Climate Millionaire with Natalie Mitchell-Lowe

Where in the world are you?
Wellington, New Zealand

What do you do in the world?
Engineer by day, Social Climate co-founder by night and weekend.

In one sentence, what is climate change?
Changes in global average weather due to greenhouse gas emissions related to human activities.

How does climate change affect your life?
Changes where I want to put my energy and attention. There's obviously all the bad stuff, but there are some definite upsides too. It's great to be able to put time into something I care about, and it's let me stretch myself and take risks I probably wouldn't have done otherwise. Plus I've met some great people since getting involved.
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What do you feel you can do about it?
Play with different solutions, make small changes in my own life, and find ways to work with the people around me to create more good.

Do you feel there is more you could do? If so, what is stopping you from doing those things?
Time, and a skills gap. I'd love to spend more of my time working on climate change - imagine how different the world would be if everyone could spend 5% of their time understanding and implementing solutions! I'm also still trying to figure out what value I can add in this space so feeling like I'd love more skills that paid the bills.

What's your favourite Sunday afternoon activity?
Working on Social Climate - either on reflection walks in the fabulous Wellington bush, or inside with my laptop and a tea.

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?
Yep, I attended one of the public consultation meetings last year about New Zealand's emissions reduction targets (for the Paris Conference) and listened to the friction-filled interaction and frustration in the cold school hall. I've been aware of and concerned about climate change since high school, but I guess I'd always assumed that 'others' were going to solve this problem. I came away feeling like whatever was happening was happening too slow, and I wanted to be part of the conversation and solution. After that, I read a lot of stuff about the state of the climate - not a happy read - and remember going to work feeling like someone had died and everyone was ignoring it. I'm 28 now. 

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