Generation Y Aoteoroa
November 24th 2006

Dear Generation Y,

Meeting people, going places and doing things – the wise mantra of my PADI dive course – is something New Zealander’s have been doing for decades. For our increasingly mobile generation it is often not until we leave NZ that we realize how attached to it we really are. I know that my world expands every time I fly off Kiwi soil but each time a palpable tug reels me back in and I arrive home eager to get things going. The ease at which ‘we get things going’ in our corner of down under is a unique trait that reflects our manageable-sized population and our ingenious ‘she’ll-be-right’ attitude. The result being that anything that is deemed worthwhile is possible and it is the reason New Zealanders have been impressing the world for quite some time.

I have learnt how delightful it is to tell strangers around the world where I come from and enjoy playing my nationality card as if it’s my own special party trick. I proudly bask in the torrent of praise and wonderment they have for the place I call home and despite my best efforts usually can’t contain my immodesty. On most fronts I would consider us pioneers that are often going where no country has gone before but where countries do tend to follow. Whenever New Zealand’s apparent ‘clean green’ enthusiasm comes up in conversation however, I begin to find myself becoming uncomfortable, averting peoples gaze and staring guiltily at my feet. You see, I know our country is stunning, our oceans unpolluted and our roads comparatively un-congested but there is always a nagging voice in the back of my head that knows it is not because of our actions but despite them that we enjoy such riches.

While people in England have been reducing their carbon dioxide emissions to well below their 1990 levels we are currently tracking at 40% above that same base line. Our personal car ownership levels have hit a record high and we have just approved yet another polluting coal power plant. We have the record title of fishing the first known species, Orange Roughy, to commercial extinction and the recent slash in our national quota for the Hoki stock demonstrates that we are still seriously over-fishing. We are also on the verge of becoming the first country in the world to take responsibility for the extinction of a marine mammal. This is not the New Zealand that I know and love! This is a version of New Zealand I try to avoid in discussion.

The good news is that our generation has the privilege of achieving something great and then getting to feel really bloody good about it! If we get this right we may just be able to claim with absolutely no exaggeration that we saved the planet. The superheroes of New Zealand history and major contributors to global security, that’s got a certain ring to it. The news gets better, we can have this title for far less pain than is commonly thought – England’s recent economic growth despite their reduction in pollution suggest we won’t even be thrown into another depression! Catch the bus and there’s a little bit of Clark Kent in you. Change your power company to one that can provide a renewable solution to our energy demands and you can go to bed feeling mightily proud of yourself. Start a compost bin in your yard and give yourself a pat on the back. Hey, if you install solar panels in your house you are totally entitled to don a spiffy pair of red spandex knickers over bright blue tights and a cape and strut around town. It’s never been so easy to feel good about ourselves……..coincidentally, it’s never been so important either.

Our generation has come to a fork in the path of environmental management and the trail we decide to take is going to determine the trail our children, and their children, take as well. Not all of us have the time or the desire to study all the facts and come up with an informed conclusion so we rely on the advice of others. Through the cacophony of expert voices that constantly bombard us, all with different accounts of the facts, what needs to be done and who is being melodramatic, we can all identify that voice inside that knows environmental sustainability is the way of the future. We are aware of the costs and that investments need to be made but we know that the price-tag of not investing is much, much higher. There’s no doubt we’ve got a problem on our hands, Augie Auer seems to be the only one still denying that. The million dollar question is how to inspire Joe Blogs to care, and more importantly to act. It’s an exercise in rhetoric my brother tells me. Rhetoric aye? Images of hypothetical young children in the future can sometimes do wonders.

Hypothetical situation 1 The young granddaughter comes home from school with a confused look upon her face. “ Grandad, what’s a glacier? Today, in school the teacher was telling us about all these neat sounding things that old people like you used to have. Did you really have frogs when you were a little boy? And what were the Pacific Atolls?” “ Well, love” Grandad hesistantly begins, “I really liked my four wheel drive – it had a lot of boot space, and even though people warned us bad things might happen if we didn’t change our lifestyles, we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to make the transition. Turns out they were right on the money, sorry about that.”

Hypothetical siutation 2 The young granddaughter comes bounding in the door with a grin on her face. “Grandad, today at school I learnt that back in the early 2000’s people still depended on that dirty coal stuff and there was almost a global disaster. Our book said that people like you all got together and changed small things in your life while putting pressure on the government to make bigger, more substantial changes. Renewable resources were yielded and the world was saved!!! Yay!!!” “ My, your vocabulary is really coming along love, but your right” Grandad proudly reports.

But seriously folks, it’s all staring us in the face now, it’s almost bashing the door down. We need to change the way the show is run. The frogs are disappearing, the rainforest isn’t raining as much, the coral reefs are bleaching, the temperature of the world is still increasing. It’s dramatic enough to make a really great movie but unfortunately its reality. Environmental sustainability is about more than just saving the Earth, it’s about social justice and equality, it’s about giving the power, quite literally, back to the people. If we decide to take on the challenge of walking the sustainable path, if we deem it a worthwhile project and get things going, I can guarantee you it is something we will live to be very proud of. It will be the ultimate trophy for the mantelpiece. A game of two halves where the better team won on the day. Pondering the alternative of not taking on the challenge is not even worth it because we can and we will. Let’s be the little country that could! Let’s be the engine that drives the little country to the top of the hill. Let’s do it for the children. Let’s pull out any clichéd and rhetorical rubbish we can think of that will motivate us to get of our chairs, turn off our lights, get on the bus, recycle our Tui cans and just do it. I know that sometimes coal is cheaper, the car is easier, that water is plentiful, the air is seemingly clean and that sometimes you just…can’t….be…..bothered - but do it because you know better. Our actions not only make a difference, they are the difference.

Some people question the impact a small country like New Zealand can make in the international community. History has proven however, that it is the small, courageous countries like New Zealand that set precedents for the rest of the world and path the way for others to follow. When women did not have the vote was that our attitude? When no one had ever climbed Mount Everest or split the atom did we write ourselves because of our small size? We are a forward thinking nation that has always been on the forefront of social, political and racial progress – they don’t call us middle earth for no reason. We are blessed with an abundance of renewable resources than can secure our future if we only yield them. Let’s be grateful for what we have and take responsibility upon ourselves to care for it while encouraging others to do the same. You don’t need to be a tree-hugging hippy anymore to care for the environment – it’s just commonsense.

The times have changed……it’s the environment stupid!!!!!

Lets act, Claire