Morgan Pepper: It’s Not About Infrastructure, It’s About People – A Call for a Human-Centric Climate Response

*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.

Morgan Pepper - ANZ

Relationship Associate 

The entire 2024 RAP met with Minister of Climate Change Simon Watts in August. How was that?

I have visited the Beehive before but only for tours. This time I felt like I was a part of what was going on. So that was amazing to experience.

The Minister was very welcoming, which was good, because it is such an intimidating space to come in to as a young person.

All the members of the RAP were coming in with our perspectives on the draft ERP2 [Emissions Reduction Plan version 2]. We made sure to note what we liked about it, but we were also letting him know what we didn't like about it, which is kind of scary when you're not used to presenting on something that feels so high stakes to the people who can make a difference.

The key criticism we had was that we found the plan was not a human centric document. The draft talks about things like a sound infrastructure and a stable economy... but for us, that is not the end goal. The end goal is people having a safe place to live and work, and safe roads to drive on and reliable power to live their lives. That's the actual outcome.

We feel that these changes would make the document more accessible and get more buy in. Which is important, because these plans that the government is trying to implement won't work unless people are taken on the journey as well.

Can we talk about the tension between hope and optimism. In the context of how you felt after that meeting with Minister Watts, where do you sit on that tension between hope and optimism about the future in the face of the nature and climate crises we are facing?

I think that it would be naive to think that everybody wants the same thing. There is a lot of self-interest and a lot of short term views that are going to get in the way of progress on climate change. So, I'm cynical from that perspective. But I also think that we will get there eventually. It might not be perfect, but if we do the work now, it will improve our chances.

When we left that meeting with Minister Watts there was a real mixed bag amongst the group of those who were feeling hopeful versus those who were more cynical. Overall, I left feeling good.

So I do want to ask you, and I do ask a lot of the RAP members this, do you think young people have enough of a voice in Aotearoa?

Yeah, I think we kind of do. If we were going to measure New Zealand against other countries, I think there are more young public figures and young entrepreneurs here in New Zealand. I do think we appear stronger than others in this area.

But there is still a problem because often we are still being spoken for by others. Many 40-50 year olds have asked me “Do younger people really think that differently to us?” and I think our generational differences sometimes get hidden.  

For example, the conversation about having children. I have noticed in the last 5-10 years among my peers that it’s becoming more mainstream to have open discussions about it. Asking questions like – do I actually want to have children? If I'm not hopeful for the next 50 years, why would I have a child? Why would I bring a child into that?

I know that conversation has happened in the past among other generations. But I do think it is more pervasive in my age group. I have been personally asked by older generations “Why aren’t people having kids anymore?” As if they are surprised that young people don’t want to have kids as much given the current conditions  (whether they be environmental, social, or financial etc).

If you could do one thing that you think would help us restore our natural capital and save the world. What would you do?

What I would like to do is take a trip back in time 40 years and add environmental sciences to the curriculum. Because the education part seems to be the biggest barrier - misinformation and everyone sitting around arguing about whether it's true or not. And if we had stopped arguing 50 years ago, we would have been so much further ahead. But that's time travel… 

If I were to change anything today, Directors’ obligations and Government obligations should have stipulations around looking after people and looking after the environment. Because looking after people is looking after the environment.

 Note, The Aotearoa Circle has published a number of legal opinions related to director obligations regarding climate and nature, which can be found in our reports and resources section of our website here.