New Zealand can lead the way against climate change

The director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, part of the team in charge of New Zealand's response to Covid-19. Photo / File

By John Milnes

The Covid-19 virus was certainly an exceptional situation thrust on the world with surprising speed. I think Aotearoa/New Zealand responded in the most appropriate way, quickly and decisively. It was critical that the response was rapid, any delay would have had the nay-sayers spouting every possible reason to slow the response and as we see now in the US and elsewhere that would not only have meant more cases and deaths, but we would not have got down to level one so soon.

Covid-19 has shown us that our team of five million can pull together when there is something that must be done to pull us back from the brink of potential disaster. Covid-19 was something that changed the world in just six months, from the first cases in China, where they ignored the warning from an experienced doctor who recognised the danger but politics got in the way and he was worse than ignored. If the virus hadn't killed him I imagine he may have told the authorities, "Told you so".

There are some serious and urgent lessons here. The first being that it is much easier to gain acceptance of what is needed when the threat is looming over us and right in our face and the consequences obvious, worldwide sickness and death, if action is not taken.
Prioritising the economy is costing more in many overseas countries. The thinking that economics defines everything was expressed on Q & A when Judith Collins told Jack Tame that the most important thing to be done now was to get the economy back to "normal".

Normal in current economic thinking means growth, but there is no way that more "growth" is going to reverse climate change. Growth requires more stuff to be consumed to keep this behemoth moving ever faster towards the climate change cliff.

Compared to Covid-19 climate change is incrementally slow. It started with the industrial revolution but not defined until 200 years later. Even with science providing more evidence over the years the self-interested parties have denied the science in order to continue the economic lie of growth being absolutely necessary. Their excuse, when they finally admitted climate change was happening, was that we needed a good economy to be able to tackle climate change. What did they do when the economy was good? Promote more growth!

One could rightly call their behaviour "profits of doom".

We have shown that as a country we can pull together and create a positive result with Covid-19 managed. Aotearoa/New Zealand needs to show the world that we can do something similar about climate change. If it means spending money, that is the cost dealing with climate change, it wasn't too much to get through Covid-19 lockdown and similarly, in retrospect, it will be seen as money well spent. Like Covid-19 the alternatives are dire. The droughts, Auckland's water shortages and sea level rise will become more common. As they become part of our known future we must prepare by changing how we do things.

Dealing with climate change will make Covid-19 look like a walk in the park, but what is the alternative?
I admit that what we do alone won't change the world, but as we've done before, Nuclear Free New Zealand, we've shown the world that there is a better way forward. As a team of 5 million we dealt to Covid-19, we're a damn good team, we can again show the way with climate change.

John Milnes was Green Party candidate for three elections, founder member of Sustainable Whanganui and is a parent and grandparent.