On June 22, 1633, at a time when heretics were being burnt at the stake, Galileo, the Astronomer, Physicist, and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Pisa, was charged by the Inquisition with heresy for writing a book that claimed the earth orbited the sun. Having been warned 18 years earlier against promoting such views, he was ordered to recant:
“I, Galileo Galilei… of Florence, seventy years old, arraigned personally for judgment, kneeling before you Most Eminent and Most Reverend Cardinals, Inquisitors General against heretical depravity in all of Christendom… whereas, after having been judicially instructed with an injunction by the Holy Office to abandon completely the false opinion that the sun is the center of the world and does not move and the earth is not the center of the world and moves, and not to hold, defend, or teach this false doctrine in any way whatever, orally or in writing; and after having been notified that this doctrine is contrary to Holy Scripture; I have been judged vehemently suspected of heresy, namely of having held and believed that the sun is the center of the world and motionless and the earth is not the center and moves…. …with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith I abjure, curse, and detest the abovementioned … I wrote and published a book in which I treat of this already condemned doctrine… I, Galileo Galilei, have abjured as above, by my own hand.”
Renouncing his own scientific findings, Galileo was sentenced to house arrest, where he stayed until his death in 1642.
According to the New York Times, it was not until October 31, 1992 that the Catholic Church officially recognised its wrongdoing: “Moving formally to rectify a wrong, Pope John Paul II acknowledged in a speech today that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning Galileo 359 years ago for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The address by the Pope before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences closed a 13-year investigation into the Church’s condemnation of Galileo in 1633.”
Today the religious order is climate change and the public denunciation of National MP Maureen Pugh came from her leader Christopher Luxon. Her offence was daring to ask Climate Minister James Shaw for evidence that Cyclone Gabrielle was caused by man-made climate change.
The heresy arose when MPs were asked by the media whether climate change had made the recent cyclones and flooding more extreme.
Maureen Pugh said she believed in climate change, but was yet to be convinced human activity was a contributor: “It’s not what I think, it’s what I can prove. I have yet to see the evidence from Climate Change Minister James Shaw where one of our local councils wrote to him and asked him for the evidence. I’m not denying climate change, I’ve seen the evidence of it, we have cooled and warmed, cooled and warmed over millions of years.”
Her statement that she wanted to see the Minister’s evidence that human induced greenhouse gas emissions had contributed to the extreme weather events was perfectly reasonable given that most of the areas that flooded, had a history of flooding – including prior to intensive industrialisation – with some records dating back to the 1800s.
This is especially the case with the Esk Valley in the Hawke’s Bay, where significant resources have been ploughed into flood protection measures over the years, with on-going recommendations strongly advising against residential development in flood plain areas.
James Shaws responded to Maureen Pugh’s question with evasion: “I am honestly not interested in wasting time responding to people who don’t believe in science”.
But rather than holding the Minister to account for his failure to provide the evidence, the media turned on the MP who had the temerity to ask the question they should have been asking – and her Party.
Instead of batting away the resulting media attack, by explaining that National is a broad-church party that believes in the fundamental importance of the freedom of expression, Party leader Christopher Luxon threw his MP under the bus, publicly belittling her and forcing her to recant.
Like Galileo, Maureen Pugh retracted: “I regret that my comments were unclear and would have led some to think that I am questioning the causes of climate change. That is clearly not my position. I accept the scientific consensus that human induced climate change is real and there is a need to curb greenhouse gas emissions. We are seeing the impact of climate change in the cyclone that has devastated so much of New Zealand.”
Unlike Galileo, Maureen wasn’t placed under house arrest, but was instructed to “re-educate” herself by reading books advocating anthropogenic global warming.
In his haste to condemn his MP, Christopher Luxon missed a crucial point: Maureen Pugh was speaking for many people when she asked James Shaw for evidence.
In fact, a growing number of New Zealanders are now challenging the alarmist prophecies of the global warming priesthood – as noted by left wing political commentator Chris Trotter: “It is only slowly dawning on climate change activists that the fight against global warming is lost. Locally, Cyclone Gabrielle has rendered their cause hopeless. By insisting that Gabrielle is slam-dunk proof that climate change is real, and demanding immediate action to mitigate its impact, the activists have, politically-speaking, over-sold their case. The idea of mitigating a weather event as destructive as Gabrielle will strike most people as nuts. If this is what global warming looks like, then most New Zealanders will want their government to help them adapt to it as soon as humanly possible. Increasingly, politicians and activists who bang-on about reducing emissions and modifying human behaviour will be laughed-off the political stage. It will be the parties that offer the most practical and responsibly-funded adaptation policies that win the elections of the future – including the one scheduled for October 14 2023.
“The other, even bigger, problem facing the mitigators – especially in New Zealand – is this country’s infinitesimal contribution to climate change. Kiwis and their industries pump out just 0.17 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and yet the mitigators keep telling them to completely change their economy, and the lifestyle it funds, so as to keep some barmy promise that all the largest greenhouse gas emitters are happy to break every single day. Since the Paris Climate Accords of 2016… the human species is burning more coal, more oil, and more natural gas than ever before. So, how likely is it that New Zealand pulling on a metaphorical hair-shirt and crying ‘Follow our mitigation example!’ is going to stop them?”
Climate commentator Ian Bradford also weighed into the debate with article explaining how cyclones form, that cites NASA to make the point that Cyclone Gabrielle was a one-off weather event, not an example of climate change: “No weather by itself is evidence of global climate change as the test is whether the weather adds to a new weather pattern over many years or even millennia.”
Ian also describes what happens to those that challenge the climate religion and the gravy train it has spawned: “We have just seen an example of what has happened all around the world when someone – usually a scientist, dared question the so called ‘settled science’ that humans are responsible for climate change. By now, thousands of honest scientists have lost their jobs, been victimised, and bullied because they have dared to speak out. After Maureen Pugh wanted to see the evidence that humans were causing climate change, she received the same treatment from a range of Parliamentarians who haven’t an ounce of science between them. Then the science illiterate media got in on the act too.”
Like many New Zealanders, journalist and former newspaper editor Karl du Fresne was incensed at the way National’s leader treated his MP – but he believes fear of the media is at the heart of this debacle: “When confronted by scalp-hunting political journalists about Pugh’s supposed climate-change heresy, Luxon could have casually waved it away. But he didn’t. He responded exactly as the media hoped and gave them the ‘Gotcha!’ moment they wanted.
“I think the underlying problem here is that Luxon is scared of the media and allows himself to be intimidated. Political journalists play him like a fiddle and end up effectively dictating the political agenda. This is no basis for a healthy democracy. Luxon seems to lack the guts or confidence to stand up for principled conservative positions, fearing that the left-leaning media will punish him.”
The extreme left-wing bias of the media and the fact that most politicians are not strong enough to stand up to them is indeed a major problem for New Zealand.
In his analysis of last year’s Massey University “Worlds of Journalism Study”, political commentator Frank Newman pointed out that journalists no longer see themselves as “non-biased neutral observers”, but instead believe “their role is to change the opinion of their audience”. He explains that about a third of journalists admit to having “hard-core left-wing beliefs”, which shows the “industry is now highly populated with extreme socialists intent on re-educating their audience towards their form of left-wing ideology”.
In his analysis of the politicisation of climate change, this week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, the former Judge and Law Lecturer Anthony Willy, outlines the damaging consequences of the National Party’s Inquisition of Maureen Pugh:
“Social media has been alive with this issue and the response has been uniformly critical of the modern- day Inquisition. The commentary has been articulate and considered and one can fairly suppose that many of the contributors are heartland National voters. The word on the street is unanimous, they will vote for their National member but their Party vote will go elsewhere probably to ACT.
“It is unimaginably stupid for National to find itself in this position over such a fundamental matter as freedom of thought. Not only is Maureen’s response protected by the New Zealand Bill of Rights but her right to express her opinions are part of National’s raison d’être. The election is theirs to lose – very few voters want a return of the tribal Marxists, but neither do they want such a heavy-handed medieval response to freedom of speech in such a contestable matter.”
Ignoring the fact that only three percent of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is produced by mankind, while ninety-seven percent comes from natural sources, National’s leader Christopher Luxon is on record as saying, “You can’t be living in the 21st century and deny that human-induced climate change is real.”
He doesn’t seem to understand that “climate change” is a Trojan Horse that is being used by the left to undermine the free market economy – as Chris Trotter points out: “It has not helped the mitigators’ cause that so many of them seem to be located on the left of the political spectrum… for them global warming has always been the most wonderful excuse for imposing the sort of regime that nobody who believes in individual rights, private property, and the Rule of Law would ever willingly submit to. For far too many climate activists, mitigation has always been a Trojan Horse.”
With Prime Minister Chris Hipkins also declaring that climate change is “absolutely man-made”, through his woke virtue signalling Christopher Luxon is failing to differentiate National from Labour on a range of key issues.
By attacking Maureen Pugh instead of defending free speech and criticising the Climate Change Minister, National is in danger of sleepwalking their way to another three years in opposition. Not only that, but they are leaving the door wide open for sensible politicians to explain to New Zealanders that Labour has pushed the country too far down the climate mitigation rabbit hole, and that what the cyclone and the floods have shown us only too clearly, is that as a nation, our focus instead should be on adaptation, so we can build greater resilience to the natural disasters that will undoubtedly confront us in the future.
Please note: To register for our free weekly newsletter please click HERE.
THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Should New Zealand’s climate change policy be aimed at mitigation (reducing carbon emissions no matter what the economic cost) or adaptation (helping to minimise damage in the future)?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Climate change is ahoax see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Uwjpuc4mHDSddPO0wda6q
Z4XRVUFBWSCfaIrnumgmfE/edit?usp=sharing |
layor |
| Climate change is one of the biggest hoaxes of the 21st century. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the idea that human activity is causing significant changes to the Earth’s climate continues to be perpetuated by a group of individuals and organizations with ulterior motives. At the heart of the climate change hoax is the idea that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions are causing the Earth’s temperature to rise at an unprecedented rate. However, this idea is based on faulty data and flawed interpretations of climate history. One of the key pieces of evidence often cited by climate change proponents is the so-called “hockey stick” graph, which shows a sharp increase in global temperatures over the past century. However, this graph has been debunked by numerous scientists who have shown that it is based on cherry-picked data and faulty statistical methods. Furthermore, the idea that human activity is causing the Earth’s temperature to rise ignores the natural fluctuations in climate that have occurred throughout history. For example, the Earth has experienced several periods of warming and cooling over the past 10,000 years, long before the industrial revolution and the rise of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. Another key aspect of the climate change hoax is the notion that carbon dioxide is a dangerous greenhouse gas that must be controlled in order to prevent catastrophic global warming. However, this idea is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the Earth’s atmosphere and the role of carbon dioxide in regulating temperature. In reality, carbon dioxide is a vital component of the Earth’s atmosphere, and is essential for supporting plant and animal life on the planet. The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have fluctuated throughout history, and there is no evidence to suggest that current levels are harmful to the Earth or its inhabitants. Furthermore, the idea that reducing carbon dioxide emissions will somehow prevent climate change ignores the fact that other factors, such as solar activity and natural cycles, are the primary drivers of climate change. In fact, many climate scientists believe that the Earth is currently in a cooling phase, and that attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions will have little to no impact on global temperatures. The climate change hoax is being perpetuated by a group of individuals and organizations with ulterior motives. Many of these individuals and organizations have a vested interest in promoting the idea of human-caused climate change, as it allows them to justify their own agendas and financial interests. For example, many environmental organizations and government agencies have used the climate change hoax as an excuse to push for increased regulations and taxes on businesses and individuals. This has resulted in a significant transfer of wealth from the general population to these organizations and agencies, who are often able to profit from the sale of carbon credits and other climate-related products. Furthermore, many individuals and organizations have used the climate change hoax as a means of advancing their own political agendas. For example, some politicians have used the issue of climate change as a way to gain support for their own policies and programs, even though there is little scientific evidence to support their claims. In conclusion, the climate change hoax is a dangerous and misguided attempt to manipulate public opinion and advance the agendas of a select group of individuals and organizations. The idea that human activity is causing significant changes to the Earth’s climate is based on flawed data and faulty interpretations of climate history. Instead of wasting time and resources on this misguided agenda, we should focus on addressing real problems and challenges facing the world today. | layor |
| I’m not a believer of climate change as it is currently being pushed upon us. Climate is very changeable and it has been doing so since the beginning of time. It will continue to go through heating and cooling. | Elizabeth |
| Most climate change is all man -made!, been going on for years and years! | David |
| As you said in your article the human race overall contributes a small percentage of CO2 and NZ a minuscule amount of that. Look after the planet, yes but another by inflicting hardship on the population which is having a large negative effect on their standard of living. In general the world won’t even notice what NZ is doing | Brian |
| Climate change IS JUST SO MUCH BS | John |
| Do people not realise we need carbon dioxide to live. We only breathe a portion of oxygen. About time people woke up and went back to the schools that actually teach science and nit propaganda | Anon |
| This is common sense that all who read this will fully comprehend. Pity the Madd Hatters in Wellingtons would not be able to find the word in a dictionary. Let alone understand the meaning of the word. No problem they would pay a consultant 10M to report back in simple words so they may understand. We are being led by a bunch of moppets’ who have their heads in a dark place. | Jeff |
| Climate( global warming)change has nothing to do with climate; it is about power for the elites and politicians and spreading fear. | Monica |
| I would like to see a television debate on climate change featuring (say) three people for and three again a motion about it. Isn’t that a part of what democracy is about? I’m not much interested in building renovations in houses in the Simpson Desert, Baffin Island, or Timbuctu, but a good debate would be a good drawcard and perhaps a must for school pupils. | Kevan |
| Carbons credits is a ponzi scheme and mankinds contribution to climate variations over the decades is best described by the phrase “like farting against thunder.” | Geoff |
| Burning coal does not pollute the atmosphere. The smoke does that. Eliminate the smoke and we can burn as much coal as we like. | K |
| I’m a Chemist. I graduated in 1966. My opinion, for what it’s worth is that AGW is a non-scientific nonsense !! | David |
| We need to be vigilant without destroying our country. Moderation in all things. | Vivienne |
| Climate is always changing and it’s not us that is doing it:https://www.daragrennie.com/climate/ | Darag |
| Luxon needs to do some research on climate change as it has been going on for millions of years | Colin |
| Just common sense would move us to adaption as apposed to Mitigation. | David |
| I have yet to see evidence that climate change is due to human activities. | Bruce |
| The climate has been changing since since our planet first evolved. Surely climate change can’t be blamed for the huge earthquakes that continue to happen which of coarse is our lancet slowly changing just as the climate is. | Gordon |
| Luxsons attitude was gutless. Doesn’t he know that in the past the earth’s temperature between ice ages has been warmer than now | Graeme |
| The Climate Cult is all about control, political, social and cultural. As with all cultists, self-reflection is rare. | Roger |
| Our people are already struggling with crippling costs due GST on essentials like food, fresh fruit & veges. We have a crime fiasco in response. How much more must we bear before societal collapse. | Christina |
| NZ has one of the highest per person carbon emissions. That is a good enough reason in itself [and the international trade requirements] .. but intensive animal farming is disastrous for water quality, excessive use of this, and vast areas of arable land being used for “Dairy support” etc and not for direct human need. Meat is bad for us .. except in small, iredular amounts: numerous books with detailed source references testify to this.; Methane is more potent in its warming effect .. and although of shorter duartion .. still 100 years. | Rochelle |
| As Maureen said, the planet has been warming and cooling for millions of years. Climate will change every day. Mr Luxton SHAME ON YOU free speech has yo be maintained. I support Maureen | Robin |
| I absolutely concur with Dr Muriel’s piece. I’m afraid National leadership is woefully lacking intelligence let alone any signs of wisdom. | Dean |
| Clearly adaption. | Sam |
| There is no need to do anything. Man-made Climate Change is bollocks! A healthy dose of common sense is all one needs to survive. | Murray |
| The climate has been changing since our planet began | Bryan |
| Man made Global warming is B.S. | mike |
| Humans can’t change climate change. | John |
| Pugh is perfectly right in asking the question. The regressive are playing the liberals for mugs. The liberals are too jelly kneed and take it. | John |
| Its the old adverb, the cost of climate change maybe far worse than the effect | Lawrie |
| yes | Zelda |
| Minister Shaw is obsessed and totally barking up the wrong tree. We’ve achieved the target, let it go!! Stop damaging our farmers and our economy. | Marilyn |
| Climate change is a natural phenomenon that has been going on for billions of years at varying rates. Whilst humans may play a minute part in the overall scheme of things, we are absolutely unable to stop climate change and the resultant forces of nature. We can, however, prepare as best as possible, for the inevitable. How is this not obvious? | Martin |
| Weather cycles are normal even over long periods. However HAARP and frequency modulated weather warfare is another matter.NZ is not responsible for such effects but there are now results from such attacks and some covert and illegitimate power is responsible. | Bryan |
| People adapt when they need to. At the moment we are being forced to spend money to have an effect in about a hundred years time.. | james |
| Personally I don’t believe in man made climate change.. | Tina |
| The whole thing is a lie. | Harvey |
| CO2 is a valuable gas that greens the planet. Floods and storms will always be with us. Let’s be prepared and be guided by our engineer’s wisdom. | Neil |
| No is carbon positive if we count the carbon sequester in native forests, wetlands and our continental shelf. We contribute nothing to global warming | Terry |
| Not enough evidence AND in a short few years we can see the path Labour forced up down with Covid was questionable. | Sheryl |
| we absolutely need more effort toward exposing the lies that are the background of man made global warming/ climate change ideologies | jim |
| New Zealanders have a need to wherever possible reduce polluting our country – some is easy waste avoiding , other more difficult as we have to live in the 21st century environment | tony |
| A no brainer | Graeme |
| As MP Maureen Pugh asked, show me the science! | Michael |
| No brainer | DAVID |
| Great my favourite subject, climate lies. Let’s take a little look at this subject. I first became aware of this fear mongering in about 1987/88 with a hole in the ozone layer. Remember that. Well one day some scientists discovered this massive hole around the southern oceans. It was apparently going to lead to massive over heating of the earth as it was going to allow the sun to burn us all up. They blamed it on aerosol gases etc. Question if that was the case how come there weren’t big holes over New York or other large areas of population? Answer it was a natural occurring atmospheric change that had be going on and off for thousands of years, but these clowns had just discovered it and claimed that we had recently caused it. As you may know Ozone is made from 2 atoms of oxygen that rise up and join together to form Ozone, (O2), and the ozone layer!. It is a continual process that does not stop. So, tons of ozone is being made daily for us all. By 1990 they came up with the title of Global WARMING, mmm. Only problem was that about 1999/2000 they shut up about it. Why, because the hole closed up on them and went back to where it was. Of course these idiot scientists where now being paid very good money to come up with more data to support their theories. Global warming was very difficult to sell to people in North America or Europe whilst there were massive snow storms and freezing temperatures outside of their house windows. As a result they decided to change it all from GLOBAL WARMING to CLIMATE CHANGE! This allowed them to encompass all weather around the world and come up with more garbage to frighten people on the ever supporting news channels etc. Any alternative data is expertly rubbished by these people and not permitted to be reported on by media. Governments everywhere have succumbed to this terror method and are finding new ways to punish and tax us to heal the climate. Yeah right. Now further, Labour and the Greens, led by Shaw, Genta and co, want to cull about 25% of our dairy and sheep as they pass wind and are responsible for 50% of our supposed emissions. Lunacy, save the environment and hate the humans by depriving them of food. In 1830 there was approx 40million buffalo in North America. Then the buffalo hunters wiped them out, and by 1900 there were 300 left. This was a tragedy and a stop was put to the slaughter, and rightly so. These poor animals of course pass horrible methane gas so perhaps we should be thankful to the buffalo hunters as we would have experienced GLOBAL WARMING one hundred plus years ago. Think about that absurd argument greenies. Also, as we prepare to destroy farmer’s living by reducing animals here, will Africa cull the millions of giraffes, elephants, antelope and all species that roam the plains passing gas and wrecking our climate?? Madness I know, but the principal argument is there. Good old New Zealand. We will lead and show the world in stupidity thanks to ideologies of instituted by a previous Prime minister and current Government. Conclusion. The patients are in control of the asylum. | Leon |
| Lost Ardern, replaced with a look alike | Malcolm |
| We require co2! | Jeremy |
| I love your description of the current position, it should be compulsory reading for all politicians , including the very disappointing Luxon we all thought he would be smarter than that!!! | norman |
