Position on climate change, environmental protection and animal welfare

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• I must admit to being a little skeptical about alarmist climate change claims - in part fueled by the fact that any dissent from the view that man-made climate change is an urgent, serious issue, seems to be met with scorn and a tendency to try to suppress any evidence / argument against that view.

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• However, on the principle of “playing it safe just in case”, as a general rule I am supportive of schemes to reduce human-controlled greenhouse gas emissions and move our economy towards more renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro-electric.

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• Also, while not a “vegan zealot”, I do believe that it would be a wise move to move to a more plant-based food supply rather than continuing to rely so heavily on meat production with some of the environmental issues that this raises (see below as well).

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• On the issue of flora / fauna conservation I am generally supportive but again, on the principle of freedom of choice, would prefer that much of the funding of these efforts was done on a voluntary basis.  A “mid-way” position that appeals to me (and this could be the case with many issues) is that public funding is used to provide information and awareness about the issue, but the funding of the actual work needed to do the conservation (for example, land acquisition), be funded from voluntary donations.

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• On issues of animal welfare, as with most people, I am opposed to cruelty to animals.

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• I recognise there is some conflict with this and some modern farming practices and do believe it is appropriate to continue to push towards eliminating practices that keep animals in overly restricted environments.

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• Similarly, some pet raising practices may need to be more closely monitored by government.

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• On the other hand, I do put a much higher value of human life than that of animals and where there is a legitimate conflict, will put human needs (but not just “wants” – though this is not meant to exclude all meat-eating) above those of animal comfort. I think that trying to raise the status of animals as “persons” with equal rights to humans is going too far.