Smart Green Globalisation

Sunday 6 November 2011
smart green Globalisation is a global call for all national, institutions, government, the all local community and stakeholders to take a unified green responsibility to save the world from carbon toxic materials to better green /eco-friendly world where all nations in the world take green innovative methods to save the world using alternative energy and green products and services taking green marketing to help green customers save money, reuse and recycle to their daily habits helping green entrepreneurs to set up global green companies
Green globalisation - engagement and self-reliance
They say we have to do all this if we want to make a living, but this isn't true. There is an alternative framework and I call that alternative "Green Globalisation".

On the one hand green globalisation is about engagement with the world. It's about engaging with the world politically to push sustainability and fairness and, it's about engaging with the world economically to trade goods and services that won't destroy the planet. On the other hand green globalisation is about developing our self-reliance and relying on our own resources. We need to engage with the world to achieve sustainable outcomes, and we need to develop our national and community self-reliance.

Thomas Jefferson once said that American democracy would fall if everyone became wage slaves because people would no longer be independent. You don't have to endorse that statement entirely to get a sense of what he was on about. We will not be good global citizens if we simply become dependent on foreign multinationals, a distant outpost of globalisation incorporated, a branch office of Monster Corporation. To be a good global citizen we need a degree of self-reliance — a degree of internal strength from which we can engage with the rest of the world.

Green globalisation means acting as a global citizen
So how have Greens been engaging in globalisation, green globalisation? The first thing is that we have been acting as good global citizens.

Green parties and the green movement the world over have been working together to get progress on reducing greenhouse emissions. There is no global green party telling us all what to do, rather we are all looking at the science, understanding the problem and working for solutions. Green parties and the green movement around the world are working to keep governments accountable.

Greens in Australia and the United States, strong willed characters that they are, are leading the charge to get those countries to sign up to the Kyoto climate protection treaty or at the very least to sign up to the second round of Kyoto that will start after 2012. And we will win.

Governments around the world have been attempting to find excuses why their country or their economy should get some exemption from a global agreement and greens have been saying "no this is a global problem and only a global solution will work".

When the National Party campaigned against the Kyoto climate protection treaty, it was the Greens that stepped in with a voice of global reason — we must play our part as the fourth worst emitter per person if we expect other countries to play their part. When the Labour Party abandoned the carbon charge in 2005 it was the Greens that kept alive the idea of putting a price on greenhouse emissions to make sure there is a price signal to the market that emitting greenhouse gases costs the planet. Price signals aren't the whole picture but they are an important part of it. It would have been easy for Kyoto to have unravelled over the last few years but it was the green movement around the world that held it together so that now very few mainstream parties are talking about getting out of Kyoto. The fact that the Kyoto climate protection treaty has held and will now get stronger is a victory for green globalisation and every green in this room and around the world can be congratulated for that.

Greens have also been engaging in globalisation by challenging the World Trade Organisation both inside and outside. The WTO is set up to privilege the freedom of commerce and places the environment and people second. When the Europeans floated the idea of putting a border tax on non-Kyoto countries that are not playing their part in climate change, the US and Australian governments looked to the WTO to protect them from such a border tax as a restriction on trade.

Greens have intervened in WTO cases to push for the environment and people to be brought into the picture. We have had some successes but the WTO is still putting the health of commerce ahead of the health of the planet and people.

While the Labour National Party uncritically accept the parameters of the WTO, the Green movement has been working to change those parameters and to ensure that global environmental agreements trump global trade agreements — because if there is no environment there is no economy. It would be fair to say that green globalisation still has some way to go in changing the international rules of commerce but we have not finished with it yet.

Green globalisation means standing up for democracy in China alongside those many millions of Chinese that want democracy. While the Labour National Party bends over backwards to get a free trade deal with China regardless of the cost to NZ and regardless that it means muting our criticism of the democratic, environmental and human rights violations going on, the Greens support Chinese democrats, environmentalists and trade unionists to advance rights for Chinese people and protect the rapidly deteriorating environment in China. When the New Zealand police took instructions from the Chinese Embassy and removed a press gallery accredited journalist from a public ceremony it was the Greens that stood up for democracy and freedom of speech. In doing this we are part of a global movement for more democracy in China.
Green globalisation is different to corporate globalisation. It is about people all over the planet recognising that we share common concerns and acting together globally and locally.

Green globalisation is about encouraging values of caring for people and planet. The onslaught of the new right in the 1980s and 1990s has left a cultural legacy of a certain hardness to the suffering of others and a callousness at profit maximising at all possible costs. The brazen and unconcerned response of Solid Energy to public outrage at their covert infiltration of protest groups and the callous response of Mercury Energy in Auckland are perhaps obvious symbols of this culture of disconnect by the global elites from everyday people.

Green globalisation means trading in goods and services that don't cost the earth.

The Greens have been acting as global citizens but we have also been encouraging and facilitating the emergence of a sustainable international economy.

