Back in December, National signed us up to a meaningless "Copenhagen Accord", full of vague platitudes but no actual targets. Today was the deadline for nations to submit (nonbinding) targets - and New Zealand looks set to miss it.
John Key is "relaxed" about this, of course. But it sends a very clear message to the world: New Zealand is not serious about climate change. It also sends a very clear message to our Pacific neighbours: we do not care about their survival.
This is one of those days when I am ashamed to be a New Zealander. We're a better country than this. We're meant to pull our weight on the world stage, do our bit for the international community. Unfortunately, our government is more interested in enabling the greed of a few dirty polluters.
