Canterbury, we are experiencing a climate emergency

Over many years, scientists and tohunga have learnt a lot about Earth’s climate system. We know the climate is changing, and Earth’s temperature is currently warming much faster than we’ve experienced before.

Climate change is a change in the average climate conditions that we experience, such as temperature and rainfall, over a long period of time. While the earth’s climate has varied naturally over millions of years, recent, dramatic changes can be linked to human activities, like burning fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases into Earth’s atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases act like a big blanket around the planet, trapping heat within our atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are important because they keep the Earth at temperatures where life can exist. As their levels increase, Earth’s temperature continues to rise, causing changes in rainfall, weather patterns and the frequency of extreme events, melting ice and rising sea level. This results in a range of effects we experience in our natural environment and the areas we live in.

In some ways warmer temperatures could be appealing, but the range of impacts associated with climate change vary widely across New Zealand and around the world. Even with a rise of just 1.5-2°C in temperature, we can expect more frequent severe weather events that disrupt daily life and business, higher sea level, and the permanent loss of some natural habitats, affecting mahinga kai and kaimoana.

Find out why we need to act to help slow, manage and adapt to climate change, as well as what you can do.

To curb the worst impacts of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions need to be seriously reduced on a global scale. That’s a big job, which is why we’re focusing on a smaller area we know we can influence – our region.

In this day and age, it’s easy to think new technologies will have the answer. Some will make improvements, but changes to the way we think and live are also needed. Some changes will have benefits that directly influence the immediate risks climate change presents, but there are many things we can do that can improve the long-term sustainability of our region as well as make a difference in terms of climate change – things that make sense to do anyway.

Examples include:

• reducing how much water we use
• having more urban greenspace
• insulating our homes
• shopping locally
• walking, biking or catching the bus instead of taking a car

At a national level, the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 has a target for New Zealand to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, except biogenic methane which has its own separate reduction target. Around the world, the Paris Agreement includes 175 parties all committed to limiting average temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.