A recent interview on the since-cancelled Sunrise show on TV3 saw Act on Campus ‘President’ Rick Giles emerge almost instantaneously as an online media sensation. In an interview with Salient’s Paul Comrie-Thomson last week, Giles further clarified his views on both the Earth Hour, and wider climate change debates, and spoke about the political fallout in the aftermath of the interview.
For those who haven’t seen the infamous interview, could you briefly outline your argument against Earth Hour?
Basically, whether or not global warming is anthropogenic, or whether it is completely natural, I think the best response to any natural disaster—and there is a fantastic case study that has come along recently with that volcanic plume that has come all over Heathrow Airport et cetera—the best way to deal with a natural disaster is with the free market. It is with people consuming and producing goods all over the board, the way we do when there aren’t disasters. Through voluntarism and through free trade, rather than through rationing things out and essentially reducing consumption and going back to the cave, which is what I think Earth Hour is all about. Human Achievement Hour or Edison Hour is about embracing technology and science and using it. And using freedom to resolve the difficulties.
Could you clarify your personal position on climate change for me?
I know climate change is happening. I’ve seen the historical record. We’ve had ice ages in the past, and we’ve had warm periods in the past, so it’s not controversial to me that we have warming. I’m not an expert on this, but when it comes down to it, I haven’t been convinced that it is created by humans. I know a little bit about it, because I have friends who are climate scientists, funnily enough. My understanding is that it is completely natural and can be explained that way, and it is not necessary to blame human intervention in the climate problems that we are having.
You talk about the need to use technology to combat any disaster that may occur out of climate change.
And productivity too, the economy itself; the organism, the social structure that we have.
I think most people would agree with you, but would prefer to see preventative technology, rather than reactionary technology. How do you respond to that?
I think those are the sorts of people who want central planning. Look at this ash disaster over the airports. You don’t need some Stalin or some committee of people in a smoke-filled room, or somewhere out the back figuring out how the world is going to cope with this. The thing to do is to let individual coach companies and the train lines—and the shipping—let private individuals figure out how they’re going to get from A to B, because these sorts of problems are just way too complex, and I think that’s exactly the same and even more complex when it comes to global warming and how people are going to adapt to it. Look at some of the books you can read about past history. Humans have developed canals, the Dutch have this great dike system which they have been building for 500 years to keep the sea out. People have been irrigating, people have been having fire breaks for hundreds and hundreds of years. People respond to disaster scenarios by adapting, by creating new technologies, and basically by consuming and producing, and we get ourselves out of the shit that way. It works really, really well and I’d like to do it again this time.
In light of the dire warnings scientists have put forth, do you think governments should be encouraging business to innovate to respond to this warnings?
No, I think that would be completely unnecessary. I’ll use the analogy with children. You don’t need to tell children to eat sweets and watch cartoons because it sells itself. They know what is good for them. You don’t have to tell people to try and save money, and be thrifty and go for profit and save, because the incentives are already there. And I think it is the same with this. It would be ridiculous for a government to tell people what to do, and how to manage these crises. I think that people will have the incentive to do it, and in a free market they will be able to do it for themselves, and better than a state could arrange for the problem.
How do you feel about the resulting feedback from the clip?
I couldn’t possibly be happier. It’s wonderful. I think it’s coming up to 8000 people on that Facebook group. It seems to me, that for every 100, I get about 10 Facebook friend requests and emails, and out of that I get two or three really good people. Whether they agree with me or not, some of them are really great friends, and I wonder why we didn’t meet years ago, but it’s like you’re cold calling; you ring up people and you get one yes for every no you get. It’s been like that for me. I’ve met some wonderful people, and I am having some great conversations and it is really boosting my side of things. I don’t care about the whole lot of people who just swear, and make fun of me, and make ridiculous photoshopped images of me. Those are the sorts of people who don’t rate with me.
Were you speaking on behalf of Act on Campus in the interview?
Yes.
You have since been stood down as President of Act on Campus. Is that right?
No, I’m still president, but unfortunately my vice-president, and a couple of guys on my executive, mid-week from the first week decided this was embarrassing, and they set up their own version of Act on Campus. So we’ve got some nasty in fighting going on, but I am still recognised by the Act Party as the president, and I’ve got more members than they do. There are lots of arguments that can be had, but we’re trying to figure that one out. Unfortunately, they’ve got the keys to the website, but I still consider myself president and I’m doing my best to work that one out. There is something to be said for moving on though, because I’m a dad and I’ve got three kids now. I hope to wrap my degree up, and I’m trying to get out of the game and pass the torch, but unfortunately at the end of the show it’s become really exciting and there is a lot going on. So while I am trying to withdraw gracefully, there is all this tension. I need to figure out what I want to do, as I just want to be a dad. I’ve had my little stint at university, and student politics.