Last night we joined around 70 people from as far afield as Wanaka, Cromwell and Lumsden at the Queenstown climate change target consultation meeting. For many of those in attendance this was a rare opportunity; as Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes said, they would usually have to travel to Invercargill or Dunedin for the chance to tell their government their views. So for me the most uplifting thing about the night was seeing this community seizing the chance to stand up and be counted. Each and every person who wanted the chance to speak - ranging from a retired agricultural scientist to an 11-year-old enviro-school student - was given it and all credit to Climate Change Minister Nick Smith, he responded to each and every statement and question.
That aside, the meeting was a divided affair; when our friends from Sustainable Business Wanaka asked those who supported a 10% by 2020 target, 90% of the crowd was on it’s feet, but as they asked who would support a 20, 30 and finally 40% target many people sat down; Nick Smith looked very relieved at this point, and I imagine he was thinking ‘thank god this bit’s gone my way for once’.
Then our friends asked a fifth question; “Please keep standing if you a willing to commit to actively supporting this by making changes in your own lives and they way you do business and will do what needs to be done for Aotearoa to achieve this goal”. Everyone kept standing. Then a couple of people who had sat down at 10, 20 or 30% stood up again and within moments most of the room was back on its feet.
It isn’t lack of will that’s keeping this community from getting behind strong, meaningful, targets, but rather a lack of understanding of the fact that there are solutions that can strengthen rather than cripple our economy. A lot of the questions asked were of a practical nature; how long does Methane stay in the atmosphere? How effective are nitrate inhibitors on different types of soil? How could New Zealand make use of carbon capture technology? Nick Smith spent a lot of time addressing these points but this effectively obscured the solutions when what we need is for the government to clarify them. At one point he even ridiculed the Sign On campaign without any provocation, saying that 100% renewable energy would be impossible and that reducing the number of cows per hectare would be crippling for our dairy farming economy. The fact is that these are good, practical ideas but by mentioning them out of context Nick Smith seemed to be both dismissing those of us who have signed on because we know they make sense and avoiding responsibility for implementing them.