Whanganui District Council heard 13 submissions on its draft climate change strategy/Te Rautaki Huringa Āhuarangi on Tuesday. Photo / Ethan Griffiths
Whanganui District Council heard 13 submissions on its draft climate change strategy/Te Rautaki Huringa Āhuarangi on Tuesday. Photo / Ethan Griffiths
Whanganui district councillors heard from residents from all sides of the climate change debate on Tuesday, as the council works towards finalising its strategy on how to mitigate the issue.
The draft version of the Climate Change Strategy/Te Rautaki Huringa Āhuarangi lays out the council's approach to mitigate and adaptto the effects of climate change.
Included in the document are seven pages of "possible actions", including enabling more CBD living, educating farmers to understand their carbon footprint, and converting the council vehicle fleet to electric.
Some other suggestions put forward for residents to consider included replacing grass lawns with native plants to conserve water, having showers after 9pm, when there is less fossil-fuel generated electricity, and planting their own vegetables and fruit trees.
Submitting to the council, Keith Beautrais congratulated those involved in the production of the report, saying he was supportive of the council's approach.
Beautrais said mankind had exploited nature increasingly over their time on the planet, and society must change its worldview to survive.
"Earth has two lungs. One is the forests, the other is the ocean. How would you feel if your doctor told you that one of your lungs was being destroyed and the other half was rapidly acidifying?"
Beautrais said after many years working in education, he had seen first-hand the real belief among young people that action must be taken to prevent further climate change.
"Young people see through the crap that old people dish up. It would be truly negligent of our generation not to start recognising sacrifices that future generations are going to face.
"We do not have 80 years. We need to be doing things right now."
However, the science put forward in the document wasn't supported by all.
Whanganui resident Ross Skilton questioned the science behind climate change in his submission to the council. Photo / Ethan Griffiths
In his submission, Ross Skilton questioned the science behind man made, or anthropogenic climate change, saying the issue was "politicised pseudo-science".
"Panic is no way to solve these issues," Skilton said.
He said the climate had changed over thousands of years and the idea man was responsible was "folly". Skilton supported adaptation to the future effects of climate change.
Submitter Mark Brimblecombe said adaptation was important, but ultimately human activity was responsible and it was too late to turn the ship around.
Brimblecombe said it was his view that climate change was past the point of no return, and the planet was on a path to complete ecological collapse.
"Any talk of us trying to mitigate our own greenhouse emissions is absolutely futile."
He said the government's plans to reduce New Zealand to net-zero emissions by 2050 were "mythical", and greenhouse gas emissions simply could not be reduced due the sheer number of people on Earth.
Deliberation on the submissions presented to council will begin at a meeting next Tuesday, April 27.
