Swings + Roundabouts Autumn 2021

Back in 2012 KPMG released the “Expect the Unexpected” report. This sets out ten sustainability megaforces that would impact each and every person and business over the next 20 years, one of them being climate change. Now, climate change is happening all around us. WHY IS THE CLIMATE CHANGING? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific intergovernmental body, reported that scientists are more than 90% certain that global warming is largely being caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities and that this cycle in the earth’s history is different from any other our planet has experienced. Since the beginning of the industrial age nitrous oxide (N2O) used in fertilisers has increased by 18%, carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel combustion by 39% and methane by 148%. Another way to look at this is that the current CO2 level is higher than it has been in the last 800,000 years. These increases are all making the earth just that bit hotter and this warming is not only heating up the atmosphere but also increasing the temperature of the ocean which evaporates more water creating even THE CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGE WE ARE FACING BY PHIL AND TIFFANY SMITH, COLLINGRIDGE AND SMITH ARCHITECTS (UK) At the end of January 2021 The Climate Change Commission released its climate change budget and policy advice to the Government – why are they doing this? Human forces affecting global temperature (NASA Earth Observatory, 2010) more greenhouse gases. By adding more greenhouse gases we are in effect putting more blankets around the earth which is making it even warmer and altering the nature cycle. So why isn't this a good thing – more sunny days I hear you say – yes that is true. In the last 10 years Aotearoa has had it hottest decade as recorded by the National Institute of Water Atmospheric Research (NIWA). These increases are also being felt in colder areas with glaciers and the poles, resulting in the melting we have all heard about, but this is at a rate not previously experienced by this planet which is raising the sea levels. More tropical storms are evident with warmer oceans. Disease carrying insects are spreading and with increased flooding and poorer living conditions we have seen an increase in diseases like cholera, which was almost extinct 60 years ago. If the observed rate of warming continues, the world would reach 1.5°C of warming around 2040, according to the IPCC in 2018. And the cherry on the top: the World Wildlife Fund has estimated that on average we are using 1.6 times the resources the Earth can provide. This means that if everyone on Earth lived like the average person lives we would need another planet at our disposal, March 2021 { 28 }