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Speaker 1: So the question put on the table yesterday should we

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Speaker 1: pull out of the Paris Climate Accord got the backing

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Speaker 1: of ACT and New Zealand. First they said we should.

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Speaker 1: We're overdoing it, and of course my first reaction is,

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Speaker 1: of course we should pull out. Yes, the thing isn't working.

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Speaker 1: It's never worked. It's always felt like something the world

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Speaker 1: does to make itself feel like it's doing something even

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Speaker 1: though it's doing nothing. When you combine that, the parish

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Speaker 1: accords with the emissions trading scheme, which is a giant

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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

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Speaker 1: with trees because of their guilt. The whole thing seems useless.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, well meaning, but useless. So why be involved?

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Speaker 1: And we're so little. New Zealand's biggest contribution to CO

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Speaker 1: two numbers is our farming, which is a fairly benign

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Speaker 1: polluter because the world needs food just as much as

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Speaker 1: it needs oxygen. The world doesn't need more cheap genes

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Speaker 1: and plastic crap, But the people who make that stuff,

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Speaker 1: we're merely pumping rubbish into our atmosphere. We're making food here,

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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.

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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

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Speaker 1: believe in this mirage, and they're the ones buying our food.

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Speaker 1: And there are also the ones who will find any

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Speaker 1: way to blacklist our awesome agricultural products. Boy, the Euros,

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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.

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Speaker 1: So pulling out of the charade may see us cutting

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Speaker 1: off our nose despite our face. It may reduce the

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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

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Speaker 1: act in New Zealand first may think that this posture

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Speaker 1: is helping our farmers, but in fact, maybe it could

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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

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Speaker 1: it is. Say it doesn't work. But rather than just

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Speaker 1: pulling out a bit of a flounce, we should be

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Speaker 1: advocating for real change to the accords and the policies

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Speaker 1: and to actually get on with helping the environment. For

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Speaker 1: more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to

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