ETS reprise

George Darroch has a fairly staunch post on his blog "Decades of Inaction" criticising my framing of the ETS changes (on transport) as not being a major issue.

His post is filled with the self-righteous tone of the true Green.

I don't disagree with any of the facts that he points out. I know as well as anyone that global warming is a major problem and that we all have a responsibility to do something about it. I know as well as anyone that it is happening faster, and beginning to have more significant impacts, than people had until recently thought.

What I also know is that while NZ's per cap emissions are high, in a global sense they are very low.

I also know that the radical change to people's lives that is going to be required to really address GHG emissions and begin to arrest climate change have to be built on public support.

Further, I know - as does anyone in NZ reading this blog - that the public have not yet been persuaded that these changes are worth making, have to me made, and further that they might actually leave us with better, more enjoyable lives - as well as saving the planet.

I make no apology, given that, for supporting a short term delay. I am not a Green. Nor am I stupid. I am a social democrat, we who always have to sit on the uncomfortable edge between practicality and idealism.

I hope that Labour working with the Greens can eventually convince the public of how far we need to change and how we can go about it. That task cannot be done overnight, and in the absence of such public buy-in, imposing rapid change will not work. It will simply be rolled back as the people exercise their democratic rights to choose a government that listens to their concerns.

That's Labour's job: listening to people and engaging with them to persuade them to a changed point of view.

Having some kind of purer-than-the-driven-snow approach to politics will not work. It will send us further backwards than we are now.

So I welcome criticism from those who have constructive suggestions to make, but I shake my head in frustration at criticism that blames Labour for the fact that our society is not yet ready to embark on the massive changes it needs to make to chip in towards saving the planet.

Comments

[sean14]

Labour told the public we could aspire to be carbon neutral and that everything should be sustainable (though sustainability seems to have been dropped like a hot potato too) - the public didn't tell Labour. If Labour can't sell it's own policy that is the fault of Labour, nobody else.

Why did it do that? It thought it would be electorally popular. Nothing wrong with that, all parties do it. Please don't attempt to have us believe that Labour is acting out of principle. Labour wants what every third term government wants - a fourth term, and they will do anything to get it. Wait for the lolly scramble later this year (when inflation conveniently won't be a problem!).

[George Darroch]

I've responded at my blog.

[Clint Heine]

""That's Labour's job: listening to people and engaging with them to persuade them to a changed point of view""

Ahh no it isn't. Labours job over the last few years has been to take policies that most Kiwis hate, and turn them into policy that we must adhere to. And I welcome that because we will be waving goodbye to them before the end of November.

[Tony Milne]

I started to draft a comment, but it got too long, so ive made it a post over at my blog.
Tony