How we survive Summer
By jo Wrigley
Go Eco is the largest sustainability charity in the Waikato - with a vision of healthy environments supported by thriving communities. They support a regional ecosystem of communities, groups, ideas and projects centred around climate action and honouring Te Tiriti.
Go Eco’s manager - Jo Wrigley - shares her thoughts on the intersection of summer, changing our systems, and those working towards a better future for us all.
All around me people are talking about preparing for climate adaptation as if they are undertaking a mission strategy. Our ability to adapt is threatened by the anxiety of switching from heat to flooding in a flash, strained by systemic inaction and only incremental changes through policy and law.
It plays out as a tale of post-modern urban survival.
The news and media present extreme weather events in consistently predictable ways. For a heatwave, it could be crowded beaches, a person drinking water from a fountain, or a couple wearing sun hats out for a walk. For floods and storms it will be a raging torrent of water across farmland, or an animal on a small hump of dry land. The images and articles rarely depict the structural violence of poverty and racism inherent. There’s little in the imagery to attest to the catastrophic harm to life or to emphasize that this is climate change happening right now.
Just ten years ago summer brought excitement, as people longed for hot days and good camping weather. It was a time of abundance, when we got our rays of the sun for well-being, a seasonal escape from the cold dampness of winter passed. We are now charged with adapting our cities and towns for drought or flood.
Climate change impacts are being normalised faster than the incremental solutions supported by politicians, power holders and policymakers.
Giving us hope is that there are a network of successful and impactful community-based organisations working to educate, resource and support community-level change in order to mitigate climate impacts. For example, these organisations are finding resources in 'waste', like rethinking and redesigning community composting of food scraps and supporting environmental restoration projects with schools, churches and kaitiaki. Communities also realise the best solution to waste is not to produce it in the first place.
We can reimagine our streets with more buses and fewer cars, being able to catch the train into the regions and improving walkability and cycling to reduce emissions. We can have trees both cleaning our air, cooling streets and providing shelter. Imagine more greenspaces that support family adventures and healthy living. Look to transform food systems so we have urban areas with access to local produce, community-led waste recovery enterprises and revitalised water systems. Imagine abundance with zero waste.
While we deal with systemic inaction and incremental changes through policy and law, we need to act urgently, and with determination, courage and imagination to transform our inequitable systems and infrastructure, as we prepare for the rest of children’s lives. As we consider and reflect upon the impacts of cyclones and crises on our communities we must also acknowledge that the boldest of systemic changes come when communities model collective solutions and connections.