Last week, we were privileged to have Dr Jen Purdie from the Otago University Centre for Sustainability telling us about global warming. Whilst the temperature of our planet has varied over time, in cycles of tens of thousands of years,  the increase in temperature since the start of the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago has been more rapid than ever before.
There are three ways to warm our planet – shift it closer to the sun, increase the solar radiation from the sun, or stop that radiation from leaving once it gets here (like putting a blanket around the world). The first two of these have not happened, but the third certainly has, largely as a result of our increasing emissions of CO2 and Methane. The earth’s temperature has already warmed by 1.2 degrees since the late 1800’s, and if we do not significantly reduce our emissions then it could rise by another 4.5 degrees by 2100. To put this in perspective, it only takes a drop of 5 degrees to enter another ice age.
The impact of global warming is already being felt – snow and ice are disappearing at an alarming rate, with an associated rise in sea level and changes in ocean currents. 2% of the world’s population (150 million people) lives within 1 metre of sea level, many of these in poorer nations such as our South Pacific neighbours. Drier places will get drier, storms will get stronger, floods will get bigger (because warmer air can carry more moisture), food production will be impacted, more infectious diseases will spread, and habitats will be lost. A grim outlook……….
A lot of talk has been going on – New Zealand has been part of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), and every country in the world pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, but worldwide emissions continue to increase. In New Zealand, each person produces 7 tonnes of emissions each year on average, which is the same level as we had in 2010. We have stopped our increasing trend, but have not succeeded yet in reducing it. We have one of the highest emission rates in the world, with half coming from agriculture.
Our government formed a Climate Change Commission in 2019 to make recommendations about how to tackle the problem – several initiatives have been taken (such as subsidies on electric vehicles and taxes on gas guzzlers, subsidies on home insulation etc) but our political system is a real barrier to making the significant changes that are necessary.
There are some things that all of us can do: reduce food waste (33% of the food we grow in this country is thrown out), plant trees, buy local to reduce transport emissions, use public transport or walk/pedal, reuse-reduce-recycle, drive an electric car (85 % of our electricity is renewable energy), apply collective pressure to policy-makers to act in the best interests of our planet etc.
“The economic impact of doing something is a lot less than the economic impact of doing nothing”.

175 th Anniversary of the Early Settlers Barracks
Sean explained that when the first European settlers arrived in Dunedin in 1848 after months at sea, they were shocked to find out there was no accommodation available for them onshore. The men were sent up the harbour from Port Chalmers and with the help of local Māori were able to build a primitive shelter shed on the shoreline of the new settlement (roughly Law Courts). The first immigration barracks was a whare (flax bound posts, grass walls and a thatched roof). After about six weeks the women and children were allowed to leave the ship and to live at the barracks. The accommodation was very basic, similar to the conditions on board ship. People had bunk beds, no privacy and cooking was outside. Sean described the conditions as “miserable as hell”.
In the 1850s a wooden barracks was erected roughly on Princes Street. Sadly, the wooden structure burned down.
In the mid-1850s, under the Provincial Government, funding was made available to support immigration which led to a huge influx of immigrants.
Later, early 1870s, impressive new barracks were built in Caversham. These provided separate facilities for families, single women and single men. Mixing between the groups not allowed. The new barracks provided offices where workers and employers could meet and arrange jobs.
Sean told us about the scandal from Maria Rye who complained about the unacceptable (to her) conditions. She wrote letters that were published in the Times.
He also recounted the unfavourable welcome of the Irish women (Catholic) and the arrival of criminals from London.