| Luxon needs to step downN O W!!! Get Bridges back | Ron |
| luxon needs to become a lot more right leaning | barry |
| Did Maureen Pugh committed an offense by rightly asking for evidence that cyclone Gabrielle was caused by man-made climate change? She was castigated by the leader and deputy leader of her party and told to read books! I would ask her party leader and deputy leader to read some of the 80-plus books pertaining to our history that have been removed from libraries, museums, universities, etc. (Like Karl Du Fresne, I am of the opinion that it was caused by the Hunga Tonga volcano). Green Party leader James Shaw replied by stating: “I am not interested in wasting time responding to people who don’t believe in science”. I am reminded of the words of poet and author George Burnard Shaw, who was talking about someone or other said “He thinks he knows everything. He knows nothing. He is obviously destined for a career in politics”. On the climate change issue, I will vote for the Green Party — when hell freezes over! | Kevan |
| I vote for mitigation. I would like to make comment on the way that Luxon and the power brokers in the National Party castigated one of their number for using her basic human right of freedom of thought and speech in which she asked the question of a fellow MP on climate change. He gave what I consider an inappropriate answer and should be held to account on that. Further I see that Luxon’s marxist type to Maureen Pugh’s statement could well cost them the election because it looks on the surface that they would take NZ back into a regime from which they have just been removed | Rob |
| Still too much religion and not enough science. No wonder National is not progressing in leadership! | Peter K |
| C’mon, get real! Pugh is perfectly sane and correct. A breath of fresh air, if Luxon was intelligent enough to realise it. She is like the little child who, with childish honesty declared what he saw: the emporer had no clothes! Luxon makes the National party look stupid. Certainly the climate is changing, as it has for years untold, and the smidgeon of difference New Zealand, or even China and the United States, can make is like a fly buzzing in a bottle. | ROB |
| Change what we can at ground level, the atmosphere is beyond our control | Kevin |
| Stop the rot. We need MP’s who think not promote. | Kevin |
| Luxon’s response to his MP is nothing short of disgusting.. Yet again he demonstrates VERY clearly, that he is running scared and he is not the man to lead national to victory. As a National voter for 50 plus years, they won’t be getting my vote. | Peter |
| There are greater emergencies in NZ to attend to than the global warning situation at present | Sidwell |
| Labour will send 13 billion overseas to pay for more treats, this will have minimal effect on climate. We will still face the same issues, spend the money on adaption. | andrew |
| The population needs to adapt and not build in areas which may face slips or regular flooding. Luxon has proved he is nothing more than a boardroom bully and has destroyed the notion that National is a broad church with members allowed an opinion other than that of the leader. | Gavin |
| Mitigation is an impossible goal. | COLIN |
| Climate is always changing, learn to live with it. National and Luxon have lost the plot, embarrassing. Free Speech for ever! | Carole |
| Labour and National are following the WEF and UN agenda regarding climate change. I do not agree with their policies | Allan |
| All power to Maureen Pugh. She has asked for the evidence to be produced – a perfectly rational and warranted request. Luxon’s response was despicable – talk about gutless. We need National to get its act together. Luxon is not the “man” for the job. | Rodger |
| Shame on Luxon for berating Maureen Pugh. It’s as I thought – Luxon isn’t strong enough to be leader. Not allowing building consents for dodgy land could be a good start. | Sheila |
| Lets focus on cleaning up our own environment before trying to change the world. Dispose of rubbish more effectively, get our waterways cleaned up for example. | David |
| Adaption to Climate Change. | Rob |
| To climate change extremists like the Greens, anthropogenic warming theory is a major part of their religion. Sadly the news media has joined that religion. | Scott |
| Firstly the world including NZNats needs to take a reality check about climate change. Mitigation is often a compensating approach and may not remove cause. Adaption is facing reality with positive action for human security. | Stan |
| The madness continues with Luxon and Shaw becoming “bed buddies” and that means more pain for Farmers, and a reduction of our Living Standards. | Noel |
| Mankinds standard of living has improved more in the last 100 years than any other period in history. This is because of the huge benefits provided by the utilisation of hydrocarbons/fossil fuels. They cannot be replaced without catastrophic economic and social consequences in the western world. This is not to mention also the 3 billion people on earth who desperately need fossil fuels / energy to lift them out of poverty and starvation. It is impossible for wind and solar to provide cost efficient on demand power. For this reason climate adaptation is the only solution for now until new technology solves the rising co2 levels or politicians stop their opposition to nuclear energy..one of the cleanest energy source known to man. | Keith |
| I had to click on’ Adaptation” Minimising damage in the future is non sensical anyway considering that we are not even getting close on a miniscule fractional basis to major industrial nations like China and India. These countries are mining coal on a massive scale to satisfy the energy demands of their economies. The problem is that previous NZ Governments have subscribed to this massive Ponzi scheme called the Paris accords ( what ever that means—-) and we are paying 1.2 billion dollars every year never to see ant return ever again. What a rip off.!!! | Michael |
| One day they will realise the truth after spending billions for no reason at all – deal with infracture as we need. | Clive |
| It is a great ruse we are being conned | Gary |
| I believe Christopher Luxon knows exactly what the truth is. However I believe he’s following orders from higher up, as all world leaders are forced to do | C |
| I agree with Maureen Pugh | Gail |
| Climate change has been around since the days of Noah. In the early 2000’s the bad apple was ‘Toxic Carbon’, then Climate Warming. Of course these head-in-the sand activists ignore the real science that Humanity only contributes 2% of emissions | David |
| Adaptation is the only affordable and sensible option without destroying our economy with balmy leftist ideas. It cant be done all at once but adaption plans for a do it once and do it properly is the way forward. | JOHN |
| So sick of all this woke climate alarmism. It’s clearly another scamdemic for the purpose of global enslavement of the masses. | Donna |
| Our Hero Christopher Luxon just blew it for us all. I am so devastated at the way he has let us down. | Glyn |
| Once again a politician makes his ignorance glaringly obvious. Get a grip on what is actually happening. And pay attention to where you build the infrastructure. | Paloma |
| Adapt or die. There is no proof that carbon emissions contribute to climate change. Bravo Maureen Pugh. Luxon is wrong. Sorry no vote for National. | doug |
| My opinion has been triggered by Luxon, too afraid of the media and too afraid to leave the air of debate fresh and open for all. | Michael |
| I have no time for Labour’s Marxist agenda and now I’m learning daily that Christopher Luxon is an impotent leader of the National Party. He’s fallen into the trap of becoming a Climate Change Cultist without really considering the wealth of information available worldwide by highly acclaimed scientists disproving that we’re in the grip of a mammoth dooms day event that will terminate all live on earth. Even the figures that James Shaw has used to calculate his scenarios have been debunked by no less than the United Nations. It’s time for all to come clean about this Climate Change hype. | Colin |
| just shows how luxton shows contempt to his mp and that he is bed with the loony greens that he will lose the election and NZ will be worse than zimbarbie ever was, so claim back all the money that has been given to the treaty mob so the country can repair and strengthen all thats needed to protect homes, factories, farms, people etc. | Richard |
| no question. the climate has been changing forever | anthony |
| A no brainer and yes to party vote to ACT lUXON NEEDS TO SHOW SOME STRONG LEADERSHIP on these issues otherwise the party will lose out | Steve |
| I can’t believe that the world is going down this ridiculous path and ignoring the fact that climate change has been occurring since time immemorial. It just goes along with the crap they’re teaching our kids today. | John |
| The National Party needs to get it messages sorted out and actually start speaking sense. | Shaun |
| Climate Change is total BS | Brian |
| Where is the scientific proof that humans have caused the climate change causing the destruction in N Z at present. | Nola |
| Maureen Pugh Did the correct Question to Shaw Where is the Scientific Proof that humans are the cause of climate change. Still no answer? | leo |
| a lot of people seem to have a problem differeniating between weather and climate and i notice not many are talking about the effects of the tongan volcanoe that pumped millions of litres of water into the atmosphere and the water heating from an under water volcanoe | john |
| Those who believe we can or should control the weather and global climate are foolish. Trying to do so is likely to cause rather than solve problems. | Charles |
| only sensible way | barry |
| I asked Luxon for of copy of the reading list he’d given Pugh. His office replied: “… National encourages open debate and discussion … That being said … there is no denying ..” The rest of the reply could be summarised as: “On this subject our minds are closed and dissent is futile.” And they didn’t even send me the damn reading list! | Phil |
| Facts not politics or religion please | ian |
| Both are bullshit – CO2 is not an issue and the whole thing is a scam – it amazes me that you only provide 2 options that are both as bad. Reducing arbon emmissions has no scientific basis and is not contributing to global warming which in itself is a scam as there has been no global warming over the last 10 years. What you need to do is answer this question – what is the minimum level of atmospheric CO2 required for life to exist on our planet – if you don’t know that with out having to google it – you should not even get involved with this poll. | Mike |
| I’m 66 and the world should have ‘ended’ at least 6 times by now from ‘climate change.’ Climate change is total BS and the sooner the lefty liberals realise it the better we will be. Aren’t kids taught these days that the planet needs carbon dioxide to function? This entire ‘Carbon is bad’ theme is only to enrich the already rich. | sherrin |
| Need a balanced and broad response that honours true science and all the voices around the table. | Bill |
| Brainwashing works. I fully expect to be made to recant my view that cc is not man made by this Labour govt. | bill |
| Common sense!yet sadly not so Common! | Sandra. |
| Who said you can fool most of the people most of the time but not all the people all the time. Someone with intelligence. And 0.17 of 3% ? | john |
| The Green’s are idiots and Labour has lost the plot. | Dave |
| No one should pay for emitting CO2, how about Nuclear Energy | Gideon |
| Nobody knows what the future will bring but paying money to carbon emissions grabbers overseas will not solve anything. Lets use the money here. Even scientists cant agree | Erin |
| NZ should have *no* climate change policy. It is all a hoax and nonsense. | Ross |
| Until China and India with over 4500 oil fired power stations between them close them down. I won’t lift a climate change finger. This oil fired station building is at the behest of the U.N. | John |
| Shaw has merely shown himself for what he actually is …. a well-meaning (in his own head) … your word here ! | John |
| Our first step on the path to Adaptation should take the form of identifying our Climate Change Policy as an absolute waste of time, money and energy. It needs to be done away with. (along with its adherents)! We have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Instead of accepting that we are powerless to stop Climate Change and working on ways to adapt to it, we have thrown effort after foolishness by allowing ourselves to be drawn by mad “scientists” along circuitous pathways that have led to naught. Rudyard Kiplings’ poem “The Lesson” – concerning the hammering that was dealt out to the British Army during the Boer War (1899 – 1902) could also apply to the present day; “We have had no end of a lesson, it will do us no end of good” – but only if we learn from it and actually do something more than just appointing a Commission to “look into it”! | Scott |
