Climate change is historic record
EDITORIAL: Those trenchant holdouts still in denial about climate change nowadays find themselves in conflict not only with the present and the future, but with the past. Its now a year since the floods of 2020 when two states of emergency were declared in the south within the space of 24 hours. Unprecedented, but hardly unpredicted. It was entirely in accord with what science had been foreshadowing for a long time, showing up pretty much on cue. READ MORE: * February 2020 flood: What will our future be with climate change? * Climate Commission report levels with public on true costs of a total economic overhaul * 'The Government will not hold back': Jacinda Ardern on how NZ could go zero carbon Dramatic weather events coming around with increasing frequency; a compounding problem growing in magnitude and effect, requiring emphatic and urgent action. Theres a phrase applied to the two testaments of the bible: The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed. In some respects the same applies here. What we experienced a year ago had been predicted as part of a pattern that more recent experiences have left us better placed to appreciate. For neither the first nor last time we can readily acknowleged that theres a difference between weather, with its variations of short term conditions rolling around, and the longer-term patterns of climate. The carbon reduction blueprint arrived at by the Climate Change Commission could be called ambitious in what it addresses, and criticised for lacking ambition in what it fails to address, at least with sufficient urgency. Whether thats a case of necessary prioritisation, or a persistence of timidity in the face of urgent need, will be legitimate parts of the consultation process ahead. Denial of the underlying need, however, is madness. At a provincial level, we have climate projections that will require us to maintain vigilant assessments of the adequacy of our infrastructural and social mechanisms to best withstand the more turbulent times that are upon us. We will be tested like never before for our ability to withstand and react to more heavy rain days, and also more vulnerability to drought pockets. Life on a flood plain will become increasingly challenging, not only for riverside farmers but for a host of communities. Clearly the flood protection/mitigation work, which we should gratefully acknowledge stood up well to the extremities of last year, will be tested more extravagantly and more frequently. Same goes for emergency response professionals and volunteers, who will be entitled to expect more than the gratitude of their community after the events. Theyll need substantial functional assistance betweentimes. Many rural communities, while hardly novices at rallying to react to emergencies, can expect to be assailed not only more frequently, but quite likely more powerfully. And thats the thing. Considering the mounting pressures that have come to play in recent times, the south is entitled to assess that for the most part its been so far, so good. But as things intensify, our reactive capacities needs to improve proportionately, at the same time as addressing the considerable demands of reducing our contribution to the causes of anthropogenic climate change.