Fear is a natural survival instinct and arguably more motivating than logic and reason. It can also be used to great effect to shift the mindset of communities and nations.
While such manipulation is, of course, not uncommon, what is surprising is how blind societies are to recognising when fear is being used as a tool for political persuasion.
We recently saw this in the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic when the Prime Minister used alarmist computer modelling to justify her “Captain’s Call” to lock the country down.
Claiming “tens of thousands of New Zealanders” could die, the PM rejected Ministry of Health advice to stay at Level 2 for 30 days, and imposed what we now know to be the most stringent policy response in the world.
Instead of relying on cost benefit analyses and regulatory impact statements from trusted government agencies to inform her decisions, the PM chose inaccurate computer models that grossly exaggerated the number of deaths.
It has now been revealed that the modelling she relied on did not take into account the contact testing and tracing that was central to the health response being implemented by Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the Director General of Health.
The explosion of predicted deaths that resulted, was then used by the PM to scare the country into accepting her hard-line lockdown.
This is not the first time the Prime Minister has used scaremongering to force her policy agenda onto the country. Her whole response to climate change has been based on fear.
Climate change is, of course, a natural process influenced by a wide range of factors including the sun, clouds, and ocean currents. Throughout history, the Earth’s climate has been far hotter than it is today and far colder. Sea levels have been far higher and far lower. Carbon dioxide – the trace gas used by plants to make food – has existed at far higher atmospheric concentrations and far lower.
But the United Nations’ climate models that are being used to redefine economic policy around the world, only focus on the minuscule proportion of carbon emissions produced by humans. In doing so, they disregard not only the 97 percent of carbon dioxide from natural sources, but also the overwhelming influence that other crucial factors such as the sun have on the climate.
These alarmist models, which blame climate change on humans, are being used by politicians – including our Prime Minister – to implement the UN’s socialist agenda: state control of all economic activity through the regulation of carbon emissions.
Fortunately, most scams motivated by scaremongering are eventually exposed – often by the very people who pioneered the movements before they were captured by political extremists.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator Michael Shellenberger is a leading American climate activist, who, having promoted global warming propaganda for almost three decades, has decided to stop the lies:
“On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years. Climate change is happening. It’s just not the end of the world. It’s not even our most serious environmental problem.
“Here are some facts few people know: Humans are not causing a ‘sixth mass extinction’; Climate change is not making natural disasters worse; Netherlands became rich not poor while adapting to life below sea level; Habitat loss and the direct killing of wild animals are bigger threats to species than climate change; Wood fuel is far worse for people and wildlife than fossil fuels…
“I know that the above facts will sound like ‘climate denialism’ to many people. But that just shows the power of climate alarmism.”
Michael Shellenberger explains how difficult it has been to speak out against the climate scare:
“I was embarrassed. After all, I am as guilty of alarmism as any other environmentalist. For years, I referred to climate change as an ‘existential’ threat to human civilization, and called it a ‘crisis’.
“But mostly I was scared. I remained quiet about the climate disinformation campaign because I was afraid of losing friends and funding. The few times I summoned the courage to defend climate science from those who misrepresent it I suffered harsh consequences. And so I mostly stood by and did next to nothing as my fellow environmentalists terrified the public…
“But then, last year, things spiralled out of control. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said ‘The world is going to end in twelve years if we don’t address climate change.’ Britain’s most high-profile environmental group claimed ‘Climate Change Kills Children…
“As a result, half of the people surveyed around the world last year said they thought climate change would make humanity extinct. And in January, one out of five British children told pollsters they were having nightmares about climate change. Whether or not you have children you must see how wrong this is. I admit I may be sensitive because I have a teenage daughter. After we talked about the science she was reassured. But her friends are deeply misinformed and thus, understandably, frightened. I thus decided I had to speak out.”
While Michael Shellenberger deserves credit for speaking out and exposing the misrepresentation, those activists who lie who should be held to account – particularly by the media. It is therefore regrettable that so many in the media have decided their interests are better served by aligning with the popularists, rather than adhering to the bedrock values of their profession.
Prime amongst New Zealand’s serial alarmists is the Green Party’s Climate Change Minister James Shaw. Not only does he knowingly describe carbon dioxide, the cornerstone of life on earth, as a “pollutant”, but he also continues to claim that as a result of climate change, adverse weather events are getting worse, which is another alarmist fabrication that is simply untrue.
But as the late Stephen Schneider, a Stanford University Professor who had been a lead author for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change explained, for advocates of climate alarmism the truth is not a priority: “…we need to get some broad based support, to capture the public’s imagination. That entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.”
Fearmongering, of course, has been an effective tool to manipulate the public throughout history.
The myth that population growth will deplete food and resources, and ultimately destroy the planet, can be traced back to the writing of the Reverend Thomas Malthus in 1798.
These idea gained unprecedented traction following the 1968 release of The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich, an entomologist at Stanford University. The book incited such fear of overpopulation that it triggered waves of repression around the world.
The facts, however, tell a different story. Population growth has been slowing for more than three decades. Forty years ago, while the average woman had between five and six children to ensure the survival of the next generation, she now has between two and three. Women are having fewer children because better healthcare means that most babies now live to grow up. As a result, half of the world is already below the long-term replacement level.
Concerns over ‘peak oil’ have also been in and out of vogue over recent decades. Driven by the theory that the world would run out of oil, the reality is that rather than resource depletion, scarcity has been the result of geopolitical disruption.
