Who will apologise in the future?

Bob Hughes

Opinion

Through the years, many countries have allowed horrific discriminatory treatment of minority groups. It is common nowadays for state leaders to apologise for shocking historic wrongdoings. In most cases, much strife could have been avoided if authorities had listened to moral protests to injustices of the time.

Still now, loud voices against ongoing persecutions are ignored or lightly dismissed. Most concerning to me is how our present lifestyle patterns will impact on the wellbeing of future generations. Who will apologise to them for the hardships they’ll encounter upon the degraded planet we will bequeath them?

Along with the overexploitation of resources, our oil-age triggering of extreme climate change is the greatest long-term threat to life here on Earth.

New Zealanders are nearly the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters per head of population.

Our National-led government was taken to court last month over its weak greenhouse gas emission targets. Its feeble defence was that New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions were negligible because of our size . . . . “We must rely on the efforts of others and the global community to achieve appropriate action.”

This falsehood has been touted long enough. It is time to face up.

Gordon Webb’s recent “Off the hook, statistically” letter rubbished my view and warnings. I change some of his words to tell him “New Zealand is part of the problem”, and “we can do practical things to reverse it without invoking a world of unintended consequences”.

In my last column, “Capitalism versus our finite planet”, I said capitalism by its basic principles was destructive to both humanity and the planet.

John Fricker accused me of warped reasoning, saying I was probably a Democrat, maybe liberal progressive.

A. Abbott in his “World’s socialist utopias” letter, on my socialist views, told me I should get my head read.

To reinforce my view, socialism believes in government-regulated systems for the benefit of all. Capitalism focuses on private enterprise and a free market to determine economic winners and losers.

The truth is, every developed country needs socialist-style regulations to safeguard the future of the people and planet.

Nowadays with most of the word’s wealth controlled by so few, here and elsewhere, socialist forces have been weakened considerably. The focus on growth and profit at all cost has taken priority over all else.

Deregulation of once strictly government-only control has opened up national and social services to profit-motivated private enterprise influences.

Our Government signed up to the Paris climate deal, yet New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions levels climb while the rest of the OECD’s drop.

Our Government spends increasing amounts on roads. Kiwis have more and much older cars on the roads, actually encouraging our fossil fuel addiction.

Our National-led Government encourages road transport over more efficient rail transport to the regions. The latest idea of de-electrifying the North Island main trunk rail line back to diesel is simply unbelievable.

There isn’t space here for my thoughts on the Government’s attitude on agriculture’s environmental effects, nor all the fossil fuel exploration permits issued since signing up to the Paris accord. And much more.

It is time to change to a better system, to ditch capitalism and vote National out. If not, we better apologise to our grandkids now.

Thanks Bill Hambidge, I will support Generation Zero’s petition for all political parties to come together and support climate change action.

My party vote will go to the Greens, who have the strongest climate commitment policy.