Voting for the future

It would go something like this: If you care about long term profitability and sustainability – and resale value – of your farm, then National is the last party you want to vote for. (Actually you could do a little worse – you could vote Act or Conservative.)

When the laughter and jeering subsided, I would add: And your biggest threat is climate change.

With the focus on water quality these days much attention is on what we are doing to the environment. An entirely different concern is what the 'environment' is doing to us.

Climate scientists have long told us that one of the consequences of climate change – climate disruption is a more accurate descriptor – will be more frequent and more severe weather events.

Farmers around the country have a growing sense of just what this means. Dry and drought conditions cost farmers dearly in lost production and increased expenses. Flooding, with its damage to paddocks and destruction of farming infrastructure, adds further to costs.

Farming friends in my rural community and others I have met through my work around water use on dairy farms tell me their cost from last season's drought runs into the tens of thousands of dollars.

We're not about to prevent climate change – it's clearly already happening – but we need to take serious and immediate steps to slow it's progress and to prepare for what's to come. Individually and as nations we need to take action. We have only one planet and we're all in this together.

But the National Party says New Zealand is a tiny part of the problem and are showing little leadership on the issue.

Sure, we're a lead participant in the Global Research Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gases. This is a good thing, but it's a very small part of what's needed and, frankly, we can't afford to wait around for the results.

National, of course, would like the climate change problem to just go away. Wouldn't we all? But it's not going away and in terms of the negative impact on farming the old saying applies here: We aint seen nothin' yet.

So we can thank a half dozen of New Zealand's leading non-profit organisations for trying to keep climate change on the radar amidst the mundane and dirty issues in the run up to election day.

They organised the Great Climate Voter Debate, held at Auckland's Q Theatre September 3rd in front of a sold out audience. The debate was eagerly watched at live screenings in 13 centres around the country and live streamed to anyone else interested and caring enough to tune in.

It was a chance for representatives of all the main political parties to convince us they are the ones who will take real action on climate change.

It was also a stark reminder of National's astonishingly arrogant approach to the matter, their disappointing track record over the last six years, and just what we can expect from them if reelected. Given their love affair with fossil fuels – with risky deep sea drilling the current big attraction – National is mired in the past.

The Environmental Defence Society says, "National's Emissions Trading Scheme is so hollowed-out of any meaningful price signal as to be worthless as a measure. Our international stance is embarrassing."

Labour, on the other hand, has committed to implementing a low carbon transition plan to move us away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels and towards a high-tech, low-carbon economy.

The Greens, with a carbon tax and Green Investment Bank among their preferred policies, lead the way in pushing to implement proven international practices. (More laughter, more jeers perhaps.)

Sadly, too many in the rural heartland dismiss Labour and the Greens and their policies out of hand. This is a pity because clean tech and 'green growth' are the way of the future, even if the National Party doesn't understand it.

Innovative countries have embraced the clean tech/green growth economy and New Zealand is being left behind. We need greater innovation and growth in other sectors to take some of the pressure off agriculture. Farmers make a massive and indispensable contribution to our country and its economy, but we ask too much of them.

Gord Stewart is an environmental sustainability consultant. He does project work for industry, government, and non-profit organisations.