Image: Tina Tiller
Image: Tina Tiller

SocietySeptember 8, 2021

How to help during the delta outbreak

Staff writers
Image: Tina Tiller
Image: Tina Tiller

Many people in Aotearoa are doing it tough right now. If you’re keen to lend a hand but aren’t sure how, here are a few places to start.

Covid outbreaks in the community and the alert level restrictions that come with them often exacerbate hardships felt by the most vulnerable members of our community. If you’re doing OK and are able to help others, here’s a brief round-up of ways to do so, listed alphabetically. For more tips on supporting charities during the pandemic, check out the government’s official charities page.

Auckland City Mission

Demand is for food parcels is “exceptionally high” but the Auckland City Mission can’t accept donations of food or goods from members of the public during lockdown – which makes cash donations even more important. Donate here.

Catalytic Foundation

The Catalytic Foundation has set up an impact fund to fundraise for frontline community charities supporting people in need during the pandemic. You can donate here.

Check in on your neighbours

Hopefully, last year’s lockdown spurred your street to keep in touch virtually – be it a Facebook group, WhatsApp chat or good old-fashioned phone tree. If not, it’s never too late to start. Isolated or vulnerable members of your local community may appreciate a groceries delivery, help with booking their vaccination, or just a chat.

Compassion Soup Kitchen (Wellington) 

The soup kitchen switched to providing takeaway meals to those in need during levels four and three, including to people staying at homeless facility Te Paapori, to Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust and to Women’s Refuge, and it will continue doing takeaways at level two. You can donate money here.

Donating blood

Blood donation is an essential service and donor centres are safe to visit, but will be operating with extra precautions at higher levels. Book online to donate, or call 0800 448 325 if you’re unsure about your eligibility. Obviously, if you’re not feeling well or suffering any respiratory symptoms, please cancel your appointment. The NZ Blood Service recommends waiting 12 hours after receiving the Pfizer Covid vaccine before donating, or until there is no inflammation or infection at the vaccination site. FAQs here.

KidsCan

Through its 19for19 campaign, KidsCan is asking people to donate $19 for Covid-19. With schools and early childhood centres closed, the charity’s usual mahi of providing shoes, jackets, food and health products to kids has been unable to go ahead. Instead, they’re sending out food parcels to families in need in Covid-impacted areas. The original goal of 2,500 food parcels has been met, with more than $815,000 donated so far, but the need is still there, so KidsCan is calling for more donations. You can give here. 

Middlemore Foundation

​The Middlemore Foundation is working with community organisations and local marae to distribute care packs, including masks, sanitiser, blankets, nappies and toiletries, to families in need in South Auckland during alert level four. They’re seeking donations of between $20 and $100 to fund this – donate here.

Pet Refuge

In 2018, the Women’s Refuge found that over half of domestic violence survivors delayed leaving their situation because they were worried about their pets. A year later, the Pet Refuge was established, providing a cosy temporary home to pets that may be suffering cruelty as a result of domestic violence, or just need a place to stay while their owners find safety. You can donate here to give a pet a safe bed for a night and help make someone else’s tough decision that much easier. 

Red Cross

New Zealand Red Cross provides a range of services during heightened alert levels, including Meals on Wheels, delivering medical supplies to vulnerable people, and translating Covid-19 resources into different languages. You can donate here, or, if you’re not in a high-risk category, register to volunteer here.

Shakti

The Shakti Community Council is a non-profit organisation serving migrant and refugee women of Asian, African and Middle Eastern origin living in New Zealand, empowering them to live a life free from fear and violence. You can donate here.

Student Volunteer Army

With more demand on online supermarket shopping, many people who rely on delivered groceries have struggled to keep their regular slots. The Student Volunteer Army has a nationwide shopping and delivery service for those who aren’t able to leave the house. You can join their ranks, donate or access their services here.

The Aunties (Auckland)

The Aunties provide sustained support for people who have been through trauma, particularly domestic violence. This work continues through lockdown, with aunties delivering groceries and supplies to vulnerable people. Donate money here.

Wellington City Mission

During lockdown, the mission has been delivering food and essentials to vulnerable people all over Wellington. You can donate money here. 

Women’s Refuge

Women’s Refuge provides services for women experiencing domestic violence including support lines, home visits and safe houses. Last year during our first national lockdown, the Women’s Refuge reported a 60% increase in demand across the country, with many refuges still coping with the aftermath of 2020 as the latest outbreak grew. You can donate to them here.

Youthline

During lockdowns, Youthline sees a big increase in young people contacting its helpline in need of support. You can help them bolster that support by donating here.