The Club of Rome, an Italian-based think tank established in 1965, investigated resource scarcity in their highly influential book The Limits to Growth. Using computer modelling, they forecast apocalyptic economic and environmental disaster.
Ironically, it has now become clear that, contrary to what they were predicting, the best way to improve humanity and the environment is through more growth, not less. As countries improve their living standards, so too they improve social, economic and environmental wellbeing. It is the resourcefulness of free markets to innovate and maximise the efficient use of resources that results in a progressive improvement in living standards.
What is also bizarre is that while in the 1970s climate computer models predicted that the burning of fossil fuels would trigger another ice age, nowadays they are claiming the exact opposite – that the burning of fossil fuels will cause the planet to dangerously overheat.
This contradiction has not stopped our politicians – with fossil fuels identified as the villain, their policy response of an increasing carbon levy, has effectively imposed socialist state control over all economic activity.
When the Prime Minister and Climate Change Minister introduced their Zero Carbon Act last year, they boasted about imposing the harshest restrictions on carbon emissions of any country in the world. Then last month, they amended the Emissions Trading Scheme to cap carbon emissions, causing the price of carbon to jump from around $25 a tonne to $33.
At $25, New Zealanders were paying an ETS levy of around 4c for every litre of petrol they bought. At $33, the levy is now around 7 cents a litre, and at $35, it will be around 9c a litre. Such price hikes will flow right through the economy, increasing the cost of living.
The Climate Change Minister expects carbon prices will go much higher.
Meanwhile the carbon price rise has had a major impact on vegetable affordability, especially tomatoes. With hothouses no longer economical in some areas, local growers are being forced to close. As a result, New Zealanders will see an increase in produce imported from countries with no carbon costs.
With the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change specifying that measures introduced to enable countries to meet their carbon targets must not reduce food production, Minister Shaw is clearly breaking the rules.
Governments can only get away with imposing socialist control under the guise of climate change because of their scaremongering. By endlessly claiming that burning fossil fuels is causing dangerous global warming, they promote renewable energy as the only sustainable alternative.
In a controversial new film, Planet of the Humans, which climate activists have tried to ban, filmmaker Michael Moore provides a devastating indictment of the renewable energy scam, explaining it is not clean, green, nor sustainable, but is more destructive than the energy sources it seeks to replace.
The film shows how wind, solar and biofuel projects destroy wildlife habitats, rare and endangered species, and millions of acres of forests, deserts and grasslands.
It exposes bogus claims about the benefits of renewable energy and explains that electricity for a small city of 50,000 households requires 15 square miles of solar panels, along with wind turbines, and a huge array of batteries – or a coal or gas power plant – for nights and cloudy days.
Paul Driessen, a senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, reviewed the film and describes the turbines: “Each one is comprised of nearly 5,000,000 pounds of concrete, steel, aluminum, copper, plastic, cobalt, rare earths, fiberglass and other materials. Every step in the mining, processing, manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance and (20 years later) removal process requires fossil fuels. It bears repeating: wind and sun are renewable and sustainable; harnessing them for energy to benefit mankind absolutely is not.”
While some of the film’s conclusions are questionable, Michael Moore raises concerns about the merits of alternative energy that alarmists have conveniently ignored: “We’re basically being fed a lie.” Maybe we’d be “better off just burning fossil fuels in the first place,” than doing all of this.
Although dissenting voices are not yet dominating the debate about climate alarmism, there is enough concern for political leaders to stop the headlong rush into policy extremism and exercise some common sense judgement.
With New Zealand already struggling to recover from the harsh lockdown, the last thing this country needs is climate policy based on scaremongering to undermine our fragile economic recovery.
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Should the Government put New Zealand’s climate response on hold?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Put it on hold? Dump it completely. Is treason still a capital crime? | Hugh |
| then get rid of it all together. | Trev |
| It’s a step to halt this absolute scam | STEWART |
| The politicians are corrupt. | Dave |
| It is the Global Sham. | Roy |
| What an interesting story from Dr. Newman this week. Thank you. Yes it is time to put Climate Change away for the time being and concentrate on our election. With NZ First desperately trying to remove itself from Labour and especially the Greens in order to survive, it is time to tell Winston that you only have yourself to blame. You cannot be trusted. The electorate needs to focus solely on the frightening amount of money Labour is borrowing, the fact that every week sees more being poured into strange unplanned projects with no for-thought as to whether it does the country any good. Just one example of waste is the half billion spent on entertaining incoming passengers in 5 star accommodation at our expense. Surely if you want to enter NZ, paying for your isolation is just part of the price of your travel. If you can’t afford the ticket and isolation then save up or borrow like any other item you want to purchase. Typical socialist policy to expect the taxpayer to pick up the tab. A National Government is the only body able to rescue the country from financial ruin as they have done twice in the last dozen years with the financial crisis followed by the earthquakes accomplished without bankrupting the country. Sure, the cost of insurance is bad news but that is not the same as a Labour Government throwing money at their fancy schemes to keep themselves in power for three more years. | Chris |
| Our Zero Carbon Act is based upon false “science”, Lies, half truths and exaggerations (surprisingly – not that different to the COVID-!9 “crisis”). How any thinking person could continue to accept an unproven hypothesis that will, by the governments own calculations, reduce our GDP by 20% over the next 30 years, whilst trying to repay the largest unwarranted debt that New Zealand has ever faced I find astonishing. Miss Ardern and her sycophant Mr Shaw have done a wonderful job of scaremongering and alarmism, raising belief in their cause to that of a religion. Herr Goebbels would have been proud of their endeavours. It may be bordering on conspiracy thinking, but Comrade Ardern’s stint as President of the International Union of Socialist Youth must feature prominently in her motivation in the disastrous “Captain’s call” she has made. To continue her near religious belief that anthropogenic reasons are the cause of Global Warming whist moving the economy so that the middle class join the lower class as dependents of the state borders on treason. It certainly advances her and Mr Shaw’s timetable for a marxist iconic state. Apart from the fact that the Zero Carbon Act is based upon lies, racial privilege, exaggerations and non-scientific theories, it should be cancelled until such time as the COVID-19 debt is repaid without the introduction of productivity reducing taxes and levies. | Michael |
| Climate alarmism is a total scam. Its promoters and practitioners are guilty of crimes against humanity. | Allan |
| Yes, but also permanently cancel and reverse any climate change policies, taxes and subsidies. | Elizabeth |
| There is no climate crisis. | Margaret |
| Climate change is a natural part of the earth’s cycle. Humans are not contributing that much to it | Michelle |
| It should cancel it all together. | Brooke |
| It is imperative that the Greens are put out of Parliament forever at this election. Their false, ruinous carbon policies are causing destructive results in many farming and horticulture livelihoods. The robotic J. Shaw never shows up in the leadership political polls as he is no leader. Along with Comrade Ardern they are causing great harm to our country with their Marxist policies and we are in for a fight for our lives to preserve our Western civilization. | Monica |
| How do these people think steel and all the other alloys are manufactured no paint as we know it with out any petroleum by products, no natural gas to power the power stations. | Arthur |
| Yes, get rid of any notion humans can control the climate. Follow the money, there is always some one or some group that stands to gain either financially or in power over these scams. It will not be the people of New Zealand. It is sad there are so many gullible Governments/people. outside | Sam |
| Climate Change is a United Nations (UN) Scam, to get countries to pay large funds to them. Only God can change the climate on earth, as he has done for thousands of years !! | Pierre |
| Absolutely. Any one the says “NO” should read “Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout” by Patrick Moore, one of the originators of the Greenpeace Movement and he backs up every statement in the book by naming the scientific paper or work that it came from. So-Called “Climate change believers” if they read it would have great difficulty hanging on to their beliefs which only show how stupid they are | Garry |
| I have been an opponent of this climate change bullshit for at least 20 years and have read more than most on the subject and agree wholeheartedly with your article. By adding considerably to the cost of living now, it will turn NZ’s middle class into the poor class in the very near future. It seem Donald Trump is the only leader that can see this scam and stand against it. | Murray |
| Taxinda: Before you impoverish us all with so called climate change, show me the science! | Clive |
| a waste of money and achieves nothing. | Gerhard |
| Alarmist misinformation is no less than lying, deliberately! | Rex |
| The country is in enough trouble at the moment | Geoff |
| As Dr Jock Allison recently presented in a scientific analysis of real data to do with the climate, doing nothing is a very good option compared to adopting policies that will distort NZ’s economy for no measurable benefit to anything except to those who are able to capitalise on an inflating carbon trading market at the expense especially of the poor, not to mention our amazing food production sectors. | Jim |
| There are more important issues we as a country have to deal with. | Ido |
| The scaremongering socialists are influencing all young people and children with the misrepresentation of climate change. | Chris |
| Absolutely. This is surely a no brainer and common sense although the latter was something that died years ago!! | David |
| That is common sense. | John |
| So many lies purported as truth | John |
| Perhaps there are elements of improvement that can be made to efficiency if the cost is similar to a return to past sourcing or production? | Garth |
| Whilst there is no need to panic or over-react, as seems to be the case currently, it is sensible to implement ways to reduce all pollution without placing unnecessary constraints on people or the economy. | Gary |
| they are ignorant of the facts. | Judith |
| Very Definitely | Richard |
| Govt policy should focus on disposal and reduction of refuse and waste, not on pixie dust items like carbon tax and carbon dioxide reduction | David |
| Carbon is not the enemy ignorant politicians are | Nick |
| 3% DUE TO HUMANS 97% as a result of Natural causes and has most likely always been that way. Dump the Carbon threat, let the trees suck it up. | COLIN |
| Blatant and unaffordable Reds/Labour virtue signalling at enormous cost to NZ (disappointingly supported also by the Nats), definitely in need of ‘resetting’ at first available opportunity. | Tony |
| Anthropogenic Global Warming is the biggest scam known to mankind | Michael |
| This climate change farce needs to join the rest of this Labor govt’s Marxist fantasies in the first available incinerator … preferably a coal-fired one that will help keep the lights on and heater running | Steve |
| King Canute was unable to stop the tide coming in. Humans are slow learners | Richard |
