Herald columnist Brian Fallow is disturbed by the warmth with which the New Zealand Institute's call to unilaterally abandon Kyoto was greeted by lobby and industry groups, and so has devoted his column today to sending them a simple message: get real. In a nice, concise rebuttal of the chief arguments for inaction, Fallow points out that:
- The problem is real and is not going to go away (and no, sticking your fingers in your ears and going "lalalala" won't help);
- New Zealand is not "leading the world" by a long shot;
- Major export markets who do belong to Kyoto (and major customers seeking the green dollar) are likely to punish us if we refuse to act;
- It's not all about China;
- While the ultimate solution is cleaner technology, prices are necessary to force that technology to be adopted.
I doubt whether this will have any impact on those arguing for inaction - its fairly clear that they're not actually interested in the science or the policy, but rather in continuing to line their own pockets by dumping their costs on everybody else. But it does point out just how dishonest, foolish, and self-interested their position is.
