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“We appreciate input given via public meetings, hui and submissions…these were analysed and taken into account.”

Hollywood actor and climate advocate moves to NZ, runs for Green Party co-leadership

Rumours are circulating that Hollywood actor and environmentalist Mark Ruffalo has relocated to the small island nation of New Zealand and is now running for co-leadership of the country’s Green Party.

Ruffalo, who first gained attention in Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count On Me (2000), is an outspoken environmental activist who has campaigned against fracking for years. He has also fought for access to clean water via his charity, Water Defense and is vocally pro-choice. Ruffalo marched alongside Leonardo DiCaprio at last year’s People’s Climate March in New York City and is a noted climate advocate.

Suspicions arose last year about Ruffalo’s newest venture when a man with a crowd-winning smile who looked very much like Ruffalo was elected to New Zealand’s Parliament on the Green Party’s list.

Media coverage of this rumoured move by Ruffalo has been scarce as New Zealand is not new to celebrity involvement in politics: last year, German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom founded New Zealand’s Internet Party and played a key role in the outcome of the 2014 election.

Ruffalo recently starred as Bruce Banner and his alter ego, the Hulk, in Marvel’s multimillion-dollar Avengers movies – rumours about Ruffalo’s political career were confirmed when the Incredible Hulk made a surprise appearance in the Green Party float at Auckland’s Pride Parade in February.
Ruffalo, who seems to be going by the name of James Shaw in New Zealand, has risen to prominence within the Green Party because of his sharp intellect, work ethic and extensive experience within sustainability and leadership. A two time Oscar nominee, he has been tipped to have what it takes lead the party into power in the 2017 election – a fresh, different, and more handsome face for the sometimes sidelined Greens.

Ruffalo also enjoys a broader scope of appeal to the mainstream New Zealand public because of his involvement in Hollywood films they might recognise. Chief competitor Kevin Hague has yet to feature in a home video, leaving Ruffalo the obvious choice for broadening the Green vote and attracting voters who might not identify with more traditional anti-business, anti-Hollywood Green sentiment.

With millions of Ruffalo fans and climate activists around the world now backing James to win the Green leadership race, it seems only a matter of time before James takes up the leadership mantle. Insiders report that if elected as co-leader, he has promised to star in a music video alongside female co-leader Metiria Turei.

Ruffalo’s choice to leave Hollywood and enter politics was certainly a controversial decision, but one that paid off as he seems set to propel the Greens to a successful 2017 election result, and New Zealand towards a safer and more sustainable future. ~~Hulk~~ James smash!

Changing the world in 1969

Changing the world in 2015

A brief history of climate music

Like many other social movements, the climate movement is a people’s movement that has been felt and communicated through music and the arts. The climate music scene was established in 1992 as a grassroots community surrounding the Rio Summit and has since grown significantly. It now features a variety of international artists.

Prominent climate artists include the following:

Adrian and the Macies
This four-piece folk-electronica fusion group rose to prominence in the late 1990s, first gathering fame amongst young Japanese environmentalists in Kyoto before gaining international support amongst audiences in developed countries. Adrian and the Macies combine the metronomic rhythm of early electronic music with the whimsy of late 60s folk to create a sound that inspires images of flower-wearing passengers on the Trans-Europe Express. The band have have performed well commerically throughout their discography, although music critics continue to be puzzled by the abysmal sales of the band’s second album in countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The Durban Platform
This international collaboration of DJs became famous for its 2011 release of a 36 hour uninterrupted live album. The release featured such artists as DJ LDC, the G77 and BRICS and was available for purchase only via digital download. Similar in some ways to Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, this live album has reached cult status and has spawned a twice-yearly album release by a follow-up collaboration called Working Group. The original Durban Platform is set to be headlining Parisella 21, a large international music festival to be held in France next year. Industry experts are divided as to whether the Durban Platform will bring a solid performance to their festival set as popular and critical reception of Working Group releases have deteriorated in recent years.

The Secretariats
Known for producing easy-listening pop-rock that appeals across demographics, The Secretariats have enjoyed considerable commerical success over recent years. The group have been characterised by the yearly replacement of the band’s drummer leading to a situation in which each new drummer is determined to lead the group to output an album, often to the detriment of artistic quality. This has resulted in several Secretariats releases that have been poorly received by critics although sales have remained healthy. Recent release ‘Manuel’s Silver Hammer’ has been slammed by international music critics and has resulted in a lawsuit from synth-pop group The Road to Paris, who claim that the group illegally sampled their work so poorly that The Secretariats completely ruined The Road To Paris.

Mechanizm Warszawa
This industrial metal group achieved underground success amongst the environmentalist scene after the release of their 2013 EP Lost and Damaged, a conceptual album about retribution and repayment. The group was subsequently signed by major record label GN Records and their first full-length studio album was released in December this year. Reception has unfortunately been poor with critical consensus being that in the process of establishing a wider fanbase in partnership with GN Records, Mechanizm Warszawa sacrificed their artistic integrity as their recently released album is significantly less powerful and provocative than the original Lost and Damaged. Indeed, industry insider reports are now surfacing that record company executives deemed the lyrical content of original recordings to be too challenging for targeted consumers and ordered that the content be toned down before the album could be released.