| I remain of the opinion that anthropomorphic climate change is the biggest scam in history bar none. | igor |
| This is a colossal Green scam. It is the only issue which keeps their political pulse active. Scare tactics all based on fake “science”. Ditch the lot! | Philip |
| It should abandon permanently any of these “Green” false commitments | Tom |
| NZ can’t afford not to | Bryan |
| The socialist government is following the “Climate Cult.” The Climate Cult uses Theories and Hypothesis to create political argument that will de-industrialise western democracies. It is reasonable to demand Quantitative Evidence prior to forcing millions into poverty and despair due to the shut-down of industries and the removal of daily used, household products. Quantitative Evidence has not been established! SOME 6,000 EVERYDAY PRODUCTS THAT WE USE ARE MADE FROM OIL AND THE MAJORITY OF THESE PRODUCTS CONTAIN ONE OR MORE POLLUTANTS MADE FROM THE REFINING OF PETROLEUM OR GAS OR THE COMBUSTION OF FOSSIL FUELS. The three largest gases in our atmosphere; Nitrogen Oxygen and Argon make up 99.96% of the atmosphere. Thus, the remaining gases are Microscopic, including Carbon-Dioxide and Methane. Mankind’s production of CO2 is 0.0018% or 1/1, 000th of 1% and 0.00001% or 1/100,000th of 1% for Methane. Earth’s atmosphere (Troposphere) is 5,000 Trillion Tonnes of Mass. The saying; ‘You may as well p** in the ocean’ would seem appropriate for those that fear the destruction of the Planet is imminent! As number crunching Technocrats we have identified five fatal flaws in the Climate Cult Theories. One of them is portrayed here. The remainder are available in a 30 minute Power Point Presentation as delivered to the (Deleted) Society and that is freely offered to any non-socialist group …. | Frederick |
| Such a load of bollocks Makes me very angry | Caroline |
| View planet of the human to see some reality in the debate | Alan |
| There is absolutely no need for a climate response. Climate change has been going on since time began with very few if any problems for this planet, which it must be said has done a pretty good job of looking after itself forever. I’m well into my eighties and I have seen a lot of change in the climate, but I have never seen anything which should be used to frighten children. The lowlifes who perpetuate this garbage should all be locked up. | Jim |
| It will be the ruination of N Z | PETER |
| Its a rort. | Sheena |
| No only put it on hold – Dump it! We can put in place and action initiatives to support our own environment without financing external entities with dubious intent and no accountability. | Bruce C |
| for ever. not just on hold | barry |
| Enough of the alarmism BS coming from Wellington. | Donald |
| How is we employ such a bunch of low-wits, who can be duped so readily into the fallacy of man made climate change, to run our country? | Ross |
| It is time we all become aware that it is all false information we are being fed and this Labour and Green coalition are feeding the frenzy and withholding the facts. as well. | Fraser |
| we need economy before climate – lets get country going before is to late | Beth |
| Go to policy is not just about carbon. It is about cleaning conserving water, cleaning our rubbish, cleaning what we breathe etc. Your question is therefore inappropriate . I vote no. | Minnie |
| Absolutely! And make that for ever. | Ron |
| This Labour government have gone too far. Bring on the election NOW… | Carl |
| The entire system of carbon credits and emissions trading is load of bollocks. We should be promoting the use of gas as a fuel to replace coal burners – not because of CO2 emissions, but general pollutants. Pollution is the big issue, not CO2 emissions. | Dave |
| Go sort out the “Rainforest degradation” around the world before stuffing up NZ | Tom |
| the world wide climate issues , cannot be solved unless every county works towards the same goal , and this will never happen ,so whatever naive expectations Labour has , are in fact a huge achillies heal to NZ financially . So they are dreaming again ; and once again , not dealing with real life facts .They really have to be voted out !! | Roy |
| All boils down to us paying more tax just calling it by another name. | Lyn |
| Yes climate change is absolute non sense, there is only one in control of climate and that is the Creator of the earth. | Theo |
| Not only on hold but officially exposed for the fraud it is. | Stephen |
| It should be sidelined until the whole truth about climate change has been fully exposed. | Colin |
| As it is a load of Rubbish | Colin |
| It’s all bullshit | ian |
| Climate response to what? Climate cycles are a natural phenomenon that have been around for ever. | Kris |
| Its been overstated for a long time. Over population is the real challenge. | Hugh |
| eded for good plant growth | Ian |
| Anything this government does is bollocks and should not be trusted. | Richard |
| National signed the Paris accord, then ratified the zero carbon bill. Only New Conservative have policies opposing both. Fear tactics are the only guarantee that the U.N have, to ensure the implementation of their New World Order. | A.G.R. |
| And it should resign as well | William |
| Anthropogenic climate change is a con. Follow the money and you find the carbon credit traders skimming billions of dollars in trader fees on the trades, and these are the people behind the propoganda, as well as UN who want power of control | Bruce |
| and repeal the associated legislation, withdraw from associated treaties etc. | alan |
| Jacinda and her followers are constantly guilty of terminological inexactitudes and I for one am sick of it. | Paloma |
| should be put on permanent hold but really should be scrapped for good as it only started with that liar yank politician and now carried on by the lunatic swedish child and the parasites that call themselfs ministers in our soon to be oustered govt | Richard |
| Climate change protagonists live on and create a sense of fear to promote their agenda. I do not go along with this. | Brian |
| This government are out of control | Carl |
| Time to eliminate the State of Fear | Noel |
| The govt reaction is in response to a scam. Natural CC requires our adaption to living on earth as our weather shifts. We need to be more innovative! | Rosie |
