Protestors fill Civic Square during a strike to raise climate change awareness in Wellington. Photo / Getty Images
Protestors fill Civic Square during a strike to raise climate change awareness in Wellington. Photo / Getty Images
Opinion
Comment
This is no longer a debate, it's brain-washing, and we are all falling for it.
The other day I was driving to work and was almost made late by climate change protesters refusing to let cars through. This is where we have got to in the climate change debate,at a state of complete ridiculousness.
People are interfering with everyday hardworking New Zealanders' lives because they have decided their opinion is right. Let's correct that. This is no longer a debate, it's brain-washing, and we are all falling for it.
I am not a climate change denier. I, like a huge majority of people, accept that we need to do something to help save our planet. Until logic replaces emotion however, this debate is going to go around in circles and we will get nowhere.
Emotion creates bad legislation. The gun buy-back plan that came from the rushed gun law reforms after the Christchurch terror attack is a prime example. The legislation came in a time of high emotion and what we have seen as a result is lack of money and organisation around the buy-back of guns.
Climate change has become the new "cool" thing for young people to associate themselves with.
I spent two years at school in Auckland and very quickly came to realise young people are very basic in their outlook on life, they want to fit in and for most that means "jumping on the bandwagon". When I went through school, this was buying the same shoes as everyone else because one person decided they were cool so therefore everyone must have them. Take the Nike slides, for example.
They post screenshots of stuff others have posted on their Instagram stories, they go along to the climate change protests, but do they really know what they are supporting or why they are supporting it?
Eve McCallum. Photo / Supplied
If you still don't believe me that people like jumping on the bandwagon look to TJ Perenara, who reportedly said he watched a documentary and became a vegan. One documentary.
What happened to "don't believe everything you see on the internet"? In law school, we are taught to read a judgment and then question it — what do we and don't we like about it; not just accept that one person decided this so therefore it must be correct.
Are these skills not something we want to support and foster in everyday life?
The big target for climate change has become the farmers.
Hardworking, decent Kiwis who a group of people have decided are no longer worthy of having a livelihood.
I said earlier that we need to take the emotion out of the debate, so perhaps if we stopped trying to destroy Kiwi business and Kiwis' livelihoods, they may actually take a step back and listen.
However, to say they are doing is nothing is incredibly naive. I am having to watch my parents work out how they are going to pay for all the extra costs the Government has imposed on their businesses because their water isn't clean enough.
What about Auckland beaches? Has it just slipped people's minds that you can't swim at a number of them? Or will it only hit home when their rates go up and it affects their back pocket?
Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the big picture before this situation gets even more out of control.
Eve McCallum is a 19-year-old law student at the University of Otago and grew up on a family farm in Maungaturoto. She previously served as a Youth MP under Michael Woodhouse.
