Hardly a day goes by without our television screens showing another disaster somewhere in the world - a flood, fire or hurricane that causes loss of life and massive infrastructure damage, often in the millions or billions of dollars.
Of even more concern to some countries is the impact of sea-level rise and to others the loss of glaciers. The former will affect many countries including our own but is particularly concerning to low-lying nations, for example, Bangladesh and many states in the Pacific. Disappearing glaciers will lead to some rivers drying up in late summer and this will affect millions in areas such as India and Pakistan when life-providing water stops flowing until the rains return.
So what some may ask is: what can I do?
It is, of course, true that we as individuals can do little that will change the situation. It is, after all, a global problem, and many countries are much bigger polluters than we are, although on a per-capita basis we are well up there.
Even if New Zealand stopped all CO2 emissions tomorrow the change globally would hardly be noticed. But not to act for the sake of future generations is not what most of us would want. We just think the problem is too big for individuals to contemplate.
We have an election coming up in a few months, so one way of confronting the issue is to ask our aspiring politicians what they plan to do about climate change if elected.
If the new government was serious about the issue, things could happen and some nations, particularly First World ones like ours, need to make a start.
We cannot afford to wait for someone else to take the lead all the time. Let's be bold and lead, rather than sit back and put it in the too-hard basket.
Our grandchildren will thank us for it.
Ridgway Lythgoe is a retired DoC officer, keen environmentalist, tramper and traveller.
