Andrew Dickens: Should we pull out of the Paris Climate Accord?

Pulling out of the Paris Climate agreement has got the backing of ACT and New Zealand First, who say we're overdoing it. And my first reaction is yes.

The thing isn't working. It's never worked.  It has always felt like something the world does to make itself feel like it's doing something, even though it's doing nothing

When you combine it with the Emissions Trading Scheme —which is a giant Ponzi scheme made to make Coldplay feel better about touring the world in jet planes, meanwhile filling our pastures with trees— then the whole thing seems useless, so why be involved?

And we're so little. New Zealand's biggest contribution to CO2 numbers is our farming, which is fairly benign polluter, because the world needs food.  

The world doesn't need more cheap jeans and plastic crap, but the people who make that stuff are merrily pumping rubbish into our atmosphere.

So why should we be punishing the cornerstone of our economy when in the scheme of things, it contributes so little while the real polluters keep on polluting?

So yeah, let's stand up. Tell the world they're in a fool's paradise of virtue signalling and get on with feeding the people we can.

But.

The rest of world, with the exception of the United States, still believe in this mirage.  And they're the ones buying our food, and they're also the ones who will find any way to blacklist our awesome agricultural products.

So pulling out of the charade may see us cutting our nose off to spite our face. 

It may reduce the compliance costs on our farmers in the first instance, but what's the point of that if it makes the rest of the world turn their back on our milk and butter and meat?

ACT and New Zealand First may think that this posturing is helping our farmers, but in fact it could be penalising them even more heavily

And maybe ACT and New Zealand first are playacting this for votes just as much as the Paris Climate Accords are playacting for the environment

So let's call this thing for what it is, and rather than just pulling our in a flounce, advocate for real change to the Accords and the policies and actually get on with helping the environment.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the question put on the table yesterday should we
pull out of the Paris Climate Accord got the backing
of ACT and New Zealand. First they said we should.
We're overdoing it, and of course my first reaction is,
of course we should pull out. Yes, the thing isn't working.
It's never worked. It's always felt like something the world
does to make itself feel like it's doing something even

(00:21):
though it's doing nothing. When you combine that, the parish
accords with the emissions trading scheme, which is a giant
Ponzi scheme made to make cold plate feel better about
touring the world in jetplanes, meanwhile filling up our pastures
with trees because of their guilt. The whole thing seems useless.
I'm sorry, well meaning, but useless. So why be involved?

(00:43):
And we're so little. New Zealand's biggest contribution to CO
two numbers is our farming, which is a fairly benign
polluter because the world needs food just as much as
it needs oxygen. The world doesn't need more cheap genes
and plastic crap, But the people who make that stuff,
we're merely pumping rubbish into our atmosphere. We're making food here,

(01:03):
So why should we be punishing the cornerstone of our
economy making the food we're in the scheme of things,
It contributes so little while the real polluters keep on polluting.
So yeah, let's stand up, tell the world they're in
a fool's paradise of virtue signaling, and let's get on
with feeding the people we can. But the rest of
the world, with the exception of the United States, still

(01:25):
believe in this mirage, and they're the ones buying our food.
And there are also the ones who will find any
way to blacklist our awesome agricultural products. Boy, the Euros,
the Europeans, if they can find a chink in our armor,
they will, they'll say, you can't bring your butter here.
So pulling out of the charade may see us cutting
off our nose despite our face. It may reduce the

(01:46):
compliance costs on our farmers in the first instance, but
what's the point of that if it makes the rest
of the world turn their back on our milk and
butter of meat because they think we're filthy polluters. So
act in New Zealand first may think that this posture
is helping our farmers, but in fact, maybe it could
be penalizing them more heavily and maybe act in New Zealand. First,

(02:08):
ere are just play acting this for votes, just as
much as the Paris Climate Accords are play acting for
the environment. So look, let's call this thing for what
it is. Say it doesn't work. But rather than just
pulling out a bit of a flounce, we should be
advocating for real change to the accords and the policies
and to actually get on with helping the environment. For

(02:30):
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