Jo Raphael: We need public buy-in to help drive green initiatives

The public needs to have a greater buy-in to help make green policies work, writes Jo Raphael. Photo / NZME

OPINION

What would you say is the biggest challenge we face as Kiwis?

Some might say the cost of living and affordable housing, or Covid-19 and its after-effects, or access to prompt healthcare, or perhaps it’s the labour shortage or the gender pay gap. These issues are all intertwined and systemic, in my view.

These issues are in the here and now.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease, so to speak. So it makes sense to make efforts to tackle them - and they should be tackled. These are the issues that affect our day-to-day lives.

But something that isn’t front and centre to many people on a daily basis is climate change.

It’s long been the spectre in the background, popping up now and again when new emissions targets or projections are revealed.

Climate scientists have long been beating this particular drum and deniers have been very good at billing them as Chicken Lickens.

Deniers spread misinformation, disinformation or previously refuted arguments.

Climate change is real and it is caused by us.

It very much has the potential to be apocalyptic.

According to the UN’s Environmental Protection Agency, human activities are responsible for almost all of the increase in greenhouse gases in the past 150 years.

And the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last year was one of the sixth warmest years on record. How will we fare this year?

The electric vehicle (EV) rebate, while getting an A for effort, doesn’t, in my view, really address the unaffordability of EVs.

I believe it will take years, if not decades, to transition our country’s fleet from fossil-fuel dependency to electricity.

I think for meaningful change to happen we need public buy-in, not just legislation, bans and finger-wagging.

Labour’s policy to decarbonise the public transport fleet by 2035 is a step in the right direction - but we need people to use that public transport.

More effort needs to be put into de-incentivising single-vehicle trips and making the bus or train more attractive.

Living on the Gold Coast showed me just how residents were able to easily incorporate public transport into their lives.

For me, and I’m sure for most people, it was about convenience.

Not having to fight for parking spots and being dropped off outside or very near my destination was a big draw.

Multiple stops were made easy by having frequent buses on routes.

The costs of owning, driving and maintaining a car were in the rearview.

The way forward is to make green initiatives attractive - we need people on board.

We need to be the squeaky wheel.