Today I spotted a couple of items in the media that are a timely reminder that urgent action on climate really is needed and that New Zealand has to play its part.
The first thing I noticed was an article in the Independent, a UK newspaper warning that the world’s currently headed to 6 degrees of global warming by the end of this century and outlining what it might look like. It's a frightening prospect but a timely reminder of what is at stake. Read it and at the same time think about the Government's handwringing and the complaints of New Zealand's big polluters like Fonterra.
The second thing I noticed was this discussion in the Otago Daily Times where researchers from Otago University list a group of countries whose greenhouse gas pollution added together is less than the total of New Zealand's emissions.
The truly astonishing point in this article is that 420 million people on the planet emit in total less than approximately 4.3 million New Zealanders.
That certainly puts New Zealand's high per capita emissions into perspective. One way to look at it is that if New Zealand cut its emissions by just 1% from today's levels would have the same impact on the climate as if a population the size of New Zealand from the countries listed were relocated to another planet.
Meeting the Sign On target of cutting New Zealand's emissions to 40% below 1990 levels would have the same effect on the climate as if a majority of the 420 million people in the countries listed by the ODT relocated to another planet.
Meanwhile our Government continues to argue special treatment.