Climate change and personal responsibility

The science is totally clear – our climates are changing because of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses. And we, especially my generation, are responsible for this. It’s been our lifestyles, our over consumption, our exorbitant travel, our diets, our focus on our own needs with no thought for the future. 

We have known about climate change for years, a recent analysis suggests since the 1950s. I have known since the 1980s. But did I, or most others, do anything substantial about it? No, and we are now in this massive mess. 

My PhD focused on reconstructing historic temperatures from tree rings in the New Zealand mountains. I then worked in the early 1980s at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit where some of the early groundbreaking research showing the link between rising atmospheric CO2 levels and rising temperature was being done. Then returning to Aotearoa, I taught forest ecology and conservation biology at the University of Canterbury for nearly 40 years.

It’s easy to come up with “Yeah, but ….” excuses, but the hard reality is that I and the rest of my generation are responsible for the mess we are now in. We can all make excuses – I didn’t travel much overseas for holidays, I cycled to work, I taught students about ecology and conservation, but did I do enough? Definitely not. Most of us did too little or nothing at all, and now it’s just about too late.

Why did we not address the causes of climate change sooner? We have been aware of the implications of our increasing production of CO2 emissions for decades, yet we ignored them. For many it was probably a lack of awareness, but perhaps for most, it just didn’t seem important.

But why are we still doing nothing? No one, in the western world at least, can be unaware of the peril we are now facing. It is in the media daily but we are still ignoring the hard cold reality of what the science is saying. 

Big oil and all the other big corporations hold all the power and let’s be honest, they have the biggest influence on the political process, including at the COP meetings. All they are concerned about is making sure that they maintain their profitability. Afterall, if you are rich, you can probably afford to move away from mega-droughts or unprecedented deluges or catastrophic fires or all the other pestilences climate change is sending to us. But 99.99% of the World’s population can’t do this and they are suffering now.

 For many of us who do know and are aware, it’s increasing despair. Sadly, mental health issues are rising and will continue to rise, as people get overtaken by their despair. This is especially so for many young people, because it’s their future that is being so utterly ruined. 

You can only fight so hard, do so much. When up against the political power of billion- and trillion-dollar corporations, it’s hard to really have much influence. Perhaps, as Kim Stanley Robinson suggests in the ‘Ministry for the Future’, ecoterrorism might be the option to trigger the change we need?

What gives me hope? Not much to be honest! But young people do, the people who participate in the School Strike 4 Climate and other similar groups. But are we listening to what young people are saying? I don’t think so, just as we continue to ignore all the advice and warnings from scientists and our own Climate Change Commission. We still lead unsustainable lifestyles, we still over-consume, we still over-travel and we still over-eat. We are too preoccupied with our own self-interests and not prepared to make the sacrifices that are necessary.

I am also inspired by leaders and thinkers like our own James Shaw and Sir Jonathon Porritt – they get it, and have been working hard to try and change things. And don’t get me wrong, there are lots of other people of my generation who are also fighting hard for change, really hard. Sadly, however, our main political parties have totally lost the plot when it comes to climate change, and it seems little different in many other western countries.

Why can’t climate change be a bipartisan issue here in Aotearoa? Imagine if all our political parties agreed to a common approach to tackle this, one based on genuine emissions reductions and backed up by a substantial native reforestation programme. Pure Advantage presented Recloaking Papatūānuku at COP 28 at the end of last year as a way to help reduce our reliance on international carbon offsets while also restoring biodiversity and enhancing the resilience of our landscapes.

Am I dreaming? Yes, but dreaming is about all we have left now, unless we really make some dramatic changes in how we address this issue. And we need dramatic changes now because we are rapidly heading towards a calamity that none of us can really imagine – a calamity that will not be in some other far-flung country, it will be right here in Aotearoa. Cyclone Gabrielle was only the entrée.