New Zealand radio host Heather du Plessis-Allan couldn't contain herself after finding out climate change activist Izzy Cook recently flew to vacation on the island of Fiji moments after saying people shouldn't fly to Fiji because of the climate crisis.
"Am I allowed to go to Fiji, is that necessary?" du Plessis-Allan asked.
"In the current climate crisis, I don't think that is necessary," Izzy replied.
"When was the last time you were on a plane?" du Plessis-Allan pressed.
"I'm not sure, maybe a few months ago," Izzy said.
"Where'd you go?" du Plessis-Allan asked.
When Izzy revealed she went to Fiji, du Plessis-Allan began laughing out loud.
"Izzy! Don't you care about the climate?" du Plessis-Allan asked between laughs.
Izzy defended her trip to the tropical island because she didn't really want to go and couldn't get out of not going.
Climate change activist Izzy Cook tells everyone not to travel to places like Fiji by plane to save the planet and then is asked where she flew last… she flew to Fiji.
— ?????? KC 3.0 ?????? (@KCPayTreeIt) September 27, 2022
Interviewer can’t stop laughing at her ???? pic.twitter.com/cTZqvVgkFI
Rose Cook, the mother of Izzy, has since written a guest essay demanding Plessis-Allan apologize to Izzy for "bullying" her:
"Commentators like du Plessis-Allan don’t give a sh*t about climate change. They don’t care that Arctic ice is melting at four times the expected rate, or that we are seeing more and more extreme weather events killing and displacing people across the globe. No, as du Plessis-Allan is fond of reminding us, it’s the economy that matters, not our planet. These sorts of commentators use ad hominem arguments and 'gotcha' moments for point-scoring and discrediting their opponents. We saw it when Mike Hosking opined that Greta Thunberg is 'the world’s most annoying kid' and when Duncan Garner said she was 'too dramatic' to take seriously. It’s a common tactic used to deflect from the climate crisis, instead of focusing on the actions that we need to take in a rational, reflective manner. They seem particularly keen to go after our youth, whose future is most at stake."
Cook accused du Plessis-Allan of looking at her daughter's Instagram to "discredit her personally and derail the conversation about climate action."