Hopefully fuel prices will ignite vital changes

In the same week the world grapples with a landmark climate report, New Zealanders argue for cheaper petrol. The report issued a dire, final warning to humanity: Everyone must change their habits, now. Yet, New Zealand’s response to this terrifying United Nations verdict was far from proactive. It was comically counteractive.

We complained about how expensive it has become to drive fossil fuel-guzzling cars. We demanded the Government make petrol cheaper. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared drivers were being ‘‘fleeced’’ at the petrol pump.

The real issue here isn’t the price of petrol, it’s that we are still so reliant on the toxic stuff. Although there’s been a steady increase in the use of electric vehicles, still only about 10,000 cars of more than three million are electric.

Road transport is our second-highest emitter of greenhouse gases. The biggest chunk is from farming. New Zealanders have an astonishingly high reliance on cars. This week shows we’re not willing to give that up quite yet, but, like the plastic bag, we’ll need to.

The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was memorable for its severity and its cruel aspirations. Authored by 91 researchers, including a lead Kiwi author, Dr Bronwyn Hayward, the report outlined a best-case or ‘‘aspirational’’ scenario, which still didn’t sound great, and the agreed target – which we still seem unlikely to meet.

In the best case, we will keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Despite warming already edging over 1C, it remains possible to keep warming under the threshold, the authors said. It is ‘‘possible within the laws of chemistry and physics’’, said the report’s co-chair, Jim Skea. Possible only if we all show a genuine willingness to save at least some of the planet.

A lack of will to change, or do anything other than hold on to the status quo, is what made this week even bleaker. The report itself was not happy reading. The best-case scenario will preserve, for instance, between 30 and 10 per cent of coral reefs. The agreed target, of 2C warming, will likely kill all the reefs. The reefs will be dead within most of our lifetimes.

That, in itself, is a sad thought. It is even sadder that our prime minister, just moments after this harrowing report was released, took to her Beehive podium and promised to try to make fossil fuels cheaper.

There have been fewer more depressing weeks in politics than this. It seems like a time we will look back at in disbelief. Far from being futurefocused, Ardern’s reactionary move to investigate fuel prices appears archaic.

I understand she must weigh up the economy and the environment. I understand the real struggles many families will be going through, trying to make ends meet. But if we don’t make big changes now, everyone will suffer later. Our farming sector, our livelihoods and the ability to live and work in the Pacific, are all under threat. These are huge stakes.

On a positive note, the report said all efforts to combat climate change would have lasting effects. The closer global warming is kept to 1.5C, the lower the risks would be of irreversible changes to the environment. So there is hope, of sorts. Every positive action will make the climate slightly less bad. Everyone has a responsibility to reduce waste, and push for better policy.

Nobody, as the report says, will be able to shrug off their responsibility to the environment. There must, they say, be ‘‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’’. On a big scale, we will need to find smarter ways to farm. We’ll also need to move to eventually build green, probably car-free, cities. These are major issues the Government must be pushed to act on.

To make change, we cannot be making it easier to burn fossil fuels. We will need to cut back our consumption of dairy and meat. These are the kinds of changes we can all make. Although this may seem a daunting prospect, it’s one we can’t hide from and distract ourselves with fuel price complaints. It’s time to bite the bullet.

In October, it’ll be three years since I changed from a McDonald’s-based diet to a vegetable one. No fish, no meat, since. February will mark my second year living in a Central Auckland apartment, which has meant I can walk or take a bus rather than drive.

I know this won’t work for everyone, we don’t all have access to public transport. Many of us can access sustainable fisheries and meat.

In Ma¯ ori, there’s a whakataukı¯ that pops up time and again: ‘‘Ahakoa, he iti he pounamu (Although it is small it is precious).’’

With such a mighty challenge laid bare in the IPCC report, it is clear everyone has a responsibility to do what they can.

Far from being futurefocused, Ardern’s reactionary move to investigate fuel prices appears archaic.