We should care - and act to address climate change to ensure a liveable future for our descendants
New Zealand Climate Crisis: Blog 2
[1092 words - a 6 minute read]
The human brain is a wonderful piece of biological engineering, driving the evolutionary processes that have seen humans become the Earth’s apex land predator. It is not perfect however and has a number of short-comings that manifest themselves as biases in how we make decisions such as confirmation bias (we favour ideas that confirm our existing beliefs).
Another challenge is that, as a species, we struggle to adequately balance long-term risks against short term benefits - including around climate change and its future impacts. It is not that modern humans are incapable of planning and thinking ahead. Many holidays, for example, are planned well in advance and people take out insurance to cover possible future losses.
An unhealthy focus on the “now” is, however increasingly a feature of the modern, technologically dominated society that many of us live in today. This favours - together with decreasing attention spans and a fixation with immediate gratification though engagement with social media - a very transactional view of our relationship with nature.
It was not always this way however. A much more holistic view of the world and our place in it ensures a longer-term focus and world view and is a feature of many of the more enduring societies that still exist.
The fact that we have not yet adequately addressed climate change and its impacts is not then some unavoidable and immutable shortcoming in the way we think or act but a simple choice, whether active or passive, that we have made and which, to date, has made minimal demands on us as a society, financially or otherwise.
In addition, while many people in most other parts of the world, especially those classified as “less developed” their focus, of necessity is on survival, this is not the case in New Zealand.
This is not to minimise the fact that many families in New Zealand are struggling with the high cost of living and meeting their most basic expenses such as having access to adequate housing and food . Understandably, any consideration of climate change and its future impacts is not likely to be a focus of anyone in this difficult position.
On this measure, around two-thirds of New Zealand household do however have an income that is thought to be at least enough. In addition, a survey showed that 80% of New Zealanders are concerned about the impacts of climate change that are already being seen around the country (but fewer believe that the government has a clear plan in place to tackle it) .
The positive news then is that, taken together, this information suggests that at least half of New Zealanders are concerned about the impacts of climate change in New Zealand and - using household income as an indicator - have some time available to act on their concerns should they choose to do so.
In a perfect world, this would be enough for our government (of whatever political hue) to act on these concerns and take the measures necessary to urgently address climate change. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world and this outcome - where the government has our “climate change future” at the heart of the decisions that it makes - remains in the realm of fantasy.
There are likely a number of reasons for this but two stand out - one is the cause, the other the effect. The second (effect) is the absence of climate change leadership by the Government, as evidenced by its actions, or more accurately, the lack of these, in this area. These include an inadequate 1 - 5% emissions reduction over the 2031 - 35 period announced recently in order to meet our international (NDC2) climate commitments in this area
From a climate change outcomes perspective, the Government has decided to “kick the can down the road” for successor governments - and our children and grandchildren - to deal with, in the likely, vain, hope that technology will at some point, deliver a wonderful, low or zero cost solution to the climate change problem.
The second reason, the solution to the lack of leadership and the cause of the problem, is that the concerns held by many New Zealander’s about climate change have not translated into action. It is our actions, not concerns, that are necessary to reduce overall emissions at the needed rate and to move the government from its lethargic climate change position.
Many New Zealanders are in position to take action on climate change and there are a very wide range of measures that we, as individuals, businesses and communities can do; from reducing our use of fossil fuels (petrol, diesel, natural gas, coal) used in transport and heating, supporting actions that reduce emissions of other GHG such as methane and nitrous oxide, to taking political action that may include voting for the party that demonstrates the leadership needed on climate change.
Many of these actions will not be totally cost free, either in financial terms or in terms of convenience but they are absolutely necessary. The United Nations is now calling for an urgent increase in the trajectory of planned emission reductions worldwide - a level of ambition that is greater than New Zealand is currently committed to.
Taking action or not remains, absolutely, a choice that we as individuals get to make. If we choose not to act however, we owe it, to our children and grand-children, to at least be honest with them. We need to have the courage to look them in the eye and tell them that we couldn’t be bothered to do what is needed to help secure a liveable world for them to enjoy and that they can do this critical mahi instead - and also pay for it.
To conclude, as John F Kennedy said, “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction”
