Kia ora,
While COVID-19 has dominated our collective consciousness for the last two years, climate change is still a very real thing. I don’t know about you but when I hear those two words, my eyes tend to glaze over. Not because I don’t care but because I feel ineffectual. The issue is just so big. Instead of falling into an existential crisis, I put it at the back of my mind and try to forget about it.
But then I think about my son and his future. I can’t sit this one out and pray someone else will fix it. I want to be able to say I did everything I could. To be able to look him in the eye. So a little selfish, perhaps. But it is our planet, and worth being selfish over.
I’ve heard people emphasise how small we are in the world and what difference can we actually make? But the unfortunate reality is we share the same planet. We are going to suffer the consequence and we are contributing to that reality. Aotearoa New Zealand has been a landmark for making a stand that has ripple effects around the globe; for the Springbok tour, for the anti-nuclear movement. We can be that again.
New Zealand greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been relatively unchanged since 2005. In 2018 New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions were 78.9 million tonnes of CO2-e, 24.0 percent higher than 1990 and 1.0 percent lower than 2017. (Stats NZ)
IPCC
With the devastating news of the latest IPCC report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), climate change is once again front of mind. Have a read of the headline statements. The Daily podcast has a good explainer (and The Detail podcast more specific to NZ) of what the report means. Not much has changed in terms of the science, but the urgency of the language used is clearer than it has ever been.
Essentially for the next 30 years, we are going to continue to experience a worsening climate due to the amount of CO2 we have already pumped into the atmosphere. Frustratingly, based on how long we've known about the consequences of climate change, that is now already “baked in”.
But if we put a stop to our emissions now we do have control over how worse we get beyond that 30-year mark. So there is a glimmer of hope in all this despair. This new report is useful in terms of finally providing clear, definitive messaging, so we can put pressure on our leaders to commit to meaningful change.
The Ministry For The Future
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robison is a 2020 novel about the series of impending climate catastrophes that await our planet in the near future. It may be fiction but as a celebrated “hard science fiction” author, Robinson puts the sci into sci-fi. This book feels essential now more than ever.
The premise is, in 2025, governments around the world set up a ‘Ministry for the Future,’ which aims to give a voice to the people and inhabitants of the future who will suffer the worst of it. I’m only a few chapters into a 20-hour audiobook but I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s a tough listen. The first chapter has India facing a devastating heatwave that kills 20 million people, focusing on a small town in graphic detail.
As an audiobook, it works well so far. Each chapter focuses on a particular character. The audiobook guests 11 voice actors but the focus is really on two people; Frank, an aid worker on the ground in India, and Mary, who heads up the Ministry.
As an aside, thank you Jeffrey Bezos for the free audiobook. I suppose that makes up for paying for your joyride into space. But also, no thank you Jeff Bezos because of the whole Lord of the Rings TV show situation and hanging our workers out to dry. Guess that should teach us for trusting an employer so well known for looking after its employees.
How to Save A Planet
For something much shorter than 20 hours I’m going to recommend an episode of a podcast; Is Your Carbon Footprint BS? from How to Save A Planet.
It explains how we need systemic change most of all, and how isolated individual change will make little difference. However, individual change when talked about can create ripple effects and lead to systemic change.
I’ll admit although I was subscribed I hadn’t listened to much of the podcast. Like all things, climate change, thinking about it filled me with existential dread. But it’s clear we can’t keep doing that. Things are going to change and we can’t keep burying our heads in the sand or it’s going to get much, much worse.
The podcast has a Google Doc full of calls-to-action and resources if you need some inspiration. The episode above talks about a ‘Climate Action Venn diagram’ to find where you can best use your skills to help bolster the movement.
Personally, my intersection is to keep writing about it but I'll see where else I can help with campaigns by local groups like Generation Zero, 350, and Greenpeace.
350
In fact, I recently signed up with the Wellington chapter of 350 and attended a welcome session for the region (a Zoom call of course). Turns out a lot of people had a similar thought to me, and wanted to take more direct action. While I am a Lorde fan, I’ve just now found out she’s affiliated herself with 350 Aotearoa. Always good to have some celebrity backing, if only for the publicity.
The name 350 comes from the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That’s measured at 350ppm (parts per million). Unfortunately, we’re well past that, currently sitting at around 411ppm on average.
350 Aotearoa’s main campaign focus is on financial divestment away from companies whose business is fossil fuel extraction. While there is a necessary focus on government policy it’s surprisingly easy to influence large corporates. They’ve had recent success with banks like Kiwibank. It’s become so successful in fact, companies like AMP have started advertising their sustainable portfolios as a selling point.
350’s latest campaign is targeted at ACC. ACC has a fund pool of $47 billion. Of that, $200 million is invested in fossil fuels. Comparatively, that seems small but that money is still a chunk of change and helping to fund the destruction of our climate. It would seem easy enough for ACC to cut this chunk out altogether and invest the money elsewhere. That is what this latest campaign aims to do.
While it’s perfectly healthy (and recommended) not to have the weight of the world on your shoulders, every now and then make sure to pop your head back up from the sand. I know I will.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, consider financially divesting from it.
Michael.