The phenomenal growth of the organics' sector is an indicator of things to come. It's great to see the Green budget funding for Organics Aotearoa New Zealand have borne fruit. OANZ has a target of a billion dollar organics sector by 2013. Demand for organics is growing at 10% to 20% per annum globally driven by green consumers demands for sustainable food. Fonterra for example is currently producing 25 different organic products and is aiming to have 200 organic dairy farms by 2013. Fonterra is paying farmers a 20% premium on organic milk. An organic dairy industry that does not destroy the aquifers and waterways of the nation, in a country that meets its international climate change commitments, is a dairy industry that we look forward to being proud of.

Of course none of this would have been possible if the pro genetic engineering forces had won back in 2001-2002. By now GE grasses would have spread across the country which would have spelt the end of organic dairy production. Organics is by definition GE free. It was the Green Party and the GE Free movement that kept our options open as an organic food producer. It's worth remembering that the Labour National Party attacked the Greens for our stance on GE in the 2002 election. The country as a whole is now starting to reap the benefits of the foresight of the green movement and our victory in stopping commercial scale GE crops. Labour National said we would destroy the economy. In fact it was the Greens that kept the nation's economic options open to go down the organic path, a path that offers us a clean environment and a secure economic future.

The world has a hunger for clean sustainable food and we have an opportunity to supply that food and get a premium price for it. Already conventionally produced milk solids from New Zealand get a premium because of the international perception of clean and green New Zealand — well let's turn that perception into a reality before the truth is out.

Tourism is our largest single export industry and people come here because New Zealand is safe, because of our fantastic natural environment, and because of the distinct cultural identity of tangata whenua. The successful 100% Pure New Zealand advertising campaign builds on our image as clean and green. Now tell me who is responsible for building the biggest export earner that we have? Is it the financial globalisation ideologues in the National Party who when last in government wanted to log the ancient beech forests on the west coast of the south island? Or is the biggest export earner we have in existence because of the band of grassroots activists in Native Forest Action and the Greens who fought to stop the logging? Would two million tourists a year come to see a logging operation? Who has done the most for the New Zealand economy, Don Elder with his coal mining operations or the late Kevin Smith who made sure that tens of thousands of hectares of ancient forests were saved from the chainsaw so that they could become the centrepiece of our single largest export earner, the tourist industry.

While there are great challenges ahead for tourism in a carbon constrained world, it is another example of the economic power of green globalisation. Tourists care about the environment and that's why they come. But will people still want to come here if Lake Taupo becomes a dead zone full of toxic algae because of fertiliser seepage?

Tourism is happening right now, organics is rapidly developing but there are also some industries that are not too far away. Here's just a few:
The development of an indigenous New Zealand wind generator manufacturing industry bodes well for our future. Wind at the right scale and in the right place is one of the energies of the future and Windflow is a great New Zealand success story that I suspect one day will be a major exporter of high tech wind turbines creating carbon free electricity for people around the world.
Its turbines are of an intermediate size that communities can own rather than the huge industrial size turbines which have their place but can alienate communities.

Investments in tidal and wave power technology now will pay dividends well into the future as countries look for renewable sources of energy generation. We have an opportunity to take the lead in wind and tidal technology to meet our own energy needs and to sell overseas to help other people meet theirs.

The technology to convert wood into liquid biofuels may well be part of the answer to rising fuel prices and climate change. Using woody biomass doesn't have all the problems associated with corn in the US and palm oil in south east Asia. Biojoule, a company based in Taupo is using a non invasive species of willow to produce the woody material to feed into a fermenter using waste heat from a geothermal plant to process the willow into ethanol. It's still experimental and will need careful consideration as to the energy inputs versus energy outputs and whether it displaces other crops but it is promising.

And what about investing in research into the use of wood as a replacement to steel and cement in building. Wood laminates layer wood together to create structural components that are as strong as steel and cement. But in the process they act as a carbon sink and displace the production of steel and cement both of which result in masses of greenhouse emissions. We could become world leaders in this technology.

And the rise of the fair trade movement offers further opportunities for us to engage in trade with developing countries that is both fair and sustainable.
The facts speak for themselves. It is green industries that significantly underpin our exports right now and it is the green industries like organics and renewable energy that will underpin our exports in the future.

Green globalisation and self-reliance
But if on the one hand green globalisation is about engaging with the world to make it more sustainable and fairer, engaging in the world to trade goods and services that are fair and sustainable, the other side of green globalisation is about acting locally to increase our own sustainability and self-reliance.

Self-reliance comes out of locally produced food. The flourishing of farmers' markets around the country is a tremendously positive sign. People buying food produced locally is exactly the kind of self-reliance that is compatible with green globalisation, especially when that food is organic as well, as much of it is at farmers markets. Greens have been talking for a long time about encouraging local production and consumption of food and it's great to see it actually happening.

But how ridiculous is it that the Labour Government continues to oppose mandatory country of origin labelling of food so that consumers in supermarkets don't know whether they are supporting local food producers. In light of the mounting evidence of systemic pollution of food production in China, it is the height of arrogance that this government denies consumers the basic protection of knowing where their food is coming from.

