Brent Barrett's Home Planet: The sum of our choices shapes our future

Palmerston North city councillors Lorna Johnson, Brent Barrett, Zulfiqar Butt, Karen Naylor, Patrick Handcock. Susan Baty and Rachel Bowen. Third from right: former mayor and MP Jono Naylor.

OPINION:

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• Brent Barrett is an environmental advocate, city councillor and scientist. The views expressed here are his own.

I've spent nearly 50 years happily enjoying the steady pace of progress. Often taking it for granted. The good life, earned by hard-fought global struggles for peace and health. Rather less struggle in my years.

I was lucky. Born, raised and educated in a comfortable middle-class family. I got into a career before the gig economy. Into a home before housing-for-profit locked a generation out. And while not a geek, I've enjoyed tapping into tech and the digital world.

My smartphone offering easy anytime access to everything online. Local opportunities to walk in the wild if I want to get offline. And return to browse limitless content on the flat screen TV, some of which is binge-worthy. Oh, and an e-bike that glides me through traffic to free parking wherever I like.

I could, almost, be lulled into complacency. As we all could. If only it were so easy. But there are urgent signals that all isn't well. What's surprising is who, or what, is in charge. Turns out it's the little things.

I'm writing on a sun-drenched weekend, just days into a fresh Covid lockdown. Amazed by how our whole world is being reshaped by an invisibly small virus. How small? Google says 10 million times smaller than your average human. Unimaginably small.

But we can zoom smaller again, and find more red flags. At a million times smaller than the virus, we find basic molecules flexing their muscle. Carbon dioxide, an airborne carbon atom and two friends. Stoked by human choices to levels unseen in human history, creating the climate crisis.

Covid and climate, with both we're navigating into uncharted waters.

We've a fair idea where an unchecked climate crisis takes us. Even the super conservative science in global climate reports now says "code red for humanity". Not good. An epic challenge we must face to access a liveable future here on earth. Moving to Mars isn't really an option.

Which brings us to a third little thing with a big impact. Our own power of choice.

With Covid we're seeing in real time how the sum of our choices shapes our future. Yes, Delta beating our border defence says we haven't solved this one. Far from it. But in New Zealand we're way better off than most. This thanks in large part to courageous leadership, and millions of ordinary people like you and me, willing to make tough choices. Choices to give a little, and in some cases a lot, for the common good.

The climate crisis is a slower burn than Covid, but the choices are just as real, and urgent. The biggest choice each of us will make is whether to be, and continue being, an active part of the solution. Making that choice opens up a world of opportunities.

Some days the biggest opportunity might be to try a plant-based meal. Other days it might be to make the next car electric, or a bike. To switch to a climate-friendly KiwiSaver. It might be to get actively involved in a campaign for change, to fix the system.

Taking action, locally, is the best way to respond to the climate crisis. It creates energy, makes connections, and builds practical solutions. It's good for our mind, body and soul.

And the best part is, the sum of our climate-friendly choices and action can beat the code red, gifting to our children and grandchildren a liveable home planet. That's a cause worth shaking off complacency and fighting for.