Seniors to spearhead community climate strategy

Nona Aston is inviting senior citizens and the disabled to attend the next Tairawhiti Community Voice meeting on August 12 to find out about the Seniors Citizens Climate Action Network and their seniors climate adaptation project. Photo / Paul Rickard

Senior citizens, you are wanted.

That is the message from senior citizens and disabilities advocate Nona Aston.

Aston, along with Tery Loomis and Ron Elder, is inviting senior citizens and the disabled to become involved in the Seniors Citizens Climate Action Network (Scan) and their seniors climate adaptation project.

Interested seniors are invited to attend the Tairāwhiti Community Voice meeting on August 12 at the Holy Trinity Church Hall between 12.30pm and 1.30pm for more information. Loomis will speak at the meeting.

The project plans to involve senior citizens and relevant social service organisations in a one-year, community-led process to develop a climate mitigation/adaptation plan that builds community resilience for the future.

Loomis said the project would be guided by four key questions:

• How might climate change impact the elderly and what are the main causes of their vulnerability?
• What aspects of vulnerability to climate change are seniors most concerned about?
• What are the senior community’s preferred strategies for responding to climate change and enhancing community resilience?
• Can a participatory planning process help strengthen the resiliency of the seniors community, and if so, how?

Aston said she became involved because “of my passion for the voice and involvement of seniors in our community”.

Seniors had amazing knowledge and could still contribute, she said.

“We seem not to be wanted.”

Aston lamented that senior citizens were among groups that appeared to be pushed out of decision-making.

“They say ‘tell what you want’ but it seemed so many decisions had already been made.

“We need knowledge and we need to pass on our own knowledge.

“It’s for our children, our grandchildren, or our great-grandchildren, who are going to lie in the mess that we live them.”

Loomis said TCV had agreed to open the August 12 meeting not just to community groups, but the entire public.

Senior citizens and the disabled were being invited by Scan, but everybody could attend.

Scan, also called Seniors Can, will also form a small team to visit people who cannot leave home

Loomis said senior citizens and the disabled would “front-foot” the senior climate adaptation project.

Studies showed the elderly were particularly vulnerable to climate change.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) had stated Tairāwhiti would continue to be affected by drought, rising temperatures and rising sea levels.

Some practical ideas had already been suggested, such as having a network of gardeners to share food.

There had been a 10-day period during Cyclone Gabrielle when SuperGrans Tairāwhiti had been dependent on community gardens for the provision of emergency food.

There could be a food-co-op or buddy network formed by senior citizens to check on people during extreme weather events, Loomis said.