Just Left

#EQNZ - the graphic

The ETS changes... and the bigger picture

I'm not surprised that National would continue to hand out a huge subsidy to farmers.

The thing that gets me is the irrationality of it.

We as a country chose an ETS because we thought that the market should be free to work out how best to reduce carbon emissions. The logic was that it would be better for firms and producers to face a price and allocate resources, rather than trying to regulate their specific behaviours.

It's very public that GHG emissions from agriculture can easily be reduced. Tweaks to farming methods, grass choices and so on can make a significant impact.

Thing is, farmers aren't going to do them without facing a price that induces them to move. They just aren't. What kind of business would make changes because it's the nice thing to do? Not many, if any, to snaffle Scribe's words.

So by keeping farming out of the ETS, National is blocking innovation -- or, worse, telling New Zealand farmers they aren't capable of innovating.

Both are poor logic, to put it politely. Townies like me will keep paying to subsidise wealthy farmers, and that's somehow presented as good for us.

There's a simple word for that: bullshit.

The same word applies to National's broader track record on the environment.

Like most of us, I suspect, I gave Key and co the benefit of the doubt when they came to office. I hoped that under the GreenWash of Blue-Green National, and the rhetoric about "balance", some things would change.

I was wrong.

1. Oil, gas and coal are the enegy priorities. Renewable energy is on the back burner.
2. ETS weakened for the second time, and agriculture left out.
3. Monstrously bad legislation to regulate the Exclusive Economic Zone, weaker than the already weak Resource Management Act
4. Continued mineral prospecting in protected areas.
5. Support for Solid Energy's insane lignite plans in Southland.

You will have your own list of things that matter to you.

The greenwash has rubbed off the eyes of all but the most dedicated cheerleader of the government.

National's balance is between environmental exploitation and public opinion. They will do whatever you let them get away with. At the moment, that's pretty much anything.