Adventure Magazine

in my
opinion
So we reached out to some of our adventure
community to see their thoughts about Global
Warming and Climate Change. Here's what they
had to say...
Frankie Sanders
Global warming, fact or fiction? Thanks for posing those
questions. Great topic. I do however feel like the answers to
those questions are multilayered, complex, and very difficult to
summarise briefly.
I've been writing blogs covering some of the environmental impacts
pertinent to our business, and I find I simply can't keep the words
down, in fact, each blog just leads to another one tackling another
aspect of the same conversation.
I think it is hard (at least for me) to be definitive and concise around
such huge topics. And I actually don't think that there is any one
silver bullet that can reverse our current situation.
Lauren Murray
Global warming, fact or fiction? Totally fact. I’ve
noticed snow coming less - winters shortened,
summers lasting longer. Seasons are out of balance.
Both in NZ and I’ve noticed it overseas.
Is there any one thing that you personally feel we
should all be doing to assist in solving the issue?
We all need to cut back on eating meat. I really don’t
think there’s a more obvious and easier achieved
solution than that.
I no longer eat meat, and do my best with reduction
of all animal products. I use reusable items where
possible, and avoid certain products/brands/companies
depending on their impact on the climate.
We aren’t too late but, we aren’t far. My kids will see
the damage exponentially. And I am skeptical that
it will change. Humans are, on a whole, too greedy
and selfish. And travelling this year again has made
me more sure of this, unfortunately. I have seen just
how behind or how far to go certain communities
and people, which make up HUGE population (i.e.
Americans/America) have before they get to where
it feels like we in NZ (where work is STILL needed)
currently are.
There are many actionable ways people can be involved in being
part of the solution for our environmental situation, and different
people will find some outlets easier than others. So I think it's about
providing choices and options for engagement not pinning down
'one' thing, which seems pretty confrontational.
Whilst we are pretty much at a crisis point in climate change we
have to believe that we can still bring the ship around, without
belief, there can be no collective agency. As Margaret Mead would
say "Never doubt that a small group of [organised] thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing
that ever has". (brackets added).
And whilst that is a pretty fanciful idea in the face of the climate
crisis, 'small groups' are our environmental movements working
to provide those realistically achievable changes, whether it be
people's lifestyle choices, lobbying the government, or challenging
and disrupting corporate stasis. What they all share is the belief
that we can have a collective impact.
I think it is important for people to remember that we do all have
agency in our decisions and that Big Corp is affected by all of
us, and whilst it seems that we are such tiny particles in the
big machine, we create the 'demand' in 'supply and demand', if
everyone stopped buying a product tomorrow that company could
not exist.
The other part of this is if we cannot escape our demand (i.e.
you have a gasoline car so need petroleum) then we also can
have our collective voice heard on the way that Big Corp conduct
themselves, holding companies to account, and supporting
companies that have environmentally focused decision making.
Honestly, I could talk for days...
Global warming, fact or fiction? Fact: We used to get way more snow on Mt Taranaki and
Ruapehu and for a longer winter. Now we are lucky to get 1 day up Taranaki and 1 week up
Ruapehu.
Is there any one thing that you personally feel we should all be doing to assist in
solving the issue? There’s so many things that can affect it and people can’t do everything
but yea if we all tried to do a little bit more, even one thing each, then it might help. Better to
try than to wonder what if! I like to think I’m helping by being vegetarian and very conscious
of where the things I buy come from and how they’re etc. So I think it’s possible that we
could all eat less/no meat.
Paige Hareb
Are we simply too late to fix the issue? Who knows! But I’d rather us all try now than look
back and say ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda’
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