Climate Action Mondays Tuesday

Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, March 29th, 2022 - 10 comments
Categories: climate change, sustainability - Tags: , , ,

Completely forgot about posting this yesterday, way too busy at the moment, but in line with climate action, better late than never. 

Here’s the original post from last week, some lovely suggestions about what we can do locally especially regarding supporting local food growers and all the benefits of that: lower food miles, lower GHG emissions, healthier food, better for the land and biodiversity, keeping money in the local economy and providing local jobs.

Here’s the gist of Climate Action Mondays,

  • I can’t wait anymore, it’s time to act as if our lives depend on it, to make climate change and ecological systems the context of everything we do.
  • We are in the long emergency, and age of sequential and compounding crises that will increase with time, there is no going back to normal.
  • We can however choose to act for life, the best chance of things working out, and humans finding a new stability and way of being that doesn’t involve killing the planet.
  • The good news is that resiliency can be taught and learned.
  • There are whole swathes of counter cultures dedicated to just this: transitioning away from our current life-destroying societies to life-affirming ones that are built to both mitigate and adapt to climate change and to restore the natural world.
  • There will a post up every Monday dedicated to taking action on climate and ecology: discussing action, how to manage, developing strategy, telling the stories of how things can be different and how we can make that happen right now.

This week, quick pop culture reference hack,

https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1508520854740688902

Then, an example of what is happening in the counter cultures, where Kiwis are just getting on and doing the right things. This is the Future Whenua Summit 2022, held recently in Hawkes Bay at regenag farm Mangarara Station (despite all the rain!). A gathering of farmers and rural folk, who are doing a deep dive showcasing and networking the leading edge of regenerative land use.

Speakers included live NZ experts as well as international via the internet,

Future Whenua Summit aspires to the deepest possible exploration of how we can redefine our relationship between the land and its stewards. Our scope is distanced from the “business as usual” mindset with its focus on incremental change (if any) that dominates the rural sector, We are passionate advocates for radical solutions to existential problems and the summit is our annual opportunity to champion that mindset.

We are going to shine light on some progressive concepts and key solutions in our sector. We bring the discussion about the future of land use out of the conference room and onto the whenua.

This is the video of the 2021 Summit held in Southland,

This 43 min doco on Mangarara Station looking at the transition from traditional beef and sheep to regenerative agriculture, carbon sequestration, carbon trading scheme, and agroforestry.

 

I don’t allow climate denialism of any kind under my posts. That includes arguing the Bart defense (‘humans didn’t do it’), or the Gosman defense (BAU capitalism must reign supreme/change is too hard) or the McPherson defense (‘it’s too late’).

I’m with her ^^^

10 comments on “Climate Action Mondays Tuesday ”

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  1. Ad 1
    29 March 2022 at 4:49 pm

    Lake Hawea Station (bought a couple of years ago by the Ross family of 42Below Vodka fame) and Forest and Bird Central Otago are stepping out into larger-scale replanting and trapping.

    Planting natives bringing back birds | Otago Daily Times Online News (odt.co.nz)

    The short video interview (within the link) is worth it for the commentary on a new generation of large-scale runholders turning the tide against pests and towards new forest and native birds.

    I don't think it will be too long before Predator Free 2040 starts to look like a viable nationwide long chain from which to build out.

    There were a couple of very encouraging speakers at the Future Whenua Summit, lots of good contacts and initiatives brought together.

    • weston 1.1
      29 March 2022 at 9:40 pm

      Save our possums !! They're too valuable to us to just wipe them out .Resilience isnt just smiling at the cameras and going to endless meetings indulging in virtue signalling , its surviving well and to do that is always imo going to involve thinking about what we waste !

      • weka 1.1.1
        30 March 2022 at 8:52 am

        I don't think predator free is possible, there will always be areas where there are pests. A model where we make best use of harvesting them would be the go at the moment. We also have very large areas of land that aren't being farmed easily that could be wilded with mixed species (flora and fauna), and those could include animals for harvest.

    • weka 1.2
      30 March 2022 at 8:50 am

      those station farmers is one of the most encouraging things from the rural sector. Wish someone would set up a green version of Fed Farmers, focused on what can be done and what is working.

      The farmer/community cooperation is heartening too.

  2. pat 2
    29 March 2022 at 4:49 pm

    Legislate so only items deemed necessities are manufactured/imported….and manufacture/recycle as much of that locally as possible.

    • arkie 2.1
      29 March 2022 at 6:24 pm

      A Swedish-style approach to repair would also be another good idea:

      The Swedish government is introducing tax breaks on repairs to everything from bicycles to washing machines so it will no longer make sense to throw out old or broken items and buy new ones.

      Sweden’s ruling Social Democrat and Green party coalition is set to submit proposals to parliament on Tuesday to slash the VAT rate on repairs to bicycles, clothes and shoes from 25% to 12%.

      It will also submit a proposal that would allow people to claim back from income tax half of the labour cost on repairs to appliances such as fridges, ovens, dishwashers and washing machines.

      “We believe that this could substantially lower the cost and so make it more rational economic behaviour to repair your goods,” said Per Bolund, Sweden’s minister for financial markets and consumer affairs and one of six Green party cabinet members.

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/19/waste-not-want-not-sweden-tax-breaks-repairs

      • pat 2.1.1
        30 March 2022 at 8:30 am

        Recycling and repair are helpful IF they save energy.

        The principle is explained here.

        https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/222-the-forecast-project/

        It explains well what we are experiencing, and the trajectory….simply put the world is getting poorer and we have less now than previously and will have even less in the future…..and thats before you factor in the effect of increased inequality.

        The question is whether we we attempt to address it or continue to ignore it until we can no more….

        • weka 2.1.1.1
          30 March 2022 at 8:55 am

          reuse and repair before recycle (agree we should be regulating around these things). So much low hanging fruit that we could be doing right now without too much difficulty.

          Transport energy is a challenge in NZ for recycling, relatively low population means we have to centralise. Another incentive to make products that can be reused or repaired.

  3. Tiger Mountain 3
    30 March 2022 at 9:17 am

    Well, on a personal note we are buying a full EV next week, have solar hot water, and some previously green derogative friends have purchased a large solar array for their house.

    A mate of mine with a large property in Far North full of replanted natives including young and old Kauri, and an active bushland trust member, has run solar for many years and has recently updated the panels and batteries–runs everything including his sculpture workshop business.

    With climate action days–what the hell happened to School Climate Strike movement? I read the statements of course and some of the commentary but it still looks suspicious.

    • weka 3.1
      30 March 2022 at 9:57 am

      maybe it's an opportunity for the next kind of actions to arise. Getting behind indigenous movements would be appropriate. I'd also like to see some middle class climate actions happening, there was power in the middle classes being visible in the Stop the Tour protests. They have a lot of resources (money, time, networking).