| Absolutely. This policy should never have been pushed through like it was in the first place. It was totally to enhance Jacinda’s standing on the world stage | Mary |
| The main stream media must be held to account for perpepuating this man made climate change myth however with the brain washing going on in our schools and universities I am not holding my breath. | Roger |
| climate change is natural and necessary | Chris |
| Absolutely,A farce from the start, and those responsible should be held to account publicly. | Harry |
| We are being fed lies and fear from our politicians. This constant Climate Change misinformation is aimed at brainwashing those in our society who can’t/won’t think for themselves. It is up to those who are aware of this devious strategy to keep poking our sticks of truth into their spokes. | Robert |
| The climate fiasco is a UN driven fear campaign, which has lost traction during the covid pandemic. This is one reason why all countries world wide must resign from the UN. | ROD |
| Most definitely. I believe the the massive use of plastics is a much greater threat to the world than climate change, to wit the amount of plastic waste dumped inland fills and widespread pollution of coastline and the sea by plastics. | Clinton |
| Alarmist propaganda. | Graham |
| Waste of time and money reducing our standard of living when 90% of the world continues as is.I also seriously doubt climate change is carbon related. The climate has continued to change for millions of year. | Maurice |
| It should totally scrap this World’s biggest Hoax in the 21st Century. Carbon is the building block of life and every time we breath out that’s carbon. With Zero Carbon Emissions, that’s euthanasia for People .Go figure. | Geoff |
| It’s a no brainer, then by the time COVID is done & dusted, they may realize it is just a load of Socialist propaganda. | Graeme |
| Cancel the ETS, cancel the so called climate emergency, exit the Paris accord, then exit the UN and start treating New Zealand as New Zealand, not some UN entity. Oh, that’s right, I am echoing New Conservative direction!! | Neil |
| It is devastating new zealand. Simply stupid. | Valerie |
| Yes ! But they won’t, as that would make this Labour Govt look like the idiots that they are, and confirm absolutely that the Greens have no idea whatsoever of what they are talking about. | MervB |
| Yes, but they will not. Better still, get rid of the useless ranters! | Peter |
| The Earth’s climate will keep changing as it has done for millennia. As a certain king found, you can’t stop nature. In his case the tide. Are we as foolish as him? | mike |
| We have always had Climate Change so what part of that does this Government intend to respond to? How about they ‘manage’ the sun’s flares – turn the sun down when it suits or turn the sun up in winter? The sun still sends out flares but the Climate Change (propaganda) believers don’t notice that! as they believe their science IS SETTLED. | Stuart |
| Climate scaremongering is something we in New Zealand can ill-afford to heed at this stage. For heaven’s sake let the realities of our economic hit from Covid defence activities %u2014 not to mention the world-wide economic downturn from it %u2014 be taken into account before we go dreaming off into fears that CO2 will destroy life on the planet. In the history of our world CO2 has been many times its present density in the past and, guess what, life on earth went on just fine. So put your pet theories of man-made climate change on hold, Mr Shaw, until we at least get the economy going again, or we shall all starve. | Rob |
| Through all of recorded history, communist parties and their apprentices, the socialists, have had only one policy – always hidden and undeclared – to gain power and then retain it for their own ends. All else is fluff, a feelgood programme to hide their long term goals. Through her draconian lockdown confidence trick, Jacinderella and her catamites now own the NZ economy and will retain that ownership for as long as we let them. Her scaremongering over Covid is merely a continuation of her climate change deceit, and it should not be a surprise to anyone to realise that it is failing badly. Bridges was never man enough to provide a viable alternative to labour, Muller may have been but is sadly departed. Collins is up to the task in my view, and if we lose this chance to oust the dishonest socialists and the disillusioned greens, we may never get another. | TOBY |
| It is simply a lie that “The science is settled”. We are being coerced , bullied – every means is being used to manipulate and force us. us . What about some honest discussion based on fact and truth, instead of forcing us to go along with what we cannot honestly buy into. | Harvey |
| In fact the new government (National) should put an end to the fiction of manmade climate change altogether. It was a disgrace (or a fall from grace) that the National Party ever signed up for this in the first place. | Jenny |
| Stop the Climate change myth and alarmism. | Jenny |
| Any NZ Govt must recognize that New Zealand’s emissions are so small we make no appreciable difference to the world’s total emissions. We should pull out completely from this mad rush to climate change. IF WE nz WENT CARBON NEUTRAL TOMORROW THE WORLD WOULD SEE NO DIFFERENCE WHATEVER. | graeme |
| Just another tool to take control of our democracy and turn us into commies.Please New Zealand don’t vote them back in. | Ross |
| for ever….it is based on lies, half truths, and manipulated science. | Lionel |
| It will destroy our economy! | cyril |
| most definitely. Most of it is false. | Deb |
| Madness, the Greens & Labour will not be satisfied until they have bankrupted us, and all to try to control less than 4% of the CO2 in our atmosphere in the mistaken belief it makes any difference to our climate. | Roy |
| Until we are given reliable, accurate non political information on what is really going on. | Bill |
| Our “govt” is made up of naive,inexperienced,idealistic idiots. | Sid |
| The Green Party is a cult. It’s a Mean Green Killing Machine. | Charles |
| Without a doubt, after all climate changes have been happening for a very long time and the current climate being experienced , will, like the others, change | Tom |
| Unscrupulous UN spread propaganda. Any volcano erupting into the world puts more poisoned gases into our atmosphere than all of mankind’s made emissions since our being here on this planet. | Wayne |
