The NZ government fiddles while the planet burns

I’m not sure how to react to reports like this. Of course this fascist government is fiddling while the planet burns. New Zealand is punching above its weight when it comes to destroying the planet.

But of course things have gone far beyond whether the government is cheating of the emissions trading scheme. The die is set, the horse has bolted and no ETS, or even carbon tax is going to help now.It is beyond too late.

I am far from being against positive action and perhaps the most positive action is to tell the TRUTH and prepare an ignorant population for climate catastrophe.

The government lies,lies and...lies.

Martyn Bradbury of the Daily Blog is one of the very few in this country who plays his role in telling truth to power.

Radio NZ is an important part of the problem and has NEVER had anything but bullshit to bring to the table.

While Paula Bennett fiddles, the planet burns

Martyn Bradbury

the Daily Blog,

18 April, 2016

Nothing sums up the utter denial we are in over climate change quite like sending a know-nothing- about-the-science-behind-climate-change Minister like Paula Bennett off to sign a pathetically weak agreement that does nothing real about global warming.

Paula, who says her ignorance in the portfolio isn’t a negative, will jet off to New York on a wave of self serving platitudes to make NZers feel like we are doing something meaningful on an issue National don’t want to confront.

If Paula Bennett is the answer, the question is ‘what imbecile will make the latest empty climate change agreement look even more vapid and meaningless’.

Every month now we are breaking heat records and if you wanted a glimpse at how meaningless the latest climate change agreements really are, take a look at the horrifying reality occurring before our eyes right now…

Summer-Like Temperatures Smash Ice Melt Records For Greenland

Blistering temperatures and rainfall over Greenland have jump-started the summer melt season weeks early. On Monday, a stunning 12 percent of Greenland’s massive ice sheet was melting — “smashing by a month the previous records of more than 10 percent of the ice sheet melting,” according to the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).

DMI scientists were “at first incredulous.” One DMI climate scientist said, “We had to check that our models were still working properly.” But in fact, temperatures over parts of Greenland this month have been measured as high as 17.8°C — a scorching 64°F.

“Even weather stations quite high up on the ice sheet observed very high temperatures on Monday,” explained Robert Fausto of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). At one “site at 1840 meters [1.1 miles] above sea level, we observed a maximum temperature of 3.1°C [37.6°F]. This would be a warm day in July, never mind April.”

…when the shit inevitably hits the fan and we start seeing rapid and catastrophic climate change, we should be ruthless with those who have done so little to prepare our nation.

And from Radio NZ

NZ accused of being a climate change cheat

New Zealand has been accused of cheating in the way it fights climate change.

Radio NZ,

18 April, 2016

The accusation comes in a report written for the Morgan Foundation of millionaire philanthropist Gareth Morgan.

The Emissions Trading Scheme is supposed to make people and companies that emit greenhouse gases pay money to those that absorb greenhouse gases, such as forestry companies whose growing trees soak up CO2.

But the report, written by Geoff Simmons and Paul Young, says the New Zealand scheme is a fake.

In a caustic foreword to the report, Gareth Morgan wrote "we are, without doubt, chats".

The report said New Zealand's real greenhouse gas emissions have gone up since 1990, which was the date they were supposed to start coming down from. But New Zealand could get away with raising its emissions here by paying money to other countries where emissions were actually being reduced.

The trouble is, the report argues, emissions reductions in other countries were sometimes more apparent than real, and in some cases downright fraudulent.

"One type of credit (the Emission Reduction Unit) was overcome by fraud and corruption in Ukraine and Russia," the report said.

"Virtually all of the credits issued by these countries are 'hot air' - they do not represent true emissions reductions."

-"The main thing we need to do right now is put these junk credits where they belong, which is in the bin"- Geoff Simmons on Morning Repor

The report said New Zealand was proportionately by far the largest purchaser of these Ukrainian and Russian credit.

"This was due to deliberate decisions by the National-led Government to - unlike any other country - continue allowing unlimited use of these and other foreign credits for as long as the international community let us.

"Our Government now plans to knowingly utilise all these fraudulent credits so it can claim we are meeting our international obligations through to at least 2020. Meanwhile our actual emissions continue to grow in excess of our targets."

The government has recently banned the purchase of these credit.

But the surplus built up earlier as a result of the purchases is allowed to be carried forward.

This enables the government to claim that it will meet its targets for 2020, irrespective of greenhouse gases being poured into the atmosphere every day.

The way the scheme operated was faulted for two other reasons.

One was that the rush of cheap credits pulled the price of carbon down so low there was no incentive for people to plant trees.

Second, smart people have been able to use the system to make large amounts of money overnight via arbitrage, instead of using it to improve the environment.