The Sun
Wednesday October 21, 2015
7
Green MP looks on bright side of climate change This year marks a groundswell of awareness of climate change, Green Party MP Gareth Hughes told an audience of around 50 people at the Wesley Centre in Blenheim on Monday evening. Hughes is optimistic that this global awareness will drive agreements at the 21st United Nations conference on Climate Change which opens in Paris on November 30. Two days earlier, people in Blenheim will gather at Seymour Square, joining a worldwide march for climate justice. The 33-year-old Green spokesperson for energy and resources says since he was four, the globe has not known a below average monthly temperature. “This affects the things we care about,” he says. In Marlborough, the mussel industry -
worth $200 million to the New Zealand economy - was threatened by carbon dioxide-driven ocean acidification causing mussel shells to soften, Hughes says. Drought was predicted to intensify. A warmer climate would risk human health, creating more favourable conditions for parasites and tropical vector-borne diseases like Dengue fever carried by mosquitoes. Hughes also pointed to positive trends including a 99 per cent drop in the cost of the silicon photovoltaic cells used in solar panels during his lifetime, 30 per cent in the last two years. Schools and marae around New Zealand were beginning to switch to solar energy, saving money on power-bills which could then be spent in other areas. His Fair Go for Solar Bill, drawn from
Conservation Club get rare access
RIGHT: Jimmy Costley gets involved in a guided tour of White Bluffs.
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an indication of the level of support in taking the case for a BID to the Council. Councillors will have the final say as establishing a funding stream through rates would have to be considered as part of the 2016-17 Annual Plan process which gets underway early in the new year. Council currently does not have a view on the proposal but has agreed to facilitate the voting process. Early next month, the Blenheim Business Association will be holding a meeting for all property owners and occupiers who are inside the proposed BID area in order to answer questions about the proposal and the voting process. Any property owner or occupier who does not receive a voting paper by October 29 should contact the District Council’s Strategic Planning and Economic Development manager Neil Henry.
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Business improvement poll coming Online voting will be available for the first time in Marlborough when local CBD businesses get to voice their view on the establishment of a Business Improvement District to represent their interests. The Blenheim Business Association is proposing the Business Improvement District (BID) model, used in some other parts of the country, be established here, funded through a new rate on those inside the BID boundary. The Council would collect the rate on behalf of the BID but the BID would have responsibility for deciding how those funds would be spent on CBD promotion and improvement. A poll, to assess the level of interest in the concept, will be conducted between Monday 26 October and Wednesday 18 November with the option of either traditional postal voting or on-line voting available. The results of the poll will not be binding but they will give the Business Association
The Kiwi Conservation Club was taken on a guided tour by Driftwood Retreat and Eco Tours. Will Parsons was a wealth of knowledge of local history and flora and fauna. This tour gave them access to the White Bluffs which are on the boulder bank between the sea and the Wairau Lagoons. It was a very windswept beach walk with interesting beach combing opportunities. A seal sighting was a highlight with the return trip viewing some Glossy Ibis, a rare bird recently found in Marlborough.
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the ballot in parliament in August, would see the Electricity Authority act as an independent umpire setting fair prices for households selling surplus renewable energy back into the grid, Hughes says. Last year big power company Meridian slashed buy-back rates by 72 per cent, allowed under legislation requiring only 30 days notice to change terms, conditions and buy-back electricity rates. Hughes said Green Party energy policies aimed at 400 per cent growth in solar energy use in two years, including putting a price on carbon pollution and passing that money on as tax cuts for people conserving energy. New Zealand’s total emissions were small but per person ranked fifth highest Green Party MP Gareth Hughes at a speech in in the world, he says. Blenheim on Monday.
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