I love your energy, enthusiasm and commitment to change that you are advocating in light of the troubles we are in that are effecting all species and ecological systems that support life.
I think it is also important to include despondency, despair and grief in your portrayal with appropriate articles and books. To be relentlessly positive is to deny our reality and will lead to disillusionment, burnout and sense of betrayal perhaps and then anger.
To allow all our pessimism to be expressed openly and discussed is very important I believe
An excellent book I’ve recently read is ‘At Work in the Ruins’ by Dougald Hine.
He had a long history of high level climate activism and speaking but eventually ran out of words.
He knew that what he and others like him were saying wasn’t true and that to live with this was too great a burden to bear.
He has many fresh insights consequently. There is work to be done which is what the title of his book states. It is the kind of work to be done that needs to be questioned in order to find appropriate responses.
Thanks Meg for the reading recommendation. I try to walk the line between pessimism and hope every day! It's my personal philosophy that the most action comes when we retain active hope: realism in combination with action. Here's a great read on this topic: https://www.activehope.info/ We'll bear your feedback in mind for future issues.
One thing we should all do is to learn about Resource Overshoot and a good start is here: https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/. Then tell everyone about it. Why? because our profligate use of resources, driven by the capitalist imperative to consume, is at the root of the climate catastrophe. Have you ever thought about how many resources (and how much energy) are used in producing green energy infrastructure, electric cars, the phone you are reading on? Our priority should not be producing more green energy: it should be about using much less energy. We really need to look at both the embedded carbon and the non-renewable resources that have been used, when we buy something, not whether it is simply energy-efficient in use.
Good luck with getting your carbon footprint down to 2 tonnes. I am a vegan, living on a small boat and don't own a car (in spite of living in a rural area, which makes travelling very difficult). My footprint IS under 2 tonnes, but I have to keep an eye on things to keep it that way.
+1 to this! Annie, are you part of Degrowth Aotearoa? Would highly recommend, as they work on advocating for degrowth/post-growth in NZ policy and making it a mainstream consideration. Since reading Jason Hickel’s Less Is More, I’ve also been very interested in whether initiatives are still green growth (i.e. not actually sustainable at all) or explicitly degrowth.
With a gap year between local elections in 2025, and central govt elections in 2026 (fingers crossed there’s an election before that), I’ll be investigating different avenues to move the needle on climate
It's great to have a list of orgs around the motu. I've just come across a Tairāwhiti based group that is bringing a local view of climate impacts and solutions. The most recent interview they've shared is with community leader/ activist Manu Caddie. https://youtu.be/kk8tzA7lFRM?si=qPe5DsZKIS3EOflq
I love your energy, enthusiasm and commitment to change that you are advocating in light of the troubles we are in that are effecting all species and ecological systems that support life.
I think it is also important to include despondency, despair and grief in your portrayal with appropriate articles and books. To be relentlessly positive is to deny our reality and will lead to disillusionment, burnout and sense of betrayal perhaps and then anger.
To allow all our pessimism to be expressed openly and discussed is very important I believe
An excellent book I’ve recently read is ‘At Work in the Ruins’ by Dougald Hine.
He had a long history of high level climate activism and speaking but eventually ran out of words.
He knew that what he and others like him were saying wasn’t true and that to live with this was too great a burden to bear.
He has many fresh insights consequently. There is work to be done which is what the title of his book states. It is the kind of work to be done that needs to be questioned in order to find appropriate responses.
Thanks Meg for the reading recommendation. I try to walk the line between pessimism and hope every day! It's my personal philosophy that the most action comes when we retain active hope: realism in combination with action. Here's a great read on this topic: https://www.activehope.info/ We'll bear your feedback in mind for future issues.
One thing we should all do is to learn about Resource Overshoot and a good start is here: https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/. Then tell everyone about it. Why? because our profligate use of resources, driven by the capitalist imperative to consume, is at the root of the climate catastrophe. Have you ever thought about how many resources (and how much energy) are used in producing green energy infrastructure, electric cars, the phone you are reading on? Our priority should not be producing more green energy: it should be about using much less energy. We really need to look at both the embedded carbon and the non-renewable resources that have been used, when we buy something, not whether it is simply energy-efficient in use.
Good luck with getting your carbon footprint down to 2 tonnes. I am a vegan, living on a small boat and don't own a car (in spite of living in a rural area, which makes travelling very difficult). My footprint IS under 2 tonnes, but I have to keep an eye on things to keep it that way.
Thanks Annie, great resources! Good on you for all you do.
+1 to this! Annie, are you part of Degrowth Aotearoa? Would highly recommend, as they work on advocating for degrowth/post-growth in NZ policy and making it a mainstream consideration. Since reading Jason Hickel’s Less Is More, I’ve also been very interested in whether initiatives are still green growth (i.e. not actually sustainable at all) or explicitly degrowth.
With a gap year between local elections in 2025, and central govt elections in 2026 (fingers crossed there’s an election before that), I’ll be investigating different avenues to move the needle on climate
Ka rāwe Peter, please share - we'll be looking for creative ways to make change happen this year.
Great stuff. I'm curious. How did you decide on two tonnes?
Thanks Bernard. It's ambitious! From Climate Fresk International - they define the global inhabitant "fair share" goal as two tonnes: https://en.2tonnes.org/, although this resource says 2.5 tonnes - so would welcome any further insights on this. https://www.sgr.org.uk/projects/fair-lifestyle-targets-additional)
It's great to have a list of orgs around the motu. I've just come across a Tairāwhiti based group that is bringing a local view of climate impacts and solutions. The most recent interview they've shared is with community leader/ activist Manu Caddie. https://youtu.be/kk8tzA7lFRM?si=qPe5DsZKIS3EOflq