Climate rescue bus on its way to Christchurch

Press release

November Wednesday 14th 2007 -

A new national campaign aimed at inspiring thousands of New Zealanders to help tackle climate change rolls into Christchurch on Thursday.

The Be The Change campaign - and associated nation-wide bus tour - aims to get tens of thousands of New Zealanders active in tackling climate change.

Be The Change aims to put the spotlight on people who're already reducing their contribution to climate change, spread their story and inspire all New Zealand citizens to join them. They'll visit local Christchurch resident Dan Joly who runs a completely sustainable household, complete with a wind turbine in the back yard to power his computer and other appliances.

And the Port Lyttelton Project, which is working to make the Lyttelton community sustainable, through things like recycling waste from local restaurants to use as compost, community gardens and a local farmers' market.

Meanwhile, Cantabrian Patrick Davey set up a carpooling scheme for people heading to the mountains.

"Back in June 2006, at the start of a brilliant ski season, I thought it would be a great way to save the environment, meet new people and save money, by starting a carpooling website to the slopes.

"So we set up a really simple site where people could put up a notice in a calendar saying who they were, where they were going and some contact details. It's been really successful." (see www.snowpool.org.nz)

Spearheaded by Greenpeace, Oxfam and Forest & Bird, Be The Change also provides advice and encouragement to community groups and individuals on how they can reduce their personal impact on the climate.

Via its website - www.bethechange.org.nz - the campaign has already encouraged thousands of New Zealanders to make changes in their lives and share their experiences with others.

The campaign was launched on October 26th in Auckland by television personalities Robyn Malcolm and Francesca Price, and will be taken around the country over the next six weeks, It kicked off in Bluff earlier this week and ends in Whangarei on December 12th. The bus arrives in Christchurch tomorrow.

The bus runs on biodiesel blend sourced from tallow (a byproduct of meat production) and everything onboard runs on solar power. It includes a mobile exhibition of impacts and causes of climate change, an opportunity to learn about everyday solutions, and a web centre where people can sign up on the spot to Be The Change.

Two open days will be held outside the Christchurch Museum Saturday and Sunday. See below for details.

"There are already many of people around New Zealand doing great things," says Be The Change campaigner Jo McVeagh. "Be The Change is already showing there's a growing movement of people who care about climate change, in order to inspire others to take action.

"The risk is people think the climate change problem is too big. It's not. Every little bit helps and once you get a whole lot of people making small changes, it really makes a difference. This really is an all-hands-on-deck moment. We're all in this together so we all need to be involved in the solutions."

LOCAL OPEN DAY

Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 November: 10am- 5pm, outside Christchurch Museum.

CANTERBURY AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

Climate change is said to be the single biggest threat that's ever faced civilization. One of the reasons for this is that it affects every person and organism living in every country on every continent, Canterbury included.

Climate scientists estimate that Canterbury's temperature could be up to 2.5°C warmer over the next 70-100 years. This compares to a temperature increase in New Zealand during last century of about 0.7°C. To put this in perspective, the 1997/98 summer, which many New Zealanders remember as particularly long, hot and dry, was only about 0.9°C above New Zealand's average for the 1990s.

Coastal parts of Canterbury could be up to 20% drier while the foothills and the Southern Alps could be up to 25% wetter. The region as a whole is likely to experience more varied rainfall patterns and flooding could become up to four times as frequent by 2070.

The effects of climate change may bring significant costs to the community. If extreme weather events become more frequent or severe, the costs and damages associated with them are also likely to increase. The cost of dealing with stock losses, replacing or repairing damaged roads, bridges, houses and stormwater drains, and dealing with increased soil erosion and loss of soil nutrients can be formidable. Recent extreme weather events such as the Marlborough and Canterbury droughts, Cyclone Bola, the flooding in the Waikato/Coromandel area, and coastal flooding during the Waitangi Day storm, have shown how vulnerable our society and economy is to the weather and climate.

- sourced from http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/climate/about/climate-change-affect-regions/otago.html