Conservation Comment: Re-examine our values to save Earth

Philip McConkey

In the past fortnight we've been told that February was Earth's hottest month since records began; this on top of 2015 being the hottest year. And the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre announced that the Arctic hit its lowest recorded annual maximum.

Not surprising, given that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that parts of the Arctic have been up to 3C above the long-term average this northern winter. Doesn't sound like much? How come scientists are talking then about "profound effects on the region" and even "catastrophic" effects?

Hardly a day passes without some announcement about climate change. Today I learned the attorneys-general of 20 US states are instituting proceedings against ExxonMobil and other oil giants for fraud and withholding evidence of climate change from their investors. This legal action reflects rising concern about climate change.

It is no surprise, then, that 240 people packed Whanganui's largest Embassy 3 theatre last month, to view This Changes Everything. Naomi Klein's film links the reality of climate change to the exploitative nature of capitalism. She suggests dealing with the threat of climate change requires reforming the world's economic system, which is based on limitless extraction of resources.

Of course, we've benefited enormously from these resources, especially coal and oil, which have provided us with so much energy. But beliefs and practices that assume no limits or costs to continuing growth in the use of finite resources are delusional. The damage being caused to our only home reveals the price being paid for our addiction to growth " with climate change being the biggest.

Dependence on oil is fundamental to our economic system. Although we have enough oil in proven reserves to raise the Earth's temperature by 4C (enough to make Earth uninhabitable), our leaders, including our NZ Government, are saying we need more. They are still using the argument that "we need to keep drilling for oil for its economic benefits " while caring for the environment if we can".

This reveals a stuck mind-set. The environment remains "nice to look after". Instead, our leaders should be thinking: "The evidence is stark. Burning fossil fuels is warming our world and the consequences will be severe. Our primary focus must be to take care of our environment for everyone's sake."

Such a shift will require re-examining our values. Facing the climate crisis calls us to reconsider what it means to be human, and what kind of society we want. Fortunately, there are individuals and groups all over the world who are returning to, and calling for us to live by, values rooted in ideas of the collective, the commons, the civil " of essential interdependence.

Groups as widely diverse as farmers' markets, community banks, workers' co-ops, divestment movements, permaculture practitioners, and organic food producers, are all recognising our shared humanity. Klein's film included various examples of local people rising up against the destruction being wrought by a system that tends to put a monetary value on everything. She suggests that "only mass social movements can save us now."

They have led to enormous social change before. Perhaps they can now " before it is too late.

-Philip McConkey has worked as a social worker, counsellor and family therapist. He is the father of three daughters and has five grandchildren. He is active in the Green Party because it accords with his primary values.