14 July 2005
Greenpeace Condemn Brash Over Carbon Tax
Greenpeace today condemned Brash and the National Party's statement to the fishing industry, that they would drop the
carbon tax.
"Once again Brash has shown his ignorance of the threat that climate change poses. Global warming is already impacting
fisheries and marine life as the oceans begin to warm and they become more acidic due to increases in carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Vanessa Atkinson.
Other impacts on ocean ecology includes a change in phytoplankton at the bottom of the food chain, affecting marine
mammals like whales.
"When will Brash catch up with most of the rest of the world that climate change is the biggest threat to the planet and
our economy? The carbon tax is a small but positive first step towards reducing greenhouse pollution."
She noted that no less than 17 national academies of science, including the USA, agree that climate change is happening,
that we're causing it, and that to combat it we must cut our emissions of greenhouse gases, especial carbon dioxide.
"If Brash was really concerned about the long term sustainability of our oceans and economy he'd be taking climate
change seriously and talking of increasing the carbon tax rather than dropping it. Brash is irresponsibly political
point-scoring and is ignoring the real costs of climate change in New Zealand through floods, droughts sea level rise
and impacts on fisheries."
ENDS