Nicola Young: Fragile planet needs us to fight now

Nicola Young

Last weekend's global climate marches were amazing - and Whanganui was no exception.

About 300 of us walked together with bright banners and giant puppets, with at least another 100 joining at Majestic Square. I haven't attended many protests but I suspect this one had an unusually positive atmosphere.

Mr Four decided to join me. He chose his own banner from those on offer - a cow farting, which he thought was funny.

It was great to have him there with me, even if the purpose went over his head. This concern about climate is fundamentally about what sort of planet we're leaving for our children (although at the accelerating rate of global warming, it will affect more than our children and our grandchildren - it's happening right now).

The frustration is that we've known this has been coming for a long time - humans' unquenchable desire to conquer nature and consume natural resources is of course unsustainable. We use more than we have - whether it's borrowing too much money, clearing forest and wetlands for homogenous pasture, burning fossil fuels or buying too much plastic junk.

I've just come home from buying Christmas presents for my boys - and yes some of them are made of plastic. In the last couple of years, even though my boys are still quite young, I've become conscious of the craziness of Christmas. I'm trying not to have Christmas a blur of too many cheap gifts. I'm trying to make better choices with the gifts I buy - choosing things that last and are not a fad to be rejected when the next thing comes along.

It's not easy though. How do you have a more climate-friendly Christmas?

I believe in both individual action and systems change.

At an individual level, there are so many options - buy local, buy homemade, buy fair trade, or buy an experience. And check out the Oxfam or World Vision gift catalogues too.

Instead of writing to Santa this year, why not sign up to www.worthsaving.org.nz and ask the Government for a climate plan New Zealand can be proud of? There are big changes needed. And there are answers - we're just moving too slowly and not pulling our weight on the global stage.

I read a tongue-in-cheek piece on satirical news site www.theonion.com this week headlined "Scientists Politely Remind World That Clean Energy Technology Ready To Go Whenever". It said: "Stating that they just want to make sure it's something everyone keeps in mind going forward, an international consortium of scientists gently reminded the world Wednesday that clean energy technologies are pretty much ready to go anytime. At press time, representatives from the world's leading economies had signalled that they would continue to heavily rely on fossil fuels until they had something more than an overwhelming scientific consensus to go on."

We do need to change for our children and grandchildren - we already see the consequences of climatic extremes. The World Meteorological Organisation is predicting 2015 will beat 2014 as the hottest year on record.

As Unicef writes on their website, children are particularly vulnerable. "Nearly 530 million children live in areas with extremely high risk of flooding, and almost 160 million children live in areas of high or extremely high drought severity. Drought and flooding provide breeding grounds for deadly diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea - leading causes of death for children."

Unfortunately, it's not just hot days and extreme storms - climate change contributes to global instability and conflict too. I've read a number of articles, one even quoting Prince Charles, that Syria's drought from 2006-2011 was a significant factor in the social unrest preceding the country's civil war.

It's time to fight for our planet - not just our countries.

-Nicola Young has worked in the government and private sectors in Australia and NZ and now works from home in Taranaki for a national charitable foundation. Educated at Wanganui Girls' College, she has a science degree and is the mother of two boys.