| Here is a letter I sent to Luxon some months ago. I have yet to recieve any sort of reply. First I am not a climate change denier. The climate has always changed and will continue to. What we are really talking about here though, is Man Made Global Warming. Second there is NOT a climate emergency. The planet has been warmer and colder in the past with both more and less CO2 and has lived on quite successfully. Third if New Zealand stopped emitting our share of CO2 and related gasses (.017% of global emissions) entirely it would have absolutely zero effect on the planets climate as we are such miniscule emitters. If we did pursue this course it would totally destroy our country and New Zealand%u2019s economy for absolutely NO BENEFIT. In fact, as other less efficient producers will take up the slack with supposed ADVERSE effects on the planet the reverse is more likely. Fourth why is China considered a developing country in Global Warming circles when it is trying to dominate the world both economically and militarily. In New Zealand our emissions are far superseded by the NEW coal fired power stations being built in China daily. Fifth my understanding of the Paris accord was that food production was to be for all intents disregarded in quota management. BY WHAT MEASURE DO YOU THINK THAT MAN CAN CONTROL THE VERY DIVERSE AND DYNAMIC CLIMATE? “New Zealand needs to cut its carbon emissions. National supports New Zealand’s emissions targets, including reaching carbon net zero by 2050. And that means reducing agriculture emissions over time” Please explain why? Yes, I can appreciate that New Zealand needs to do its bit in the world economy or at least be seen to be doing something. The ETS will achieve that and MORE. Please explain why we need to lead the world in the destruction of our economy? Some established facts, well at least in my mind 1 The climate has not warmed over the last 15 years with an increase in the global concentration of CO2. Hence the name change from Global Warming to Climate Change 2 How many of the Doomsayers predictions over the last 40 or so years (Al Gore, Prince Charles, Tim Flannery etc.) that we only have ten years to save the planet have come true? ABSOLUTELY NONE! 3 Why have the Polar Bears increased in number? And why has the ice covering of the Arctic not vanished? 4 Why is the Carbon Sequestering of all the grasses and native trees (Including in our parks etc.) not being used to establish the mythical carbon zero targets? I could go on but won’t. There is NO CLIMATE EMERGENCY. Accordingly we need to adapt as best we can to weather related disasters and Fossil Fuels will be part of that. Read Fossil Future by Alex Epstein where he explains why. | Robin |
| The question is. Who can change nature? | Murray |
| Neither. Climate change is a cyclical thing that has been happening for millennia. Man has nothing to do with it. | Betty |
| Time for Willis or Bishop to tap Luxon on the shoulder. He hasn’t got what Seymour has and why I’m giving ACT my list vote. | Pete |
| It’s a no-brainer. | Gay |
| NZ spending on climate change support is a waste of money that should be spent in NZ, on flood prevention and relocating. some badly affected families. | NEIL |
| Had enough of this climate change BS. We need to find and stop the real reason we are having these weather events!! | Wayne |
| It has been the obvious ploy of the W.E.F and other New World order groups that fear is the best way to get the countries of the world to ‘pull’ together. The Council of Rome first decided that global warming was the thing to do it, back in the 1970s.When they found that global warming would not stick they widened it to ‘climate change’. They have bought the media and have enough clout now to bully many into submission. It is sickening to see that this typically communist form of tactic was first employed by Labour Government, but now it seems that National is too weak to oppose and expose such a serious attack on democracy. Is this to be our future who ever gets into power?Ultimately N.W.O. | Harvey |
| MADNESS!!!. Whatever NZ does is infetismal on a world scale – 0.013% NZ pollution if I have it correct. Get China, India, Pakistan and many other polluters to start first, Don’t ruin our economy because it will make NO difference what NZ does. It’s not pollution casing Global warming, it’s just a natural oscillation of the Earth, just as you have ice ages and warmer periods. What makes everyone think that man is so powerful that he can affect Global Weather? Nonsense. | Don |
| The Science is settled – 0.17% of world emissions, huge coastline v/s land area, on the margin of 2 colliding tectonic plates with volcanism behind producing rugged steep topography, usually of young soft rock, exposed to roaring forties westerly and warming ocean temperatures derived rainfall weather, we ADAPT rather than the ostrich like virtue signalling required for the the Red Princess to continue her international communist career. | Richard |
| Climate change is on us now and has been for some time. Trying to change that, in the short term is simply, downright foolish, and extremely costly. Don’t waste time, money and our future on changing the weather. Focus on protecting the human race from its consequences as that is the only thing we are able to do. | Grahame |
| For many years NZ has had an industry built on the basis that hurricanes happen. Cruising boats have for years have flocked to NZ waters during the summer to avoid them. To blame the climate for rainstorms when we see every bridge in the area turned into a dam causing rivers to break their banks and flood ‘flood plains’ is asking too much . | Chris |
| Follow the money with mitigation | Tony |
| The Climate will change from time to time as it has done for thousands of years. | Don |
| Yes the Olde left wing wankers continue to get support from the blatantly left leaning journalists mainly Lesbian focused individuals who continue to voice their ill conceived views . Never mind Kiwis just keep on buying the newspapers ensuring that they have a voice albeit a warped one . | Ray |
| The climate has changed back and forth for millions of years… we are still warming up from the last ice age. Of course we should adapt. To try and prevent a climate change by altering miniscule amounts of CO2 or other gases is just plain dumb. | Robbie |
| Once the climate alarmists study history they can learn how mankind has adapted to the changing climate since their origins. No one really wants to study the science | Hilary |
| Climate and weather has always been cyclical. Just refer to history. | Elaine |
| there has always been climate change , one day is sunny and the next it’s raining. | stephanie |
| It’s a ‘no-brainer’! | Elizabeth |
| Maybe Maureen Pugh should be leader of the National Party. Enough said | Tom |
| What more can I say. If I present a reasoned argument that the science regarding global climate change is an incomplete science and does not categorically prove many of the wide assertions being made, I would be burned at the stake. | Albyn |
| Too much too fast. Select 1st gear go onwards slowly. Not overdrive like Labour and greens. Act seem to have the most common sense approach. | Allan M |
| No government can control the effect that volcanoes have on earth’s climate. | Mark |
| Luxon has lost my vote. | Charles |
| And even adaptation should be applied with a light hand. Most of the damage caused by severe weather events appears to be caused by timber waste in our waterways. There is no point in rebuilding bridges and heightening stop banks if we continue allowing timber waste into the waterways. | Bryan |
| These People that want to reduce CARBON have possibly never attended a basic Science Class. CARBON is one of the foundation blocks of growth on this Planet. It’s what Trees give us and what we breath out. We need CARBON to actually live. So has anybody NOT figured out yet why ‘They’ want to reduce CARBON. They want to ‘reduce’ us ….Hello !! | Geoff |
| Mitigation will kill the NZ Economy. | Merv |
| Food for thought well done | Raewyn |
| For heavens sake the whole carbon issue is a Scam !! | Mike |
| Killing the economy is not the answer to climate assistance. | Phil |
| Climate is now being Geoengineered. Machines emitting oxides into the air, creating weird clouds, rainbow colours and crazy weather. Look up the evidence is there. | Sheena |
| I believe climate change is cyclic as are co2 levels. Sure reduce pollution and take of earth but NZ contribute about 0.17%. Nothing we do will help. Stop the big polluting nations emissions first | Rick |
| The Real Science is clear. Mankind contributes to climate change, but very little. Just wish I was here in 100 years to laugh out loud at the political scientists! | Colin |
| Gabrielle type events were prophesied by Aussie meteorologists last year after billions of tons of water was blasted into the atmosphere by the Tongan volcano.noone has mentioned this!!!! | Fraser |
| And National should stop letting the MSM set the agenda on everything. Take a lesson from Winston. They are an unelected bunch of rabble rousers pushing their own subversive agenda. | Jan |
| We know it%u2019s bollocks that global warming is caused by humans sure we contribute but not by much White Island probable pumps out more nastys than we do | Peter |
| Those espousing the current co2 mania need to do some proper research on the earths natural co2 levels / fluctuations and climatic changes, Perhaps we should try capping all the volcanoes? | Andrew |
| Climate Science is not a real science. It’s a funding mechanism for grifters. It should be put in the same basket as Alchemy and Phrenology. | Matt |
| Man-made climate change is idiocy, and totally antiscience. 15v25, any true climate scientist should explain that. | Robin |
| We must adapt like humans have had to do for thousands of years. Very poor show from Luxon. | Gifford |
| Climate change is as big a hoax as the covid hoax | Gordon |
| National really need to sort themselves out, sorry to say but Luxon has to go. Both my votes to ACT at the present. | Trevor |
| Economic change is obviously the best. eg. electric cars, I am confident they will take over from the internal combustion engine but they are too dear right now. Wait till the battery is better & cheaper & can compete with petrol/diesel cars then the change is economic and not disruptive. And the same goes for coal & gas verses solar. As to global warming and melting of polar ice, I haven’t seen myself any sea level rise in my 82 years on this planet! | Eric |
| Mitigating gradually in concert with other like minded nations to achieve gradual steady fall. this matter would be a controllable fall and effects measured annually, and adjusted accordingly. The match of the control measure can be adjusted according. | terrence |
| Climate change doesn’t exist! | Kate |
| Carbon dioxide is plant food – any weather damage comes from natural climate change. Man is insignificant in the global context. | Graham |
| We should all adapt then my son and his family would not have to live in an area where flooding occurred. | Ray |
| For many people who are ignorant of science the fear is being seen as ignorant, so instead they defer to what the majority push because they do not have the intelligence to make the argument against the populist ideology. Shame on them. | T |
| There are many global scientific papers and studies that prove climate change is only partially caused by human activity, but rather its part of global cyclical patterns that earth undergoes at regular intervals, we just happen to have been on a mild displacement of her cyclic event not for much longer however. | Chris |
| While Countries like China and India especially are putting so much into the atmosphere nothing we do will make a scrap of difference | Peter |
| We have got to adapt to it. Makes you wonder about some of the present members of Parliament. Should they be there representing us. i have doubts | Rob |
| Commonsense | Andrew |
| Common sense needs to prevail not Chicken Little. | Steve |
| What climate change??? No such thing!!!! We have been this way before!! It’s a distraction. | Dianne |
| The day the politicians can control an erupting volcano, the amount of sun, rain wind, in short our weather then will be the time to worry about climate change. as they would still be unable to decide what the weather should be for the day. | Logan |
| This is the most important tool in the United Nations quest to put us under Global Governance. It started way back in 1950 when the UN was first formed. I believe it was a meeting in Italy, where they discussed how to get the world to come under their directions, in aim to bring world peace after the first and second world war. Guess what they decided upon. Yes, climate. If we tell the world it is going to burn up they will be cooperative. It’s taken all these years to get to where we are now. Luxton seems terrified of looking bad to a media who seem to think they are the moral soldiers of the Nation. If they did their research. They would find exactly as the National MP said. There is absolutely no scientific evidence to show carbon gas methane gas are the drivers of climate change. Remember it used to be global warming. They could not prove that, so suddenly it was climate change. Because no one can deny that. Been happening for thousands of years. We can mitigate it. Stopping carbon is like the boy putting his finger in the hole in the dike. | Dene |
| thank heavens for your common sense articles | david |
| On the evidence that has been shown the sooner Luxon is gone the better for National and the country. He is Labour lite and has no sole. | Andrew |
| Floods have been happing for hundred of years and no one is going to change that if thit was not for all the forestry slash the flood would have come and gone with minimal loss of property so forest slash is the problem and if those nit wit can not see that what are they doing there | Russell |
| Obviously | Geoffrey |
| It is very clear to me that whatever changes may or may not happen to the climate in the future, is largely unrelated to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And to accuse a viewpoint such as that of being “unscientific” is just plain ignorant. | Steve |
| An example is forestry being planted in unsuitable soils. Carbon credits are not the answer. | Anne |
| Reducing carbon emissions is not going to work. We learnt at school about the carbon cycle. Plant absorb CO2 and produce O2, animals breathe in O2 and breathe out CO2. Screw that up and you screw up the food chain. No CO2 – no carbohydrates to feed the animals which use the chemical energy to do things and produce things that are required for life and CO2 which is then used by the plants in photosynthesis to produce food. It is that simple. Stop screwing with God’s creation – He knows how it operates and kept it simple. There is not enough room on this page to write all I could write but above is a basic starting point. Oh btw, the more CO2 we produce the better the growth of the vegetation. If one is worried about CO2 levels stop cutting down trees. Firstly grow the right type of tree as well. | Kevin |
| build infrastructure as Wayne Brown advocates – it is the primary function of local government– but the lunatic left & their media don’t want that | bruce |
| To think our efforts make a difference is madness. No effort will change the up and coming third worlds who will continue to emit as they strive to develop., Our minute efforts are laughable. | Mark |
