THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT

The movie An Inconvenient Truth made Christine realize how much greenhouse gas emissions have grown in a short time. There is no doubt New Zealand already has evidence of climate change, she says. For example: * The past decade was the warmest in New Zealand history. * There have been more weather records broken in the past decade than at any other time in New Zealand’s history.

* Seven of the 10 warmest winters on record have occurred since 2000. The 2020 winter was 1.14° C above average, which now makes it the hottest winter on record. * Since January 2017, New Zealand has not had a month of below-average temperatures. (Source: NIWA.)

“In August 2020, I got the opportunity to participate in the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Global Training to become a volunteer climate reality leader, one of more than 20,000 in 150 countries. The training was conducted by Al Gore and covers the science of climate change and the impacts of and solutions to the climate crisis. I aim to share this information with other people in the community and encourage them to support action to combat climate change. “I’m worried what future we are leaving not only for children today but for every other species on the planet. For me, Rebecca Solnit summed it up best when she wrote: ‘Our work as climate activists arises from the recognition that acts have consequences, and consequences come with responsibilities, and we are responsible for the fate of this earth, for all living things now and in the future we are choosing with our actions — or inactions — in the present.’” climaterealityproject.org