Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Andrew Dickens: Should we pull out of the Paris Climate Accord?

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Andrew Dickens: Should we pull out of the Paris Climate Accord? · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the question put on the table yesterday should we
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: pull out of the Paris Climate Accord got the backing
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of ACT and New Zealand. First they said we should.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We're overdoing it, and of course my first reaction is,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of course we should pull out. Yes, the thing isn't working.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: It's never worked. It's always felt like something the world
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: does to make itself feel like it's doing something even
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: though it's doing nothing. When you combine that, the parish
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: accords with the emissions trading scheme, which is a giant
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Ponzi scheme made to make cold plate feel better about
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  Speaker 1: touring the world in jetplanes, meanwhile filling up our pastures
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: with trees because of their guilt. The whole thing seems useless.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, well meaning, but useless. So why be involved?
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: And we're so little. New Zealand's biggest contribution to CO
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: two numbers is our farming, which is a fairly benign
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: polluter because the world needs food just as much as
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: it needs oxygen. The world doesn't need more cheap genes
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and plastic crap, But the people who make that stuff,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: we're merely pumping rubbish into our atmosphere. We're making food here,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: So why should we be punishing the cornerstone of our
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  Speaker 1: economy making the food we're in the scheme of things,
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  Speaker 1: It contributes so little while the real polluters keep on polluting.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: So yeah, let's stand up, tell the world they're in
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  Speaker 1: a fool's paradise of virtue signaling, and let's get on
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  Speaker 1: with feeding the people we can. But the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the world, with the exception of the United States, still
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: believe in this mirage, and they're the ones buying our food.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: And there are also the ones who will find any
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: way to blacklist our awesome agricultural products. Boy, the Euros,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the Europeans, if they can find a chink in our armor,
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  Speaker 1: they will, they'll say, you can't bring your butter here.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: So pulling out of the charade may see us cutting
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: off our nose despite our face. It may reduce the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: compliance costs on our farmers in the first instance, but
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  Speaker 1: what's the point of that if it makes the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the world turn their back on our milk and
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  Speaker 1: butter of meat because they think we're filthy polluters. So
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: act in New Zealand first may think that this posture
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: is helping our farmers, but in fact, maybe it could
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: be penalizing them more heavily and maybe act in New Zealand. First,
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  Speaker 1: ere are just play acting this for votes, just as
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  Speaker 1: much as the Paris Climate Accords are play acting for
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  Speaker 1: the environment. So look, let's call this thing for what
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: it is. Say it doesn't work. But rather than just
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: pulling out a bit of a flounce, we should be
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: advocating for real change to the accords and the policies
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and to actually get on with helping the environment. For
• 2:30
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• 2:33
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• 2:36
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