Now, that was what came from that ACT Party announcement that I told you would be coming today that you needed to keep an eye out for.
ACT says Paris isn't working for New Zealand and it says we should push for the agreement to be reformed - and if it isn't reformed, then we should pull out of it.
It isn't working, ACT says, because it's pushing up our food prices and it's pushing up our power prices and it's forcing the farmers off the land to make way for trees.
And you can add to that list something that we've seen a lot of this winter and last winter - it is shutting down industry because of those high power prices.
Now, there will be a lot of people who hear this from ACT and write it off as nutty climate change denier stuff. It is not.
Think about the Paris Agreement critically, right? Set aside, you know, your vibes, whether you want to help the climate, set all of that stuff aside.
Just think about this critically as to whether it works or not.
And you can see it doesn't work. I mean, I stand to be corrected, but I cannot see any country that is meeting the targets.
We will not meet the targets. The US, one of the world's biggest polluters, has pulled out. China, the world's biggest polluter, is still building coal-powered plants.
I mean, we are fretting about the one coal-powered plant that we've got and they're building heaps of them.
India, another one of the biggest polluters, is also doing the same with coal-powered plants.
In which case, why would a country responsible for 0.17 percent of the world's emissions - or something like that - continue to persist with the Paris Agreement?
Because we're not saving the planet, we're just making Kiwis poorer.
And power is so expensive that we now have people who cannot turn on the heater every time Huntley burns expensive coal.
Coal, by the way, which is not expensive, but which we have decided to artificially make expensive in order to save the planet.
Now, the Nats have shot this down already and say it's not happening.
That's smart politics for them, because they've got to hold on to the swing voters who might react badly, you know, without thinking things through to anything that looks like climate change denial.
The Nats might want to be careful about what they rule in or out hard before the election, because they might need flexibility afterwards, given both of their coalition partners want out of Paris.
ACT officially wants out unless things change, New Zealand First keeps hinting at it.
And if National is honest with itself, they should want to get out of it too, because Paris is making us poorer, but not doing anything to save the planet.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show HERE - where this article was sourced.
16 comments:
Walking away from it is not a hard decision. Just bin it.
Ditch the accord now.
If the tree huggers cannot handle burning NZ coal, burn the tree huggers-they have a calorific value.
Japan is also building CLEAN burning Coal fired power plants within city boundaries with huge low emission mandatory or close down requirements . The US is now on a coal use trajectory again under the 47th President. NZ imports from Indonesia with a coal briquette factory sitting idle at Gore with only security as staff .
ACT are reading the room strategically , Luxon blunders on and Willis struggles behind . We are actually meant to be protecting our food growing soils from any Paris commitment.
In total agreement: we must ditch the Paris Accord. Our biggest problem is Luxon who can't see the wood for the trees. He believes in manmade climate change as though it is a religion. He cannot prove it but he has undeniable faith that it exists. It is like a religion because it cannot not be proven, and therefore to believe is to have faith.
The science points to Luxon being wrong in this, his belief yet he cannot bring himslef to accept that he is wrong and the scientists are right. It is a sort of single source of truth. As such he need sto step down or be replaced as he is leading NZ to disaster for misplaced faith and egotistical practices.
Just to illustrate how much CO2 New Zealand actually emits:-
What are the facts regarding New Zealand’s contribution to human caused CO2 emissions?
Using figures from the United Nations IPCC:-
• Global CO2 levels are currently 400 ppm (parts per million)
• Each year, an extra 2 ppm is generated by human activity.
• NZ contributes 0.17% of that 2 ppm each year.
What do these numbers actually mean?
Just how big is New Zealand’s contribution?
Okay – let’s illustrate just how much this is:
Picture a very large bathtub, full of water.
The bathtub contains 500 liters (500,000 mils) of water.
This represents the total global atmosphere. In this example:-
• Current CO2 levels, 400ppm is 200 mils.(= Global CO2)
• Human activity per year (2 ppm) is 1.0 mil
• New Zealand contribution (0.17%) per year is 0.0017 mils per year
• This is 1/30 of one drop in 500 liters (500,000 mils) per year.
This is ONE drop in the BATHTUB every 30 YEARS.
At this rate it would take 30 YEARS for NZ’s contribution to add just ONE drop to the FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND mils in bathtub which represents the total global atmosphere.
It would take 600 years for NZ’s CO2 to increase global CO2 from 400 ppm to 401 ppm.
Since when has this type of clear, mathematically sound logic permeated the political brain? As I have said a couple of times, a similar bathtub analogy applies to our economy as putting the plug in and stopping the gravy train would have a far more beneficial effect than trying to grow the economy - particularly when the limits to growth are cutting in so hard. Maybe I should use a boat analogy where stopping any leaks might prevent a sinking?
Great explanation Doug.
Paris is nothing but an agreement to extract money and redistribute.
Too many have been conned.
Pull out now.
Putting it more simply:-
Human CO2 emissions are only 3% of total global emissions (The other 97% is from natural causes).
New Zealand's CO2 emissions are 0.17% of human emissions.
So New Zealand's CO2 emissions are 3% x 0.17% = 0.0051%.
The other 99.9949 % is produced by OTHER emitters, NOT N.Z.
First Gas / Clarus up for sale, Maui shutting down in 18months.There might not be much left to argue about. Adhering to the Paris accord has stuffed the country. All this happening around the next election time, who ever wins better have a real good plan coz we’re screwed.
Yes, pull out of the Paris accord. Then pull out of UNDRIP.
You are too logical Doug Longmire, you would automatically fail as a politician, mores the pity.
Other nations will certainly follow. Many small countries are held ransom to the worse climate offenders - the major players which have no intention of improving their performance. This is absurd.
Yeah, I realise that, Rob :-)
What should be reformed is IPCC and UN. Climate accords are a scam. While the West cripples their own economies and wonders if they should sit down or stand up to pee, or if they need to outlaw words and legalise indigenous grift, China is having a big party with half the world's population represented and take a look at who are at the top table.
The rest of the world trades with the biggest pollution emitters eg China, India , the USA, without hesitation.
NZ is begging to trade with Trump's USA, and it is not in the Paris Agreement.
Why would anyone think that NZ would be penalized, and others would not do business with us if we pulled out?
If they want our premium goods, they will buy even if we have farting cows.
And how hypocritical if any of these high polluting countries accuse us of dirty farming ?
Agreed also, tell the UN that we don't have any indigenous people so UNDRIP doesn't apply, therefore we are withdrawing from their dopey document.
Those like myself of a realist disposition found the Paris agreement incredulous from the outset. Such a goal especially unachievable under a democratic system retaining any hint of capitalism. But the civil servants on grand salaries, flying business class, junketing in fancy hotels, with continuing employment in mind, strung along with the charade. Forget the instinct to provide fro descendants; it did not serve the dinosaurs well. Live life while we can. Climate refugee hordes from north will invade possibly even before maori have taken over. Providing for tomorrow is futile.
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