We are students from the Broadgreen Intermediate Environment Group, and after surveying opinions and researching the facts, we’ve found that while some progress is being made on climate change, adults still need to step up to protect our future.
Did you know that climate change is likely to cause 70-90 per cent of coral reefs to collapse, leaving future generations with nothing? We were wondering how well adults are handling climate change. We took a survey and on a scale of 0-5, 0 being “doing nothing at all”, and 5 being “handling it like a pro”, three-quarters of us rated adults 2 out of 5. This was our opinion, so we investigated if that was fair.
How can we tell if adults are doing well?
Scientists set the global warming limit at less than 2 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures, because it means that it’s less likely to cause a tipping point. A tipping point is a change and it’s irreversible, for example, the Amazon rainforest dying. We used this 2 degree limit to assess how the adults are doing.
What we found out
We learned that the Paris Agreement is a contract for the countries that sign it to set a goal to slow down climate change. It’s great that the prime ministers agreed to try the scientists’ target of less than 2 degrees. 99 per cent of the world has agreed to it!
The greenhouse gases stopped increasing because of the Paris Agreement. It has decreased the predicted global warming from 4 degrees to around 3 degrees - which is still over 2 degrees, and at the moment the temperature is up 1.3 degrees and we are getting closer to tipping points.
Solar and wind turbines are great inventions though. Solar power is growing faster than any other electricity technology in history, but if we want to meet the Paris Agreement, we need to double the speed of building these technologies.
So, adults are doing something, but it would be helpful if they did a bit more.
Is NZ doing well?
New Zealand is considered “highly insufficient” at meeting the goals for the Paris Agreement. If every country had goals like ours the temperature would go up more than 3 degrees!
Nelson is better
Nelsonians are the best in New Zealand when it comes to carbon footprint, because a quarter of Nelsonians walk or cycle to work or school rather than using cars all the time. And the Nelson City Council got people to vote for a ‘Nelson Climate Change Strategy’ target. This is good because then at least a part of NZ might meet the Paris target.
Conclusion
You surely don’t want to be rated 2 out of 5. All we need is for you to think about what this article means and how you can help us. We would like you to please check out www.takethejump.org.nz to show how to protect life on this planet.
Community Corner is a new fortnightly space for you to submit your own article. Simply write what’s on your mind and send to kate@topsouthmedia.co.nz
