By Peter Hardstaff

It sometimes feels like the current government has propelled New Zealand into a parallel universe where the normal rules, or common sense, get reversed. Black is white. Wrong is right. And tax breaks on 23 individual cars are a major contribution to tackling climate change.

Take the recent oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, where a pipe fault on a BP exploration rig causes an explosion and probably the worst single oil spill the US has ever seen. A couple of weeks and millions of litres of spilt oil later, while the rest of the world is reconsidering the wisdom of deep sea oil extraction, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee announces a deep sea exploration permit for Brazilian company Petrobras.

This comes alongside the ongoing attempt to open up conservation areas for mining. But there’s no need for us to worry apparently, because the Government has proposed to add some more areas to the conservation list to compensate. In fact ministries have gone out of their way to find areas with no minerals under them in order to stick them on the list of areas protected from mining.

Read that sentence again, and tell yourself you are not living in a parallel universe.

And of course, our Government is firmly committed to keeping global warming below a 2 degrees centigrade increase in average global temperatures, but is not actually prepared to do much about it. We abandon common sense regulations like Vehicle Fuel Economy Standards - that would steadily raise the bar for all vehicles in the country – and instead provide a tax break for electric cars. Which applies to just 23 vehicles currently on the road in New Zealand, one of which is owned by our own Environment Minister, Dr. Nick Smith.

Still think you don’t live in a parallel universe?

It is of course true that New Zealand cannot prevent dangerous climate change on its own, so we also need action at the international level. While you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing is happening, the global climate negotiations did in fact kick off again in Bonn, Germany, last week.

These talks are as important as ever. With countries like New Zealand clinging to national interest, refusing to do anything unless others act first, and trying to create loopholes to ensure we won’t have to do a lot once the deal is done, the creation of an international treaty and the fine detail of this treaty is critical if we are to address global warming.

There’s a real opportunity, starting in Bonn, to nail down some important elements of the deal, such as ways to protect rainforests (important stores of carbon) and on creative mechanisms to help poor countries pay for low carbon development and adapt to climate change. Few people expect the next big UN summit – starting in Cancun, Mexico later this year – to deliver a final deal but several milestones are within reach if the negotiators and their political masters can get their act together.

The good news this World Environment Day is that whilst the Government is living in a parallel universe, New Zealanders are living in the real world. Greenpeace estimates around 50,000 New Zealanders took to Queen Street in the biggest protest march in living history, to make it clear that they believe mining conservation land is 100 percent pure stupidity. Over a million Kiwis were amongst hundreds of millions of people around the world showing support for action on climate change by taking part in WWF’s Earth Hour in March this year.

WWF will continue pressing our government to make a light speed jump from its parallel universe back into the real world where their constituents live; a world where a high-tech, low carbon clean, green economy is not achieved by deep sea oil drilling, nor is it achieved by digging up conservation land and implementing environmental policies that will help less than 0.001 percent of the population reduce their carbon emissions.