“The unprecedented rate of global warming is melting the polar ice caps, raising sea levels and undermining food and water security for many of the world’s peoples. Action has been too slow, because economics has trumped physics. Now emergency action is the only rational response.”
Over the last 6 weeks, eight councils around New Zealand have voted to declare a state of climate emergency. These local governments represent over half of our country’s population.
Such decisions send a strong signal that it’s time to take bold action to protect our environment, and that now is the time to act if we want to have a beautiful world for generations to come.
This follows on from the school climate marches that took place earlier in the year, and shows a renewed commitment from decision makers to take bold action towards lessening the impacts of climate change.
According to Auckland Councillor Penny Hulse, a climate emergency is “a call to action for council to take seriously its role in climate change, to work with our partners on how we resolve this and to make sure that all policies we set and all budgets we set are set with a climate change lens in mind”.
This movement has gained global traction thanks to an extraordinary group of volunteers in Australia, the ‘Climate Emergency Declaration’. They have been “call(ing) on elected leaders to declare a climate emergency and initiate a society-wide mobilisation” since 2016, and now it is gaining some serious traction.
More than 650 local jurisdictions and governments throughout the world representing over 119 million citizens have declared climate emergencies and have committed to taking bold measures to protect our planet.
As cliché as it might sound, there is no planet B and good planets are (surprisingly) hard to find. If we want to live in a prosperous and sustainable world tomorrow, we all need to do our part today.
For more tips on ways to live more eco-friendly, check out this wonderful blog by CaliWoods Eco.
Whilst it may sometimes seem like these small actions aren’t making a difference at times, every little decision matters. Great things can happen when we come together and rally towards a common goal!
Our overarching goal with Manuka Essentials is to help bring native forest back to New Zealand. If our farmland were returned to native forest on a national scale, many of our country’s environmental problems would be lessened or solved...
Biodiversity crisis? Check. Hillside erosion? Done. Polluted waterways? Sorted.
Mānuka is among the first plants to grow in a regenerating native forest, so we create premium cosmetics using mānuka essential oil to help increase demand for native plants and use our social media channels to share the story of reforestation and what that could mean for the future of our country.
But mānuka is just one of many native plants that are vital to the health of our land (and by extension, our climate). Many other species also produce powerful bioactives that can be sustainably harvested and used in a wide range of different products.
If this vision resonates with you, we welcome you to join us on a journey towards a more sustainable future for our home, Aotearoa.