My response to Mike Joy
Patrick Medlicott - 13th April 2026
I was particularly interested in some feedback from Dr Mike Joy, for whom I have the greatest respect as a scientist who is prepared to talk truth to politicians. He took me to task for being overly enthusiastic about the green energy revolution. He mentioned that the revolution is not occurring, and that with renewables we are currently only adding energy to the amount we already consume. In this he is quite correct.
The addition of more green energy to allow such things as data centres is still in my opinion unproven. Each New Zealander needs to address their energy needs, and not demand continual increases for mostly unproven uses. The hidden costs involved are often not mentioned, such as the mining of components for electrification. I would however have to respectfully disagree with Mike in his comments about Mike Casey and Electrify Aotearoa, as it is possible in over 80% of our machines to do so. The last 20% is more difficult, and will certainly require more time. There is more information from Zeke Hausfather from The Climate Brink, mentioned in their last blog post. This time the blog is discussing “Using a 20-year period for comparing methane to CO2 is a terrible idea”. This is a long and involved article with multiple charts. It is somewhat difficult, but seems to me to make the point that this is very much short termism and simply discounts what happens to our grandchildren and their grandchildren. “Groanswell” would love it!
This morning I watched the interview on TV one between Jack Tame and Mike Casey which is available on YouTube.
It is particularly applicable to the present moment, with our addiction to fossil fuels. I call it “New Zealand’s addiction to sucking at the teat of fossil fuels”. I also listened to Bernard Hickey on The Kākā today, explaining that a 75% rise in the cost of Brent crude oil could mean a rise of up to 4 dollars per litre for diesel fuel. This could be dramatic, expensive and damaging to our very fragile economy. The politicians say that it is all under control, but many New Zealanders have significant doubts about that - at least according to the polls.
I talked last week about an article where the Norwegian fishing fleet had been given an award for sustainability while they are heavily involved in Krill fishing in the Antarctic. There was a further article from the Guardian this week with a more global look at the large numbers of fishing trawlers from many countries now involved in this practice. They call it “licensed to Krill” which would be amusing if it wasn’t so sad. Most responsible Ocean scientists would say “don’t mess with the bottom of the food chain” simply to make fertiliser to grow grass to feed animals to make protein for human consumption, when plant protein is much more planet friendly (I am not a vegetarian or vegan, but I think these are accepted facts).
Another article from the Guardian a couple of days ago mentioned that “fossil fuel companies finally accept the climate crisis - just not their role in it”. As I have mentioned before, it was their scientists some 40 or 50 years ago who first drew their attention to the effect of increasing CO2 on the atmosphere. They have pivoted from their denial and obfuscation to blaming you and I for demanding more energy - what next!! One of the tricks used to deflect responsibility of corporations for problems is to try and shift the problems onto the poor individual consumers. Mea Culpa, not BP, Shell, Aramco et al.
Berkeley Earth is a California-based nonprofit research organisation. They note in a February 2026 temperature update that global temperatures have of course been increasing year by year and setting records. Perhaps more worryingly, they note that weather and climate scientists are predicting a stronger El Nino beginning this year which will only amplify the effect of everything else on the climatic system.
Welcome to the new world. I also noted today that the Houthi’s in Yemen are going to try to install another roadblock in the fossil fuel supply chain by making another “chokepoint” in the Red Sea. POTUS (President of the United States) continues to believe that motivated people can be stopped by the United States war machine. I do not necessarily agree with the motivation of the leaders of Iran or of Yemen, but history unfortunately does not look kindly on those who have intervened for regime change in multiple countries since the Second World War globally. In most cases these initiatives have failed with casualties on both sides mostly involving the civilian population.