Comment

2012 presents our elected parliamentary members some problems for which time is running , or has run, out. They really have to be addressed. Climate change and the economy are at the forefront with such things as water allocation, productivity, reduction in violence and fairer distribution of wealth with less ultra highs and lows not far behind.

Discussion on any of these subjects usually brings the comment “if only our politicians used a bit of common sense”. Indeed, there is a grain of truth in this – who could be against common sense? However one person’s common sense is another’s suicidal madness. Common sense is much like beauty – in the eye of the beholder. Things which may seem blindingly self evident to one person is quite likely to be seen quite differently by another.

All indications are that climate change is the most urgent problem calling for action. This is nothing new, scientists have been warning of the coming problem, with increasing alarm, since the 1960s.
Climate change is now before our own eyes – hurricanes, record temperatures (high and low), tornados, snow, droughts, floods, land slides – and that’s right here in our own small country.
Almost daily the media report on even more extreme examples world wide. As climate scientist Jim Salinger recently said “extreme is now the norm”, and yet there are still people who vehemently deny that this is happening.

Sadly many of these people are proven to have interests in the likes of energy companies. Their arguments being based on the effect changes will have on the economy (I.E. their business) – vested interests trumping the national interest. Ensuring our current lifestyle regardless of the legacy this will leave our grandchildren.

Last year 2,500 of the world’s leading scientists including representatives such recognised bodies as of IPCC, The Royal Society and NIWA signed a document urging governments to take immediate action. And yet only the European Market Countries seem to be heeding such advice.
It seems time that some heads were knocked together.
Mike Beckett