Greens use snow as touchstone issue

Hayley Holt
Hayley Holt
The Green Party made a climate-change plea in Queenstown on Saturday night. It launched its #lovesnow campaign aimed at localising the issue for New Zealanders.

Green Party co-leader James Shaw told the Otago Daily Times climate change was a distant thought to many New Zealanders.

``We tend to think about it as affecting polar bears in the Arctic some time in the future, so what we're trying to do is connect climate change to things that Kiwis know and love.''

Mr Shaw, the party's climate change spokesman, was joined in Queenstown and Wanaka by transport spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter and media personality and Hayley Holt, a former professional snowboarder.

About 30 people turned up to talks in each town.

The trio also visited Coronet Peak at the weekend. The skifield had to be closed for 17 days near the start of the season due to lack of snow.

Mr Shaw said as ski seasons became less reliable in terms of snowfall people were starting to take note.

While in the resorts, Ms Holt interviewed tourists and locals to find out what climate-change effects they noticed.

 James Shaw
James Shaw
All the New Zealanders she spoke to said they had noticed a difference.

The Greens are planning to release the videos online.

Ms Holt, who has always been interested in green issues, was trying to appeal to the younger audience.

``When you're young you don't think about what you're doing and how it affects the world, so I wanted to get people who are young and might not think about it [climate change] and what they can do and create some awareness around creating change,'' she said.

Mr Shaw said New Zealand was ``behind the eight ball'' when it came to climate change and putting pressure on the Government was the only way a big change would come.

In a statement yesterday the Green Party said New Zealand's ``climate-damaging'' emissions have increased by 19% under the National Government, ``and are forecast to keep going up.''

Mr Shaw said: ``Even to the people who aren't skiers and snowboarders the mountains are a big part of how New Zealanders see themselves ... If there's no snow it's an issue.''

mandy.cooper@odt.co.nz

 

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