New Conservative is interested to note the results of the recent survey of New Zealand businesses and individuals conducted by Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority (EECA) and reported in the NZ Herald on 21 Oct 2021.

• 43% of businesses believe the country is too small to have any major impact on global emissions. (A sentiment which is backed up by the country's total greenhouse gas emissions, comprising just 0.17% of the global total).
• Just 20% of businesses feel under any pressure from customers and suppliers to do anything about climate change.
• 20% of individuals are climate change deniers.
• 60% of individuals don’t believe we can do anything more to help cut emissions.
• 41% of our emissions come from energy, and transport makes up 48% of that.

Clearly the appetite in NZ for trying to make some difference to global climate at a huge expense is just not there. Maybe that is because underneath the sense of obligation to have to do something because of the propaganda we are bombarded with daily, there is the real belief that human influence on climate is minimal, if anything at all.

With the impending COP26 (the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties) in Glasgow this week, with 30,000 delegates flying in from all around the world courtesy of fossil fuels, we ask again, “Can we really make a difference?”

Globally over 95% of G20 nations rely on energy created using fossil fuels. It is cheap and reliable. Wind and solar generation is expensive, intermittent, enormously expensive to store, and is simply incapable of meeting global demands for electricity.

Stuff reported on July 12 that from Jan – Mar this year 10% of our electricity came from burning coal (imported coal at that). Moving to electric powered vehicles will demand more fossil fuels to be burned, even in New Zealand where we are already burning coal rather than petrol to run electric vehicles.

What have the climate modellers and prophets got right in relation to Climate Change?

Modelling of changing temperatures because of greenhouse gas emissions relating to the past 20-30 years have all proven to be highly exaggerated compared with observed data over the same period. Observed real data almost completely matches modelling done with no greenhouse gas emissions. Wrong.

The danger of sea levels rising has been in the news for 40 plus years. In 1980 predictions were made that by the year 2000 the Maldives would be underwater due to rising sea levels. The reality? Sea levels are rising just 1.8mm a year. We have all noticed that haven’t we? The Maldives continue to be a popular holiday destination. Wrong.

Increasing CO2 in the atmosphere (currently 0.04% of the atmosphere) is claimed to cause increased global temperatures. “Which causes which?” is the real question. Frozen earth releases no carbon, but warm earth does release carbon. CO2 levels were rising as global temperatures were dropping even during the 20th century. Since 2014 the average global temperature has risen just 0.07 degrees celsius while CO2 levels continue to increase. Wrong.

The ice at the poles we are told is melting. However, the Arctic Ice extent is currently higher than it has been for ten of the last fourteen years, and the Antarctic has just broken a record for maximum sea ice extent. Wrong.

What is happening? The planet is generally greener because of rising CO2. Beach house prices are rising far more than the sea level. El Ninos (which, thankfully, even climate scientists are not yet blaming humans for creating) are a greater cause for rising temperatures than anything else. Hysterical reporting on natural disasters carries the message that due to climate change things are getting worse, but in fact they are not.

The sun faithfully rises and sets daily. The rain falls where it wills as usual. The breeze ensures we have fresh air to breathe every day. The seasons come and go as normal. We can all expect a similar predictability in the propaganda we will be flooded with following the COP26 in Glasgow.

New Conservative knows we need to care for our environment, and we don’t need to be driven by fear of fake disaster to achieve that. Caring for our environment by focusing on solutions for our pollution will serve us all well, using just a portion of the $1.4 – 3billion/yr we would not be wasting on the Paris Agreement.

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