It is time for responsible action on climate change
Amanda Clinton-Gohdes is a New Plymouth District councillor and chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee. OPINION: Over the last few weeks, we have been very lucky in Taranaki. We have narrowly escaped two catastrophic weather events, and as I speak to people in our community, many of us feel both relieved and guilty that we have escaped relatively unscathed. It would be easy to rest in that relief, but the unthinkable events in other parts of the country should prompt all our elected officials and community leaders to take climate change seriously. Local government officials need to act urgently to make sure that our regions infrastructure is fit for purpose for the increasingly severe weather events that are undoubtedly around the corner. READ MORE: * Passively waiting for climate change has cost us time, options, and lives * Will this summer of slosh get us moving on climate change? * No pooch parties in New Plymouth's city centre Up until now, many local elected officials and public servants have resisted taking action on climate change both in reducing emissions and properly planning for the impacts of a changing climate. One of the main arguments has been that we cant afford to make the required changes. What is becoming increasingly clear is that we cant afford not to. We need to act responsibly to make sure that the people we love stay safe in the event of extreme weather. We have all the tools we need to do that. There are many policies and practices being put in place around the world to increase the resilience of communities: creating sponge cities, restoring wetlands, re-establishing natural watercourses, preventing building in flood or erosion-prone areas. Often these initiatives also improve quality of life for people in good weather people enjoy more green spaces, increased wildlife, reduced temperatures in highly concreted areas. What we need now is to make the investments required. Funding is always a challenge in local government, where there are pressures to keep rates as low as possible. We often talk about wants vs needs, and up until now climate action has been placed squarely in the wants category. These investments are no longer a want they are a need. Now that we are seeing the impacts of climate change, it would be tempting to focus all investment on adaptation rather than continuing to also invest in emissions reduction. We need to resist that temptation. The science is very clear that every fraction of a degree of warming will worsen the weather effects. Elected officials need to enact policies to reduce emissions while also preparing for the weather changes that are already locked in. As well as local officials, Members of Parliament also need to act more responsibly, and with more urgency. Successive central governments have given very little leadership on what mitigating the effects of climate change should look like, and even less guidance about how we should adapt to climate change. While the Zero Carbon Act was supposed to represent a bipartisan approach to taking action on climate change, we have continued to see a lack of real agreement, commitment, urgency, or meaningful policy propositions from either of the major parties. Meanwhile, communities and local government are at the coalface of these impacts; landslips, water infrastructure, and roading. Each Council around the country is already trying to navigate issues of managed retreat, increasing costs of maintenance and repair of roading, and dare I say, struggling to keep up with the costs of providing good water infrastructure. And so far, there is no national framework for how we should deal with these impacts, nor who is going to pay. While elected officials, public servants, and business leaders argue about the financial cost of change, the human cost will stack up, not just for us now but for our kids and grandkids. In the upcoming general election, climate change must be a priority. People in our communities deserve better, and it is time voters demanded it. Amanda Clinton-Gohdes is a New Plymouth District councillor and chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.