Earth Talks Earth Talks

Jerome Partington, a Regenerative Development Practitioner, and Associate Principal and Sustainability Manager at Jasmax, empowers us to evolve how we think about climate change and our relationship with the environment around us. What if we looked beyond problem solving and aimed higher than settling for just sustainable solutions or outcomes? 

Jerome introduces a regenerative approach where he encourages us to be pulled towards the inherent potential within any situation. If we see our businesses, communities, and ourselves as whole living systems within a larger living system we can focus on growing the potential within them. We can honour the participants in each system, their roles and their interactions.

Are you a “possibilitairian” or a “miniscularian”? 

That’s the question that high performance leadership coach James McLaughlin posed to a room full of business leaders at the Te Ao Earth Week Summit, acknowledging the necessity of creative and innovative leadership in order to find solutions in a world of climate change.

Have a watch or listen to this short video, in which James will guide you to have a possiblitiarian perspective, rather than a dooms-day perspective, around living in this era of climate change.

Ever think about how much insurance will cost in the future in the wake of climate change? Will it be affordable for all? For any?

This is but one aspect that Economist Shamubeel Eaqub thinks about while considering the wider landscape of social change, political change, and regime change as we walk further into an era of climate change.

Watch this video, linked here, to get a glimpse into what Shamubeel foresees into our future economic and societal reality. Learn why he asks us to really think about how we are positioned within our current policies and systems framework, if we are to effectively address the challenges of climate change and climate change caused situations.

In this talk, Dr. Anake Goodall bravely voices his discomfort, tension, and the destabilising feelings that we all sense, and perhaps don’t talk enough about, when it comes to living a time of climate change. 

A long-time investor in the green economy of New Zealand who has held various executive roles and advisory to government and iwi, Anake’s wisdom around the barriers and opportunities to change runs deep. 

He speaks here to the current level of cynicism and backward thinking in politics that hinders us from real progress and pits people against one another. And he asks us to lean into the fact that the future will require us to face difficulty and have difficult conversations. 

Listen into how Anake guides us to have these conversations and lean into difficult situations as part of the new frontier of finding our way towards solutions.

Has carbon emissions become a fatigued topic? Is it losing its emphasis with constant chatter about offsetting instead of how to reduce our warming in the first place? We see it like this... like other times when the world has had to come together to fight for what is right, we all have contribute to this battle. Every person who is consuming and emitting carbon, methane or other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere needs to do their bit for the world. Wield our swords and cut #ghg emitting consumption.How do we know how much damage we're doing and how much we have to wield our sword?  Some ways are incredibly labour intensive, counting up every gram and kilojoule of energy and waste, which in itself can be overwhelming. There are now many who are way more efficient. We have teamed up with cogo - taking the lead on measuring and reducing carbon emissions for over a decade. It provides a carbon footprint management tool for private businesses and public organisations to measure, understand and reduce their impact on the planet. It enables efficient and powerful insight and partners up with some of the world's largest banks to integrate leading carbon tracking functionality into their banking apps. Check out Josh Dry, Director of Business Development at Cogo, speak about Cogo’s efforts to empower decarbonisation and get a preview into what Cogo looks like and can do in the hands of consumers.Another Aotearoa New Zealand born business making impact for the survival and thriving of our earth.

Why is how you report on ESG, sustainability and your positive impact on Mother Earth important?

When an organisation commits and contributes to a community and/or the environment it is important that we can tell whether it is just all smoke and mirrors or the real thing. Unfortunately, too often those doing amazing work don't communicate it well with long reports and the more jazzed up greenwashing superficiality takes over. There are now great tools out there that enable engagement and depth of reporting - it is important we use them so that our contribution, our impact, is seen and inspiring for others. Our Earth needs everyone to make an impactful contribution!

How can an organisation take something that’s hard to understand and make it something more people actually want to engage with?

We connected with OrbViz, an Ōtautahi Christchurch business with global reach, that tackles this problem. They are helping governments, companies, and non-profits bring reporting to life in a dynamic way that enables more people to be engaged in reporting and decision making.

Check out this entertaining video in which Karim CoFounder of Orbviz shares a dirty little secret about his not-so-eco-friendly past, enlightens us to the attention span of humans vs goldfish, and gives a walkthrough of how Orbviz works and ensures that impactful work has impactful reporting!

Innovative digital tools helping to make a difference in the world from Aotearoa New Zealand.