FOOD BANKS & FOOD RESCUE

Food banks always face increased demand during lockdowns. In Auckland, it’s safer to donate money to your local food bank rather than goods, as many organisations have pivoted to providing shopping vouchers to reduce the risk of transmission. Please note that donations via a Givealittle page won’t reach the organisation until the following month so where possible, make donations directly to a bank account. Find your local food bank here. Services running food banks that have launched emergency appeals for donations during Auckland’s extended level four include Vision West, Presbyterian Support Northern, Vinnies Auckland and the Mangere Budgeting Services Trust.

Auckland food rescue group Fair Food distributed the equivalent of more than 75,000 meals to frontline charities over the first five days of the lockdown. Donate through the Givealittle page.

Kaibosh (Wellington) has been receiving and distributing food from a range of different sources over lockdown. You can donate money to them here.

More Reading

    KiwiHarvest rescues good food from supermarkets, wholesalers, producers, cafes, restaurants, and hotels they’re not able to sell, and redistributes it. They operate through all alert levels and have been accepting food in Auckland, Queenstown, Dunedin or Invercargill over lockdown. You can become a food donor, a sponsor or a recipient here.

    If you’re a food business with surplus stock, NZ Food Network will redistribute it to communities in need. If you’re not, donate money here.

    Through the Kai Ika Project, the Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae whānau distributes fish heads and frames that would otherwise go to waste to families and community groups, and there’s been a surge in demand over lockdown. While recreational fishing is not happening under level four, commercial fishing companies provide regular supplies and they’re working hard to deliver contactlessly to people in need, as well as allowing contactless pickup at the marae. Donate money here.

    Keep going!
    Image: Tina Tiller
    Image: Tina Tiller

    SocietySeptember 8, 2021

    Does New Zealand care less about climate change than other countries?

    Contributing writer
    Image: Tina Tiller
    Image: Tina Tiller

    A new poll has found a majority of New Zealanders want the government to act now to combat climate change, but overall we appear more complacent than our international peers. George Driver looks at what the research tells us about the country’s views on the climate crisis.

    New Zealanders want action on climate change – just not as much as people in other countries, according to a recent poll.

    An Ipsos study, released on Monday, surveyed 21,011 people in more than 30 countries this year, including 1010 in Aotearoa. It found that compared to other countries, we are less concerned about the need for urgent action on climate change, less likely to take action to reduce emissions and are more trusting that the government can get us through the crisis.

    In total, 57% of New Zealanders believed the government would be failing its citizens if it didn’t act now to combat climate change, compared with the global average of 65% around the world and 63% in Australia.

    A majority of New Zealanders (60%) also believed businesses should act now to combat climate change, but less than the global average of 68%, and 69% in Australia.

    Although 3 in 5 New Zealanders feel an individual responsibility to tackle climate change, the country ranks low in a global comparison

    Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following: If individuals like me do not act now to combat climate change, we will be failing future generations

    When asked whether people would be failing future generations “if individuals like me do not act now to combat climate change”, we were near the bottom of the table with 62% agreeing with the statement, compared with 72% in other countries. In this category, New Zealand only showed greater concern than Saudi Arabia (61%), Hong Kong (61%), Japan (59%) and Russia (46%).

    The survey also found that while a majority of New Zealander were taking action, or were likely to take action, to reduce their emissions, on average people overseas were doing more.

    But we have no excuse for being more complacent. New Zealand’s emissions record to date is among the worst in the OECD. Aotearoa had the fifth highest gross emissions per capita in the OECD in 2019 (behind Australia, the US, Canada and Luxembourg), while our emissions increased by 26% between 1990 and 2019, the fourth highest rise in the OECD. According to the Ministry for the Environment, this was “mostly due to increases in methane from dairy cattle digestive systems and carbon dioxide from road transport”. Net emissions are also expected to continue to increase to 2025.

    In almost all countries there was an enormous disconnect between the majority believing the government should take urgent action to reduce emissions and a minority believing their government had a clear plan to do so. But the survey found New Zealanders were more likely to believe their government had a clear plan to tackle climate change, with 37% agreeing with the statement compared with the global average of 31%. The NZ government has committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, but the target excludes methane emissions from agriculture – a sector that accounts for 48% of the country’s emissions. The Climate Change Commission recently released a detailed plan for how Aotearoa could reach the net-zero target, but the government is yet to release its plan to reach its emissions targets –one is due out before the end of the year.

    The survey also highlighted a generational divide, with a certain group born in the decade or two after WWII feeling the least amount of urgency for “acting now” against climate change.

    Fifty percent of those aged over 50 thought the government would be failing the population if it didn’t act now to combat climate change, compared to 67% of 18 to 34 year olds.