| I would strongly recommend that ALL MPs and journalists read Ian Wishart’s book Aircon. “The ‘global warming’ debate is not really a debate about climatology – it is a debate about freedom. It is the aim of the growing world-government faction among the international ‘classe politique’ to take away our hard-won freedom and democracy forever. I commend this timely book, which makes the scientific arguments comprehensible to the layman. Those who read it will help to forestall the new Facists and so keep us free.” Lord Christopher Monckton, Viscount of Benchley. former adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. James Shaws response is typical of a dishonest person who does not have the facts to back up his claims. He has a ‘god complex’. A god complex is an unshakable belief characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility. A person with a god complex may refuse to admit the possibility of their error or failure, even in the face of irrefutable evidence, intractable problems or difficult or impossible tasks. The person is also highly dogmatic in their views, meaning the person speaks of their personal opinions as though they were unquestionably correct. Someone with a god complex may exhibit no regard for the conventions and demands of society, and may request special consideration or privileges. The fact that the labour cult’s corrupt propaganda machine immediately instigated a pile on can only be expected because that is what they are paid for via the PIJF. Maureen’s colleagues however have simply displayed a level of treachery that by any standard would be unacceptable, plus a decided lack of imagination. If they didn’t realise what the media would do with their statements, they must be on something. If they believe what Shaw says is true, knowing that he is a politician, they have a credibility problem. Our present system of democracy is far too open to corruption, nepotism, influence by ideologues,( both internal and external)including the UN, WHO, IPCC and WEF to name a few. We are held to ransom by the parties with their rich, influential backers. A more open direct democracy like the Swiss system has more checks on the politicians. | Terry M |
| James Shaw is a moron and far more dangerous to NewZealand than any climate change. | Darren |
| The Government and future Government should focus on how to address the devestation caused throughout the country by cyclones and severe weather. They need also to sort out the roads which the regions economy and communication rely on. Far more important than more pine forestry which we can’t eat to address climate change. | June |
| Mitigation will not reduce the effects of climate change since NZ is so small but adaptation is important to deal with the damage that will result from climate events. | Dorothy |
| No contest. If the big boys do not join in our efforts will be useless at a sever economic cost. | Martin |
| I believe that climate is fickle and always has been and always will be. I don’t believe that anything politicians say or do will change the fact in my view that most of climate change is mother nature and not man made. I guess the politicians will continue to hurt our farmers and when there forced to wind down other countries will get in to take NZ place. I actually think that climate has been changing for millions of years and will probably continue to. If you go back through the archives you’ll see that this country along with many others has had major flooding in the past and will probably continue to do so. | Paul |
| The climate is always changing so we should always plan for change. | mike |
| For goodness sake, could journalists please question the effects earthquakes/volcano’s. have on the matter and stop saying that mankind behavior s all responsible | Robert |
| Every one of the 5 eyes countries have instigated the exact same false climate change data based on hearsay and fraudulent misleading data lists made to fit the false agenda of every one of the five eyes countries. Deception is the name of their game and to speak out means you are a conspiracy theorist and you must be shut down and prevented from sharing any truth about this world wide climate scam on the masses. If any part of the deception had any merit at all then it would be the logical thing to examine every piece and present it to the world as proof…..but they will never do that simply because their fraudulent evidence will never stand up to any scrutiny AND THEY KNOW IT….The current future of New Zealand is in grave peril from all of these climate alarmists so to vote for either National or Labor is a vote for the same corrupted government and the masses lose again. Stupidity is never compulsory , but it is alive and well in our backwards thinking , sleeping country of NZ. | fred |
| It’s a no-brainer! I agree totally with Maureen Pugh, she asked a great question that was unanswered by James Shaw. If climate change is what we have, I believe that it is not man-made! | Valerie |
| I wrote to Chris Luxon, expressing shock for his disciplining of Maureen Pugh and suggested he extend his own reading of books published by some, named, authors who challenge the group think on the topic. His reply is awaited. | Barry |
| We feel that the way Maureen Pugh was treated is outrageous. There is no longer respect for the person daring to ask for evidence. Feel so despondent about the direction in which the country is going | Patricia |
| A no-brainer. | Paul |
| THANK GOODNESS – COMMON SENSE BEING SHOWN AT LAST! | sYLVIA |
| There is no irrefutable proof that climate change is made by humans | Arthur |
| Having read so much on the causes of climate and its changes Luxton and his hirelings have missed a golden opportunity to put things right. But he used Maureen Pugh as a pawn. Gutless and he wants to win the next election. Not a hope | Rod |
| Climate change is ONE BIG con that has cost millions of dollars and many many lives. How many people would be alive today if the slash had been cleared from the forests. Greens have got alot to answer for. | alan |
| Both positions are a nonsense. NZ is 1/600th of the world’s total landmass and we emit just 0.17% of the world’s “pollutive gases.” Why we’re spending anything to “improve” our output is farcical. | Jim |
| We are a tiny place and can do nothing to change any global warming. Stop the US, India and China producing greenhouse gases and leave poor NZ alone. | Laura |
| Excellent article by Dr Newman. We should all be concerned at how far our politicians and our political processes have fallen. Our Democracy is in great danger. | Kevin |
| Wake up NZ, we are being sucked dry by the left, there are too many sensible commentaries out there by Willy, Newman and the rest of the commentators to be ignored. | Neville |
| Yes, we need to look after the planet by addressing pollution, utilising sustainable practices in all areas of life etc, BUT climate change is not man made. | Charles |
| Using ALL of our technology to prosper. Through that property comes the means to pay for the adaption, for either warmer or cooler…it is after all Climate Change, not Global Warming. | Lionel |
| It%u2019s just crazy to waste tax payers hard earned money on such a grandiose scheme like mitigation | Jim |
| Climate change is a fact – man-made climate change is a myth. The treatment of Maureen Pugh just shows how hopeless Luxon is and will continue to be. | Roger |
| So angry about treatment of Maureen Pugh | Shirley |
| The severity of the flooding was because of slash and no burn policy initiated by the Greens. Time to get rid of the Greens. All what looks good, but none of it practical. | Michele |
| Great piece of writing Muriel. I have voted National all my middle aged life but I am seriously considering giving my party vote to ACT this October if Christopher Luxon remains leader. I was more than enraged by his condescending treatment of Maureen Pugh. The man is nothing more than a flaky liberal. | Lee |
| Forcing us into electric cars is like forcing a toddler to eat spinach. Give us better public travel options instead. We need a 2nd bridge and not a cycle bridge. We need more buses, more routes, maybe smaller buses and more often. with large ones in peak times What about more ferries for the lycra lot. There are options, use them. | Sharron |
| Gabreille was a man engineered disaster on several levels, none of them related to cow farts and driving cars. Geoengineering footprints are all over this as is the irresponsibility of the forestry industry to fail to deal with unwanted slash in the bid to maximise profits. | Janya |
| Climate change is a myth. | Florence |
| I can prove absolutely that human carbon emissions cannot influence climate change If you want to know how you can too, just let me know.. | John |
| We should only do as much as the communist Chinese do. | steven |
| We have to do both. This question is unreasonable with the “no matter what the economic cost”. I fear your survey will give a misleading result. | John |
| Definitely | Ruth |
| Our carbon balance would be negative if the total area of national park was credited and we stopped allowing overseas companies to turn productive land into carbon credits. So if people want to help they should be pushing for the big polluters to act. as we cant make any difference. | Ian |
| Climate change is natural and cyclicle as shown by all REAL climate scientists who are ignored due to grants, agendas etc. Without CO2 the planet and everything on it dies — it is the lifeblood of the planet for goodness sake !!!!!!!!!! | Alan |
| Country with the greatest industrial carbon emissions? China! But the New Zealand Labour Govt, in 2008 (under PM Helen Cluck) placed – and still do – no relevance to to this when they entered the ongoing Free Trade Agreement with PRC. | Peter |
| Leave the shit alone. The climate tossers, are just that. There will always be a blue sky. Luxon will not win, he is a weak gutless creature. The man is piss weak. If necessary vote Nats, give Act the big ticket vote. I do not agree with the two questions above. Those questions are a double edged sword. That is not correct or democractic. If you wish to loose support, just keep this time of muilti choice questioning up,. We are either inor out. stop having a doller each way! | George |
| Common sense | mary |
| And stop Governments from using weather modification weapons against us. If you don’t know about geoengineering, solar modification management, geophysical weapons, HAARP and chem trails ect, then you are not paying attention. | neil |
| Adaptation absolutely. Maureen Pugh was within her democratic rights to question the current dogma re climate change. New Zealand(NOT Aotearoa) produces bugger all problems of any nature. WE are just uselessly virtue signalling to the rest of the world about how great we are, that’s just putting enormous and unjustifiable costs on the average New Zealand citizen who, quite frankly, has hS gutsful of this nonsense being spouted as if it’s some kind of new religion. | Trevor |
| It really is just common sense! The latest weather events have made this very clear. By blaming climate change, it gives them all an excuse for their gross negligence in addressing work that minimizes damage in a extreme weather event. | Alistair |
| David Seymour seems to be the only party leader with his head screwed on straight. In a recent interview with Sean Plunket on The Platform, he said that if NZ disappeared, it would have no effect on the world climate. The only sensible course of action was to concentrated all of our efforts on minimising the losses. | Geoff |
| Luxton has just lost my support, he should have supported his mp and her choice to ask questions gutless. | Robert |
| Climate has always been changing. The government version of it is a con. And mitigating a con at the cost of people is a criminal act – or should be. | Christine |
| Biggest scam since the Y2K fiasco and yes climate change is real. But my Ute isn’t the problem, the lies and hyperbole from the left on this topic is astounding | Boris |
| Adaption is the only rational response to climate change. | Terry |
| Your comments are spot on. Thanks | Les |
| Minister Shaw blew it completely for me. Even a small reference to the Tongan volcano would have been justified. I think Chris Luxon erred and he could do with rethinking his position on the topic. Gabrielle has blown the crazed Climate Change drama even harder to justify. | Peter |
| The Green Party should read some science, then maybe they might see that climate change is real, is natural and always will be. Shaw is an idiot to say or even think that NZ caused the cyclone. As for Luxon he hasn’t got a lot of time to show that he can be strong against the media. He just lost thousands of votes by not backing his MP, who absolutely asked the correct question and should have been supported. National is sleepwalking away from victory – get a new leader; at least Bridges was tough | Pauline |
| Bad judgement by Mr Luxton .The National Party could loose support over his action. | Peter |
| I have never believed climate change was caused by mankind. Or in the publicity seeking Al Gore. | Jan |
| Climate change is a function of mostly solar influences, human activity has no part in it | Graham |
| Nature naturally changes all the time. – four seasons, high tides, low tides, continuous cycles of the moon, wind and rain. Animals, including humans, bird and fish etc have populated our earth for centuries. Weather extreme’s have happened for ever! – think volcanos and earthquakes , the ring of fire all- controlled by woke green politicians and the UN, WOF,WEF !!! | Stuart |
| Climate change is Earth driven, she will do what she wants, it’s her backyard. Of course the climate is changing, but it is not man made. Earth’s climate has changed many times even before man arrived. We have to learn to adapt, we have to stop building in river valleys, that’s why they are river valleys, and rivers change their course regularly. We have to get better at what we are doing and adjust to the changes. | Heather |
| Immediately cancel paying $1.3 billion into the international climate change fund rort – use this money to rebuild Hawkes Bay, and to strengthen infrastructure to militate against damage from future weather events. Charity begins at home! | David |
| Great article | Ross |
| Somebody, Please, Please, have the courage to allow the popular narrative to be questioned and challenged. Why make our country poorer because of a fable? | Bruce |
| I too would like james shaw to show us the evidence for his claim,that humans are responsible for global warming.I do not want his opinion. | gale |
