Category: Environmentalism
For those New Zealanders concerned about the relentless rise in the price of power, the New Zealand Energy Strategy, released last month by the National-led government, offers little hope of relief.[1] The strategy is a complex mix of common sense and green ideology. On the one hand there is a strong emphasis on utilising New Zealand’s natural minerals and fuel resources to drive energy security and economic growth. That can only be good for the country. But on the other hand, much of the report could have been the work of a Labour-Green government with its green mantra of sustainability and its overarching focus on extreme environmentalism.
The latest New Zealand Energy Strategy is a strange mixture of pragmatism, ignorance, unachievable aspirations and disregards our biggest energy resource. The policy on oil and gas is sensible and admirable. Anything that encourages exploration and development of these resources can only be applauded. But maintaining a strategy for 90% renewable energy–which, technically, is virtually unachievable–really demonstrates an ignorance of the fundamentals of so-called “climate change".
To those of you who have experienced difficulties with our New Zealand Centre for Political Research website at www.nzcpr.com over the last few weeks, our apologies for any inconvenience caused. The technical problems with the server that hosts our NZCPR website have now been resolved by our ISP, and the full functionality of the website has been restored. However, the difficulties we experienced have highlighted the fact that the NZCPR website has outgrown our current technology platform - and the server.
Lord Christopher Monckton, a former policy adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and one of the world’s leading climate change realists, has been visiting New Zealand reminding audiences that the world’s climate is not in the grip of catastrophic man-made global warming - as alarmists would like us to believe – but is instead continuing to change within the bounds of natural variability as it has always done. He warned that attempts by politicians and bureaucrats to control the climate through complex and expensive emissions trading schemes are a futile waste of time and money. He reiterated that because climate science is not settled - with new discoveries on the impact of oceans, volcanoes, sunspots and other natural phenomena on the climate emerging almost daily - the public should strongly reject all attempts by politicians and bureaucrats to impose controls aimed at saving us from ourselves.
There is no doubt that New Zealand is being subjected, more than ever before, to radical forces from within. Previously we - the silent majority - quite rightly relied upon our elected politicians to do the talking and keep the radicals at bay, so that the wishes of the majority of citizens were respected. Unfortunately, however, we now live in a new political environment where the radical elements in our society – those that used to be confined to the fringes of New Zealand politics - are now firmly ensconced on the crossbenches holding the balance of power.
There is an old adage that observes that if you want the same result, just keep on doing the same things. The loss of the famed Jewelled Gecko to wild life smugglers continues unabated from the Otago Peninsula and no doubt - else where. In fact they (the Geckos) are no sooner returned by Customs and DoC to their “natural” surroundings when some other foreign or indigenous scoundrel nicks them again.
For generations of Kiwi families, once the children arrived, so too did the dreams of a house and a bit of land in the country. Five or ten acre lots were ideal – they provided tons of space for the kids, room for a pony, a few steers, some sheep, chooks and a pig, as well as a big veggie garden and an orchard. In addition, of course, the house would have a garage, maybe even a sleep-out, and with luck, one or more sheds for dad.
The Government’s RMA (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 came into force on 1st October 2009.
The madness of the Government’s new carbon tax is that New Zealanders will be the only people in the world paying it. It will drive up the costs of living and undermine the competitiveness of New Zealand business for negligible environmental gain. A further concern is its impact on inflation, interest rates and the exchange rate. It will add to the costs of fuel and power and these flow right through the economy to basics like food. This puts pressure on inflation, which in turn drives up interest rates and the kiwi dollar. The Government’s carbon tax is a classic example of the way the Government is making things tougher for the productive exporting sector. The worst aspect of the carbon tax is that it will not make one iota of difference to New Zealand’s emissions. Nick Smith 2005
Calls are mounting for the next phase of the government’s emissions trading scheme, due to commence on 1 July 2010, to be deferred. There are strong arguments for a temporary suspension of the scheme.
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