Posted on 10-6-2003
Hot Air For Wind
Power
Banks Peninsula, Tuesday 10 June, 2003: Greenpeace and the Body Shop
have joined forces to launch a Switch postcard campaign calling on
Helen Clark to lead the country to switch to 100% clean renewable energy
supply by 2020, and away from polluting power such as coal. The postcard
campaign launch took place at New Zealand’s first owned, designed and
manufactured wind turbine by Windflow, on Banks Peninsula.* “On the six
month anniversary of the Government signing the Kyoto Protocol, the Body
Shop and Greenpeace are saying to the Government: protect the climate
and secure a sustainable energy supply,” said Greenpeace climate
campaigner Vanessa Atkinson. “New Zealand has one of the best
energy resources in the world – wind energy. The Government must change
the way they think about energy and start putting the brakes on global
warming by planning for the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants
and actively support wind energy”. “Climate change is an issue of
national importance and Helen Clark needs to take big steps quickly to
bring more wind projects into the energy mix and establish an energy
strategy that will lead New Zealand to a clean, 100% renewable energy
future by 2020. Unfortunately, recent short-term Government decisions
will lead us towards more dirty old coal.”
Traditional energy sources such as burning fossil fuels like coal, oil
and gas release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute
to climate change. Global warming causes glaciers to melt, sea levels to
rise and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. Coal
produces more global warming carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel.
“Environmentally damaging energy sources such as coal are dinosaur relics
from the fossil fuel past – and that’s where they should remain. The
future of energy is in clean renewable wind.”
“We should not be asking ‘Why wind farms?’ but ’Why not
wind farms?’” said New Zealand Director of The Body Shop, Ashleigh
Ogilvie-Lee. “Being a Wellingtonian myself on those occasional windy days
as I hang onto a lamppost on Lambton Quay, I’d like to think ‘Bad hair
day – but great day for the national grid!’ The Body Shop is pleased to
join Greenpeace and launch the Switch postcard campaign to urge
Helen Clark to lead the country to 100% renewable energy.”
120,000 postcards will be available at Body Shop outlets throughout the
country, cafes, Greenpeace frontliners on the street and distributed to
Greenpeace supporters. “New Zealand has enough potential wind
energy to produce three times our present power generation each year.
Banks Peninsula is one of thirteen areas around New Zealand identified as
having excellent wind resources that just need to be harnessed,”
concluded Atkinson.
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