Sarah Dowie's Climate Spin

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Invercargill's National MP, Sarah Dowie responded to a letter to the paper from P Burrows who had criticised the Government's record on climate change. Here are some quotes from Dowie's letter that was pure spin:

"This Government is committed to act on climate change which is why we're continuing with the ETS and why we've set a target to reduce greenhouses gas emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030."

"We believe the target is fair and ambitious."

"We've taken a balanced approach to setting the target without adding unreasonable costs to NZ households"

This is my response published today: 

MP Sarah Dowie’s letter (November 19) to The Southland Times was clearly an attempt to hide the dirty reality of her Government’s shameful record regarding climate change.

Most European countries are already on track to make a 30% reduction in emissions by 2030 (from the 1990 base line) and they have a goal to lift that to 40%. New Zealand is taking a tiny 11% reduction target to Paris from the same base line and is already being ridiculed for it by international science communities.

The global annual average for greenhouse gas emissions per capita is around 8 tonnes and at 17 tonnes per capita New Zealanders are amongst the highest emitters in the world. We should be doing our share.

Over the last seven years little has been spent on preparing our country for a low emission future, while billions have gone into subsidising and growing polluting industries:
  • The Emissions Trading Scheme was weakened and polluting industries subsidised.
  • Forests have been converted to dairy farms.
  • Conservation areas and our territorial waters have been opened up for gas and oil exploration.
  • New coal mines are being supported.
  • $12 billion is being spent on new motorways.
  • The electric locomotives on the North Island main trunk are being replaced with Chinese diesel ones.
Green technology has a fast growing global market and yet our Government has both feet firmly planted in the fossil fueled past.

Join our November 28 People’s Climate March at 11am (Cnr of Nith and Forth). We will have speakers representing our youth who will have the most to lose from climate inaction.

Comments

Ed Cake said…
this is right. National is quite staggeringly stupid, reactionary and above all unbusinesslike.
November 21, 2015 at 11:18 AM
Dave Kennedy said…
I should say, Ed, that Dowie did list a number of initiatives, like insulating homes, that will have a positive impact but I fully agree with you that overall their approach is appallingly shortsighted and unbusinesslike. Green industries are growing at a similar rate to divestment from fossil fuel industries and yet the Government is still investing in the latter. They didn't learn from the collapse of Solid Energy.

November 21, 2015 at 11:39 AM
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