Hello everyone,
I’m trying something new today. I have started a new podcast series - 5 Minutes with Bryan, and today I have recorded the first of them - a free podcast based on the Climate Change piece “ Why didn’t they do something?” which I wrote on my Substack this morning. Let me know if you find it useful I’ll record podcasts of my opinion pieces from time to time under this new banner.
The idea is to offer a brief but regular counter narrative to the deluge of right-wing opinion pieces currently flooding the New Zeland media landscape .
Please share and restack this podcast if you find it worthwhile as it all helps to build reader and listenership.
And if you are able to support my work please consider becoming a paid subscriber. All monies collected go into production. The more subscribers the more important stories we can tell.
By becoming a paid subscriber for $9 a month (including GST) you can help me continue my public interest journalism- speaking truth to power and giving a voice to those who have none.Membership will also give you access to all my posts , allow you to comment and join our chat group for discussions. Please restack and share posts you think are worthwhile as it all helps to build readership.
And to my paid subscibers - Thank you again for your support.
TRANSCRIPT
Hello , I’m Bryan Bruce on the 18th of March 2025
I’m in my 70’s .
If we do nothing about climate change then in 2100, when my grandson is as old as I am now, the average temperature of the world will have risen between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius.
There will be massive floods, devastating wildfires, droughts and violent storms. Coastal communities will be disappearing, countless plant, insect and animal species upon which we rely to keep nature in balance, will have vanished. There will be widespread famine resulting in migration on a scale we cannot comprehend, and heat related diseases and infections will be commonplace.
Historians, if they have not long since been defunded by successive right-wing governments for teaching a non-essential discipline, will look back 75 years to 2025 when the average world temperature rose to that red line of 1.5 degrees Celsius and ask:
“Why didn’t they do something about it?”
Well, they say things are often clearer in hindsight, so let me take you to 2100 to eavesdrop on a History professor lecturing his students .
“So, why didn’t people take the necessay steps to mitigate Climate Change 75 years ago when it was obvious there was a looming world crisis, you ask?
The short answer, is vested interests.
Coal corporations, oil producers, automobile manufacturers, aluminium producers and a host of others who made their fortunes out of cheap fossil fuel energy, captured politicians like then US President Donald Trump by making massive campaign donations in return for promoting the lie that climate change was “a hoax”.
By purchasing media outlets in multiple countries, and engaging experts- for-hire to cherry pick and distort the available science, the uber rich right-wing lobby groups deflected attention from their own activities by pushing the voluntary message - that citizens should “ take personal responsibility” for lowering their carbon footprint.
And so it was the fossil fuel industry worked hand in hand with a network of politically conservative ,libertarian and neoliberal think tanks who pedalled the snake oil of climate doubt.
Yes, there were many who tried to fight the onslaught of misinformation, misdirection and lobbying, but the billions of dollars from Big Money and fossil fuel vested interests, won the day. Climate scientists who spoke up were demonized and lost their university jobs and hard facts were dismissed as ‘woke’. beliefs.“
Is that how history will remember us?
The Gullible Age?
The Age of the Consumer Addicted?
Or would you rather our grandchildren learned about our time as The Age Of Climate and Planet Enlightenment? That period in history when democracy was wrenched back from the grip of Big Money and Big Business by using the power of the vote to elect governments focused on the needs of the people and the planet, instead of the wants and desires of share holders and profiteers.
If so, we need to get people to understand the vital importance of casting their vote for a sustainable, climate- friendly economy.. And frankly, that’s going to be a bit of a mission.
According to the New Zealand Electoral Commission, just on 30% of Māori and 22% of Pakeha did not vote at the last election, and with all the money the right-wing is throwing at shaping public opinion, we’re going to have our work cut out to get as many people as possible out voting in 2026.
But we can do it, person by person. We can do it by talking with our whanau and friends about how life doesn’t have to be this way, because a poor person’s vote is just as powerful as a rich person’s.
And we need to tell those who would wish to lead us, that they better have substantial climate policies on offer at the next election, otherwise they will be out in the cold. ( Or hot, or storm or.. well,..I’m sure you get my point.)
Thank you for listening.
If you like to hear more of my podcasts, and interviews with informed, thinking people, please visit my Substack which you can find by typing bryanbruce.substack.com into your browser.
Share this post