Shaneel Lal: We need radical change in the face of radical disasters

Workers at an orchard in Hawke's Bay were forced on to roofs as flood waters left them stranded. Photo / Lie Tu'imoala

The apocalypse will not be televised. It will be live-streamed. Climate change feels like watching a series of shaky video footage of extreme rain, falling trees, and floods until one day, I will be holding the phone, live-streaming the demise of my home. Our home is crashing and future of my generation is at the mercy of politicians, many of whom aren’t brave enough to take radical climate action.

We need radical climate action in the face of rapidly escalating climate disasters. New Zealand has wasted decades arguing about whether climate change is real, if it is man-made, and if we should do anything to mitigate it. We need strong leadership in opposition to hold the Government accountable for its failure to take climate action. Instead, we have National MPs like Simeon Brown and Chris Penk, who in 2019 joked on Twitter about the existence of climate change. In response to a photo of a burst water main, Penk wrote, “Sea levels rising,” to which Brown joked, “Must have been why Auckland Council declared a climate emergency.”

And National’s policies give me no more confidence. The cherry on top is National MP Judith Collins, amid a cyclone. tweeting a throwback photo of her and her husband vacationing. It’s like they don’t care.

The political reality is that countries all over the world set targets they say they will meet but take no action that would genuinely allow them to meet those targets. Countries adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015 and agreed to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees. The Government pledged a 50 per cent emission reduction by 2030. The Climate Action Tracker ranks New Zealand’s policies as highly insufficient. Even if New Zealand fulfilled its net zero emissions goal by 2050, it still won’t meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement. Our policies cannot keep up with our ambitions and our ambitions cannot keep up with our international commitments.

The Climate Action Tracker in 2022 found that based on policies, our planet could see a warming of up to 3.4C by 2100. We are set to miss the target by 1.9C, more than what we are meant to limit the warming by. As Earth warms, we will see significant sea-level rise, widespread increase in the frequency of drought, intense and frequent heatwaves and floods, and increased severe weather.

Climate disasters are becoming deadlier. Aucklanders know this better than anyone at this moment. First, we got summer’s worth of rain in a few hours and then got hit by Cyclone Gabrielle without a break. A few have died, many have lost their homes and, as I write this, people are sitting on their roofs waiting to be rescued. Communities have been submerged underwater, houses have been destroyed, trees have been uprooted, and roads have fallen into the ground like nothing was ever there. It is frightening to witness what feels like the end of our country.

There have been at least 90 states of emergencies declared in New Zealand between 2002 and 2023 for severe weather, flooding, coastal hazards, fires, earthquakes, tornados, and landslides. At least six of these states of emergency have been declared in 2023 for severe weather. We are only in the second month of the year.

In 2017, the Ministry for Environment reported that New Zealand’s emissions per person were the sixth highest, at 17.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per capita. We are contributing to our demise. But not all equally. The world’s richest 10 per cent are responsible for 49 per cent of total lifestyle consumption emissions. In contrast, the world’s poorest 50 per cent are responsible for only around 10 per cent of total lifestyle consumption emissions. The rich are destroying the world as we know it and states, including New Zealand, are chasing an endless goal of economic growth. There will be no economy to develop if there is no Earth to live on.

Earth has been pushed to its limit. It has become more pressing than ever for our government to act as a trustee of our planet and for people to vote for political parties that want to protect it rather than exploit it for profit. We have a responsibility to protect the environment for future generations. The old, who’ve arguably contributed significantly to the climate crisis, will mostly die of old age. I fear many in my generation will die from floods, landslides, cyclones, fires and tsunamis.

The people have the power. It is time to use it.

* Shaneel Shavneel Lal (they/them) was instrumental in the bill to ban conversion therapy in New Zealand. They are a student, model and influencer.