Leadership in a Climate of Change

A gathering of leaders was convened in September for a dialogue on responsibility in a ‘climate of change’. A representative from our Charter for Responsibility group was invited.
Business people, writers, various leaders, scientists and people involved in sustainability initiatives were there, and both young and older people were included. The main outcome was formation of a network to support initiatives towards living within the life supporting capacity of earth ecosystems.

Commentary

As a Representative of the NZ Charter committee, I was invited to a gathering of 48 invited participants to ‘create together new thinking and acting for Responsibility in a Climate of Change.’

It was exciting to meet for 4 days with people who represented business interests, journalists, writers, farmers, various environmental sectors, young activists and older leaders, trade union officials, land cultivators. There were people in humble roles and those who are in positions of great responsibility, for example the Commissioner for Children, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

One of the key themes was ‘that we are living beyond the limits of earth’ and leadership is needed to enable us to work towards commonality of purpose with systems for living sustainably. It was noted that ‘Climate Change is a symptom of human activity beyond the limits of earth’s capacity to absorb waste’.

The gathering was run as a dialogue process, with emphasis on open hearts, minds and wills. One of the younger people identified Responsibility as a burden in our time of environmental crisis. He said ‘we don’t chose the time in which to be born, but we have the opportunity to respond in our time’.

One or two highlights included hearing about a partnership between a New York company and a Maori group in NZ for a permanent hardwood forest sink initiative. NZ Government policy has been slow to initiate climate change policies but has assigned carbon credits to investors to encourage forestry initiatives.

A writer gave a thoughtful view of tourism (a major industry in NZ), and a culture of NZ society as viewing (and objectifying) the landscape, rather learning to inhabit the landscape and live within its life supporting capacities.

Some people felt expressed interest in re-convening for substantive initiatives to emerge.