Sport's climate change champions
Actors, musicians, politicians and thousands of school students have all stood up for the climate, but where are those in sport who are champions both on the field, and off it? Zoe George hunts out four sporting stars doing their bit for the environment. Stepping out onto a mountain is something 35-year-old Wanaka-based Winter Olympian Janina Kuzma lives for. Youve got this untouched powder field and youre putting your lines, your work into that powder field, she says. READ MORE: * Glacier melt should inspire action * The big melt: New Zealand's glaciers losing 1.5m of thickness each year * World champions: Five women working to save us from climate change disaster The snow touching your shins in the most amazing feeling. But shes seen the direct impact climate change has had on her sport and on the mountain climate. The conditions are changing so fast that its getting dangerous with trying to understand snow patterns and when avalanches are going to happen, or rock falls, she says. Everyone knows climate change has a huge impact with our winters, and were seeing that more with winters coming later and unsettled weather. In 2018 she stopped competing and picked up the camera instead, shining the spotlight on other winter athletes and the environment. In 2019 she released the film East/West that followed the footsteps of Freda du Faur, the first woman to ascend Aoraki/Mount Cook. The crew had planned to ski down to the glaciers from the mountains, but because the glaciers had retreated so much they had to hike hours and hours across unstable and dangerous rocks. It was an eye opener and a huge shock comparing photos taken by de Faur in 1916 to modern day. The glaciers had retreated many kilometres, Kuzma says. It was one of the moments that really showed the impact of climate change first hand. The glaciers melting back and how dangerous it was walking through that terrain, she says. Just seeing it in our own backyard and seeing it with my own eyes was hard ... it was so sad. I want our children to be able to experience and walk down the glaciers we walked out of, but they probably wont be able to experience that. ...hopefully we can change that by being more sustainable. The path to sustainability is like climbing a mountain one step at a time. She loves heli-skiing and says its hard to be an advocate for the climate when shes contributing to the burning of carbon. But to offset that, she plants native trees on her Wanaka property with her husband. A vegetable patch and fruit trees have been planted too, reducing that footprint further. Sustainability for me means meeting our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, she says. Planting natives provides a better habitat for our native species. She also lives in a community that has a strong sense of sustainability. Her local ski fields have got rid of single use plastic bottles and all the cafes have signed up to Wanaka Up which offers sustainable cups to patrons, reducing the need for single-use items. Shes never without her cup. If youre a big coffee drinker like I am, always carry your coffee cup with you. My husband and I havent used a takeaway cup in years, she says. Its super easy and a good way to start reducing your wastage. Just be aware of your surroundings and what you're doing. How can I do my part to change that little bit?. Mary Fisher is legally blind. That didnt stop her from winning two gold, two silver and a bronze medal at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic games. It certainly hasnt stopped her from doing her bit for the climate either. She retired in 2018. Its been a massive transition but she keeps herself occupied by using her influence on the board of Paralympics New Zealand and works with Blind Vision New Zealand training volunteers, community education and organising events. She also allows her (singing) voice to be heard in two Wellington based community choirs. Its nice thinking about what kind of lifestyle you want to lead when retiring from sport, its all-consuming at that high performance level, she says. She lives in a central Wellington house with two friends and a three-year-old. None of them has a car, choosing to walk, take public transport or ride either an e-bike or a tandem (called Ruby). They also contribute to their community compost patch near the botanical gardens. Its made me think a lot about housing and how so many people are locked out of places they work or play, she says. For the group of us here, it works well, but so many people [are] having to spend a large majority of time, money and energy commuting, because you cant afford to live near the places youre spending the most time in. That has an impact on the environment in terms of planet health and mental and physical health. Its tough for those with disabilities too, she says, with many relying on personal transport because they arent catered for properly when it comes to public planning. "It's not that the technology is unavailable to make public transport and infrastructure really friendly and inclusive for everyone. It's because people organising or planning those [things] haven't been people with lived experiences, so they're not a representative group," she says. Then there are the groups saying no disabled people came to our event, so obviously they arent interested, without thinking was there something that we didnt think of, or talk to the disabled community that would allow them to come? Twenty five per cent of New Zealands population identity living with a disability, so theres that ambiguous discrimination that flies under the radar. For her, its important we think about how we keep a healthy population while being in harmony with the environment. She grew up in the Hutt Valley doing lots of day walks with her parents. Engaging with different species of flora and fauna gave her an appreciation that humans are just one species, and we have this monopoly over the built environment. Being a child and being exposed to Aotearoas biodiversity really made me think about how do we keep Earth a safe place for humans and all the other species, she says. Do we want our future generations to have the same wonderful experiences I had as a kid? Or do we want to try and do our best to change that to ensure everyone can experience that, no matter where they live on Earth? Her top tip for doing your bit for the environment is to ask the big questions and hold those in power accountable. So theres the individual what can I easily change?... not buying stuff new, or seeking more sustainable providers of services, she says. Also, the biggest thing we can all do is look at places collectively we can have an impact in terms of big corporations if we could change those emissions and the way capitalism is having the biggest impact on the planet. Lets all try to understand what collective power we can have. When Peter Burling and Blair Tuke arent on the water winning the Americas Cup or Olympic medals for New Zealand, they are championing for the environment through their marine conservation charity Live Ocean. The duo established the charity in 2019. Their focus is on the restoration and protection of marine environments, and identifying globally significant marine science, innovation and public education, Tuke said. We have the fourth-largest ocean in the world, so that means what we do here in New Zealand and the health of our ocean in New Zealand is globally significant, he says. Weve learnt a huge amount and while some of its really worrying, like the fact that 90 per cent of our seabirds are threatened with, or are at risk of extinction, we then meet the amazing people who are out there trying to make a difference and thats really encouraging. Ultimately we want New Zealand to be a world leader in ocean health. Burling says New Zealand is 93 per cent ocean, so as a country we need to start looking beyond the shoreline and understanding what a huge part of a healthy ecosystem the ocean is. For us one of the real issues we have around ocean health is peoples knowledge. People dont realise that two out of every three breaths come from the ocean, 90 per cent of the heat gets absorbed by the ocean, the ocean really is the life support system of the planet and we need to look after it like that, he says. Using their sport as an environmentally-friendly vehicle for getting these messages into the mainstream ... is definitely a massive opportunity, Burling says. The duo, along with their New Zealand SailGP teammates went one step further by signing the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework in April. They want to be innovators when it comes to the climate and sustainability. Climate change is placing our planet at risk and meeting the scale of this challenge requires action from everyone. As a team, we have an opportunity to step up to the challenge of climate change and inspire our fans to do the same, he says. By signing this framework, we are taking responsibility for our actions and joining a movement that will set the path for our sport to play a winning role in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Were incredibly proud to be the first team in New Zealand to sign the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and hopefully a few more teams will follow us. But Burling says it doesnt have to be grand gestures that can help make change, sometimes its small things too. Definitely be curious and try and take people on the journey with you, he says. We both ride our bikes as much as possible and generally try to make the best choices we can. Sometimes I think its easy to get caught up in not doing things until we can do it perfectly, but there are massive gains we can all make in our lives. - Video courtesy of RNZ