    Opinions were also correlated with education levels, with 51% of those with a high school education or lower believing the government should act now, compared with 66% for those with a post-grad degree or higher.

    When asked about the likelihood of avoiding flying in the future, New Zealand ranked last

    Q: Thinking about things you might do in order to limit your own contribution to climate change, how likely or unlikely would you be to make the following changes within the next year? – Not flying, or replacing some flights with train or bus journeys

    University of Auckland psychology professor Quentin Douglas Atkinson studies the psychology of climate change and says there are some cultural factors which may explain why we are less likely to take individual action on climate change. Our industries and behaviour are arguably less compatible with emissions reductions, compared to places with good public transport that are less reliant on agriculture.

    “For example, we’ve developed a car culture that makes it difficult for many Kiwis to imagine how life would work without relying on their car,” Atkinson says. “We’re exporters of meat and dairy products and have high rates of meat and dairy consumption. We are geographically isolated and like to fly a lot.”

    He says the country’s self-image may also hinder our perception of the level of action we need to take.

    “We perceive ourselves as ‘clean and green’ and market this image to the world. This can result in what is known as ‘moral licensing’ – small virtuous acts, or the perception that one is virtuous, can make one less likely to take truly meaningful action.”

    But he says the survey also captures the positive change already taking place, as more people change their diet, reduce air travel and reduce car trips.

    “All this is particularly true of younger people who will shape the New Zealand of the future. And publicising research like this Ipsos poll can help people realise we aren’t the global environmental saints we sometimes think we are, and help to motivate more meaningful action.”

    Massey University senior lecturer Jagadish Thaker is an expert on climate change communication and says the poll shows climate change action is not yet a priority for many New Zealanders.

    “It shows a low level of guilt for the lack of urgent action on climate change,” he says. “Kiwis show a lower priority to climate change than Australians and that is a national shame.”

    Only 1 in 4 in New Zealand are likely to avoid cars in favour of bikes or walking in future

    Q. How do you expect your personal behaviours to change once any restrictions on your life because of coronavirus are removed? Do you expect to do the following things more, less, or the same amount as you did before the coronavirus pandemic? – Doing errands & journeys on foot or by bike rather than by car, e.g. commute, school run, trips to the shops

    But Thaker says the fact that three out of five New Zealanders agree that businesses need to act now on climate change means there could be greater consumer activism. He says more action could also be taken to help people understand what they can do to reduce emissions.

    “We need to help the public understand not just the science of climate change, but how climate change translates into everyday impacts and what they can specifically do to act on climate change.”

    But the survey’s results might not be as clean cut as they seem. University of Waikato researcher Taciano Milfont is a leading academic in conservation psychology and cautions against drawing any firm conclusions about New Zealanders’ lack of concern about climate change based on a single poll. He says it is difficult to compare survey results between countries without more robust controls for how the questions may be interpreted in different cultures.

    “One thing we often do in cross-cultural studies is first make sure that people understood the questions the same way. When you make these comparisons there is an assumption that those comparisons are meaningful, but we don’t know that here.”

    Looking at it purely as a survey of 1010 New Zealanders, it shows a clear majority want the government, business and individuals to take immediate action on climate change, he says.

    “This is giving the government a mandate to do something and people want the government to do more.”

    Awareness of government plans to tackle climate change is higher in New Zealand compared to the global average and Australia

    Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following: [MARKET]’s government has a clear plan in place for how government, businesses & people themselves are going to work together to tackle climate change

    The level of concern and understanding about climate change is also increasing over time. Milfont published a paper in Nature Communications this year about the generational divide in climate change opinions in New Zealand. The study looked at how the opinions of different age groups had changed over a decade. While there was a generational gap in people’s beliefs – with younger people more likely to believe that climate change was “real” – all age groups showed a consistent increase in the belief that anthropogenic climate change exists.

    This trend is consistent with other public opinion polling. Insurance firm IAG has conducted a survey on New Zealanders’ attitudes towards climate change since 2018 and found 79% agree that “climate change is an important issue to them personally” in 2021, up from 72% in 2018. More than 80% also believed climate change would result in more extreme weather. But people were pessimistic about the government’s response, with 40% believing the country’s response to climate change was on the right track, 35% believing we’ll meet our emissions targets and 41% thought the country wasn’t moving fast enough.

    A Horizon Poll also found the number who believed climate change was an urgent problem increased from 8% in 2006 to 43% in 2019, while the number who thought climate change wasn’t a problem declined from 37% to 11%. A majority of voters for all parties also thought climate change was an urgent problem – except for Act voters who were an outlier, with 16% believing climate change is an urgent problem and 83% believing it is not.

    Society