Mike’s Minute: Ideology is hijacking reality on climate

Surely we didn’t miss the irony on climate change?  On the day it's announced we have reduced our emissions now for three years in a row, so good on us, the very next day Transpower, the people who get the electricity into your lounge, tell us yet again that this Winter has issues and peak load and demand might be problematic.  Part one of the emissions reduction bit is increasingly about us feeling good because, as we also found out a bit over a week ago, huge chunks of the world are not reducing their emissions and not even close.  Which then leads to a lot of people arguing that we shouldn’t bother because what we do makes no difference.  I come down on the other side of that. If we can, we should.  Let's be honest - in doing what we have so far, have we reached a point where we are massively inconvenienced? I wouldn’t have thought so until, well, until Transpower tell us what they have.  Here is a simple rule of thumb; to not have enough power in 2024 is simply not good enough and it should be seen as an abdication of responsibility.  The reason we don’t have enough is quite openly admitted. It's because the renewables are not voluminous enough and not reliable enough to cover the growing demand.  The transition hasn’t transitioned to the point where we can largely leave fossils behind.  So, here's the line for me. Save the planet all you want, even if it is futile given China and India aren't as interested. But don’t get so hell bent about it that the heater isn't on in July when its -3 degrees. That’s not a first world country and it's not a first world approach.  Making it even more ridiculous is that the transition involves technological advances like EV's. If we don’t have enough power now, how do we power EV's? How do we power generative AI, the so-called future? It's a future that requires 10x more power than a Google search.  Talk about cart before the horse.  When we still struggle Winter in, Winter out to do the basics we have allowed ideology to hijack reality.  That is not the future, of the future. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.