| Your article will not be published in the STUFF papers, Muriel!! | Andy |
| On FaceBook I asked question to Minister CI wonder if James Shaw has the sphericals to answer Maureen Pugh’s legitimate question in Parliament, requesting specific evidence of Anthropogenic Global Warming as to the cause of the recent Cyclone Gabrielle. Further interruptions from National Party Members will be totally uncalled for, due to their misguided information. To which I have not heard a dicky-bow. | Roy |
| This is too easy! It has to be adaptation. Then follow the narrative that David Seymour has to say on this matter as his party’s policy. All those who want a new Government should only vote for the ACT Party. Not the gutless national party. as they will be worse than useless. | Garry. |
| It is not a matter of adaptation as humans cannot alter the climate. The alternative proposal should be that ” New Zealand’s climate change policy should be abandoned to the trash bin of human folly”. | Ronnie |
| Adaptain will come inevtably, yet we still need to curb emissions instead of carrying on as before. | Robert |
| Nasa wrote a report in 2021 that said that the earth has entered a phase where it is going to have excessive wobble., it is going to cause extra coastal flooding Etc. the phase is approx. 18 years long, will last until after 2030. So not all disasters are man made | Les |
| Instead of paying 1.4 billion p/a to Paris accord invest in wiser roads | Alistair |
| I go along with Maureen Pugh before she had to tow the party line. | Peter |
| It’s too late anyway | Mike |
| I have no time for that bald headed corp goon Luxon, he is a gutless man. | Sven |
| What about the changing orbit around the sun and the tilt that is ongoing with our planet | David |
| No evidence whatsoever that humans or animals cause climate change, The climate has been changing well before the industrial revolution | Ron |
| Easy to adapt! Mitigation will not succeed. | Jim |
| Adaptation is the only way if it is needed. | peter |
| The current policies being adapted and promoted by the government with the assistance of the left media are seriously weakening our fragile economy. There are more important issues such as the treatment of waste, especially plastic and batteries and other toxic materials being dumped in land fill. These issues are getting very little attention but are far more serious than our minute production of CO2. . | Graeme |
| Climate change is utter rubbish, the earth has been changing back and forwards for ever. Growing up we were warned about another ice age. James Shaw and his ilk are non productive members of our society, who have never contributed a cent to our GDP, it’s time for the greens to go, make yourself useful for a change. Chris Luxon, what a complete wuss, Maureen Pugh has more common sense in her little finger than in his whole head, aided and abetted by his party. For goodness sake Chris, it’s about time to show some strength of character. | Merryl |
| CO2 is not the problem, and electric cars are not the answer. | Noel |
| There is change occurring but I question whether it is manmade or cyclical weather pattern which has been occurring for thousands of years. Personally, I believe that Maureen Pugh had every right to ask the question. If Shaw is so sure of his facts re climate change, he should have welcomed the opportunity to answer the question. It is interesting that he didn’t do so, or perhaps he hasn’t got the facts to back up his position. Luxton should have backed Pugh saying that “it is a fair question” and looked forward to the reply. | chris |
| Humans have always been adapting to the planet and the changes it brings, be it the climate, earthquakes, etc. Anybody who believes in man made climate change probably also believe in Santa and the tooth fairy. | Hugh |
| Adaptation for the future. | Ann |
| Thank you for this much needed exposure and the 3rd World information war we are all experiencing Globally. The paid off media is the virus. The shots are the weapon. The new Nokia radio wave boxes installed on every cell tower across New Zealand is the other weapon. Are you aware that our weather has been engineered for decades by the deep state cabal, the 1% Elite who control our world through major Financial institutions, the Pharmacuticle industrial complex, our food I warned many here in NZ 4 years ago that we will be a communist country by 2025 if we di dont do something about our rigged election. . New Zealand is not excluded from tye CCP one World order. The WEF and CCP are one and the same. Goodness… I could go on but I cant see the writing well as I am typing on a phone. You Shine in my World Frank & Muriel With a Greatful Heart. Simple farmer in the WBP | Sky |
| This is common sense rather than policy based on faulty modelled science | Donald |
| What a sensible politician. Asking a question. What a dickhead leader making her recant. God save New Zealand from this climate nonsense being espoused, because most of the elected politicians cannot. | john |
| Global warming, Climate change or call it what you want! Has been going on for thousands of years and mankind does very little to upset its balance. One volcano erupting puts more poisonous gases, ashes and pollution into the atmosphere than mankind’s existence. Re The Tonga eruption just few months back? This plus the El Nino weather patterns are what is causing the tropical weather we are now enduring. Mankind just has to sop polluting the waterways and stop the plastic pollution. | Wayne |
| It is a shame that people cannot question written or oral statements on climate change. I myself don’t believe the methane from cattle is destroying the planet. | Dennis |
| For anyone with their eyes open, they will know that cyclone Gabrielle was going to be not just a storm, but one that was heavily and actively influenced by Climate Geoengineering to make it much worse than it would normally have been. Just have a look at what these globalist pricks are doing, in the background, to cause us harm. with the world military machine in their “pay”, they have all the resources needed to put us all to death. You may think that harsh, but the globalist controllers are of a different ilk, and most of us don’t know the half of it. If you want to stay alive, you had better learn quick! | Neil |
| CLIMATE CHANGE AS PREPOSED BY THE LOONY LEFTI IS JUST A LOAD OF BS | John |
| The earth’s climate changed five times before “man” was a tickle in god’s underpants. Reducing carbon which the plants breathe is as stupid as it gets! | Tom |
| Unfortunately for Luxon, the king has been seen to wear no clothes | Nick |
| I certainly won’t give National my vote with the present woke spineless trio in command. What a complete twit Luxon is. It’s simply not plausible with all the real scientific evidence to the contrary to believe that CO2 whether produced by man or nature has any significant effect on climate. It’s also unbelievable and utter arrogance to suggest that’s mankind can alter the climate for good or bad! | Alan |
| Shocked at the treatment of Maureen Pugh. she simply asked the question many of us are asking! | Jim |
| Luxon just pushed me to vote for Act. His mitigating has become fawning! | Glenda |
| climate change is too far advanced to change. We need to adapt as we always have | fred |
| The little bit that N.Z. Emits is of no consequence compared to the rest of the world,adaption for us to cope with climate change only way to go. | Chris |
| Wake up you Politicians. Get something right for a change. | Willian |
| New Zealand needs to Adapt to what is going on. No matter how many carbon credits we are deemed to earn and how much we tax people with utes etc is not going to help change the weather. The Green party whom are all career politicians. To my knowledge not one of them expresses any science qualifications. It’s pointless them telling us how bad we are, the noise needs to happen using qualified people where all the deemed issue affecting climate change is happening.It seems our green wallies haven’t got a clue how to go about climate issues. Take note of David Seymours latest news letter. He would make a great prime minister if he could control some of his way out there theories. | Owen |
| There are two camps of opinion – climate realists and climate alarmists. Unfortunately the media disallow any debate from we, the climate realists. | Tony |
| Not only do I consider humans can adapt to climate change whether it be warming or cooling, I actually feel sorry for those journalists whose Jobs depend on toeing the ‘right’ line preventing them from doing real investigations. I have studied climate and weather all my adult life ( 60 years) and am well aware tiny changes are not to be feared. I have seen houses built on flood plains without consideration for inevitable flooding where many countries would use higher foundations etc. I left the National Party having been an office holder, because it did not call the nonsense of climate alarmism what it is. Whenever I mention the nonsense in conversation, folk always agree with me and seem pleased I think as they do. | Catherine |
| King Canute could not hold the tide back but he could back away. We can not keep climate change at bay but we can learn to live with it! | Colin |
| It’s a cult, designed to redistribute a nation’s wealth from those that have to those that haven’t via the ‘so called elites’ so they can take the cream off the top. The earth will do what the earth will do and no , nada, nil amount of money and virtue signalling will change that. What egos they have. Honestly, the climate cultists really are deranged. Destroy our economy, why don’t yah. Like that person who cried that ‘we don’t need farms’ we have enough supermarkets,’ That is the mentality. The screacher’s are not interested in facts. Hey, how about an interest in the recent Tongan eruption and the amount of water flung into the atmosphere being the cause for the recent cyclone effect. Not a word. Don’t build on a flood plain – or at the outflow of a gully. -fairly simple | Carolyn |
| Of course this is the logical course. Nats are becoming followers and whimps. Freedom of speech is becoming lost in leftwing agendas, the media hype and misinformation | julie |
| Luxon please back your MP M.Pugh. She is right to ask J. Shaw to show the evidence for Climate Change. The IPCC report indicates no abnormalities. | Ian |
| As Kiwis, we owe it to ourselves to learn about the history of the weather on this planet. | Stuart |
| Why are so many politicians so stupid that they can%u2019t see the truth | Gareth |
| It is war and climate change is major armament. We lack a credible opposition leader to clearify the factual position . So strength is required to deal to the media and make it a crime to misinform. Balls are needed, Margaret Thatcher had them. Nobody is perfect but pragmatism, common sense with logic is needed, don’t forget NZ is a fragile nation with an economy depending on food and primary products plus a growing practical technical industry, we mean nothing on the scale of pollution so let the others do it first but reduce our own pollution like the billion plastic bottles we use to lurk out lolly water or just plain water. Just an example. | Leonard |
| Muriels article is “spot on” Far too much propaganda these days. ARE China and India doing anything at all | David |
| Both Mitigation and Adaption should be pursued. A bet each way is the best option. The science is far from proven but climate change is real, it always has been. Think about the last ice age and its effects on the environment. | John |
| Adaptation of course. I was extremely disappointed to witness Christopher Luxon throwing Maureen under the bus. I hope he has had a private chat with her to reassure her that her opinion is both welcome and perfectly fine. She is right. He needs to man up and learn that his constituency is not impressed with such a weak response. and capitulation to the whims of the Marxists journos who indeed are drongos. Good onya Wayne! | Dianna |
| Well, duh! | Howard |
| I have lost all faith in Luxon as a leader, but I still believe that National and ACT will form a coalition party at the next election. If they win, they need to scrape the Climate Change policy and get back to reality. | Reg |
| Both actually – otherwise it’s like sweeping water off the floor without fixing the hole in the roof! | Geraldine |
| Get in the real world. Volcanoes I’m sure have a roll in all this . Right back to Mt Hudson and Pinatubo in my lifetime as well as as Tonga. | Tim |
| As plain as the nose on your face | keith |
| Climate change is nothing new. It has been going on for millions of years. As we get more people on earth and land use is changing we certainly need to adapt to meet the challenges. We must also distinguish between climate change and pollution. Two very different animals. | John |
| The belief in man made climate change is scary at least and dangerous to a sustainable future for NZ. | Ian |
| the next SCAMDEMIC pushed by left wing Globalists Like Cluxon | Greg |
| There is far too much of climate change BS | Alan |
| Although we contribute to global warming in a limited way we do NOT cause it – it is a natural occurrence. It is used by left wing activists to cause fear and compliance | Peter |
| You are so right Luxson is dead scared of the media and Maori that amongst my freinds they se him as weak link in the National Party as leader so he needs to lift his game and start to be more aggressive when dealing to the above and the opposition Climate change has become nothing more than a ponzy scheme and we have to become more independant and create our own life style and not rely on central Government for assistance. | ken |
| And all of this is not helped by that mendacious crank Mann doing a tour of NZ imploring people to continue with mitigation. he has been proven wrong in peer reviewed articles and the courts many times. | Layor |
| The cry of those who hold the view that global warming is the fault of human activity tend not to have taken the history of the planet into consideration, nor do they have taken into account that Tonga’s violent underwater eruption, which began on Jan. 13 and peaked two days later, was the most powerful witnessed on Earth in many decades. The blast extended for 162 miles (260 kilometers) and sent pillars of ash, steam and gas soaring more than 12 miles (20 km) into the air, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). We shouldn’t be surprised that it has had a damaging effect on our climate this summer. It has absolutely nothing to do with human activity affecting the climate, but with underwater seismic activity. | Julia |
