l to r: Hayley Vujcich, Willow Henderson, Dr Sean Weaver, Scott Wilson and Jean-Charles Perquin
On 3rd April, the first ‘Expert Lunch’ was held at Sustainable Future’s office.
For the debut, we invited Dr Sean Weaver from Carbon-Partnership as the guest, accompanied by Scott Wilson from Water Matters Ltd. We took the chance to enjoy an almost unseasonably beautiful day by having lunch on the roof of our building.
Discussions went well around issues Sustainable Future is dealing with, the main focus being climate change, carbon markets and policy, all being areas of expertise of Dr Sean Weaver. Such discussion is critical and helpful for Project 2058, and we were pleased with the outcomes. We appreciated the chance to share ideas about the implications of climate change in a long-term strategy for New Zealand.
We are now looking forward to the next Expert Lunch meeting which will be held on the 8th May with Dr Morgan Williams, former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and Principal of Futuresteps, as the guest.
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1 comment
John says:
May 12, 2020
WHAT ABOUT THE REAL PEOPLE?
Having been involved in the carbon debate since 2020 and NZ’s visions and future as they evolve, my search of your scenarios has not revealed an emphasis on “personal growth”. Without a foundation of personal centeredness (emotionally stable and secure), of each person in the population it is not possible for “freedom” to be exercised, and consequently continuous rolling development of the country in the right direction so that in all actions, “the right thing is done, right” will not occur.
The top down imposition of the scenarios won’t work. Most forecasts are diabolically wrong. Insight, foresight or backsight. Check the snow weather forecasts on Mt Ruapehu and they are only 30% right a day or so ahead. Or hail in the Bay of Plenty. Yes the prediction of the NZ Government in the 2020 forecasts that “a Japanese climber on the top of Mt Cook could look at his watch and check the stock market” came true although at the time not even the DSIR believed them (lack of belief means a major new industry was lost). Freedom for each individual on a daily basis to “change” as a consequence of the flow of new information is essential, with the knowledge that they can understand and take responsibility for their actions.
Commitment to personal growth is imperative. Nike proposed that we should “Just do it”. This is what every teenager (and me) wants to hear but it is not what society wants to hear as it won’t work. Society wants each person to “do the right thing, right”. Marketers may love this new buss word. But remember what TS Eliot said “The right thing for the wrong reason is the ultimate treason”. Look how managers, marketers, consultants, business schools argue that “going green is great to make a company (or country) competitive”!! The right thing; but the wrong reason. It is for co-operation not competition! It is to save the planet which will not happen if we are competitive. Treason? Hanging? Maybe not this time because just doing something in this space may be “good”.
It could be speculated that the judicial system (and the Government) will act in governance over the evolving scenarios and ensure that “the right thing is done, right”, but for every $1 it costs to create a law or rule it probably costs a $1 million? to enforce it. Bush thought it was cheaper to not enforce laws, but in hindsight society believes this was inappropriate. But money is not the issue (well not the only issue). The 6B people on the globe transact at least 2020 significant actions each day. 6,000,000,000,000 actions per day!! How can these actions be “policed” money or no money? 2020 committees or not. Sure Google may think up a free solution but let’s not rely on that.
Sustainability without personal responsibility just ain’t going to work.
It takes 10,000 hours development to excel at anything sport, art, writing, etc so without 10,000 hours consideration for personal growth for each individual in responsibility and what that is, and the commitment to indivdual growth, sustainability is questionably for any of the visions. Mothers start the process with 3000hrs but then it falls off. All of these scenarios or visions are built on the personal actions of individuals. In parallel with the speculation in the visions on the material changes that might occur, consideration has to be given to what really happens in life, that individuals with freedom have imagination and see futures that others can’t see. As long as hundreds of us are doing this, the country will move forward in the right direction, not knowing what that is, but only if the 5m NZ’ers each understand what “doing the right thing, right” is and are doing it in all their daily actions. Hopefully with wise oversight from the Government and its legal appendages.