| People WAKE UP live your life WITHOUT FEAR frm jacinda & the greens-VOTE THEM OUT & get a common sense Govt. in to SAVE US & STOP the scare tactics from so called experts that have TIME & AGAIN been proven WRONG | Cindy |
| Man made climate change is a scam. | maurice |
| Not just put it on hold … get rid of it. It is based on poor science and political lies. | Robbie |
| Lets get the economy back on track first | Merv |
| It is a no brainer. First there is NO climate emergency there never was and I doubt there ever will be one that can be altered or influenced by man. The main aims of the alarmists are the same as the BLM movement. Total destruction of society as we know it and its replacement with some form of socialist utopia. The best way to solve most of the so called inequality problems is to raise the overall standard of living of all peoples and this can only be achieved with the provision of relatively cheap and totally reliable energy or should I put it another way the use of fossil fuels. The burning of these will NOT seriously influence the climate in fact may have the opposite effect as is espoused by Shellenberger. With the re-election of the Green Labour Coalition and their continued adherence to their climate alarmism we will be in very deep dodos VOTE OUT THIS RADICAL PAIRING | Robin |
| Reverse it with urgency, there never was any climate change, just politicians pushing their alarmist theory for their own benefit. | Don |
| Lets address Covid-19 and our economy going forward then nlater revisit climate change if still necessary. | Jim |
| YES !!!! But not with that existing lot of losers in control. That sad bunch will drive their ideology regardless of the consequences. Why do yo think they promote planting one BILLION trees.? Answer: because they believe that money grows on trees. NZlanders will only wake up when the backlash of bad decisions made by this circus are hitting hard. And that will not be long in waiting. If — despite the writing on the wall– they make it back into Parliament for another term, these UN slaves will bring down this country to the lowest possible denominator with the tribal elite being the only ‘entity’ here to prosper .In this time of suffering political opposition to the mainstream course of devastation will rise and be accompanied by less pleasant tremors. Wait and see : 3 years are passing by fast. | Michael |
| Yes, yes, save the money to spend in NZ. At a Nats meeting 2019 I suggested that the science should be re-read but not much enthusiasm there. But Govt is out of date on the subject. Pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement! Follow USA! | Marianne |
| We are being fooled by destructive politicised globalist Ideology where in fact the genuine science is way way inadequate to support some of the simplistic socialist so called solutions, Monetary payments such as the Paris accord and synthetic market Carbon Trading is simply a farce. We need to go back to basics, solid enduring renewables, sensible conservation of energy and restrict undesirable uses such as multinational subsidies. | Richard |
| And rein in the spending. | Carol |
| Reputable researchers and scientists like the late Michael Crichton and our own Dr David Kear have been saying for many years how it is nature that controls the weather, not puny humans. | |
| They all talk rubbish particularly Jame shaw | John |
| I have believed this to be a money making scam from the start. We hear of the threats of rising sea levels drowning island nations crap and then learn of these ‘elites’ buying mansions near the coastal areas, ie: Al Gore, Kevin Rudd, Obama and other rich pricks. We are being milked through taxes by the UN , when their aim is to get all countries into One World Govt, communism, and our stupid politicians on both sides are culpable for getting us involved in this nonsense. | Carolyn |
| The Greens are economic vandals. Claims that climate change is caused by humans is just part of their agenda towards socialist government wherever they can and eventually to control the world. We will all then be equal aka Animal Farm! Problem is they will still expect to be more equal than the rest of us! | Chris |
| Most definitely. | David |
| IT SHOULD BE COMPLETELY ERASED FROM ALL PUBLICATIONS THAT ARE CIRCULATED! | Bill |
| Its a joke anyway. | Sheena |
| the whole thing is wrong!!! | James |
| Look at the science global warming is a myth. | Andrew |
| Just abandon it !!! | Brian |
| Yes & forever. MMCC has always been full of BS. There are many Man Made problems for do gooders to solve. Try religious tolerance for a start | Douglas |
| It should be dead and buried. I’m sick sick of these fruit loops trying to destroy our economy | Laurie |
| Stop this form of taxation 100% and stop wasting time, money and resources in this tiny country who due to a lack of serious industry couldn’t polute to the extend Asia, America and Europe do if it tried to. Don’t wreck our economy and shrinking middle class but use common sense and less promote less wastage. | Leonard |
| Absolutely it should | Gail |
| And pull out of the Paris accord scam. | John |
| It is the biggest scam the world has had. Shut down ETS it will achieve nothing. | Michael |
| Science is based on observation / experiment. actual data shows CO2 to play only a minor role in climate change and CO2 level lag temperature changes by hundreds of years and therefore cannot be a causitive factor. | Peter |
| Absolutely -NOW – We need to remove any hindrances to economic recovery and this is one huge scam that needs removing. It’s not about climate change at all, it’s all about CONTROL | Carolyn |
| A number of climate change projects may be a better type of project to provide jobs over a wide range of unemployed people. Road construction does not provide jobs for a wide range of skill levels and is going in the opposite direction for climate change improvements. | John |
| There is enough going on in New Zealand for the nation to be worried about climate response. Respond to the nations needs; not the politicians | Peter |
| YES – for quite a while. Someone should highlight with a CBA. | Nev |
| Always knew we were being fed alarmist lies…you can fool some of the people sometimes, but you cant fool all the people all of the time…! | Robyn |
| Enough scare mongering | Bev |
