Govt action key for climate
Climate scientist James Renwick says the world is ‘‘on the cusp of either averting disaster or inviting it’’.
Renwick, a Victoria University climate scientist visiting Nelson to give a talk on climate change, said political and social will was key in responding to climate change.
‘‘It’s really wrong to try and pin it on individual behaviours, because it’s not individual choices that got us here,’’ he said.
‘‘We latched onto this fuel source a couple of hundred years ago ... but that was brought about by businesses and governments, and it’s at that level that we need change.’’
He said a combination of individual choice, social pressure, and political will were needed.
‘‘It’s not easy being green, because that’s not how our society is set up; it’s governments that can make it easier.
‘‘Generally, politicians do what the people tell them to, but we have to demand it. You can sit at home and send your MP an email without even getting off your bum, and if enough people did that then they would act on it.’’
Renwick said the world was ‘‘already in the thick of climate change’’, and to face it people needed to ‘‘turn around the global economy’’. The world was on the cusp of disaster, he said, but true climate catastrophe was not inevitable.
‘‘At the current rate, we’ve got 10 years before we get to 1.5 degrees of warming, 20 years before we get to 2 degrees.
‘‘It’s a huge project. We have to decarbonise the global economy; easy to say but pretty difficult to do.
‘‘But just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean we don’t try.’’
Renwick said even though response was required from a higher level than the individual, it was important for people to know the power of their own choices, as well.
‘‘One person can become 1 million almost overnight. Greta Thunberg is the classic example of that, she started the school strike for climate, and now it’s a global movement, and that’s just because she took a stand.
‘‘It really does show the difference one person can make.’’