While you are too busy struggling with extreme weather events, Gov quietly removes environmental protections

‘War on nature’: Forest and Bird says govt changes put wildlife at risk

Forest and Bird is concerned government changes to the planning system will increase the risk of permanent damage to wildlife and native habitats.

The conservation organisation said the decision to weaken national environmental direction removes vital safeguards New Zealanders expect, with chief adviser Richard Capie saying the government is declaring a “war on nature”.

Last week, the coalition celebrated changes to the Resource Management Act coming into force that make it easier to consent to mines and quarries.

The government said the changes will help create jobs by ensuring essential materials for infrastructure can be produced.

Forest and Bird has criticised the removal of the criteria to show mining projects deliver a national or public benefit.

Capie said New Zealanders expect better from their decision-makers, and the push for economic growth “at any cost” wasn’t something New Zealanders voted for.

“I don’t think New Zealanders campaigned for a government that was going to declare a war on nature.”

He said the changes to the national environmental rules mean mining and quarrying can be approved in areas of significant native biodiversity “with fewer protections.”

The rules were put in place to stop permanent biodiversity loss, Capie said.

“Once that damage is done, it can’t be undone.”

He said New Zealand had around 4000 native species at risk of extinction, and these changes weaken protections that are going to make that crisis even worse.

“The bit that’s really concerning here is that we’ve got a precedent being set that economic activity can override environmental limits even in the most sensitive places.”

There is a maddening dynamic at play here.

While you are too busy struggling with extreme weather events, the Government are quietly the very environmental protections that are supposed to limit the pollution that is generating the extreme weather events you are being smashed by.

This is a bad faith Government committed to mining interests above your interests.

To quietly be making these changes in the shadows of the RMA reforms while pretending those reforms are aimed at protecting the little kiwi battler building his deck from the Stalinist Council would be funny of it weren’t so corrosive.

The post-Covid bitterness and anti Jacinda hate cult elected a Hard Right Government who are more than happy to exploit and manipulate your misplaced resentment to push forward their donors interests.

At some point you are going to be forced to look in the mirror Kiwi and see what your petty bigotries have manipulated you into.

Here is the reality…

Half of world’s CO2 emissions come from just 32 fossil fuel firms, study shows

…in decades to come, the ‘Bittering-of-the-Boomer-generation post-Covid will be a required sociological course in the free community climate change enforced Autarky kibbutz University that all first year citizens wanting to graduate with voting rights will need to take after the polar ice caps melt.

Those brave new citizen-students at the Green re-education campus  will attempt to understand why the Boomers walked away from climate change obligations and social equity issues because of unisex toilets.

As the afternoon monsoon rain drenches the near tropical climate of Invercargill, these brave new citizen-students will ponder how the environmental hell hole Culture War Boomers left them in was justified because Jacinda had the temerity of saving 20 000 lives.

Until that distant time in the near certain future when we can comprehend why so many Boomers went bitter, best to mute and change the channel.

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