Southland gets the message - Express article

Everyone was there, it seemed, from Crown Ministers and wannabes, councillors, staff from various agencies and trusts, fertilizer, farming and forestry people, even a pocket of global warming sceptics, pushing their loudly squeaking barrow - a broad cross-section of Southlanders, all interested in the future as described by speakers at The Energy Challenges and Choices for Southland conference in Invercargill. All those in the audience were set back in their seats by the things they heard from the speakers, especially the powerful messages from Professor Bob Lloyd of Otago University and Canterbury University’s Emeritus Professor Arthur Williamson. Neither men of science pulled their punches, telling the story of our most likely future. It’s one, they said, that is significantly different from what we have now. Oil, petrol and diesel, priced out of our reach and dwindling fast. Broad and irreversible climate change affecting food crops world wide. Traditional systems of transport and trade turned on their head. Lean times for all. The key message from both men; our dedication to growth, growth and more growth is a dead-end pathway. We must all re-think. The realities of finite resources and a limit to how much of our waste, industrial and personal, the planet can absorb, mean we no longer have a choice. We need to adapt quickly! Sitting in the audience, I heard more than one sharply indrawn breath being taken!
What will be the upshot of all this, now that the conference is over? Are there any signs of movement from the movers and shakers of our region toward preparing for peak oil and climate change? Is the mayor calling a Special Meeting? Are the CEO’s mobilising their forces? The award for the best effort and quickest response must go to the Transition Town group that met last weekend at Lumsden. They’re already networking and taking stock of the resources; people and infrastructure, that will become increasingly valuable, if and when the scenario presented by Professors Lloyd and Williamson become a reality.
Let’s hope our mayors, councillors, town and city ’mothers’ and ’fathers’ get moving soon, to keep up with the already activated ’grass roots’ of Southland.