Groundswell NZ has called on supporters to boycott the Australian-owned supermarket giant from Monday 24 July to Sunday 7 August.
In a press release this week titled ‘Supermarket heavy weight punches down on Kiwi farmers – time to boycott,’ the organisation outlined its reasons for the boycott call.
This week, the Head of Sustainability for supermarket giant Countdown was published in the media discussing the company’s desire to reduce its carbon footprint.
“Companies should be assessing their impacts on our environment. However, instead of looking at how they, an Australian-owned multinational with 194 stores New Zealand-wide, can reduce their emissions, they have decided to blame farmers,” said Groundswell NZ co-founder Bryce McKenzie.
“It is, unfortunately, a narrative New Zealand’s food producers are all too familiar with. Accustomed to being the Government’s environment scapegoat, farmers and rural communities are hardly surprised to see big corporate players dancing to the same tune.
“Groundswell NZ are very sceptical of Countdown’s claim that most of their emissions are the fault of local suppliers. This is a massive chain operation that utilises refrigerants, has massive distribution networks requiring a great deal of fuel, and substantial energy costs to run nearly 200 stores. They also import huge amounts of products from overseas, relying on air and sea travel. They cannot expect us to believe that they are practically carbon neutral except for emissions that farmers are responsible for.
“Countdown also uses GWP100 to calculate emissions which is an outdated and less accurate way to measure methane emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have reported that using the GWP100 method overestimates methane’s warming potential by 3-4 times. They advocate for the use of the updated GWP* metric and for accounting correctly for carbon sequestered on farms through trees, bush, crops, grass, and soil.
“We call BS on Countdown’s buck passing and suggest they substantiate their claims. Following that they might like to reflect on why they had to push out their own zero-waste-to-landfill target from 2020 to 2025 while spending $400million on a rebrand.
“New Zealand’s farmers are among the most efficient in the world. We pride ourselves on our sustainable practices and the care we take of our environment. It is fair to say that as a community we are sick to death of being the scapegoats of governments and big corporations who don’t want to take responsibility for their own environmental impacts.
“So we have decided to take action. From Monday 24th July to Sunday 7th August, Groundswell NZ will be calling on our supporters to join us in boycotting Countdown. We, the food producers of New Zealand, have had enough.”
Their $400m “rebrand” is just to distract you from all those higher prices the shiny new signage is about to display.
They think you’re stupid.
Stupid enough to believe animal farts change the weather. BS indeed.
Why did they not spend that $400 million in developing some clean energy or free energy technology instead like Nicola Tesla did (before it was stolen from humanity)?
Companies that spend lots of money on advertising whilst going on about climate change are complete flakes.
I’m in.
And BS it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE0zHZPQJzA
And have you noticed: EVERYTHING is wrapped in plastic, but they want to ‘educate and withhold plastic bags, which in my household were re-used. Bulk stores are another option.
Go woke, go broke.
At any rate, get OUT OF THE SYSTEM and plant your veggies.
I’m in as well. For all the good it will do.
Supermarkets put the local grocer, butcher, fruiterer and dairy out of business by undercutting prices. Now supermarkets dictate the prices. The government is complicit. GST on food – taxing food – was a criminal act. But I’ll guarantee the people en masse do nothing. They didn’t then and they won’t now. They would rather steal out of other people’s gardens than grow their own. They will steal sheep. They will steal anything they can lay their hands on. They will beat you and if you fight back it will be YOU who goes to jail. There is nothing left for your children here now. It took one hundred years for the early settlers to build this country and it has taken fifty years (half the time) for the UN and the WEF and their corrupt little grifters here to ruin it. Start making plans now to get out before the departure gates are slammed shut.
But where would you go?
I have a better idea: be clever, don’t sweat the BS THEY want us to divide with and speak to ANYONE you meet.
On top of that: If the choice is 6 ppl carrying family members out of our home or me going to jail for making some scum meet their maker, the choice is brilliantly clear. It is a basic human right that you can defend your and your loved ones’ life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. And for that you do not need a license from some stooge.
Check out survival clips from places that experienced war, hyper-inflation or societal breakdown. People did NOT steal. Or the ones who did, did not live long. We are talking survival, and then the woke gloves are off.
Some pink hair or rainbow unicorn strap-on does not camouflage well in a broccoli field.
it is the same horrible mess in all europe and western countries.
Don’t the emissions sit with the product and then become part of the end consumer’s carbon footprint? So unless Countdown (staff onsite) are consuming the product how does what they sell (a product effectively in transit) become part of Countdown’s footprint?
the Greeks were ruined by the EU bankers about 15 years ago.
They had to go back to the counry to be able to eat. That is having a garden and few chickens for eggs and meat.
I was born in europe just after WOII.
Countries were devastated by allies bombing. So we also had to retreat as much as possible to the country.
Country has always fed people. We just will have to go back to basics. And for the younger generations to learn ” waste not, 0 want not”