March 11, 2018
Time to turn climate talk into action
Leading New Zealanders including Maori, environmentalists and leading business people have signed an open letter calling for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to call a halt to oil and gas exploration.
In the lead-up to the election Ms Ardern climate change is the nuclear free moment of her generation.
Greenpeace New Zealand director Russel Norman says it’s time to put action to those words.
He says the majority of New Zealanders understand climate change is leading to more extreme weather events, and that continued burning of fossil fuels will make it worse.
"People are quite alert to it. It's just we need to turn that into policy. The was very challenging under the previousgovernment obviously because they were pro-oild exploration. Simon Bridges obviously was the poster child for that policy. What we are saying to the new Government is we really think it's great you say these important things about climate change. Now we have got to put it into action. That is what this open letter is about," Dr Norman says.
He says with 80 percent of its electricity already coming from renewable sources New Zealand is well placed to move to a carbon free economy.
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