The best Carbon Dioxide measure in the Southern Hemisphere is at Baring Heads, Wellington, NZ
In regards to our Carbon Constrained Future, I find it useful to have a measure as to where we are at, where we are likely going and as a constant reminder of how much harder I need to work at reducing my carbon impact and to show others in pictorial form why they need to do so too. The inconvenience of a Carbon Constrained Future, on the likes of our love of SUVs, ‘lifestyle’, travel et al has not budged an inch in the last 40-50 years since we became aware of anthropological climate change (human induced), what has changed is that we have pretty much run in the opposite direction with the size of our carbon footprint to the one logic would dictate… so rather than moving away from a crumbling cliff as the oceans batter it we have been moving towards it with increasing pace.
This is not surprising as it is truly inconvenient. We just need to learn to embrace inconvenience, think of it as a cold shower, not pleasant but good for you.
However I am very hopeful. 15 years ago when I was involved in a team that set up the Carbon Logic Investment Fund to invest in a Carbon Constrained Future, the consciousness of this Mac Truck event unfurling was substantially less well understood than it is today and it was hard to raise funds for it, I had more arguments / discussions about the reality of a carbon constrained future with people than I’d care to remember.
It is great to now see so many initiatives, such passion, awareness and a far higher acceptance of the reality. To name a few local ones www.carbonclick.com is a very cool initiative from Titirangi (our old home), investment firms like www.path.co.nz and their Ethical Growth and Water funds, initiatives such as https://mindfulmoney.nz/ making ethical investing so much more accessible. In my own industry, initiatives such as https://www.unepfi.org/ working with banks, insurers and investors to create a sustainable finance sector. Plus so many Certification services to ensure the marketing, professional promises are a reality https://www.greenbiz.com/article/33-sustainability-certifications-you-need-know
The measure that I like to keep an eye on is “The Baring Head Atmospheric Research Station, which has been in operation for almost 50 years, makes significant contributions to our global understanding of greenhouse gases, other trace gases and related species in air that is representative of the mid latitude southern hemisphere.
The internationally recognised site contributes to global scientific studies into climate change and our impact on the earth's atmosphere. The air arriving at this site in a southerly condition has originated from areas of no human activity and therefore is not influenced by any local activity.”
Some historic videos from Baring Head including visits to and explanation of the results of Green House Gases sampled at Baring Heads since 1972 -
In these videos from 10 years ago they sounded shocked that the CO2 parts per million had reached 392 ppm in 2012, today that number is over 412 ppm… the rate of increase varies but is steadily in an upward trend. Having gained the experience as a nation of squashing the COVID curve, we now know what we need to do to squash the Baring Head line.
For further reading - Baring Head Atmospheric Research Station | NIWA