| If we take a deep breath now we may prevent a total catastrophe. We have invested so heavily in wind and solar, funded in large part by heavy subsidies that it is quite difficult to determine the damage to New Zealand’s economy. If we had invested that same amount of money into more hydro generation and a modern high voltage distribution grid backed up by localised gas generators we wouldn’t be in this mess. | Mike |
| In addition to putting the climate change nonsense on hold, most of the climate legislation that has been bulldozed through, based on alarmist hysteria, needs to be purged from the books. So many rules regarding “climate change” imposed on our productive sectors are crippling and our competitors overseas have no such costly and unnecessary rules to burden them and increase their costs of production. What the Greens and Labour have done in imposing crippling rules on our primary producers, can only be described as treason. | Dianna |
| Should do more than put it on hold, it is a massive over-reaction to a very questionable hypothesis. | Graeme |
| The economy needs to recover from the downward spiral Ardern put it into. | Trevor |
| Nothing NZ does will make ANY measurable difference to world emissions. NZ should also reverse the stupid Oil & Gas exploration ban as it too, will have zero effect on the world’s emissions. We cannot afford idealistic, unrealistic virtue signalling. | Geoff |
| Common sense should tell us to cull all unnecessary expenditure as being the number one priority. Our huge indebtedness through reckless spending and in a number of cases , resulting unproductive expenditure. And that is before weighing up the ifs and buts behind global warming. | Chris |
| And then get rid of it | Graeme |
| Not just on hold but in reverse. It should be remembered That it was the marvellous National MP, Todd Muller, who somehow persuaded farmers to accept carbon tax on agricultural. What a traitor! | Alan |
| More than that, I think the Prime Minister and her greeny Cabinet should stop breathing to reduce the amount of carbon that they are creating. It is all rather ridiculous. | David |
| It should never have even been discussed.. | tony |
| The Sahara desert was once a forest … and the ice age was before man could be blamed. … ask yourself! We can’t stop nature. | Des |
| Definitely | Florence |
| Yes. Scrap the fraud and plunder that it is. | Don |
| We need to be sure the costs imposed are justified by enabling a practical solution to the claimed problem. There is a high probability the carbon nonsense is just that, a nonsense. | Peter |
| Bio-Fuels – apparently it takes more fossil fuel energy to produce it, than any savings it may make! | Ted |
| Hell yes! | Joe |
| It should be put on hold permanently! | Tony |
| BEST TO PUT A STOP TO IT UNTIL MORE SCIENTIFIC STUDY IS DONE | Bruce |
| I suggest reading Job chapters 38 and 39 might bring some sound wisdom into focus. | Dick |
| The industrial revolution of the 19th century, should, using alarmist theory have changed the atmosphere long ago. It never happened, therefore it has given me the rise that climate change is a natural phenomenon and whatever the worlds population does it cannot be altered. | Dennis |
| The climate thing is a fraud from whoa to go. Ditch everything to do with it! | Dave |
| Because it’s all alarmist and rubbish man has no influence over climate | Peter |
| Not just on hold, but permanently | Graeme |
| We need to kick this nonsense and the idiots promoting it into the stratosphere .The ninny calling himself the climate change minister should be the first to go | Phil |
| Yes – better still, scrap it altogether – it is an idealogical scam and a waste of valuable resources at a time when we can least afford to be doing so. | Scott |
| Climate change is the biggest con of our generation | David |
| absolutely | Catherine |
| Widespread poverty..destitution and disease will be the destination of New Zealanders…. Fear Nothing and let us power on into the future….. | Chris |
| It should also immediately cease contributing 1.5 billion each year to the Paris Accord, where it immediately disappears. The govt should toss the climate response out. It is a nonsense. | Kate |
| In fact it should back off and remove the constraints it has already put on fossil fuels | susan |
| it has been distorted for the 12 years i have been following it.Carbon is not a criminal! | Collin |
| PERMANENTLY | Laurie |
| Permanently! | Ross |
| yes red lid it….. | wayne |
| Do it by lunchtime tomorrow. Socialism uses fear to pave the way for them to gain control of the masses. Look how Cindy said the lockdown would save tens of thousands of kiwi lives. What bullshit that is. | Peter |
| Flawed “science” is the easiest way to subdue the uninitiated | Peter |
| It’s a green shame that will wreak whats left of the economy | nigel |
| Yes. There is obviously evidence around the world that there is changes to our climate I, like many, believe that this is a normal and a natural progression of climate patterns over the centuries. | Darryl |
| It was a scam we couldn’t afford pre- COVID – we certainly can’t afford it now | Lib |
| The biggest ‘con’ job imaginable and one from the Neo-marxist left as a method of destroying developed western economies. Fancy NZ paying climate change monies to the UN to pass on to China which is described as a ‘developing country’. | Hylton |
| Yes, it is total bs as identified in the salient points of your article. There are far more concerning environmental matters like the use of 1080 | Blair |
| Stupid retards should never have responded in the first place to the scientifically disproven claim of “anthropogenic global warming”. It’s all about wealth redistribution, which is fundamentally, morally and ethically wrong. | Mark |
| If we thought the pandemic was a scam, wait for this one! The Green New Deal is a total fraud: CO2 only makes up 0.04% of the atmosphere. As an existential threat to humanity, it’s a non-starter. Al Gore’s global warming myth is nothing but an elite money spinner. The Greens fail to understand the cycles of warming and cooling, and what has been driving those cycles since long before records were kept. | Bill |
| Put it on hold? Should reexamine the facts and cancel the whole thing. | Peter |
| We live in the age of stupidity where simple minded politicians blindly follow false prophets. Panic is often driven by wildly inaccurate modelling forecasting doom. They are always wrong. Time to wake up to this dishonesty. | Lee |
