You are fat, your breath stinks, and the icecaps are melting.. BLAME AMERICA!!!

[Paul in NZ]

One of 'America's' problems is they redefined the consumer culture and reinvented the advertising / marketing industry. (The euros helped)

Unfortunately, once this desire to consume was unleashed it's taken on a life of it's own that can only be satisfied with more and cheaper goods. These things are now made in China and exported to the USA which is loosing industry left right and centre. Eventually, the US will react but it will be too late as they will loose the critical mass of middle class consumers.

Cheers

[Big Dave]

easy Dave ..


i tried to go to Australia recently .. the Customs guy asked me if i had any criminal convictions ..

i said " sorry..i forgot it was compulsory.."

Saaay - didn't *I* tell you that???

[skelstar]

re: compulsary - 'prerequisite' works better.

[SARGE]

fark mate - that's a big can of worms you just popped the top off... hope you got the stats to back it all up...

Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council to allows dairy giant Fonterra to dump 8,500 cubic meters of effluent a day into the Manawatu River from its Longburn plant. Water quality is typically measured as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) - roughly the amount of oxygen pollution sucks out of the water as it biodegrades. The BOD of treated wastewater is around 30 g/m3, and that of raw sewage (which we don't usually allow to be dumped into rivers) around 200 g/m3. According to Fonterra's consent, the average BOD of their effluent is 2,600 g/m3, and can reach as high as 16,000. The net effect is graphically illustrated by the following:

[Palmerston North City Council] discharges about 720 kg BOD per day. Fonterra has predicted that it will discharge an average of 2546 kg BOD per day. This is the equivalent of a town the size of Wanganui dumping all its raw sewage into the river. In one in 20 days BOD discharged will reach over 6000 kg per day, the equivalent of a city the size of Dunedin

guideline water quality values for the protection of New Zealand river ecosystems and human health are recommended in the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (Australian New Zealand ECC), and jointly by the Ministry for the Environment, and the Department of Health.

The median dissolved reactive phosphorus, oxidised nitrogen, ammonium, and E. coli concentrations in streams in pastoral and urban classifications of the study exceeded guidelines, and clarity did not meet the guideline.

The median E. coli concentration in native forest streams, and conductivity in plantaton forest streams exceeded guidelines.

The E. coli guideline was exceeded at every urban location, and dissolved reactive phosphorus, oxidised nitrogen, and ammonium guidelines were exceeded at 92, 86 and 83 percent of the sites respectively.

E. coli, dissolved reactive phosphorus, oxidised nitrogen, and ammonium guidelines were exceeded at 96, 88, 64 and 78 percent of the pastoral locations respectively.

The national median concentrations of phosphorus, oxidised nitrogen, ammonium, and E. coli of low-elevation streams in all land cover classes (urban, pastoral, native forest, plantation forest) combined, exceeded guidelines.

Dr Dell Hood, Waikato Medical Officer of Health, said the study shows that children should not swim in most of the country's lowland rivers.

Auckland benefits from a pleasant climate with average daytime temperatures ranging from 15C in winter to 26 C in Summer. The city is one of New Zealand's premier centers for the arts and entertainment and is home to the country's leading art gallery. There are numerous places of interest, including museums, galleries, an aquarium and the Auckland zoo, as well as bars, cafes, restaurants, shopping areas and a thriving nightlife. There are also a variety of parks in the city and several beautiful beaches are within easy reach.

Unfortunately, as figures released by the Auckland Regional Council show, the city suffers from high levels of air pollution. The city's levels of carbon monoxide are worse than those of cities such as London, Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong, while Auckland's nitrogen dioxide levels are increasing.

i have more if you need them...

[LilSel]

Saw on the news last nite that the President of Venezuela called Bush 'the devil' at the UN thingie.

*shakes head*... thats where im going in a months time...
hope no shit starts up between the two!!

[SARGE]

However, you dudes can take full responsibility for the doggy handbag.

and the Tabby Tote...

[Karma]

Americas two biggest problems;

Michael Moore & Jerry Springer. Kill them both and I'll have some respect for ya

[Swoop]

Of course it's the fault of the USA!
They make all sorts of good shit and then we want it!!! Capitalism in action.