| Let’s get an idea of perspective. If the sun were the size of say a Swiss ball, you know the ones people exercise with, then the earth would be a little bit bigger than a grain of sand. Now if the sun hiccuped, we would fry! The sun’s output has been increasing slowly for the last 300 years, since the end of the Launder minimum, look it up! This global warming crap is purely to take control of everyone, covid didn’t work so now they push climate change. Luxon is a puppet of Klauss Schwab, like the hierarchy of labour, pushing the WEF barrow. Schwab will have control folders on all of them so they keep to the script! MPs like Maureen Pugh speaking the truth, can’t be tolerated, corrupt media are backing WEF narrative. I hope Greg Mallet is writing a book about this woke crap! | Peter |
| Adaption. Absolutely. Any difference anything NZ does in respect of mitigation is globally insignificant, and would further compromise our already failing economy under the current bunch of Liebour and Green misfits | Rob |
| National need more Maureen Pughs. Luxon is just another Labour supporter in disguise. He’s been instructed by Klaus Schwab to destroy this country. I have been a longtime National supporter but WILL NOT give them a vote with Luxon at the helm. I do not support the climate change/global warming nonsense and will support a couple of the minor parties this election. | Carolyn |
| The blog Mark Webster: Kauri position on climate change says it all clearly. It is ti e to separate science from opinion and root out ideology from politics. | Peter |
| We must move to adaptation as New Zealand’s mitigation will achieve nothing to change what is happening in the world. | Glenda |
| Makes more sense and more practical to achieve for NZ to take care of its own. | Rob |
| I have listened to many qualified scientists (non main stream) iterate the same views as yourself. These qualified scientists are not given a platform I can see why Global Warming was changed to Global Change. One is deniable and one is not! This planet has been changing forever and we as humans can NEVER stop this Thank you Muriel | Mary |
| I am really disappointed with Luxon’s stupidity. | Pamela |
| NZ contributes a minute proportion of environmentally harmful gases. And yet we lead the world in putting restrictions in place to curb it. We have enough challenges as it is being a small and remote country! | Murray |
| Luzon has screwed up big time. Instead of calling out James Shaw’s refusal to provide real evidence to support his ludicrous claims on man made climate change, he publicly trashes his own MP. A gutless and woke response which will cost him dearly. | Ian |
| Deal with what is happening in front of you before worrying about theoretical stuff. | Rod |
| 5 million citizens – the size of an international city. Obviously we are hugely responsible for any global warming! What fools to suggest this and what fools we are to cower before the accusers. NZ needs a political party to reshape our response, focussing on adaptation and protection whilst incorporating policies to reduce emissions where practical, without disadvantaging the working citizens. Green and Labour politicians, hypocritically, benefit from salaries paid by the population and they continue to fly and drive cars and use consumer goods. It is a nonsense. And we will continue to receive weather patterns that cause disruption, no matter what we do, whilst the rest of the world applauds us in public then laughs at us, behind our backs. And the citizens will yet again bear the brunt of the restrictions and taxes of a few woke idealists. Vote for change in October. | DAVID |
| luxton is a terrible person and bully | donald |
| Pugh should be put on a pedestal of hope for open discussion that allows both sides of the climate change debate be aired to all, so that citizens can decide for themselves, not be bullied by the politics of fear. The unintended consequences of this bullying is that as a country we have been able to hide the actual consequences of not attending to our infrastructure by blaming it all on ‘climate change’ for which they don’t have to accept accountability as against adaptation which can be measured and can be held accountable for. | Mike |
| change the wording to a changing climate as climate change suggest a Green Party agenda. | James |
| The Mitigation Team are fools with their heads buried in an unfortunate place. | Noel |
| I could give Luxon a few books to read, but I doubt he has the intelligence to understand what is being said in them | Allan |
| These Lefty loonies never give up their misdirected “belief systems” when it comes to “Climate Change”. I agree that the climate has been changing for millions of years & any man-made CO2 gases which make up the total “greenhouse gases” is SO miniscule compared to what nature produces, at least a good 97% from perma-frost melting & our oceans, swamps etc., we can never stop that & as for “cow farts” causing climate change & especially Cyclone Gabrielle well that’s beyond farcial, it doesn’t even register on the lunacy meter…! | Bruza |
| the only rationale option | john |
| should have been the policy all the time | chris |
| Whoever thinks we can control Nature obviously believes in ‘The Tooth Fairy’ and ‘SantaClaus, what i say to them is open your eyes and fo some meaningful research!! | Frank |
| We live in the now. Adaptation is the way to go. Climate Change has been high jacked by those who wish to profit from the scare mongering of climate change time to grow up. | frank |
| The only process that makes sense for such a low carbon emitting country. | David |
| When discussing the situation, I get the feeling from those of my age have seen it all before while the younger generation say it’s all new. Over my long life I have been in Climate events that make mockery of current events. | Ken |
| Chris and his team have to wake up and sometimes put more thought into how they respond to media!! | Ken |
| The Climate Change lunatics have not only gotten hold of the keys but they’ve convinced the psychologist that they, the lunatics, are the sane ones. The worlds climate changed for a billion years before we arrived as proven by scientists and it will continue to change when we are gone due to the next comets hitting the earth or our own nuclear war stupidity | Tony |
| Common sense | Alan |
| Uncertainty about what effect human emissions are having means the best investment is not Tesla cars but rather infrastructure resilience. i.e. Adaptation | Alex |
| It’s a no Brainer, adaptation is the obvious route for countries like NZ. Anyone who doesn’t believe in logic is a common sense denier. | Richard |
| The is no-one worthy of a vote in the next election. Heaven help us! | Coral |
| like many other s I will not be supporting National but will vote for ACT | heather |
| It just makes sense. To rebuild communities, towns etc in the very same place that the recent Cyclone damaged and destroyed beggers belief. Adapt or perish. | Murray |
| FFS! | Michael |
| Not that this Labour Government care with the its our WAY!!!! Time for an election NOW….. | Carl |
| Only way to go | thomas |
| For the sake of future generations lets have the parties that would want to run our country from Oct publicly condemn the Greens and James Shaw for failing to publicly and fully retract their mis judgements and lies. | Jim |
| Will politicians ever wake up to the real scientific facts?? | Maxine |
| Waste of time just a scaremongering ploy waste of time and money | Barbara |
| I have been pushing this view amongst my work mates and get no response | Stanley |
| Wow! What a vote loser for Luxon. Who in their right minds will vote for Labour Lite now? | Alice |
| Climate change has been going on since the dawn of time. Maureen Pugh was absolutely correct, and should never have been forced to retract her comment. | Kahn |
| I wish people could use a bit of common sense. Shaw is hopeless. | John |
| Absolutely | Michael |
| The Greenies are loonies…show us the proof that climate change even exists…in any fair debate the other point of view must always be publicised! Only then will we get to the truth. | John |
| It makes no sense at all to make NZ-ers pay such a high price to try to mitigate climate change when we emit only 0.17% of the world’s greenhouse gases. No human efforts or planning could have stopped or even reduced Gabrielle’s ferocity. I salute Maureen Pugh for her openness and audacity to speak out. Luxon’s treatment of her is well below par. “Re-education”? Not a good look for National, especially its leader. | Laurence |
| Follow the science – all of the real stuff | Sandra |
| We will NEVER beat Mother Nature. and is people would look back in history a lot of these events happened decades ago. | Helen |
| The so called experts that push climate change as responsible for the present Storms flooding and winds are stupidly wrong. For a long time the scientists that are honest and are aware, know that the earths magnetic poles are moving rapidly influenced by the sun. Consequently the amount of heat and gases from erupting volcanoes and especially the undersea one in Tonga all contribute to Global Warming. The mitigation for we humans, is to accept and build/live in safer areas. much engineering both civil and construction is required. | Ian |
| We Have to live with it. Build houses 1 meter off the ground in flood prone areas if people insist on building there. | Bev |
| Anthroprogenic global warming is a myth propagated by blinkered ideologues and who believe bozos like Al Gore and John Kerry whose dire predictions have not eventuated .The Global Climate accords are a rort we should sense funding as as for Luxon the man is not a leader but a corporate manager at best | Phil |
| The climate is constantly changing, sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly, as with the onset of ice ages and their eventual demise. Protect us from zealots and the critically uninformed! | Peter |
| Anyone with half a brain knows that reduction/removal of our 0.17% contribution will make not a scrap of difference to this county or the big polluters of the world | russell |
| SCIENCE BY CONSENSUS IS OF NO USE TO ANYONE | NORMAN |
| And the scientists are never wrong Mr. Shaw? | Patricia |
| None. | Tony |
| Adaptation And Given that Nz contributes considerably less that three fifths or seven eights to the global problem There is no mandate to be world leaders in reduction Imposing financial burden on the nation to do the look at me/us Ardern thing has passed or has it ? Labour is strangling this country thru a lack of foresight People fix problems and simply labour doesn’t want immigration And yes housing is a problem But it’s easily fixed it’s not hard. Just remove the can’t do it and replace it with can do it. The can’t do is just a mind set driven by people who don’t want to see the house values eroded | Bruce |
| Man made climate change is a scam | Jason |
| Luxon really has no political nouse, but then who from the National caucus actually stood up fro Maureen Pugh? I recall Simon Watts as probably the only National MP who supported his fellow member. | Chris |
| The evidence I have seen points to the nonsense that human activity causes climate change | Garry |
| The climate has will continue to change. its time for the political elite to stop the virtue signalling and actually do something useful!. | jason |
| The earth’s natural warming phase will continue no matter what interventions or scare mongering’s are perpetuated | Hugh |
| Don’t waste my money here. | Edgar |
| It’s about time Luxon read some real science. | Richard |
| only thing that makes sense | gerhard |
| Common sense please | Jane |
| Useless labour | Allan |
| Luxon should bd ashamed of his support. I would like to see evidence too. | David |
| I do not believe there is any real scientific evidence yet proven to state that the climate change is caused by humans. And we could decimate our country and doing everything these climate alarmists want and because of how small we are it would make less than 1% difference to worldwide emissions. It’s a joke and to have zero carbon is ridiculous it is the building block of life . Professor Duffy needs to be heard on this in the mainstream he is articulate and clearly shows the true science | Sue |
| I too am one of the party votes National has lost. | Graham |
| Adaptation, just like the Dutch did following the disastrous flood of 1953 when the dykes in Zeeland were breached by an unusually vicious storm. They constructed the multibillion dollar Delta Works to reduce the risk from future mega flood events. | John |
| Thanks for this Opportunity to Express my Views on Climate Change. It’s strange the Left Believe by Taxing Produces of Food are the Ones Creating Climate Change !,, If New Zealand was to go under the See today it Would no Difference to the Climate .To me it’s just a Excuse to Create more Hardship for the Population & More Left Wing Total Controls.This is a Way to Introduce Communism for this Soloist Government . | Michael |
| Shame on the shamers of Maureen Pugh | Glyn |
| This has always been my stance. To me the maths just do not add up and the human cause of climate change is likely just limited to deforestation especially of the Amazon and not carbon emissions. Modelling can never be trusted as it relies on the input parameters being correct and no-one knows EVERYTHING that effects the climate. | Steve |
| Adaptation goes nowhere near the truth of the matter. If all forms of life are to flourish then we need more co2 in the atmosphere, not less. CO2 is not a pollutant. | John |
| Plants and trees actually NEED carbon to flourish. Am sick and tired of the ‘climate change’ BS. Climate has been changing for millions of years. Humans need to address pollution, they cannot change the climate. I think Luxon has lost my vote also. | Linds |
| We need to adapt and stop building in the wrong places, not destroy our beautiful country with a bunch of carbon emissions make-believe. | Pamela |
| How thick are some of our Politicians ! | Al |
| The climate has always changed over millennia and will continue to do so. Likewise we have adapted to live where we choose and we will continue to do so. | Mark |
