Fisk fisk baby

Ele Luudman @ Homepaddock has posted a sample of Trans Tasman's response to the Pure Advantage 'Green race' report . I find it fascinating to look at what is written and consider the twisting, omissions and strawmen that are thrown up in the space of just a few paragraphs. There's no gain in it at all, but I can't resist having a wee fisk and publishing that here, to save Ele the annoyance (for I annoy her regularly by posting my views on her blog) of being the dissenting voice in the homepaddock.

"Yet another report from a Green lobby group has berated NZ’s environmental performance.

This should perhaps alert the TransTasman to the situation that each of those reports describes, rather than have them go all righteous over this most recent report, I'd have thought. Do they suspect a conspirracy of some sort?

The Pure Advantage group’s “Green Race Report” criticises NZ’s environmental record and argues NZ urgently needs to improve it in order to protect the “clean, green image which benefits the sale of much of what NZ produces and exports.” It follows the recent World WildLife Fund report which was said to be a “wake-up” call to NZ before the Rio+Earth summit on June 20 marking the 20th anniversary of the Rio One summit.

It seems, given the calibre of the Pure Advantage team, consisting as it does  corporate leaders including Sir Stephen Tindall, Rob Morrison and his late brother Lloyd, Jeremy Moon and Geoff Ross, that more rational notice should be taken of what they are saying and less of the knee-jerk, ideological pish the Trans Tasman seems to be delivering here.

Like the earlier report, the latest contains a fair bit of claptrap.

Let's see then, if such claptrap is evident. 

It claims NZ’s per capita carbon emissions are the fifth worst in the OECD, without mentioning most of the emissions come from cows which produce more than a fifth of NZ’s export earnings. 

Hardly 'claptrap'. The claim is true.

It says NZ has a falling share of the energy mix coming from renewable energy, without saying NZ produces 70% of its energy from renewable sources, a much higher level than most other countries

Again, not claptrap, simply a true statement. Perhaps the Transtasm might like to challenge the Pure Advantage team directly and ask for their justifications, but this helium-light exploration is just an embarrassment to them. I suspect they need to try to counter the claims in such a way because they cut close to the bone.

.It also says: “Perhaps worst of all, NZ’s native biodiversity is coming under increasing strain as 77% of NZ’s threatened species look set to decline” – a claim debunked by science authority Bob Brockie, who says the NZ Conservation Dept has worked wonders in protecting our plants and animals."

I'm gobsmacked by this! The state of new Zealand's biodiversity is clearly a dire one, and to say that the claim that it's 'coming under increasing strain' is clearly true, as most likely, is the 77% claim, given  David Winter's response to Ele that casts doubt over Brockie's credibility. The reasoning; that 'the Department of Conservation has worked wonders in protecting our plants and animals', while perhaps true, in no way addresses the charge from Pure Advantage. I despair at the lack of depth to their article and also at Ele's eager adoption of their clumsy spin. There, that's out. I feel better :-)

Ele asks, "Greenwash or hogwash?" and I'm confident in answering that her whole post is hogwash.