Helen Clark discusses sustainability
blogger was down when i wrote this a few days ago. then i forgot about it. thought i'd chuck it in just to throw it out there.
Helen Clark's sustainibility speech at the Labour conference seems to be stirring up some comment. I don't won't to be a kill joy but we've all seen the govt & The NZ Herald up in arms about some or other issue, it lasts for a few months and then dissapears without a trace. Off the top of my head we have an electricity crises or near crisis every winter, we had a knowledge wave that turned into a damp squib, a fart tax that got canned and next year is NZ Export Year (which says a lot about the priorities of a trading nation that we need to be reminded every now and again to hunt in bigger pastures). Will climate change be a stayer?
I'm thinking it might be, there is a lot of international awareness, especially in countries we're trying to sell stuff to. We've been caught on the back foot with respect to food miles in Europe and politically, i think there's a fair amount of community support for some kiwi ingenuity in shaping how we impact the planet.
The NZ Herald has a couple of op-ed's here and here (which i've lost), and once again, Fran O'Sullivan and John Armstrong hit a couple of nails on the head, especially the capacity Labour has to do anything big - we all remember the back-down over the 'fart' tax which should have been rammed through sans KY. It is a small start but could have provided the impetus for change 2 or 3 years ago (assuming it was either revenue neutral or dedicated to feebates/R&D).
Over at stuff NZ there's Rod Oram and he has some very pertinent things to say - especially regarding Fonterra's and Federated Farmers head-in-the-sand approach to dealing with problems.
Helen Clark's sustainibility speech at the Labour conference seems to be stirring up some comment. I don't won't to be a kill joy but we've all seen the govt & The NZ Herald up in arms about some or other issue, it lasts for a few months and then dissapears without a trace. Off the top of my head we have an electricity crises or near crisis every winter, we had a knowledge wave that turned into a damp squib, a fart tax that got canned and next year is NZ Export Year (which says a lot about the priorities of a trading nation that we need to be reminded every now and again to hunt in bigger pastures). Will climate change be a stayer?
I'm thinking it might be, there is a lot of international awareness, especially in countries we're trying to sell stuff to. We've been caught on the back foot with respect to food miles in Europe and politically, i think there's a fair amount of community support for some kiwi ingenuity in shaping how we impact the planet.
The NZ Herald has a couple of op-ed's here and here (which i've lost), and once again, Fran O'Sullivan and John Armstrong hit a couple of nails on the head, especially the capacity Labour has to do anything big - we all remember the back-down over the 'fart' tax which should have been rammed through sans KY. It is a small start but could have provided the impetus for change 2 or 3 years ago (assuming it was either revenue neutral or dedicated to feebates/R&D).
Over at stuff NZ there's Rod Oram and he has some very pertinent things to say - especially regarding Fonterra's and Federated Farmers head-in-the-sand approach to dealing with problems.
posted by Joe at 4:06 PM
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