Many of us are aware by now that we are facing multiple crises: climate change being just one – warming and acidifying oceans, depleted soils, global habitat and biodiversity loss are among the others in this ‘polycrisis’. The Auckland floods have made us acutely aware of how vulnerable our cities are to the ravages of extreme weather, events predicted to become more extreme and frequent as the effects of climate change bed in.
We know that this is not going to get better any time soon. There will be more floods, droughts and other weather events that will cause destruction, economic loss and human distress on a scale that we cannot yet imagine. Even the issues that affect us day to day, such as the cost of living, have at their root the unsustainability of our current economic system.
The realisation is dawning among many of us that we cannot solve this problem following the same path that led us here – that is, an extractive growth-oriented economy dislocated from the realities of a finite planet.
Read the article on Newsroom.
envirohistory NZ 
RE: “Even the issues that affect us day to day, such as the cost of living, have at their root the unsustainability of our current economic system.”
Yes, I feel very sorry for all those who were duped into Kiwisaver. I fully understand how how were duped though, it was no surprise.
The rising cost of living must be making life incredibly difficult for so many folk now, and yet they still have to commit cash to Kiwisaver.
In my house we opted out of Kiwisaver from Day 1, and I warned my staff about what might happen if they join Kiwisaver. I did try, but none of them seemed to be able to understand the logic.
Now some years after the introduction of Kiwisaver, my house is very financially resilient due to opting out and managing our own financial affairs. Sadly though, I hear a number of worrying stories of those who have been in Kiwisaver since the beginning and have recently retired or are coming close to retirement age.
Now NZ Green Party wants to tax ‘excess’ profits’ to go towards the cost of cyclone recovery and managed retreat. If the Greens were to get their way on this then you can expect Kiwisaver returns to worsen further as a result.
Saving for retirement should be more robust, IMHO, but with the many factors that influence Kiwisaver, including government meddling over time, it’s better to outperform Kiwisaver’s returns by doing your own investing – if you have the wisdom for it that is. It is not difficult to understand the logic , but it does take self discipline. Of course though, once you’re in Kiwisaver it is too late.
I agree completely. We are still reacting to climate change by planning how we might adapt to a different sort of future while continuing to insist on living daily in the way that has created this situation. Hard to find any degree of hope for a future for humans on the planet. Cockroaches and ants may well become the dominant populations of the future.
Paul Knight, soleapknight@gmail.com paulknightphotography.com (06) 3680564 0210621235
I agree completely. We are still reacting to Climate Change-caused events by planning how we might need to adapt while we continue to live daily in the ways that will only worsen the the crisis that we don’t want to accept is real.