Local body politician says volcano eruption could be to blame for climate change
A regional council chairman who distributed a climate-change denial video, calling it "a very good listen", says a volcano eruption could be as much to blame for rising temperatures as people. He also claims one of his councillors leaked the email to a climate activism group, despite the councillor and group denying that was the case and evidence to the contrary. Stuff has been provided an email Horizons Regional Council chairman Bruce Gordon distributed containing a link to the video, which claims the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organisation, Petteri Taalas, denied climate change. The email chain shows he was sent the video by William Partridge, a Hunterville farmer with an agricultural science degree. READ MORE: * Green mayoral candidate not quite perfect on climate-change response * Extinction Rebellion wants cutting emissions to be top priority * Manawatu councils asked to act together against climate change * Horizons council candidates hot on climate; say we must act now Partridge has talked to Horizons about climate issues. Minutes from a 2017 meeting stated he believed the sun, not carbon dioxide or man-made emissions, caused climate change. Robert Gibb, who is involved in the All Saints' Parish Green Taskforce and Extinction Rebellion Manawatu, said the video was sent by Gordon to Extinction Rebellion. The email chain shows Gordon forwarding Partridge's email, along with the message "a very good listen". Extinction Rebellion had been trying to get Gordon to answer questions about climate issues for its local election profiles. A bit of research showed Taalas' comments had been twisted and he actually supported reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change, Gibb said. Gordon sending that video, and not answering any of the climate issue questions, was concerning. "[It] tells me he is more aligned with climate deniers than those actually wanting to do things," Gibb said. Despite Stuff seeing the email chain, Gordon said he had not sent the video to Extinction Rebellion. He said Partridge spoke to the council and sent him the video to pass on to other councillors, which he duly did. He had watched some of the video and not checked the source material to see if it was correct. He claimed councillor Rachel Keedwell had leaked the email to Gibb, but she denied that when spoken to by Stuff. The video was forwarded to councillors and she had talked to people about Gordon doing that, but Gibb went to her with the email Gordon had sent Extinction Rebellion, she said. When asked about his views on climate change, Gordon said the climate was changing and there needed to be action to both mitigate the impact and adapt to longer-lasting changes. The climate change debate was "very, very active" and he was happy to listen to people with different views. He described one group as "people spreading a doomsday message" and another as "moderates". "There are moderates saying 'hang on, there is more to it than one element'." While it could be said humans were responsible for climate change, a volcano eruption had recently put more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere than people ever had, Gordon said. That contradicts the US Geological Survey , which states all volcanic activity released less than 1 per cent of the level of carbon dioxide produced by people. Gordon did not agree as many as 90 per cent of climate scientists believe climate change is man-made, despite NASA putting that figure higher, stating 97 per cent of actively publishing climate scientists agree it is. Keedwell said it was alarming to have a regional council chairman spreading information like that. "For him to say he accepts climate change is real and then sending that video around a making those statements, it contradicts his statements. "You cannot say climate change is real and happening, but say volcanos are impacting it. It either is, or it isn't."