There are many articles about climate change appearing in NZ newspapers every day. They are given high priority because climate change, and the NZ government's response to it, are very important issues for New Zealanders. NZ is a country that produces a lot of agricultural products for export to other countries (lamb, beef, butter, milk). It is very dependent on these products but these products produce a lot of carbon emissions - especially methane. About 1/2 of NZ's total carbon emissions are from agriculture. NZ signed the Kyoto Protocol and is responsible for its carbon emissions. It is proposing to put in place an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to make the people that produce the country's emissions, pay for them. Lots of articles appear in newspapers about the ETS. One that caught my eye is a survey of public opinion about the ETS. 77% of NZers think that the people that create the carbon emissions should pay for them. But most people think that our farmers should only pay for 40% (or less) of their emissions. Making them pay more might make them uncompetitive with farmers from other countries - meaning we'd sell less and have less money. Lots of NZers support a tax on products imported into NZ from countries that don't make their polluters pay for their carbon emissions. See this link for the full article: www.nzherald.co.nz/climate-change/news/article.cfm