James Renwick: One simple thing you can do to tackle climate change
OPINION: Climate change is a massive opportunity. Transforming how the world produces energy and consumes resources to create a zero-carbon future is going to require innovation and investment on an industrial scale, creating myriad new jobs and making a better, more sustainable, life for everyone. When I think about the future like this, I am excited and energised to help move things in the right direction. Climate change is a huge threat. Already, floods and droughts, heatwaves and fires have intensified around the world, and even another degree of warming will kill off the coral reefs, damage global food production, and lock in metres of sea level rise. The potential for mayhem and misery seems almost limitless. READ MORE: * A NZ without tuatara, kea and paua * Kiwi firm takes on the wind with small-scale turbine * How Denmark changed the game when it went renewable When I think about the future like this, I have a great sense of foreboding and am frankly very frightened. The way I react to climate change is to keep both viewpoints in mind. If we do nothing, or if we do something but not fast enough, the future looks pretty dire. And I don't mean in centuries from now, I mean in one working lifetime, another 20, 30, 40 years. To me, that's a huge motivation to do what I can to advance the transformation we need. Understanding the risks is the first step to taking action. It's vital for all the countries of the world to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as fast as possible, with the high-emissions developed countries leading the way. A 50 per cent reduction in global emissions in the next 10 years is the sort of change we need to avoid the worst effects of climate change. It is also vitally important for individuals, all of us, to take some action. Feeling like you're a part of the solution, that you're making a positive difference, is so much more empowering than feeling helpless or despairing, or apathetic. It is now understood that stress and anxiety caused by seeing fires, floods and other extremes affect communities, and worries about the future of our own families, are major mental health risks. Each of us can take small actions that collectively add up to big reductions in emissions. Anything that lowers your personal carbon "footprint" is a good idea: using public transport when we can, engaging in active transport cycling and/or walking, flying less (and offsetting when we do fly), eating less or no red meat, making sure our homes are well-insulated, buying an electric vehicle (if we're looking for a new car), and so on. But the most important thing we can do is talk. Talk about climate change. Make it as much a part of the daily conversation as the cricket or the rugby. Talk about the magnitude and the urgency of climate change with family/whanau, with neighbours and local community, with workmates, and most importantly with our elected representatives in local and central government. Government policy sets the tone for how society operates, and signals to the business sector where to invest in our future. If all of us sent a single email to our electorate MP demanding climate action, the volume of mail would be bound to get a response! Political activism by school students going on "climate strike" shows what's possible in terms of gaining attention and shifting the conversation. The latest climate change negotiations in Poland have kept the policy process going but have produced little in the way of real action on reducing emissions. It now seems clear that the people, the general public, will need to speak out before there is meaningful political change. New Zealand as a country should see climate change as an opportunity, to lead the world and to help other countries. If any country can become 100 per cent fossil-free, it has to be New Zealand, with our abundance of water, wind and sunshine. Being at the forefront of green technology is bound to be good for business, for investment and for the economy. I would love to see us achieve 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025, and see government raise the price of carbon via changes to the ETS or via a carbon tax, as that will push the business sector in the right direction. Money raised could be used to incentivise purchase of electric vehicles, to improve public transport, and to support lower-income New Zealanders disadvantaged by carbon charging or by the direct effects of climate change. The sooner we start down this path, as a country, with all sectors on board, the sooner we'll achieve the changes we need as a country, and as a global community. Some of our nearest neighbours in the Pacific are some of the most at-risk communities and it's my feeling that we have a moral obligation to them to do all we can. Showing other countries how it's done and then helping others tread the same path is a vital role this country can play, now and in the future. James Renwick is a climate scientist at Victoria University of Wellington. He has been studying weather and climate for the past 40 years, and has been involved as an author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2000.