MEDIAWATCH: Q+A Review – Climate Crisis Special

It’s a climate crisis special and probably the most bleakly honest appraisal of how bad the climate crisis is actually getting.

The IPCC report has always infamously been conservative and underplayed or simply ignored the impacts of naturally occurring feedback loops that once crossed represent  tipping points from which no technological advance can mitigate.

What is most concerning about our response to the Covid epidemic (which is exacerbated by overpopulation and bio-habitat collapse), the flooding we just experienced or even the Spanish forest fires and European heatwave is that these extraordinary events that we are totally ill equipped to cope with are all occurring at a time of relative peace.

How would these services cope with a plethora of events erupting at climate crisis speed on numerous fronts?

We can barely cope with the first wave of disruptions, how on earth will we cope when the enormity of events eclipse these small ones?

My contention is that in a future like that voters will throw their weight behind any party promising radical proposals.

That’s why I argue that Fortress Aotearoa is simply a matter of when not if.

The current political spectrum in New Zealand can not radically adapt fast enough to adopt the changes we must make if we are to survive the climate crisis. It will require a radical Political Movement that elects a Party to implement Fortress Aotearoa…

• Move away from intensive farming and look to become domestically self sustainable in terms of food.
• Immediately ban all water exports.
• Empower local communities to make local decisions and set up resilience programs.
• 5 year Parliamentary term so Governments can actually plan for change.
• Upper and Lower House (Upper House 50-50 split between Māori & Pakeha that can hold up legislation if unhappy about Treaty issues)
• Massive investment into R&D from Government with the understanding research is to benefit NZ first before sold offshore.
• Large scale increase in Navy, Army & Airforce.
• Mass limiting of tourism numbers with huge increased tourist taxes.
• Only citizens can vote.
• Sustainable immigration and an end to exploitative migrant workers.
• Resettlement Programms for all pacific island neighbours.
• Increase refugee in take to 10 000 per year
• Fully funded public services focused on real welfare of people.
• Mass Green housing rebuild.
• 100% renewable energy for entire country.
• Massive tree planting across previous farming land.
• Wholesale re-write of state services act to end commercial values.
• Investment into basic pharmaceutical production.
• Financial transaction tax
• Wealth tax
• Multinational tax
• Inheritance tax
• Capitalist monopolies in energy, transport and finance have to be brought into public ownership and control. They should be subject to democratic plans drawn up by the whole community. Workers should have much stronger decision making powers within them.
• All economic sectors to be made take steps needed to decarbonise the economy as much as is needed to reach zero net emissions by 2030.
• Free and frequent public transport on electric buses and/or trains in all main cities.
• Health care and education for life should be free and universally accessible.
• Welfare, pensions, child allowances, should be universal wherever possible.
• Public housing at fixed and affordable rents should be a right of all not just the desperately poor.
• All workers should have a right to a job and the workweek reduced with no loss of pay to make that possible.
• Local communes should be supported for control and delivery of as many functions of the centralised state as possible – including housing, education, health care.
• Local communes to support cooperative forms of production of food, solar and wind energy,  electric transport, and media.

On a rapidly warming planet, NZ will increasingly be the life boat for Earth and the tyranny of our distance will become our blessing.

Pretending that we can ‘stop’ the climate crisis cascade is sophistry, we require radical reform and adaptation now.

The bleak honesty of the NIWA expert reminds us that the climate crisis is here and pretending being carbon neutral by 2050 is a legitimate response to that crisis makes you the problem.

At some point the NZ political spectrum will splinter viciously as voters turn against politicians who are not dealing with this climate crisis reality.

Isolationism is the only political plank rejected by globalist National, ACT, Labour, Greens & Māori Party. If Winston Peters captures that Isolationist lightening, he is over 5%.

Ashley Blomfield is on and he is such a national treasure! His leadership during this pandemic has been a celebration of the State harnessing public good will using the best science for the best outcomes.

He acknowledges mistakes made, and defends direct criticisms of lock down and MIQ, and his answers stand up straight against them.

He’s the first person I  believe who has actually earned a knighthood.

The sadness of Tim Shadbolt was explored. We all love him, but he looks and sounds like a boxer who has been in the fight too long and someone should step in. Marcus Lush should totally run.

Reserve Bank womble wonk is on giving another warning that the economic apocalypse is coming and that house which has warped peoples perceptions of wealth that is illusionary is about to lose a lot of value quickly.

Shit really hits the fan when middle class people start feeling economically frightened.

The US inflation blows out predictions…

US inflation hit 9.1% in June to put further pressure on Fed

Markets price in higher chance of 1% rate rise this month after bigger-than-expected jump in prices

…they were predicting 8.9% so 9.1% is way outside the top range.

Inflation is a sizzlin’ and pundits are now suggesting a 100 point basis rise by the Fed!

That puts enormous pressure on Adrian Orr now that our inflation rate has hit 7.3%.

Add into this the next wave of Covid, new zero Covid restrictions shutting down supply chains again in China, a possible foot and mouth outbreak and the full impact of the war in Ukraine hitting base metal, food, gas, mineral and oil prices and Orr either gets ahead of this now or risks being avalanched

I’ve often talked about Orr’s 75 point Bazooka, a sudden lurch of a jump to tell the Market who is boss, but this 50point incrementalism could be creating longer term pain if the Market doesn’t believe the Reserve Bank is serious!

Could Orr dump the 75 basis point Bazooka and bring forward the mighty 100 basis point Taiaha?

I don’t think people get how bad the economy is about to turn.

It is my considered opinion brothers and sisters, that we Comrades, are not in fact ready for this jelly.

Jack Tame and the Q+A team are the best public broadcasters in the game right now, providing insight and oversight in an age where complacent lies and tribal defensiveness is preferred.

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