We have to give up on hoping that our government might do something to address climate change. At the moment, there are too many vested interests, lobby groups and others that block moves to start doing anything.
Instead, each person, each family, each company needs to take the initiative instead. We need to reduce, and then finally stop consuming carbon altogether.
To us in NZ, this means petrol, diesel and so called “natural” gas. Because of the high “greenness” of our electricity grid, we can switch these hydrocarbon sources to electricity and pretty much achieve that goal.
This year, we stopped using our Ford Territory SUV every day. We have been using a second hand Nissan Leaf from Japan. This car runs on electricity (and with recent fuel price increases) has been a larger saving than we thought.
photo cred: Elizabeth Lies
The next change we are likely to make will be the removal of our “natural” gas consumption. Our gas heating and hot water is very nice and all, but it’s terrible on the environment. We will research options to convert this to a air-to-water heat pump system. This will cost us some money, but with a 450% efficiency rate — should end up being cheaper than gas in the long term.
I would encourage other people, families and companies to think about what they can do themselves to reduce the use of carbon (petrol, gas, diesel).
Please don’t wait for the politicians.
