KEY POINTS:
The Green Party wants New Zealanders to prove their commitment to tackling climate change by signing "climate contracts".
People are asked to sign up to the likes of doing the laundry only with cold water, using only energy-efficient bulbs and buying only fuel-efficient cars.
While seeking personal commitments, the contract is also designed to pressure the Government to do more by demanding it establish a climate change budget equivalent to that of defence, at $1.6 billion.
The contracts were launched yesterday as the Greens began their "Climate Defence Tour" at Lyttelton Port, where co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons inspected a new wave-power device against a background of coal stores.
"People are asking us all the time, what can they do about climate change in their own lives," Ms Fitzsimons said.
"The suggestion [is that] they sign a contract with the Government, saying this is what I am prepared to do in my life, I want the Government to put a price on carbon, and stop subsidising the fossil fuel industry, and use that money to create a fund equal to our defence funding.
"We spend a lot of money on defence for something that might or might not happen. We should be spending as much at least on something we know is happening."
Ms Fitzsimons said the Government would move only as fast "as it feels public opinion would let it".
"We are trying to demonstrate to Government that public opinion is ready to move now and that they need to take a lead."
She sees the Climate Defence Tour as grassroots campaigning to pick up where the film An Inconvenient Truth left off. The tour's first public meeting is in Christchurch tonight.