There is also the self-reliance that comes out of making use of our own renewable energy sources instead of imported fossil fuels. How crazy is the National Labour Party's obsession with motorway construction. As the price of oil continues to increase and will only go up further as we approach the point of peak oil production, the government is investing in infrastructure dependent on oil. A key part of the inflationary pressures in the New Zealand economy over the last couple of years has been rising oil prices. We should be investing in public transport infrastructure run on renewably generated electricity instead of road using oil. The electrification of the Auckland rail network is the first step in Auckland but we want to do more — we need to extend the electric rail line back under the city to make a proper loop rather than the dead end that Britomart currently is.

In Wellington we have finally managed to secure the upgrade of the electric trolley buses after a long campaign by the Greens and once the Makara wind project proceeds those buses will truly be powered by the wind. A fantastic alternative to oil based car transport but investment in rail remains woefully inadequate.

Now wind generation has its issues and one of the things we really want to push is to give individuals and communities the ability to generate their own electricity from their own smaller scale wind generators and solar panels on their roofs. New Zealand owned Windflow that I mentioned earlier has developed an innovative 500kw wind generator which is producing power in Manawatu right now. How about giving some incentives for communities around the country to put in one or two or three of these smaller scale generators and let the community get the profits from them. Why should every wind farm be industrial scale?

And why is it virtually impossible to sell renewable electricity to the grid from small scale producers. Why are the regulators letting the electricity companies get away with making it virtually impossible to feed in power to the grid from photovoltaic solar panels on your own roof? They do it overseas why can't we do it here?

We have tremendous opportunities to develop our own renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind, solar, tidal and wave power. The talk of importing liquefied natural gas into the country is a recipe for perpetual dependence on overseas energy sources that is completely avoidable.

There is the self-reliance of manufacturing more of our stuff in New Zealand. The Greens' Buy Kiwi Made campaign encourages exactly that kind of self-reliance. By making and consuming more of our own products we reduce our import bill and take some of the pressure off our chronic current account deficit and reduce our contribution to the vast proliferation in oil used to ship products all over the world.

We also need to look to being more self reliant financially. The Greens were proud to deliver the necessary votes in Parliament alongside Labour and the then Alliance party to get Kiwibank off the ground and it is doing well. Locally owned TSB bank is a stellar financial performer. Prometheus is a New Zealand ethical investment company that is going from strength to strength. If we don't want to see hundreds of millions of dollars go overseas in bank profits to foreign owners every year then we need to develop greater self reliance in the financial sector. We have made a small start and we can do more.

These are all examples of how greater self-reliance will place us in a stronger position to engage in the world more on our own terms, rather than simply accept the terms offered up by financial or corporate globalisation.
There is an emerging green globalisation that sees people around the world engaging with each to protect the global commons and to trade in environmentally sustainable goods and services. And there is a green globalisation that sees people being self-reliant in things that make sense such as local food production and local energy sources. The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a part of this green globalisation and we are playing an increasingly important part in New Zealand politics.

A stronger Green identity — Green member and supporter launch
The influence of the Greens in national politics in disproportionately greater than our numbers in the House and is greater than the two spokespeople roles we achieved under the Cooperation Agreement with Labour. The Greens are now firmly established in New Zealand politics because what we say makes sense in a finite world.

Some say the Greens are the third party of New Zealand politics but I say we are the second party because Labour and National are very similar in so many ways. For both of them sustainability is an add-on when the focus groups tell them it's trendy. For the Greens sustainability and fairness is at the very core of who we are.

As I have travelled around the country on the Climate Defence Tour over the last few weeks I have been struck by the growing strength and influence of the party in towns and regions across the country. But this increased influence is placing tremendous pressures on our capacity to perform this greater role. The Greens do not have the giant secret corporate donors that National, in particular, has. There are no Hollow Men bankrolling the party. We rely on our members and supporters to fund the party and indeed to pay my salary.

So in order to help us achieve our goals of a fair and sustainable Aotearoa New Zealand and a fair and sustainable world, today we are launching a member and supporter drive. We want to join up more members, but we are also aware that there are many people who for whatever reason don't or can't join the Green Party but would like to support us in our work. And that is why we are launching the Green Supporter — someone who helps the party out financially without being an actual member.

So I would say to the many New Zealanders who care for this place and this planet and all of its people, and who care for the incredible plants and animals that we share the planet with, become a Green supporter or a Green member and help us care for this place and each other.
The Green Party has an ambition and a vision that these islands will shine like a beacon to the world for sustainability, justice, peace and democracy.

As the great New Zealand patriot Rod Donald once said: "We have high expectations in the Greens, of ourselves and for our nation".

source: 1.Green Conference & AGM 2007, Nelson (http://www.greens.org.nz/speeches/green-globalisation-engagement-and-self-reliance)
2.smart independent Team

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