The Umbrella Group
This lounge jazz group has been an incredibly powerful player in the music industry for the last few decades and controls a large percentage of album sales worldwide. Targeted towards the upper-middle class consumer, albums can only be purchased on heavyweight vinyl and album cover art typically features the group drinking different varieties of expensive liquor served with cocktail umbrellas. The Umbrella Group receives widespread mainstream critical acclaim, although sources report that this is perhaps because of the group’s personal connections at major media organisations worldwide rather than their musical prowess. The group believes that lounge jazz is the only genre capable of maintaining commercial success for an extended period of time and is known for its musical conservatism. When threatened, the Umbrella Group has been known to attempt to thwart musically adventurous newcomers with their unbridled industry power and jazz instruments.

Climate music newcomers to watch:

Translatorhead
New Kids on the Cop
Toady Stern
Run-ADP
Fossil the People
The National Interest
Nat King Coal

6.23 am after an all-nighter at COP

Just leave me alone to watch the world burn, ok?

Emergency

A medical emergency was declared at a large tertiary hospital in Lima yesterday when it was discovered that clinicians had suddenly ceased to provide medical care to the elderly, sick and vulnerable patients housed inside.

Initial investigations reveal that a variety of serious unresolved procedural and ideological medical issues have prevented doctors from delivering medical care. Doctors are currently in urgent negotiations to resolve these issues as patients and their family members anxiously await treatment. Several patients are already experiencing life-threatening medical issues: non-clinical staff are increasingly worried about Mr Sids on Level Two who is suffering from a serious case of fluid overload yet continues to be denied diuretics.

It seems that the Orthopaedic Surgery department, a group of powerful and experienced doctors within the hospital had decided that all doctors in the hospital should be expected to perform surgery regardless of whether or not they had been surgically trained. This resulted in mass discontent amongst the junior medical staff who felt that this was beyond their capacity. The junior doctors advocating for differentiated responsibility amongst clinical staff based on experience have been bullied and intimidated by senior clinicians, creating a dysfunctional workplace environment. Untrained junior staff have been forced to perform complex surgeries, often with disastrous results.

There have also been significant rostering issues amongst the clinical staff initiating from a request from management that doctors submit commitments regarding how many hours they intend to work over the following month. Some doctors were unwilling to do this without first being told about their salary adjustments for the following five years while others were willing to commit to a total number of hours but refused to specify on which days they would work. Doctor absenteeism from work has been high as a result. This has had a significant impact upon patient care.

After an extended debate between one Saudi Arabian senior doctor and other clinical staff, all of the female patients were removed from the hospital. They have been left outside in hospital beds and their condition is expected to deteriorate rapidly.

Newborn babies requiring intensive care have been left in boxes in the neonatal unit as hospital capacity fails to prioritize future generations.

Discussions among doctors about these issues are expected to continue late into the night. Meanwhile, patients continue to suffer.

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How I feel being a New Zealander at COP today

Public health announcement

The World Health Organisation has recently issued an alarming report about a growing epidemic focused in Lima, Peru where an unconfirmed but growing number of international visitors have been infected with a rare strain of bacteria, Clostridium oedematiens type P.

C. oedematiens type P was first discovered in 2009 in Copenhagen where a significant epidemic resulted in mass morbidity and mortality and caused long-lasting negative health effects across the world. Infectious disease specialists gained some control over the disease in the following years but in Warsaw last year a mass evacuation of 800 people was required to halt the rapid spread of the illness. There was hope in the international medical community that health system strengthening over the last year would prevent an additional outbreak but this has proven to not be the case.

The initial symptoms of C. odematiens type P are lethargy, nausea, vomiting, focal migraines and cardiac pains while in the longer term the illness has been linked to mental health conditions such as major depression, anxiety disorders and even acute psychosis. The only known clinically effective treatments for this illness are consumption of alcohol, cognitive behavioural therapy and group hugs. Radical practitioners of alternative medicine insist that global decarbonisation will halt the spread of the illness but this has not received widespread support amongst the international medical community who at this stage have favoured a homeopathic approach to treatment in which powerful medicines are repeatedly diluted down with large quantities of water until very little of their original substance remains.

There have been repeated calls for the development of an effective antibiotic for C. odematiens type P yet clinical research has been slowed by the inability of the scientific community to come to any meaningful consensus as to how this research is to be funded. Australia recently announced $200 million of funding for vaccine research but in the process withdrew $7 billion of funding for the provision of other vaccinations to developing countries.

Those infected with C. odematiens type P are asked to remain calm and to report to their nearest public health nurse. At this stage the illness is considered to be very infectious and so vigilance is recommended amongst medical professionals here in Lima who are urged to work together to negotiate effective public health strategies to protect the health of citizens both here in Lima and internationally.