Hopefully Key watches this…
Obama addresses a climate conference in LA by video:
“Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”
Obviously a relatively glib political speech, but the message is all there, along with some solid targets as well.
It's a shame that NZ doesn't have this kind of leadership.
An interesting press release by the petroleum exploration and production industry (PEPANZ) supports the the fact that the Govt is reviewing the ETS and is "calling on the Government to ensure that the Select Committee’s terms of reference are as wide as is possible and that good ideas and debate are not constrained by either time or ideology."
Bravo PEPANZ! How very nice of the petrol industry to show concern about the process not being constrained by ideology! Interesting choice of word constrained there too. To me at least that would imply constrained with regard to restrictive legislation to reduce carbon emissions, not a bipartisan meaning of a fair and just process relying on scientific evidence.
The needles they don’t work
Thanks to cedtic.com. Want to read more on the fantastical world of acupuncture?
sexy coal?
National gives Energy portfolio to Gerry Brownlee who describes coal as sexy. Super.
I love the graph he shows in the video. It couldn't be more scientific! He then goes on to make a completely illogical comment (in relation to the graph) about renewable energy sources being non viable in the short term.
Good times ahead...
back, back, back we go
Check this article on the outcome of the National-Act agreement in relation to climate change. Disappointing stuff really. So now we go through the whole process again of "evaluating" the evidence and coming up with more effective policies.
Out of context, this sounds like a great idea - maybe the Labour initiated ETS was too radical, too complex. However, when you put it in the context of this highly politicised environment with parties such as ACT who deny climate change to an extreme degree and only have eyes for economic progress then it is truly a serious issue.
For example, we have organisations such as the NZ Climate Science Coalition who support the National-Act policy. However their leader, an ex-Admril, states that they are "...confident that once the Select Committee has an opportunity to hear all sides of the scientific debate on the man-made global warming hypothesis, it will conclude that climate variation is natural and cyclical..." Isn't that super! What's the point of spending all the money and going through the official process again if the outcome is going to be already determined!
It is unknown how much influence groups such as NZ Climate Science Coalition and the other few extreme climate change sceptics have on the political scene but would have to assume it is significant given the small size of NZ and the influence of organisations such as the Business Round Table. See this article for some of the connections.
Regardless of your personal opinions on the extent of man-made climate change this situation is at least worrying. I just hope the whole process of reinvestigation into climate change & the ETS is transparent and carried out with strong involvement of non-politicised scientists and thinkers. But alas it seems that the result is already determined.