As for Aucklands water quality, it is being pumped from the waikato river....
Thank fuck West Auckland still gets rainwater from the Waitakere ranges!!!

[Swoop]

Americas two biggest problems;

Michael Moore & Jerry Springer. Kill them both and I'll have some respect for ya

Michael Jackson and Roseanne Barr aren't on that list...

[SARGE]

Americas two biggest problems;

Michael Moore & Jerry Springer. Kill them both and I'll have some respect for ya

couldnt agree more man..

Michael Jackson and Roseanne Barr aren't on that list...

Wacko Jacko is a raghead now .. they can have him

[u4ea]

.......hey but whats the deal with these nz" ers who think they were bought in on ships from africa ,those idiotic gangbangers...who forget we are paying them millions of dollars and have a treaty!!!!!!westside ,eastside bla blaaaaa blaaaaaaaaa.....they are a very confused bunch who have adopted an american ideal.......

rant over

[SARGE]

.......hey but whats the deal with these nz" ers who think they were bought in on ships from africa ,those idiotic gangbangers...who forget we are paying them millions of dollars and have a treaty!!!!!!westside ,eastside bla blaaaaa blaaaaaaaaa.....they are a very confused bunch who have adopted an american ideal.......

rant over

and none of them would last 5 minutes in my old neighborhood

[u4ea]

and none of them would last 5 minutes in my old neighborhood

hehe yea sarge id beleive that !!!

[ManDownUnder]

if you have an alternative power generation capacity ( Wind, Solar, etc) on your property and you have a surplus . it gets fed right back into the nationwide power grid and you get paid for the generation..

as is the case in. We get paid a pittance I grant you, but we can do the same.

we are very big users of CLEAN nuke , hydro and wind power and our farmlands and forests are managed in order to guarantee an ongoing natural resource supply. in the US..

Yes but 52% of electric generation in the US is coal fired. Some is "clean coal" for sure... but not much...

[In the USA you] can recycle all types of plastic, not just #1 or #5 .. you can also put your Styrofoam into the recycling bin and have it made into park benches and lawn edging .. why is this not available in NZ?.. the technology is there...

because the economics are not there... I know - not a good argument, but it's the same one applying to why the world isn't running all hydrogen yet.

New Zealand regularly allows the dumping of raw effluent directly into streams and rivers and raw sewage straight onto public beaches..you burn high sulfur coal to generate the bulk of your power... the "CLEAN GREEN NEW ZEALAND" line is spin from the tourist industry and utter bullshit.. Auckland has more litter on its streets than parts of LA and the water quality is worse than New York City

Agreed, no argument there.

as far as the overall health of the population .. i have never personally forced a big mac down anyones throat .. or tied anyone to the couch and forced them to watch TV for 9 hours a day..

but its always easier to blame someone else instead of taking some personal responsibility and making sure your family has exercise and wholesome food to eat instead of sitting the brats in front of the Xbox and having L&P and Pies handy for snacks..

100% on the money. I hate (with a passion) adults abdicating their responsibilities to their kids. They're to be nutured, educated and looked after - i a way that means they can eventually look after themselves. Teaching them to eat right has got to be lesson #1.

but its all someone else's fault ...

*END RANT*

Always is - Aunty Helen knows that and she's doing what she can to make sure the State has it's hand in everything, helping people when they should actually suffer a little pain - and perhaps learn not to do stuff next time...!

[jrandom]

China builds a new power station on average of every 3 days... #1 country in the world for making pollution

Too right, chicky.

I'm going to take some photos on my next trip to southern China in October and post them so y'all can see what this means in real life.

Flat, never-ending countryside, randomly covered with smoky factories and industrial concrete people-containers, as far as the eye can see. Which isn't very far, because the 24/7 smog only leaves you 5km of visibility on a good day.

And that's in between the cities. I won't even get started on the concrete urban jungles.

I say nuke the whole place and be done with it. A few million square kilometers of slightly warm glass would be a vast improvement on what's there at the moment.

Of course, the company I work for would have to shut down, because we would no longer be able to build consumer electronics at a price that anyone would be willing to pay.

Still, let's face it. The 'engineering graduates' who consult fortune tellers before making decisions about injection molding tool design aren't adding that much real value to the world's economy, in my humble opinion. No, I'm not making that up.