As we digest the local government elections, it's important to realise that in the wider world our concerns are small change.
Roadcones, cycleways and speed limits are small fry compared with Ukrainian war, global recessions and rampant inflation worldwide.
And then there's climate change and controls on our emissions.
In the past fortnight, you may not have noticed stories that put climate issues into perspective.
The sabotage of the Russian gas pipe was the single greatest man-made climate disaster in history.
The pure mass of methane that escaped into the atmosphere was incredible. Remember that methane is over 80 times more effective at warming the atmosphere than CO2. Decades of emission controls were written off in just a few days.
Meanwhile, the Government admitted that the drive to replace the entire Government fleet with electric vehicles by 2025 is way off track.
It's looking like 25% of the fleet will be electric, and not by 2025 but more like 2030.
Why?
There are just not enough electric vehicles available. Words are easy but actions are hard.
On Friday, Environment Commissioner Simon Upton told us that to offset all our emissions with trees would require 2 thirds of our country to be pine forests, proving the unsustainability of offsets.
Then there's the fact that came out of an Indian Dairy conference that the Indian cow herd is 10 times bigger than New Zealand's but New Zealand produces more milk than all of India. With a tenth of the cows and a tenth of the emissions. Showing that New Zealand's intensive and efficient farming is climatically better than India's.
This all goes to show that the worldwide battle against emissions is failing.
It shows that we've been lectured by simplistic group think by people who drive their cars to protests to tell us to emit less.
Which is not to say we should give up.
What it says is that we need to praise the small victories and not hysterically demand inefficient broad-stroke virtue-signalling policies.
Because that is the real blah blah blah.
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Andrew Dickens: I'm looking forward to Budget Week
Andrew Dickens: Auckland Transport is proof you can't control a CCO
Andrew Dickens: The new Government deal is Three Waters lite
Andrew Dickens: There's worry the Government cuts will go too far
Andrew Dickens: We need to put perspective on the current state of our economy
Andrew Dickens: The media model is broken because of fear
Andrew Dickens: New Zealand knows the price of everything and the value of nothing
Andrew Dickens: Let's put SailGP on at an appropriate venue and move on
Andrew Dickens: Did the Government know that their pre-election promises were unaffordable?
Andrew Dickens: National's state of the nation address was blame game politics
Andrew Dickens: This weekend showed the Greens are fast becoming unelectable
Andrew Dickens: The Government has to learn perceptions stick
Andrew Dickens: Is this what we can expect for the next three years?
Andrew Dickens: There's big stones in the path to coalition
Andrew Dickens: Enjoy this respite from criticism of New Zealand, it won't last
Andrew Dickens: New Zealand is confused
Andrew Dickens: We've got an incompetent cohort of politicians
Andrew Dickens: National has abandoned their plans for social investment from 2017
Andrew Dickens: I don't know why National is so wedded to these tax cuts
Andrew Dickens: Luxon shoots himself in the foot, time and time again
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