Friday, March 29, 2024

BLOG: Stop moaning, get on with it

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It must be tough being a kid these days. Faced with accelerating climate change thousands of them took the streets last year, angry the defining issue of their lives wasn’t being addressed by those in charge. “Go back to school,” the adults cried. “Learn how to deal with the problem there.”
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Our Education Ministry heard that call and last week released a teaching tool to help pupils better understand the issues around climate change and to manage the anxiety it brings. “It’s state indoctrination,” the adults cried. “How can we teach our kids this stuff?”

Just what message our young people are supposed to take from all of this is unclear. Critics are picking apart the teaching resource, unhappy it suggests we should eat less meat and dairy and that it fails to differentiate our pasture-based farming from the overseas feedlots. These are valid points in and of themselves but they won’t be comprehended that way by the young strikers. They’ll just hear another old person railing for the status quo.

The global collective consciousness is moving pretty quickly on this issue. Those who think they can choose the scope and timing of their evolution to a sustainable future might find themselves mistaken. When you wake up in the morning and the air is the colour of copper because of bush fires 2000km away it makes you think. It might make you think about the way you vote or what things you buy.

The lesson for the primary industries is this. Having struck a deal with the Government on emissions reductions the time has come to do the mahi. Grumbling and groaning every time you’re reminded that there’s work to do won’t help. Farmers have committed to managing emissions and now must do so with a determination that proves to the world they mean business. We need to do the work and show our workings. If we don’t we might just end up a teaching resource ourselves, in history.

Bryan Gibson

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