| Money should be spent on mitigation of the affects of climate change rather than trying to reduce the barely measurable impact that humans are making. We did not cause the ice age nor record temperatures which happened NEFORE industrialisation. We need to move away from gas cars jot because of the affect on climate but because we need to preserve oil which is used to make so many products we all use. | Trevor |
| We cannot keep endangering our ever fragile economy while we refuse to take prudent steps to address the lack of adequate drainage infrastructure investment and action to eliminate forestry impacts on flood regions. | mikem |
| We do really well compered to lots of other countries,at our huge cost | Ray |
| Climate changes as it always has for millennia with or without humans. Politicians seem to be scientific illiterates. It is not Maureen who needs to study climate science! | John |
| I am still waiting for reliable evidence of man made climate change. There are even some credible science based claims that we are actually entering a new ice age so it is far from settled. The sun is the largest influence on climate. It goes through its own cycles and variations. Leftist arrogance would have us believe that humans are bigger than that. Yes they love control even if it is ridiculous. | Frank |
| If humans were to disappear completely climate change would still happen, as it always has. | Graham |
| only an idiot would think they can change nature, adapting has always the only alternative. Luxton is way to wishy washy he needs to step aside & make way for a stronger leader. I will be voting ACT no other party makes any sense. | Nigel |
| Our climate change policy should definitely be adaptation. Mitigation has proved to be a total disaster. To even think that man can change the climate is unbelievable and ridiculous. Oh we could so clever! | Helen |
| This is called collaboration. | Tony |
| It most definitely should be aimed at adaptation. Mitigation has proved to be a total disaster. To think that man is clever enough to change the climate is unbelievable. | Helen |
| sort out the current mess after hurricane. | Graeme |
| Once again politicians need to know the real science not what backs their argument. | Keren |
| I have just resigned last week from being a long time National Party member…I will vote for my local National MP but party vote ACT. Just as you commentator said would happen… | Alastair |
| That the climate is changes is a given,, it always has and always will. That human activity is a significant driver is not at all evident. Adapt or die has been civilisation’s watchword in the past, why not now? | Ken |
| As Maureen Pugh suggested climate change is cyclic and this nation is merely a ‘spot in the ocean’ 1200 miles away from our nearest neighbour. | Terry |
| if man can control the sun and planets then it must be man made omg | keith |
| The only way forward for NZ is adaptation. We must learn to live with the changes and adapt our farming, viticulture, horticulture and lives to the changes that are coming and already here. | Marilyn |
| Lets not ruin the country by being stupid about this act when China is emitting in a day what we do in a year. | Warren |
| We must adapt – Even if we killed off all life in NZ completely, it would not make any appreciable difference to global CO2 emissions. I am completely over Luxon and will not vote for National again – he is either an idiot or frightened of his own shadow, or both. | Roy |
| Carbon emissions are NOT the problem | Phil |
| What is spent on mitigation cannot be spent on adaption. | Chuck |
| We are too insignificant | Gill |
| I’m voting ACT. Maureen Pugh is totally entitled to her opinion Luxon is not as bright as I had hoped. I’ve voted national all my life. | Warren |
| New Zealand cannot save the planet so it’s pointless continuing with mitigation. We need to face reality. Climate change is here as it’s been here before so let’s get on with adaption to this change and stop wasting money and resources on mitigation that will not fix the problem | Brian |
| Mitigation is beyond human possibility – don’t control the cosmos – therefore invest into adaption is the only viable route | bruce |
| In the bin with all the climate change crap. | John |
| The poor will become poorer and rich will become richer and the majority in the middle will become poorer if the current politics continue. | Grant |
| Climate Change is a UN scam to raise funds to finance their Activities. | Pierre |
| New Zealand should do what CHINA is doing now; Nothing, but building more coal fired electricity generation plants . | Warwick |
| Lots of great comments from last week but PLEASE re-read what Terry M and Sue, in particular said. Then, figure out, how do WE stop this continuing persecution??? No one appears to be coming to save us from the career politicians but we live in hope. The ‘honest’ election, on current data, will not help us as many think it will. THANKS again to Muriel for giving us some hope for our future here. | Debs |
| It beggars belief that anyone can believe that man’s 3% contribution to CO 2 emissions is causing climate change. Christopher Luxon’s statements are bewildering, ignorant and going to lose National votes- mine for one. | Anne |
| Let’s look at it logically. If it’s natural climate change, and it likely is, then we need to adapt. If it’s man made, highly unlikely, then population growth and Third World growing economies will outpace any mitigation so we will have to adapt. If it’s both then we have to adapt for the above reasons. | John |
| CO2 is greening the planet. | Andi |
| Good on Maureen Pugh. National have once again chosen the wrong leader. Its not the national party I have always voted for. For gods sake National, get back to what your forbears believed in. Its Act for my vote. | Peter |
| Every day Luxton is handing National Party votes to Act. A good leader is part of his team not above it. | Peter |
| The similarity to Galileo is very apt! Christopher Luxon step down as it looks like you don’t believe in free speech!! | Pamela |
| Mere mortals can not control climate change. In the history of the world it has always occurred. | Kevin |
| As you have well explained, our weather has been happening in cycles for thousands of years!!! | Sandra |
| Adaptation makes complete sense and will make a difference. Mitigation does neither. | Margaret |
| We are finished economically as a nation if we don’t follow adaption 100%. Mitigation is the Marxist approach, like all woke concepts to destroy Capitalism. A vote for James Shaw the Green vote is a vote for communism and the deduction of NZ as we know it. | Hylton |
| CO2 is not the only gas that is considered. environmentally unfriendly. Nitrous Oxide is another gas 298 times as toxic to the planet We do need to help reduce green house gases. We cannot just put our heads in the sand and deny their are major changes to our climate. Look at what has just happened in New Zealand and how our major and minor highways have been destroyed. | Alan |
| NZ is utterly insignificant as far as CO2 emissions go. When china produces more in one day than NZ does in a year it would be pointless to go for mitigation. However real science shows that CO2 only has a very minimal role in global temperatures, it is not the driver of climate change – so why bother trying to mitigate a gas tht has no real effect. | peter |
| James Shaw AND C Luxon should resign in a hurry. Also C Hipkins please. Them following the science??? Good for a laugh but sad for the economy. | peter |
| Emission levels are not an issue in New Zealand. Try adding the grass and old trees into the equation and you will find that we are in a very healthy situation. | Bryan |
| This whole global warming drama is an Al Gore initiated scam!!!!! The world’s climate is cyclical. 127 private jets went to Davos to discuss this scam. They weren’t worried about carbon emmissions!!!!! It’s all BS. | Honest Dave |
| What the hell is Luxon doing? The next election is Nationals to lose and he’s doing a damn fine job of that at the moment!! | David |
| To rational thinkers it’s always been clear that our climate has varied considerably over the entire existence of the planet. Manmade CC is codswallop. | Sylvienne |
| Pretty obvious | Evans |
| You could have mentioned the role of La Nina and El Nino, rather than CO2 influence? | Tony |
| We are not a world contributor. | Ian |
| As this Newsletter has pointed out on many occasions, by well earned persons, there is nothing we can do to change the Climate… We need to redefine the areas at greatest risk, not rebuilding in those historic repetitive risk areas, and more importantly take action about the forestry ‘slash’, the major cause of flood in many places. | Robyn |
| Gabrielle was a result of the Tongan volcano – nothing to do with being man made. | Gerry |
| Carbon emissions have little to nothing to do with climate change which in itself is B/S. Focus on pollution | Barry |
| Speaking of ” burning at the stake ” National are for sure shaping up as a bunch of wimps”…Consider ‘The Ethics of human extinction..” The climate of planet Earth will sort humanity out for sure no matter what ! | Chris |
| Re Luxon – lucky the ‘science’ is not so well established in the abortion debate. A total lack of tact and diplomacy, let alone supporting your team. | Ian |
| Have always been National. Loxton is pathetic. I wish Act would stand up even more. It looks like Act for now | Don |
| Mitigation leads to economic disaster and centralized control. | Nathan |
| Why should NZ suffer economic consequences, when it makes absolutely no difference what we do when other large countries such as China, USA, India etc cant be bothered. NZ should just join them with their attitude. | david |
| We need to go back to first principles, establish the facts, then we can judge on man made climate change. Why is it the woke used to use global warming, then when that was disproved climate change, and now moving to climate confusion, whatever that means. Clutching at straws….. | Tim |
| Common sense should prevail. | Graham |
| As most true weather scientists agree that there is and always has been a cycle that the earth goes through every 100 years or so of warming and cooling .This weather pattern of extreme rain and wind is probably caused by the Tongan Volcano that shot millions of tons of water vapor into the upper atmosphere as a lot of weather scientists warned could happen after the eruption, and is not the result of our Co2 emissions. Why should NZ be penalized financially for so-called Cow farts and other ridicules emissions as other countries are doing very little about their emissions. | David |
| i read where the Tongan volcano spewed billions of tonnes of water into the atmosphere and it had to come down somewhere | anna |
| Forget CO2 “emissions”. That is a crass nonsense. Science is NEVER settled. Without repeated, honest and unbiased reexamination of experimentally based Theory no information can be deemed as SCIENTIFIC. | charles |
| Bring pressure to bare on non conformers like India, Pakistan, Europe China, ussr: they un repentant contributors. | mike |
| Do our bit as a country to mitigate our emissions and to hell to thr rest of the world who are not doing enough to fix theirs. | Peter |
| Climate is about change – it continues to do so – adaptation is the only thing that makes sense for NZ who cannot help the global emissions – even if this was effective – which it is not PROVEN to be | Skarlett |
| Characterising Luxon as merely an intimidated coward is too kind. There remains the strong possibility that he is actually a card-carrying PART of the whole globalist cabal — as are too many Republicans in the US. In other words, just as the Nats kept right on applying the free trade agenda that got Labour thrown out in 1990, in the increasingly unlikely event that National IS elected this year, they will simply keep applying the whole Marxist agenda that hopefully will get Labour thrown out in October. | Sue |
| A question was asked. Not a statement made. Yes climate change is happening, We are helping it but to what extent, At the moment we are paying for a ponzi scheme of carbon credits. This money could be used for productive changes. We are selling farms to foreigners to convert to forestry so they get carbon credits from our government to take home and off set their pollution at home. We are killing our primary industry, coal mining gas exploration so all product can be imported from countries using the same or worse production methods than ours creating pollution with shipping and trucking than producing it here. NIMBY | robert |
| A No Brainer ! | Elizabeth |
| trees are the lungs of the planet, The decimation of the Amazon jungles and elsewhere is well documented. Carbon is being extracted from the Earth to make computer and cell phone chips etc . This eventually finds its way back into the oceans and atmosphere. There is plenty of scientific that this, and the burning of fossil fuels Is the main contributor to climate change | tony |
| The climate crisis is nonsense as how does too much CO2 which makes oxygen cause issues. | steve |
| its obvious | Trevor |
| Luxon has ensured I will no longer vote for our local National MP let alone a party vote NNP is looking good! | Chris |
| It’s a no-brainer. But most of our political elite are either obsessed with a fatally flawed theory or too scared to speak out. | Derek |
| Definitely, the focus should be on adaptation. Mitigation is a complete and utter nonsense, given mankind cannot control the climate – and nor does carbon dioxide! | Roger |
| The National Party should be ashamed of itself. They have shown themselves to be a pack of whimps. How can anyone vote for them at present when they have no backbone. What that means is that they will roll over if iwi or environmentalists make demands. If they don’t sort themselves out – and quickly – they will lose the election big time. | Murray |
| Perhaps Maureen Pugh should replace Chris Luxon as National’s leader! She’s the only one to show any common sense and courage! | Brian |
| The focus should be on adaptation. Mitigation has already shown itself to be a disaster. | Mike |
| Where is the party promising to abolish the ETS and all of the other mitigation regulations, to focus instead on adaptation, because I would definitely vote for them! | Charles |