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LIGHTBULB MOMENTS – WHY NEW ZEALANDERS ARE TAKING ACTION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

New Zealanders share the moments that inspired them to take positive climate action.

Up and down the country, New Zealanders have started making changes, in order to cut back carbon emissions from energy use, and do their bit to limit the impacts that a warming climate will have on our future. We asked some of them to share their ‘a-ha’ moment. While their lightbulb moments are all different, they all share a common thread – the realisation that the way we live is damaging our climate, and that by starting with small changes we can collectively make a difference.

A distinct hatred of diesel fumes led Wellington resident Stephen Sleep to buy his first EV in 2016 and wean himself off fossil fuels. He says no action is too small.

“My a-ha moment was pollution. Being a keen cyclist as a kid I distinctly remember diesel fumes nearly knocking me out when pedalling hard up a hill following a truck or bus. I grew a distinct hate for all pollution from then on,” says Sleep.

He bought a hybrid vehicle in 2007 and started weaning himself off fossil fuels; no more household gas, no more petrol power tools.

His advice? “There are so many ways you can nibble at the edge of your carbon footprint. Simply start small by making informed choices about what you consume. After a while it just becomes a habit,” says Sleep.

Rich Shirtcliffe’s fight against climate change started with the cleaning products he uses in his home. He’s now the co-founder of Wild Clean, a New Zealand business that makes and sells plasticsnegative and carbon-negative cleaning products.

“We were in Bali all learning to surf and the ocean was a porridge of waste plastic. What was almost more startling was that our kids seemed largely unaffected by it because they’d rapidly normalised it in their minds.

He resolved right then to leap on in and start businesses that would help restore the world that his kids and grandkids would inherit – and Wild Clean was born.

Wild Clean aims to make it easy to make climatefriendly choices at home, by doing away with the single-use plastics typically used to package cleaning products. Single-use plastics are not only devastating to our oceans, but are also responsible for greenhouse gas emissions related to their production, transportation and disposal – when fossil fuels are part of the manufacturing process.

As Shirtcliffe says, “Small changes, made by many, amount to monumental impact.”

Snow in October was what first got Auckland’s Amanda Montgomerie thinking about her own carbon footprint.

“My ‘why’ moment was when it snowed in New Zealand this October. It was such an extreme weather event, and along with the recent extreme flooding in Australia, made me realise how close to home this is,” says Montgomerie.

“It was enough to get me to finally make the switch to LED lightbulbs. Now I’m really conscious of my home energy use, and looking for a good star rating will be a top priority for me if I need a new appliance. It’s an easy way I can make a difference, and in the longer term I will look at solar panels,” she adds.

Lillian Balfour, 18, is a student at the University of Waikato and is in the first year group to take the Bachelor of Climate Change. She decided to take action in 2018 when severe flooding hit her hometown.

“When I was in year 11 at high school, Thames had just had extreme storm damage along the coast, and I decided I had had enough,” says Balfour.

“The most motivating and encouraging thing you can do is get a group together, talk about your fears and your hopes, and then take that to your local leaders,” she says.

Balfour says she sees so much hope in her peers at university on the Bachelor of Climate Change degree course, as well as in the climate action groups and organisations like Go Eco in her community.

Dunedin mum Angela Cuming was horrified to learn her son’s favourite penguin may soon be extinct. It was all the motivation she needed to switch to a mostly plant-based diet as a way to make a difference.

“We have three boys and our eldest loves the hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin. When I learned that the hoiho will most likely be extinct from the mainland in 20 years I decided there and then I had to do something,” says Cuming.

She figured the kitchen and what her family ate was a good place to start.

At first they committed to a vegetarian chilli on Monday. Everyone ate it, so they just kept going. They now eat plant-based meals three or four nights a week.

“I really hope that if we all do our bit, the hoiho will still be around by the time my kids are grown up,” says Cuming. “We’ve been amazed at how easily these small changes have just become part of our lifestyle.”

Explore ways to make climate-positive choices and live more with less energy at GenLess.govt.nz

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2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

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