Stick Together and Vote for Climate Action

Submitted to Marlborough Express but not published.

Tom Powell 

I got an email through the Climate Karanga Marlborough website the other day.  It read: “from Google: a 10kg dog would be the equivalent of 240kg of CO₂ emissions per year.  In response to the Stuff article showing a photo of two people and a dog”

The photo was of me, my partner and our dog, and accompanied an article I’d written for the Marlborough Express.  For context, 240kg CO2 is about the emissions from two tanks of petrol in a small car.

The intent of the email was clear: I was someone who claims to be a climate activist but who owns an emissions-generating plaything.  I was being seen as a hypocrite!

It got me thinking about the bigger picture.  Climate sceptics accuse us of being hypocrites when we don’t “walk the talk” and we accuse them of wantonly spewing CO2 into the atmosphere for continuing to live an emissions-intensive lifestyle.  You’ve all heard of “flight-shaming”, I presume. 

But, does this tit-for-tat battle get us anywhere?  Climate scientist Michael Mann argues the polluting companies have traditionally focused on the role of personal responsibility when addressing pollution, so as to keep the focus away from themselves.  As long as we are pointing the finger at each other, we aren’t pointing the finger at the real source of the problem.

There is a bigger issue here, however, when thinking about the weather disasters we can expect with continued global warming. 
 
Some years ago I was working in The Philippines where I met a woman who told me of a family member who was stealing from other family members.   I suggested she might want to kick that person out of the family.  She said, “oh no, you can’t do that!  You never know when you might need their help when the next typhoon comes!”

You see, The Philippines is a country that experiences regular disasters – earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and typhoons - essentially cyclones like the ones we get here, but much more frequent.  They’ve learned that they need one another to get through these disasters.

There is a lesson here.  In order to best get through the turbulent times ahead, we need to stick together.

I was out in the Sounds when the July 17th, 2021, weather bomb hit.  The road was flooded in one direction and blocked by a slip in the other.  The power, telephone and internet were all out.  Blocked drains and raging streams were tearing the place apart.  It was a scary scene!
Thankfully, it wasn’t long before neighbours appeared.  Diggers were out clearing the slips and people were up our driveway checking to make sure we were OK. It was a wonderful relief and I was very grateful we were all on the same team.

Individual lifestyle changes, while helpful and welcome, aren’t going to be enough to solve the climate crisis.  Surveys show that climate ranks third among most people’s concerns, behind cost-of-living and healthcare.  Not everyone is ready to transition to a low-emissions lifestyle just yet.  So, I would urge you to forgive the emissions of those around you.  You just might need their help when the next weather bomb hits.

What will make a difference is collective action – government action.  It will be through government regulation, policies and legislation that we will find the fairest way to share the burden of the transition to a low emissions economy.
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The best thing you can do right now to arrest our steadily deteriorating climate is to vote for climate action. Study the different political party’s policies and proposals, and vote for the ones who promise to continue to cut our greenhouse gas emissions.  Our children and their children will thank us for it.