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| Storms underline need for speedy climate change action |
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| Written by Jeanette Fitzsimons | |
| Thursday, 12 July 2007 | |
 Extreme weather events like this week’s storms in the North come as a tragic and often terrifying blow to the people and communities affected, and they underline the pressing need for global action on climate change solutions,” Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says. “While no one can say any particular storm is due to climate change, the increased frequency and intensity of storms, floods and droughts is consistent with what the climate change models predict,” Ms Fitzsimons says. “We are now having these sort of ‘once every 150 years’ or ‘once every century’ events on an almost annual basis. I experienced the storms first hand at home in the Coromandel this week and saw the havoc that nature can unleash. To think this power may intensify over coming decades is a pretty worrying prospect. “It is no solution to be telling people to shift from exposed areas, while life goes on as normal everywhere else. Some coastal communities may be no longer viable in coming years as the sea advances. For now though, many people earn their livelihoods from the sea and have homes in places at risk from climate change – and many Maori coastal communities have burial grounds in coastal areas all round the country. They cannot be simply told to shift, while the rest of us carry on consuming and polluting as before. “Central and local government have a role to play in mitigating climate change. So do all of us, in the lifestyle and consumption choices we make. We can reduce our contribution to climate change by being more energy efficient - and by being more conscious about the impact of our own consumption, and more willing perhaps to distinguish between wants and needs. “Central government has an urgent obligation now to treat setting a price on carbon as an incentive to reduce emissions, and to foster investment in clean energy solutions for transport, homes and industry. “We must also take a strong position in international negotiations, recognizing that the whole world has to act together to be effective. “Over recent months, the Green Party leadership has been travelling around New Zealand gathering support for the Climate Change Defence Fund – in recognition that climate change poses a risk to this country comparable to the threats normally faced by our military forces. “The tragic effects of this week’s storms should remind us that climate change poses a threat to New Zealand that will require all of us to work together to survive. We can begin with actions as simple as using our cars less - and take urgency , at Government level, to get the framework in place for a price on carbon and other emissions,” Ms Fitzsimons says. |
