights from child labour and wage theft to abuse of factory workers’.
Can any company be certified as B-Corp? Can the movement maintain its standards? Qiulae Wong is the first country manager for B Lab joins Vincent now to answer all this and more.
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Campbell Brown – CEO and Co-Founder of PredictHQ
Paul Spain is joined by Campbell Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of PredictHQ to discuss how PredictHQ utilises data to help businesses anticipate and prepare for the impact of events on their operations.
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How food growers can think about climate change: Brent Clothier
If the rain that deluged the North Island is the ‘new normal’, how are hard-hit growers meant to think about the future – and growing anything in the ‘normal’ way? Vincent Heeringa spoke to Brent Clothier, chief scientist with Plant & Food, about four ways to think about growing food in a warmer and (ironically) drier New Zealand.
Note: this was recorded before Cyclone Gabrielle devastated Hawkes bay and Tairawhiti.
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Martin Sharrock – Chief Technology Officer, 2degrees
Martin Sharrock (CTO, 2degrees) joins Paul Spain to discuss cyclone recovery efforts in keeping New Zealanders connected, and the latest insights from 2degrees and the world of telecommunications.
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Telco Resilience lessons from Cyclone Gabrielle, Artificial Intelligence and Humanity
Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, Cyclone Gabrielle lessons on Telecommunications Robustness, Meta Verified and more with Tim Warren (Ambit) and host Paul Spain (Gorilla Technology).
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Making sense of Auckland’s floods – Kevin Trenberth, climate scientist
How can we make sense of the Biblical deluge that soaked Auckland, Northland, and the Coromandel in late January – and by the time this is being recorded is about to happen again. If only there was an articulate, slow-talking climate scientist who could explain what hell just happened.
Oh, wait! Vincent just spoke with Kevin Trenberth a Distinguished Scholar at the National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder Colorado and an Honorary Academic in the Department of Physics, Auckland University. Kevin is a kiwi who left New Zealand, to obtain his doctorate in meteorology in 1972 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And has continued with climate research including being a lead author on the IPCC.
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A Constructive Use for Building Waste – With Nigel Benton and Terri-Ann Berry
Building a new house in New Zealand produces on average two skips of construction debris. If a demolition is involved, add another 13 skips. As a nation we’re really bad at diverting all that waste from landfill. Ross Inglis spoke with two people with a solution: property developer Nigel Benton and Doctor Terri-Ann Berry from Unitec Institute of Technology.
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Dave Rouse – CEO at CarbonClick
Paul Spain is joined by Dave Rouse (CEO, CarbonClick) – discussing learnings in the tech and startup worlds and how CarbonClick is helping people and businesses to take action in reducing carbon emissions.
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