[ad_1]
Commentary
The best way to get people to commit to change is to be absolutely clear about the climate emergency: what goals do we have to meet; How can we do it; And how urgent it is, says Rod Oram
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave her most powerful depiction of the climate crisis yet when she introduced the government’s motion for an Emergency Declaration in Parliament on Wednesday.
In order to “avoid a disastrous 1.5 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures and beyond, an increase that would pose a greater risk to human health and livelihoods, civil unrest, massive droughts, disease, loss of land and homes, increased fires, increased tropical storms, massive human displacement and depleted resources globally, we must act urgently to ensure global emissions drop to zero by 2050, ”he said.
But later the same day in New York, UN Secretary General António Guterres told an audience at Columbia University how much more dire the situation was. really is:
“Humanity is waging a war against nature. This is suicidal. Nature always fights back, and is already doing so with increasing strength and fury. Biodiversity is collapsing. One million species are in danger of extinction. Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes … Human activities are at the root of our descent into chaos. But that means human action can help solve it. “
Guterres, once a cautious consensus builder as Prime Minister of Portugal, has become an energetic and effective climate leader, as reports of his last speech and interview with media show.
This stark truth is absolutely vital if we, individuals and society in general, are to deal with the damage we are causing to the living Earth, our life support system; and respond by making sure that everything we do works with nature, not against it.
To do this, we have to achieve big and fast revolutions in the way we use natural resources and energy. However, we know the wide roads and many of the technologies that will get us there.
Furthermore, this year has seen a growing number of countries commit to net zero emissions by 2050. But this is only the beginning, as Climate Action Tracker, a consortium of scientific bodies, reported this week.
If all those countries met their commitments, humanity would keep the temperature rise at 2.1 ° C. But their current policies are too weak to do so. They would result in an increase of 2.9c. Therefore, each nation must rapidly increase its climate commitment, policies and performance to reach the 1.5 cent goal.
Some people argue that changes in the weather are not yet bad enough to justify declaring an emergency. But this vision ignores how much our climate in New Zealand has changed, how powerful the natural forces we have unleashed are that will drive further change, and how much work we need to do to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030. .and then another 50 percent by 2050 to make our contribution to global goals.
Detractors also argue that it is better to encourage people to change rather than scare them out of action or force them to change. But the best way to encourage people is to be absolutely clear about what goals we have to meet, show them how we can do it, and emphasize urgency.
With those three measures, Parliament’s statement on the climate emergency on Wednesday, supported by the Labor, Green and Maori parties, is a useful start. But the fact that National and ACT voted against is a very real threat that they would repeal climate legislation and programs the next time they form a government. They did so after winning the 2008 elections. If we had not lost the nine years they were in power, we would now have a somewhat easier transition to a low-emission economy.
Making the public sector carbon neutral by 2025 is the main goal the government has set itself in response to the emergency, as Press room piece Marc Daalder explains. It will focus on switching its vehicles and boilers from fossil fuels to clean energy and ensuring that its buildings meet modest “green” building standards.
As a first step, every government agency should measure, manage and mitigate its emissions, as many companies are already doing, such as members of the Sustainable Business Council And it is Climate Leaders Coalition, and members of the Sustainable Business Network.
There is no way agencies will achieve zero emissions by 2025. Some personnel will continue to fly, just as some government vehicles and furnaces will continue to run on fossil fuels. The agencies will then offset their remaining emissions with carbon credits. A broad estimate suggests that the cost of credit to the entire government could amount to between $ 5 million and $ 7 million a year initially, based on current carbon prices.
It is important for the government to lead by setting a high standard by investing only in credits found in permanent native forests or native bush generation, rather than in plantations of radiata pine and other harvested non-native trees. Similarly, it could help build the market for non-forest carbon credits, such as those that incentivize other methods of carbon sequestration or emission reduction.
These actions taken will generate cost savings and other benefits for government organizations, just as they do for businesses and households. But this, of course, is just the beginning of the government’s transformation towards deep sustainability, at least in terms of climate and natural resources.
It’s easy to calculate your carbon footprint, or that of your home, with online calculators like the one offered by Toitū Envirocare.
However, hopefully, the civil service’s own climate journey will make it a more informed and enthusiastic supporter of the decarbonization policies and programs that businesses, farmers, institutions, other organizations, households, and individuals need to. New Zealand to meet its climate commitments and responsibilities. .
Many businesses are already underway. “All of this work needs urgent support to scale at a pace commensurate with the challenges we face. There is enormous willingness to act and much more to do, ”SBN wrote to the Prime Minister this week in support of the climate emergency declaration.
But there are also many things that we can do as individuals. It’s easy to calculate your carbon footprint, or that of your homes, with online calculators like the one offered Envirocare Integrity, which is part of Landcare, the Crown Research Institute.
If you then take modest steps to reduce it by 7 percent annually over the next decade, you will almost certainly reap some personal benefits. It would also be contributing to Aotearoa’s climate commitments for 2030.
Hopefully, that in turn will encourage him to urge the government, whichever party has led it by then, to massively increase its climate ambitions. The future of humanity depends on such a personal response around the world.
