imnofox spoke to voters at a local town hall about his commitment to end offshore oil and gas exploration in New Zealand

“My whole career, fighting for the wellbeing and future of the planet has been my top priority. And climate change, the climate crisis, is the greatest threat we have yet faced. Scientists are telling us that we already can’t burn all the oil, gas, and coal that has already been discovered without breaching our global commitment to keeping warming to within 1.5 degrees, let alone any more- so why should we be looking for it? That is the height of irresponsibility.”

“We have to draw a line in the sand, and say enough is enough. Our chances of survival as a species depend on those who are willing to take action for the planet. And we must take action, which includes ending offshore oil and gas exploration in New Zealand if we want to reduce global emissions, keeping warming below 1.5 degrees celsius.”

“Our Pacific neighbours are on the front lines of the climate crisis. Rising sea levels threaten their homes, their crops, their livelihoods. Where do you go when your island is underwater? What do you do? Sure, we expanded the refugee eligibility to include those in the Pacific displaced by climate change, but nobody should have to lose their home in the first place. Even at home on our shores we’ve experienced large-scale flooding, greater fires, longer droughts, and even cyclones like the devastating Cyclone Ella- all events that become all the more likely and all the more worse as a result of the climate crisis.”

“We can’t ignore the health impacts of climate change either. Heat waves, floodings, and fires. Increased microbial contamination, pollen, particulate air pollutants and carriers of new diseases. Disruption to health services, migration, stress and our mental health, food security, and socioeconomic deprivation. Even then, these impacts will not be spread equally, exacerbating the socioeconomic and health inequalities.”

“We must make the fourth largest Exclusive Economic Zone on the planet a haven free from fossil fuel exploration, preventing the exploration and extraction of more oil and gas, reducing global emissions. For every 100 tonnes of CO2e that New Zealand Reduces, overseas emissions will increase by at most 25 to 50 tonnes, meaning a reduction by a minimum of 50 to 75 tonnes. And this is at the low end of projections, so we can expect potentially greater reductions than this.”

“The conservation impacts are also important. We all remember in 2011 when the Rena grounded off the coast of Tauranga, where 350 tonnes of oil spilled out into the ocean. The impact was huge, and the environment there still hasn’t recovered. 383 little blue penguins were admitted to the oiled wildlife facility. 2,000 seabirds died as a result, and about 20,000 died indirectly due to the destruction of their habitat. To this day, the fish stocks and the ecology of that marine environment are still depleted. And this was a relatively small spill, compared to those seen from oil rigs overseas, and yet we still struggled to deal with it.”

“Ending offshore oil and gas exploration means protecting our oceans from destructive pollution, it means protecting endangered blue whales from industrial work in their feeding grounds, and it means reducing our global emissions, becoming world leaders on the climate stage.”

“And yes, there are costs. About 2,600 people employed in core activities will need retraining and alternative employment. The businesses employing about 4,000 people in ancillary and indirect oil & gas jobs will certainly need to revise their business plans and market their services elsewhere. But we have the plans for that. The Greens will task the Regional Investment Corporation with investing in that ‘just transition’ away from fossil fuel work, ensuring no kiwi is left behind in this necessary fight for our planet and for our survival.”

“If we do nothing, the costs of inaction are just too high. Globally, the combined country-level costs add up to a median of more than $400 in social costs per tonne of CO2- an impact of at least $16 trillion. So unless we want to start paying $400 per tonne of CO2e equivalent, we’ve got to seriously start taking action now. Already locally, we can expect $19 billion of property at risk of climate change impacts, 2000 kilometres of roads, five airports, 50 kilometres of railway, 133,000 people affected. We can’t let this happen, and we mustn’t let this happen. Climate change threatens our land, our industry, and threatens to widen economic and social inequality to an astonishing degree. We have no choice but to do take action, for the planet and its people.”