Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today / Opinion

Supporting our youth with climate anxiety

By Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau
Hawkes Bay Today·
24 Nov, 2022 11:46 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau is climate action ambassador, HB Regional Council. Photo / Supplied

Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau is climate action ambassador, HB Regional Council. Photo / Supplied

Opinion by Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau

OPINION:

My 14-year-old daughter wants to be an eco-warrior.

She’s drawn up plans of the off-grid earthship home she plans to make from recycled materials and minimalised her room down to the very basics, but she’d also really love the latest Adidas Samba sneakers for Christmas and an iPhone 14.

It’s hard to reconcile sustainability values and living with a lighter footprint on the earth when you’re 14 and surrounded by constant consumerist messages selling you bigger, brighter, and better.

People in our community are conscious about reducing their impact on the planet and flying less; but when it comes to the crunch, a holiday in Fiji just sounds so tempting it’s easy to let convictions “fly” out the window for a moment.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It’s hard to be committed 100 per cent of the time. It’s not like a short-term stint either – living more sustainably is not a summer boot camp. It’s a profound and sometimes slow-burning series of small changes – in what we choose to buy, what we throw out and what we choose to do, and it often results in eventual changes to how we think and what we value.

Along the way, it’s completely possible, like my teenage daughter, to have two conflicting opinions, or two conflicting moral systems about an issue. Officially, this is called biconceptualism. It’s commonly illustrated with that duck / rabbit image where some of us only see a duck while others insist it’s a rabbit!

It’s completely possible to have two conflicting opinions, illustrated by this image where some see a duck and some a rabbit. Photo / Supplied
It’s completely possible to have two conflicting opinions, illustrated by this image where some see a duck and some a rabbit. Photo / Supplied

If we’re told it’s a duck, those unfamiliar with the image may initially see only a duck.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, if alerted to the possibility of another image, suddenly a rabbit might pop out. Thinking sustainably is a bit like this.

Some changes seem impossible – losing the plastic bag at the supermarket, phasing out combustion engine cars, but for whatever reason, someone or something triggers a thought and the alternative suddenly appears possible.

I heard a good example of how influential simple actions can be when Ethically Kate visited Hastings a couple of weeks ago and said “it’s much more powerful to take homemade crackers to a party and talk about how you made them zero waste with products from a bulk store, than to point the finger and shake your head at people with crackers packaged in plastic”.

Back to my kids, as I put my 9-year-old to bed the other night she said: “I want to get really big muscles Mum”

“Good for you! Why do you want big muscles?”

“So I can make everyone fix climate change!”.

Ensued a brief and muddled Aesopian talk about the sun, the wind and a coated traveller where I suggested there were other persuasive ways than having the biggest muscles, but as I left her room a deep sadness hit me that our children are already having to think about serious existential crises.

As our news channels are full of severe weather events, species and biodiversity loss, our youth are exposed to increasing amounts of uncertainty about the future and we don’t have experience in dealing with these emotions. What’s the appropriate way to grieve the loss of a glacier?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

To support our rangatahi and tamariki from all areas of our community with climate anxiety, there are now two main principles to turn climate concern into hope: connection and action.

For youth with concerns about the future, joining a group like the Hawke’s Bay Youth Environment Council and realising their interconnectivity with others can share the load to reduce turmoil.

Finding common ground and acceptance for difficult conversations can be hard but transformational.

Then find action – volunteer with Waste Warriors, join a beach clean-up, get involved in EnviroSchools, advocate for systems change, or closer to home, make a meal plan and try to reduce your food waste. Save money, eat well and turn eco-anxiety around.

Importantly though, one of the most powerful things we can do in designing long-term solutions for future generations is to see the duck and the rabbit.

Get in touch

Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau is climate action ambassador, HB Regional Council

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Napier’s McLean Park to host 3 finals

11 Jul 04:03 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Fire in Flaxmere garage sends plume of black smoke skyward

11 Jul 01:10 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Mahia Hunt holds final fixture after marking 125th anniversary

10 Jul 09:05 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Napier’s McLean Park to host 3 finals

Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Napier’s McLean Park to host 3 finals

11 Jul 04:03 AM

Two Māori All Blacks to play in Maddison Trophy final.

Fire in Flaxmere garage sends plume of black smoke skyward

Fire in Flaxmere garage sends plume of black smoke skyward

11 Jul 01:10 AM
Mahia Hunt holds final fixture after marking 125th anniversary

Mahia Hunt holds final fixture after marking 125th anniversary

10 Jul 09:05 PM
Premium
The humour history of Don Martin: Wyn Drabble

The humour history of Don Martin: Wyn Drabble

10 Jul 07:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP