Hard News: Be the party of good science
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Good point. This morning's Dom Post story is considerably more equivocal. It's hard to know quite what's going on with this deal.
That'll show me for taking a Herald article at face value.
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Okay, I just realised that things could get even worse than I thought.
Not only does the ETS subisidise 90% of costs of emissions that farmers cause the country, it is increasingly subsidising a dairy industry that is increasingly using palm kernel. It currently makes up one percent of the feed of cattle, but it is very rapidly increasing. If things continue as normal (and the Prime Minister has said that he's comfortable with it and will not stop it), it could make up a significant part within a decade. There is no reason to think that the dairy industry will remain a grass fed one.
This kernel comes from the deforestation of Asia's last remaining large rainforests. The scale of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia is huge. It is beyond belief. We will be subsidising not only emissions, making them vastly cheaper for farmers than they would otherwise be, but also subsidising the destruction of the forests the world so desperately needs. You and I and every other person in New Zealand will be paying hundreds of dollars a year in tax to this industry.
Somehow, I hope this madness can be stopped.
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In the absence of a better place for it, this is scary. Not entirely sure where it sits in terms of getting into the law, but the faintest possibility of councils being allowed to toll roads without Ministerial approval, not to mention removing minimum water quality standards, is just too terrifying for words.
How the hell did we reach the point where people even suggest this shit?
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Saw this today: China Tells The World It Won't Keep Temperatures From Rising More Than 2C
An adviser for the Chinese government came out today and said the obvious: There's no way the country will be able to keep its emissions in check, and yes, the temperature will rise above the dreaded 2 degree centigrade marker.
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How the hell did we reach the point where people even suggest this shit?
Citizens keep voting them back in. That's all the encouragement they need.
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Sigh.
How blocks of cheese will we be paying for? One, every week. Turns out the analogy wasn't so far off after all.
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Citizens keep voting them back in. That's all the encouragement they need.
no one voted for SOLGM.
from the press release:a range of controversial miscellaneous amendments on the Local Government act 2002, proposed by SOLGM (New Zealand Society of Local Government Managers). SOLGM is the professional organisation for Chief Executives and senior managers in local government.
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"Reviewing and lowering drinking water standards
· Permitting local authorities to restrict water supply for unpaid water rates"
As per Matthew: Just... Why? Why even consider this??
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no one voted for SOLGM
Quite. But they have to get agreement from elected members before any idea is implemented - well, usually. You can see some of the motivation for a strengthened Mayoral function in the new Auckland Council.
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the nice people at SOLGM are pushing for an array of changes to the Local Government Act. luckily, C&R do not get to pass amendments to the LGA. unluckily, Hide is the minister, so maybe SOLGM see this as their big opportunity to instigate another 80s/90s-style "revolution".
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Help! And sorry to change topic but geography is science too, ain't it? My husband is backing Michael Laws re the spelling of the unfortunate town which has him as mayor. How do I argue that a referendum engineered (?) by a one-track minded mayor is not really democracy?
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Pattrick Smellie offers a concise and lucid summary of the latest politics of our ill-fated ETS. Recommended read.
The ETS is a fearsomely complex solution compared with a carbon tax, and only justifiable if it fosters the behavioural change that would lower carbon emissions. If it won’t do that, it is unlikely to survive a fairness test once citizens get their heads around how this deal lets big emitting industry off the hook while requiring the country to buy carbon credits wherever it can get them.
And if every country behaves as New Zealand has this week, sliding into weak, compromised climate change responses for short term political reasons, those credits are going to be hard to come by, which is going to make them expensive.
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Brian Fallow's piece from Thursday is admirably clear too.
The deal struck this week between the Government and the Maori Party on emissions trading writes a large post-dated cheque on the account of the New Zealand taxpayer.
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@Cecelia :
Sorry, I don't have a strong argument for you.Pure democracy is nothing more than mob rule. The majority gets what it thinks it wants, and minorities do not.
We live under a representational democracy, where our elected representatives make decisions on our behalf for the good of all citizens. (Well that is how it is supposed to work ...).
California is a good counter example - if the majority had their way they would probably ban taxes and rates, and then get really upset when they would have to pay the true cost for doctors, schools, roads, garbage collection, etc.
HTH.
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