| We shouldn’t have it even in good times. | Andrew |
| Let’s concentrate on the economy not following unproven theories on climate change. | Chris |
| When will we have people of substance to stand up to those who use scare tactics to enhance their unsubstantiated ideals? | Rick |
| actually it should be abolished | anthony |
| Government should do more than just putting it on hold – get rid of it altogether. If the entirety of NZ stopped existing tomorrow, the total worldwide contribution wouldn’t even register. Not to mention that technology improvements over the past two decades have already considerably reduced every individuals’ “carbon footprint”, and it’s only getting reduced more – without any government intervention. | Pavel |
| yes and forever, leave the climate alone to do its job . we cannot control climate no matter what. a billion more trees planted will require heaps more co2 to grow , we will all have to breath harder and faster too keep the supply coming ,you green nutters, trees breath in co2 and exhale o2 we do the opposite. | James |
| We should see how much BS there is and make up our own minds | Arthur |
| …until the sea level rises enough to threaten the use of Tamaki Drive in Auckland (aside from the odd storm and king tide) | Tom |
| Its cold enough as it is | Warren |
| 30 years ago the UN told the world that not only the pacific islands would be underwater, but also Manhattan, strange then that they never bother to find accommodation on higher ground or maybe they know it was a lie to gain power and enact their agenda ! | John |
| Time to stop wrecking our economy and call out the lies. | John |
| Enough of this total bullshit. I am amazed at the huge numbers of our people who have bought this total crap. | Brian |
| Yes, absolutely. This has become such a controversial issue between the believers using computer modelling and the skeptics like myself who put our faith in the reality of historical science. | Tony |
| This is perhaps the greatest fraud ever in mankinds history. There is NO climate emergency — just look up REAL climate scientists and the 500 experts from around the world who have told the UN the is NO climate emergency. The planet is OK and greener than it’s ever been due to a rise in CO2 which is good for our planet and not the evil the alarmists and moneymakers tell us it is. | Alan |
| The whole thing is a nonsense anyway | Les |
| This is the biggest con purpertrated on man kind and has done more to destroy the UN than any other issue | ian |
| The claim that manmade carbon dioxide emissions are causing dangerous global warming are FRAUD. | John |
| My views on climate alarmism and the attrocious media reporting of false claims on temperature rise, ice melts, carbon dioxide etc etc are well known. I wrote to all MPs asking them to not vote the carbon bill in – they ignored my email. Good on you for finally raising it. I have asked Radio NZ to provide me with a definition of climate change – no one dares because they have no idea. It is an absolute crock of scientific consensus (and when we have consensus ruling over facts we are in deep doo) that is there only to perpetuate funding in order that research (whatever that is) continues and their jobs. It is that simple. Check our Tony Hellers page on You Tube and see what I mean. | Greg |
| Keep trying to fix things … | Kevin |
| Encourage more research to advance more efficient use of petrol for cars and nitrogen for heavy vehicles. Reduce traffic congestion. | Richard |
| It is just a farce and costing every citizen in Peace of Mind and Dollars | Laurel |
| Given what is now known, it is the only sensible reaction. | Jim |
| Some how politicians need to get the message that the science is not settled on climate change. There is no science to support humans are causing climate change. | Martyn |
| Don’t only put it on hold, boot it out the door along with this government!! | Wink |
| Climate change is actually previously known as ‘weather’ – these con artists need to be removed. | Chris |
| This anthropogenic climate change nonsense has to be countered at every available instance. The inculcation of this nonsense in the young by our so-called educationalists is a tragedy beyond belief. One day, like Shellenberger, they will hopefully wake up. Let’s hope that they do so sooner than later. | Ronnie |
| climate change should not be even in Govt with you excellent article points out the govt agenda which is for as you say scare tatics need to ship them of to Russia may be at home more there | Russell |
| Mass hysteria has been the centre of all climate issues – we are one of the cleanest country but I think most gullible | sheryl |
| Now is not the time. | Richard |
| Can we afford the cost of Covid – potentially $100 billion? What a burden for our children and grandchildren. But the regulatory impact statement accompanying the Zero Carbon Amendment Bill said that the cost of that Bill would be $300 billion (over 30 years). So it is not $100 billion that we are saddling our children with it is $400 billion. We can see benefits to Covid, but the climate benefits are a reduction in global CO2 that is immeasurable, and a reduction in global temperatures that is immeasurable. It is economic suicide voted on by our politicians by 119-0 | Tony |
| that climate change is man made is a hoax | ross |
| It ‘s Another Corrupt UNITED NATIONS SCAM JUST LIKE THE CCP VIRUS | Greg |
| A very strong Yes from me. | Andrew |
| We have to respond to the economic crisis first. | Mike |
| Absolutely – the climate changes being promoted by this government are completely over the top. The whole thing is just a scam. | Jordan |
| How ridiculous to force up the price of carbon when the whole country is in such a fragile state. It just shows how fanatical this government is. They have no regard for the struggle Kiwi families are facing. | Pauline |
| When can we get a proper government that governs for the good of the country instead of pushing ideological agendas??? | Mark |
| The whole thing is stupid, but can we trust National to fix anything – after all they voted for the awful Zero Carbon Bill as well. | Steven |
| Judith Collins used to talk common sense on climate change. I wonder if she still will now that she is the leader? I certainly hope so. The whole Zero Carbon Bill needs to be scrapped. | Tony |