Nine To Noon for Monday 1 February 2021

09:05 Climate Commission's blueprint for cutting emissions: Dr Rod Carr

Kathryn speaks with the chair of the Climate Commission about its blueprint for cutting New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Accord. The report proposes three emissions budgets which would set the maximum amount of greenhouse gases NZ can emit over a five year period.

09:30 Kaipara outrage at hoons on dunes

Kaipara District Mayor Jason Smith says the closure of Auckland's Muriwai Beach to vehicles this summer, has seen more four wheel drive enthusiasts head further north each weekend and many are driving rough-shod over the ecologically fragile sand dunes and historically important sites on Ripiro Beach. The West Coast sandy expanse stretches from Pouto Peninsula to Maunganui Bluff and is New Zealand's the longest driveable beach. Dr Smith is furious at the cavalier nature of drivers who traverse the dunes, running over ancient burial sites, disrupting nesting birds, trespassing on private property and driving over toheroa and tuatua beds.

09:45 Germany correspondent Thomas Sparrow

The distribution of  Covid vaccines was supposed to be seen as a reason for hope in Europe but it has fast become a big headache for European officials. This amid growing concerns about variants. Also Germany prepares to mark the end of the Angela Merkel era.

10:05  Recovery from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, almost a decade on

NPR journalist Kat Lonsdorf talks to Kathryn about her time in Fukushima and tells the stories of residents and their struggles. On the 11th of March in 2011 the magnitude 9.0 Tohuku earthquake and 15 metre tsunami triggered the most severe nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma survived the initial earthquake but damage inflicted by the tsunami caused the facility's cooling systems to fail, releasing tonnes of radioactive material. The death toll exceeded 18 thousand and more than 160,000 people were forced from their     homes. NPR journalist Kat Lonsdorf spent two months in the region on a fellowship last year (pre Covid) focusing on the people, the place and the recovery. Her series Recovering Fukushima was sponsored by the John Alexander Project, which supports foreign reporting in undercovered parts of the world. 
 

10:35 Book review - Best of 2020

Phil Vine reviews his top reads from last year:
Summer by Ali Smith (Penguin Books, $34), Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $33) and Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth (HarperCollins, $33)

10:45 The Reading

Aaron Alexander reads the first part of 'Minding Lear' by Owen Marshall. 

11:05 Political commentators Jones & Morten

Neale, Brigitte and Kathryn delve into the Climate Commission report and the political consequence.

Neale Jones was Chief of Staff to Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern, and prior to that was Chief of Staff to Andrew Little. He is the director of Capital Government Relations.

Brigitte Morten is a senior consultant with public and commercial law firm Franks & Ogilvie and a former senior ministerial advisor for the previous National-led government. 

11:30 AF Drinks: Alcohol-free gin's social mission

 A new gin product aims to deliver the taste without the booze. AF Drinks is a new enterprise from Eat My Lunch founder Lisa King. The AF stands for "alcohol-free", not something rude, and is part of Lisa's drive to provide a socially acceptable, alcohol-free alternative to gin. She joins Kathryn to talk about the Sober Curious movement, and how the gin manages to deliver a realistic taste - and a kick.

11:45 Off the beaten track with Kennedy Warne

Kennedy is on Rangitoto Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf looking at the volcanic reserve's heritage baches. One of the baches has been turned into a museum to celebrate the classic Kiwi bach. Also Kennedy pays tribute to fiddler Colleen Trenwith of the Hamilton Country Bluegrass Band.