Environment

Environmental issues create a huge amount of hypocrisy.

Here in New Zealand, city people are really agitated about the pollution of rivers by dairy farms. Immense hostility to dairy farmers has emerged, despite a large share of our overseas income coming from the sale of dairy products. Could we still afford our iPads and iPhones if the dairy industry was shut down?

In the city, pet cats do terrible damage to our native birds. They have almost disappeared from parts of the cities. Yet if anyone suggests that people should keep their cats in the homes, there are cries of outrage, as if people were being robbed of a basic human right.

On the environment, it always seems to be easier to point the finger at someone else, rather than cleaning up our own act. That is classic Pharisaism.