‘We need to become the solution’: older New Zealanders join climate change fight

Younger people have been more aware of the risks compared with older groups, but over the past decade that has changed

On his early morning bike rides to school, David Yockney would deliberately seek out the crunch and splash of the ice-hardened puddles. It was a winter joy he loved, and one he took for granted. Now, 60 years later, he is surprised when ice forms a thin crust in the bird bath at his home on the Kpiti coast, north of Wellington.

The 74-year-old climate activist has become increasingly disturbed by the changes to his environment wrought by global heating and he is not the only one. New research from the University of Waikato shows that younger and older New Zealanders are becoming concerned about the climate emergency.