Mairi Jay: Bleak future gels community

The screening last week at Whanganui's Embassy 3 cinema of the documentary This Changes Everything, an examination of the clash between capitalism and the climate and a look at how groups of local people around the world are opposing corporate power, prompted Mairi Jay to pen an email ... 10 years from now.

An email to an old friend,

March 2026

Dear Dorothy,

It's been a brutally hot summer. Throughout February the day-time temperature never went below the mid-30s, and many nights stayed above 25 degrees.

Despite paying for water these days, the town supply has been rationed and the garden looks like a desert. Same with the farmland in the region. Fortunately we put in a rainwater tank a few years back, and it has really proved its worth.

But temperatures have been so hot that I've had to use shade cloth over the veges to keep moisture in the soil.

I do feel for the poor farm animals when there is no shade - wouldn't surprise me if there are stock losses from over-heating or dehydration.

Did I tell you about the savage storm we had last winter. Hundred-and-twenty km/h winds and widespread flooding. The winds pulled down one of our trees and a piece of roofing iron came smashing into our lounge window.

Power and telephone lines were down and we were without power for three days. We were camping in the house - the kids thought is was all great fun except that there was no TV or phone signals.

The flooding was even worse than the floods of 2015 and 2019. Our place was mostly above the water but everything in the garage got a soaking.

The neighbour down the street had flooding throughout the house. Their carpets and most of the furniture were a write-off - and they didn't have any insurance because it's so expensive. To top it off, the sewers in this part of town were backing up so everyone was asked to hold fire on the toilet flushing.

These kind of events - the storms, summer heat and drought, the interruption of basic services such as water, sewage, power, communications - make me realise what scientists were talking about 15 years ago.

But Whanganui is an awesome community. People help each other and there's a lot of kindness here.

As the economy has become more uncertain and things like the massive taxes on petrol and diesel have made cost-of-living soar, people have found ways to compensate. More and more we have a sharing economy where people give away stuff they don't need.

There's a koha shed where you can take stuff you don't need, such as clothes or toys the kids have grown out of, so others can use them for free. There's a "kai-volution" solution food network where food from local supermarkets that has passed its use-by date, or has been damaged, is donated to the needy.

There are at least a dozen community gardens which work on the basis that the produce is distributed depending on how much work each person contributes. Seed or plants for growing are donated or exchanged between gardeners and compost is made from town sources such as restaurant food waste, meat factory waste, garden waste, untreated sawdust and so on.

The volunteers network is amazing. People give their time to tutor school kids; people help the elderly, the sick and the disabled; mums and dads contribute time and expertise to coach kids (and grown-ups) in sporting and recreational activities.

Green bikes is an outfit run on a shoestring that teaches people how to maintain their own bikes and restores old, discarded bikes for sale. Another group restores old furniture and a knitting group knits wool - mostly from donated sources - into blankets for families facing hardship.

These various exchanges help to make life more liveable in this town by providing meaningful work where there is no formal work, by providing goods and services which would otherwise be unaffordable, and by cementing relationships and inter-dependencies between people and creating a powerful atmosphere of self-help and independence.

I hope this letter finds you well, and that your family are all safe and healthy.