The NZS.com Climate Change and New Zealand article contains information on what is climate change, how NZ contributes to climate change, global warming, and the environmental future.
What climate change means for New Zealand and its people
Climate change is a much talked-about topic these days. Find out what it means for New Zealand’s people and economy, and what you can do to help fight it.
What is climate change?
The earth has a natural blanket of what are known as greenhouse gases. These gases include water, vapour and carbon dioxide. The gases trap the sun’s heat and keep the planet’s surface warm enough to sustain life. However, this surface layer of gases is in a delicate balance.
Most climate change-focused scientists now agree that human activity is producing too many greenhouse gases and upsetting the balance, causing a change in the earth's climate. Human activities causing the problem include:
- driving cars
- producing electricity from coal and gas
- farming cows, sheep and other animals
- cutting down trees
Greenhouse gases produced by our activities are building up in the earth’s atmosphere and trapping extra heat from the sun. Consequently, the average surface temperature of the earth is slowly rising. This is what is referred to as global warming.
How is New Zealand contributing to climate change?
Negative Contributions
New Zealand is producing 25% more greenhouse gases now than we did in 1990. We contribute only 0.2 per cent of the globe’s total greenhouse gases, but per capita we are one of the world’s worst emitters.
The biggest contributor to our emissions is the meat and dairy industry, which produces nearly half our greenhouse gases. These are mostly methane from the stomachs of cows and sheep, and nitrous oxide from their urine and from pasture fertiliser. Cars are also a big problem. We have a very high number of cars per person and use them more than most other nations. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport have been among the fastest growing since 1990.
Positive Contributions
The one area where we do relatively well is emissions from electricity. We produce 70% of our power from renewable energy sources such as hyrdo, wind and geothermal energy. This is one of the highest rates of renewable power generation in the world.
How will climate change affect New Zealand?
Scientists have put New Zealand in the top twenty countries that will be least affected by climate change. However, the country has already started warming and is seeing the effects of that change in disrupted weather patterns and New Zealand weather events which are considered extreme.
As the effects of climate change become worse, we can expect more frequent and more extreme droughts, storms, land slips and floods. The rainfall pattern is changing, and the east of the country will become drier while the west becomes wetter.
Our sea level has also started to rise and will continue to do so, meaning more coastal erosion and storm surges. Our economy depends on a stable and predictable climate.
In farming areas, warmer temperatures mean more crop pests and animal diseases, increased wind damage, and prolonged droughts. We may also see human diseases like Malaria and Dengue Fever becoming common.
Hotter, longer summers mean more heat stress and a higher risk of skin cancer.
It’s not all bad news, though. winters will be less cold, meaning less winter illnesses. And for the economy, it means increased growth rates for commercial trees and other plant crops, more places where crops can be grown, and the chance to grow more exotic and marketable species like vine grapes and tropical fruit.
Australia is set to become even drier than it is now, which means New Zealand meat and other export products could be in higher demand.
What do we do about climate change?
The only way to tackle climate change is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Even though New Zealand is a small emitter globally, the earth doesn’t care where emissions reductions happen, only that they do. Everyone can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through simple actions, such as:
- saving petrol by taking the bus, rather than the car
- hanging laundry outside instead of wasting power using a drier
- composting kitchen scraps rather than putting them in a landfill.
There are numerous other easy actions we can all take, many of which cost nothing and will often save money on household bills as well as helping to save the planet. You can also choose bigger lifestyle changes like working from home to reduce your emissions.
Whatever you choose to do, it’s the small steps together that will make one big difference in the fight against climate change.
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