NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Covering Climate Now: A new 'golden age' of sustainability?

By Jacob Anderson
NZ Herald·
21 Apr, 2020 05:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

As we rebuild and redesign society, we get to choose the future we want to live in. Photo / Michael Cunningham

As we rebuild and redesign society, we get to choose the future we want to live in. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Opinion
CoveringCLimateNEW

COMMENT:

The term "flatten the curve" is now well known in the battle to stop the spread of Covid-19. But scientists have been using similar terms regarding carbon emissions and biodiversity loss for decades.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says this Covid-19 pandemic is the world's biggest challenge since World War II. So, how do we use what we have learnt from the pandemic to address the climate crisis and rapidly reduce carbon emissions?

I think we can all agree that returning to how things were before the pandemic is not particularly inspiring – we can do better than that. This reset presents an opportunity to rebuild things in ways we did not have the means to before. But what does that look like, and what can we all do?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

During the Covid-19 pandemic all fields of science, business, and community, not just health experts, have been working tirelessly together to try to get on top of Covid-19. We have seen in an immediate crisis how to respond as a community when provided good scientific advice. This is science and citizenship working together to solve a collective problem. The collaborative approach has shown us that when people put values and world views aside and listen to the science, we can overcome adversity during times of crisis.

Now, we need to use the same community-focused thinking to try to address climate and environmental problems. People are now used to receiving daily updates about Covid-19 cases (e.g. confirmed, probable, recovered, deaths). The graphs, numbers and figures have helped us understand how are tracking.

The exponential growth of Covid-19 has shown us how quickly things can change over a short period of time. Over a longer time period, carbon emissions and their resulting effects have also been increasing exponentially. If this exponential increase in emissions continues over the coming years, the severity of extreme weather events will look nothing like the impacts we are seeing today. And like coronavirus, the potential for severe damage from climate change will also cause significant financial losses and hardship for many.

Peter Drucker famously said: "what gets measured gets managed". We have seen the way we have managed our response to Covid-19 numbers effectively in New Zealand, and people have closely followed these numbers through the daily updates. But we have not seen the same approach when measuring or tracking information on climate change. The global average of atmospheric CO2 was about 280 ppm (parts per million) before the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. It is now above 400 ppm, a level that has not been seen since the mid-Pliocene epoch (5 – 3 million years ago), where temperatures were 2C to 3.5C higher than pre-industrial levels, and sea-levels 15-20 metres higher than today.

The Guardian publishes the global CO2 level from Mauna Loa in Hawaii on its weather page every day. Perhaps in New Zealand, media could publish or present during the weather bulletin or alongside the stock market prices the daily CO2 level measurements from Niwa's atmospheric monitoring station at Baring Head. Other measures such as air pollution in Auckland could also be published each day to create public awareness and buy-in.

While the severity of the Australian bushfire crisis seems like a distant memory now, the impacts of severe weather events such as droughts, floods and tropical cyclones have not gone away. Climate breakdown is already harming people and ecosystems around the world. The need to communicate daily climate information and illustrate how we are tracking is more important than ever.

Discover more

Opinion

Wolfgang Knorr: The age of stability is over

16 Apr 11:16 PM
World

Covid-19 pandemic threatens the world's wildlife

16 Apr 11:48 PM
New Zealand

Covering Climate Now: What difference can individual action make?

20 Apr 05:00 PM
New Zealand

Covering Climate Now: Why does it take a pandemic to make us act?

19 Apr 05:00 PM

Young people already know the urgency to reduce carbon emissions, as is increasingly evident with the climate strikes, and their refusal to accept the status quo. Unfortunately, it is the decision makers today that determine their future.

Saying we are in "good hands" and waiting another 10 years for action is too late. What we all do in the next 10 years will determine if we live in a world that is 2C, 3C or 4C warmer than today by 2100. Above 2C, we cross many dangerous tipping points including widespread ecosystem collapse, and devastating extreme weather events such as deadly heatwaves and severe floods.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Of course, the top priority right now is addressing the immediate risks of coronavirus. But this reset presents an opportunity to pave the way for future generations to grow up in a sustainability era.

To move beyond fossil fuels and into a world with low-carbon food production, where air pollution is even lower than it is during lockdown, where water quality is better than it is today, where resources and products are designed for multiple rather than single use, and where ecosystems are restored, storing carbon, and improving biodiversity.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

As we rebuild and redesign society, we get to choose the future we want to live in. Through lessons learned from this pandemic, imagine the new golden age of sustainability we could build over the next decade.

• Jacob Anderson is the programme manager at BLAKE and is a geologist undertaking his PhD at the University of Otago. He is the host of Anderson's Odyssey – a podcast available on Spotify and Apple podcasts and on YouTube.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New ZealandUpdated

Ash cloud from Whakaari/White Island cancels flights

11 May 06:33 PM
New Zealand

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

11 May 06:06 PM
New Zealand

'Life and death': Northland road safety plea as toll hits eight

11 May 05:00 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Ash cloud from Whakaari/White Island cancels flights

Ash cloud from Whakaari/White Island cancels flights

11 May 06:33 PM

Flights from Auckland and Wellington were among those cancelled.

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

11 May 06:06 PM
'Life and death': Northland road safety plea as toll hits eight

'Life and death': Northland road safety plea as toll hits eight

11 May 05:00 PM
'It’s been a long time coming': Artist couple open studio in Far North

'It’s been a long time coming': Artist couple open studio in Far North

11 May 05:00 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP