“Fear makes you act faster”– Is it time to change the way we speak about Climate Change?
*The views expressed by this Rangatahi member are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of the organisation(s) they represent.
Bryn Wilson - Mercury
Graduate Commercial Analyst
You've come from this finance background and I suppose that's not what people traditionally think of when they think about somebody who cares about nature, which you clearly do. So what made you want to be part of the Rangatahi Advisory Panel?
Absolutely. I've always been interested in environmentalism being Māori, I hold kaitiakitanga close to my heart. My partner works for a not-for-profit environmental organisation here in Tauranga so, I can't really get away from it. I think my generation generally has similar perspectives on environmental issues.
Where people's ideas come into conflict with environmentalism, there is generally money involved and I think that our generation generally doesn't have that level of financial power at this stage in our lives. So I think that goes hand-in-hand with the majority of our generation’s social conscience.
So you’re saying that as people have more of a stake in the status quo, they’re more reluctant to change it.
Very much so. Yeah. I think that [rangatahi are] sort of at the forefront.
I’m part of a group currently working to establish an internal rangatahi advisory panel at Mercury and looking at the benefits of having a youth advisory panel within the company and a lot of it comes back to the diversity of opinions and perspectives and almost all of it links back around to environmentalism.
And as for me on The Aotearoa Circle’s RAP, I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet like-minded individuals. People that are keen to put their hand up and say hey, look, I'm gonna be a part of this thing. And coming from different industries too, you get quite a wide perspective of companies that you don't generally associate with environmentalism or sustainability. You get a glimpse into the things that they're doing too, which I thought is quite a cool opportunity.
Do you think that the climate crisis is a problem, that humanity can actually fix or is it time to say “let's just adapt”?
I think we can mitigate it for sure. I don't know if we can completely reverse it - I think that we're a little bit too far gone. But I'm also a bit of a pessimist, and I think hope is probably less of a motivator than fear. Ending up in flames or being underwater is probably a stronger motivator than, you know, “we can do this”.
But don't you think that fear can be immobilising?
Yeah, that’s a good point. But on the other side of the coin, hope doesn't reach all corners and there are people stuck in their ways who probably won't really change with either. I'm probably more motivated by the fear side of things. I guess fear makes you probably move a little bit faster.
You know, [disastrous] weather events are starting to occur considerably more frequently, which raises a lot of alarm bells and does put a little bit of fire in the belly. I think businesses are in a unique position to materially address pollution and polluting activities compared with individual action. And I think the message to them needs to be “you get sustainable or you get shutdown”. It doesn't matter if you're worth $100,000 or 3 trillion. You know you're not going to be able to operate in 10 years if things keep going the way, they are.
Do you think younger people have enough influence and voice in Aotearoa?
I think there are platforms for those who seek them, but I think that confidence is probably lacking in a lot of my generation. The confidence to speak up and the confidence to have a voice is probably a bit nullified.
But it is good to see a lot younger people get getting elected into positions of power. And in Tauranga, where I am, is having local elections at the moment and there are quite a few young candidates.
So, I think that it is changing, but whether there are enough young representatives is a difficult question.