Where in the world are you?
Auckland, New Zealand What do you do in the world? Climate Scientist In one sentence, what is climate change? Climate change encompass all forms of climatic variability on time-scales longer than 10 years, whether the cause is natural or anthropogenic (caused by humans). How does climate change affect your life? Climate change has been affecting my life now for the past 50 years! As a boy I was a hobby weather observer then uncovered climate warming in New Zealand in the mid 1970s. From then I have devoted my life to studying climate change and variability in New Zealand and the South Pacific, leading an international team on examining the effects on agriculture and fisheries. I have studied and researched climate at NIWA, Stanford University, CSIRO and other research institutes. The last two decades I have spent communicating climate change at public talks, scientific conferences and seminars. Awards have been received for this, including the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change to which I was a contributor for the understanding of climate change. What do you feel you can do about it? I continue to communicate on climate change at talks and seminars, and researching aspects of climate warming in New Zealand. As well, am conserving household energy and espousing forms of energy conservation in my talks and commentary. Do you feel there is more you could do? If so, what is stopping you from doing those things? We all can do more...but are probably constrained by lifestyle and finances. I would like to have a house and car totally run on renewable energy sources. What's your favourite Sunday afternoon activity? Organizing my vegetable garden. Extra for experts: Do you remember how you first became active in climate change? Was there something specific that triggered you to act? How old were you then? How old are you now? When I read a feature in the Otago Daily Times 40 years ago about the possibility that the planet could be descending in to the next ice age. I researched climate from New Zealand and nearby islands and found the region was warming up. This spurred me in to investigating climate and global warming. I was 28 at the time, and now 69. Free space: write anything you like, nothing at all, or ask us a question Keep up the good work
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Where in the world are you?
Auckland, New Zealand What do you do in the world? I'm a business journalist In one sentence, what is climate change? The greatest danger humankind has ever faced...but if we tackle it, we will transform our values, societies, economies...and, oh, our energy sources too! How does climate change affect your life? It's bringing me into a closer relationship with the ecosystem - our life-support system. It constantly challenges me to work with nature in everything I do, not against it. As a business journalist, I'm excited to see more companies starting to think and act this way. What do you feel you can do about it? As a journalist, I'll keep writing and talking...to show where things are going wrong on climate change, and how we can get them right; and above all, to encourage people to act. As a family we're working on our carbon footprint. We've turned our 74-year old house in a net zero energy house, we drive a 4 year old Leaf, and we converted our 12 year old Prius into a plug-in hybrid so we get about 60km to a litre around town in it. We're down to one small bag of rubbish a week, plus some recycling. And we buy carbon offsets for our flights. As a member of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia, I've worked with others to persuade our Church trusts to divest from fossil fuel investments...and we're setting up a carbon offset program for Church air travel. We're working on this with Enviro-Mark...and we'll buy offsets in a Pacific biodiversity or ecosystem restoration project...since it is the Pacific members of our Province of the Church who are already suffering the effects of climate change. Do you feel there is more you could do? If so, what is stopping you from doing those things? I want to be a far more effective communicator on climate change. Sometimes I wonder if I should be more strident on these urgent issues. But then I think, well, no...I'm more effective as a journalist if I deliver the facts in as clear, concise and honest a way as I can...both on the great dangers of climate change, and the great upside and benefits from tackling it. What's your favourite Sunday afternoon activity? I'm a very keen cyclist...so I'm usually out and about our great city or nearby countryside, on road or off road, in almost any weather! Extra for experts: Do you remember how you first became active in climate change? Was there something specific that triggered you to act? How old were you then? How old are you now? As a student, I was involved in the first two Earth Days in the US in the early 1970s...but they were about point-source pollution such as industrial waste in rivers, or toxic chemicals on fields. I didn't latch on to climate change until the early 2000s, I'm embarrassed to say...and then I began including the subject in the presentations I give to the business community, and began working on my own carbon footprint. Free space: write anything you like, nothing at all, or ask us a question The work you're all doing with Social Climate is fundamentally important because... Climate change and other intense issues such as poverty and inequality are global….but the solutions are increasingly local. Each of us has an infinitesimal impact through our own actions...but if an infinite number of us act, we can change the world. The better we get at local solutions, and spread the knowledge, the greater our chance of aggregating that up to achieve global change. Then, we can achieve the absolutely unprecedented speed, scale and complexity of change we have to for survival. Such solutions require very strong, learning communities...with the essential attributes of:
Such communities are places where individuals are valued, helped and encouraged…so they too can participate in change. Wishing you all the best with your work! Rod |
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