KEY POINTS:
What are you doing personally to make a difference?
Slowly but surely my children and wife are changing me. The incinerator in the backyard is long gone. All manner of paper, plastic and glass is put out for recycling. Supermarket plastic bags have become a thing of the past. Cycling and/or walking to appointments has become a bigger part of our lives. Ugly eco-friendly light bulbs are creeping in. I'm even getting use to them.
What more could you do?
My daughter is keen on building a worm farm. As a typical father I drag my feet on any project that could involve more work from me. Reading the Herald online doesn't have the same appeal as sitting with the paper and morning coffee but I suppose it does save trees. Buying products that don't have to be imported has merit, as do recording the green kilometres on the labelling. However, there is only one New Zealand single malt whisky, Milford, and very few bottles of it are left.
What is your biggest environmental sin?
Frankly, I don't do sin. But like most people I do make a mess from time to time. We have been making a mess of our planet for a long time. I've cared for my backyard but not cared enough about what's happening in my neighbour's. However, what happens over that fence affects us all. We need to, in the politest way possible, be nosey, intrusive, unpopular, and demand change.
Global warming - man or nature?
I find it fascinating how a minority opinion, often with the right funding from vested interests, can get the same publicity as the majority of academics in the field. Both sides of the argument, however, agree that the planet is warming and to a greater or lesser degree humans contribute to it. It's clear that global warming will bring significant and unwanted change. I think the conclusion is obvious: we need to try to slow the warming down by altering our behaviour and lifestyles.
