A response to the NZ Ministry of the Environment and the IPCC

See this in conjunction with Multi-no-choice – National’s Idea of Climate Consultation

Tell it how things are

Kevin Hester presents to the Ministry of the Environment “presentation”

My oral presentation to the Ministry of the Environment at the 5 star Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland tonight. Why was this held in a 5 star hotel when we have numerous universities near by with great lecture theatres. Waste of money if you ask me?

Note to self when speaking publicly to have a flash card with bullet points to cover. I didn't mention the melting permafrost and methane as I had intended nor did I mention the loss of 40% of the phyto-plankton in the last 2 decades as I had wanted.

Two dominant themes that kept reoccuring were the lack of true leadership from our politicians and a total lack of bi-partisan support for a constructive policy.

I deliberately used Malcolm Light's expression that we are in the midst of a planetary emergency. The video starts just after I mentioned the breaking news from The Guardian yesterday that both Shell and the International Energy Agency have been communicating internally that we are looking at 4.75C in the short term and 6C in the future. This will be a ball breaker for the IPCC and any nation state to quote the ridiculous 2C target. I could have done a lot better than I did.

Go HERE to hear Kevin's presentation

Comments from Barry Coates

For those attending consultations over the next few days, it would be really helpful to reiterate the points about the process. We must not allow these consultations to be used as a way to legitimise government inaction on climate change. We need transparency and accountability from civil servants over the outcome of the consultations and submissions, from their research, analysis and advice to Ministers. as civil servants, they have an obligation to be objective and not just tell the Minister what she or he wants to hear. And we need the Ministry of the Environment to show that they actually care about the environment, not just money.

One of the crucial flaws arises from the ridiculous financial modelling exercise in the consultation document. It says climate change action will cost the economy and households money and quantifies that as a form of scare tactic. But it ignores all of other costs and benefits - the costs of climate impacts, the costs to future generations, the costs to vulnerable communities in the Pacific and elsewhere - the co-benefits from taking action on the environment (better health from walking and cycling, and warm dry homes, liveable cities, etc), the business opportunities from the huge growth in clean technology, the huge economic value of NZ's international reputation, as well as the non-monetary values like biodiversity, humanitarian suffering of those bearing climate impacts, the disproportionate impact on low income households, and the pride that we have in being New Zealanders who can lead the world in doing what is right. Junk the modelling.

I hope you will all prepare submissions and encourage others to do so. The climate movement is building. We have more power than we realise. quake, although there were tsunami deposits around Cook Strait, at Abel Tasman and on Kapiti Island about the same time as that event, researchers said.

Lead researcher Dr Kate Clark, of GNS Science, said the findings did not greatly change the actual level of risk to people in central New Zealand.

The National Seismic Hazard Model used a recurrence interval of 550 to 1000 years for a magnitude 8.1-8.4 quake but the researchers had found an actual interval of about 350 years between the two quakes

1

wink emoticon

wink

i