Greenpeace enlist NZ celebrities to push action on climate change
Greenpeace has enlisted the help of New Zealand celebrities such as Rhys Darby and eco warrior princess Lucy Lawless to help encourage kiwis to act on climate change this year. The campaign was launched last weekend and has had more than 46,000 people sign on. The new campaign has however received opposition from the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, who say climate change is about science, not celebrities. The coalition believes the current rise in global temperatures is a natural phenomenon and say there is no evidence that human greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change. Bryan Leyland of the NZCSC says Greenpeace is using celebrities in their ‘sign on’ campaign because they don't have scientists to keep it afloat. “If they want to use celebrities they can, but don't pretend it makes the slightest bit of difference to the evidence,” he says. A recent gathering of 2500 scientists from 80 countries at a United Nations conference in Copenhagen disagree and say inaction is inexcusable. Bunny McDiarmid from Greenpeace says decisions made this year will have a profound impact on the planet. “Every single country on this planet needs to act and every country needs to act this year,” he says. Decisions that governments make on this issue will determine their legacy and will probably determine the future of all of us.” Mr McDiarmid refused to respond to Mr Leyland's comments saying: “Greenpeace chooses not to debate people who don't accept the scientific reality of anthropogenic climate change.” Greenpeace’s overall goal is for John Key to sign on with world leaders when they gather in Denmark in December and implement a 40 percent reduction in emissions by 2020. 3 News source: newshub archive