Strawberries in winter

One swallow does not a summer make, they say, and one strawberry doesn’t equal global warming – though I did scratch my head when the plants at the front of my house produced fruit on the shortest day of the year.

Hmm, something’s up there.

Scientists hate it when amateurs try to prove contentious issues like global warming with anecdotal evidence, so I won’t start ringing the alarm bells just yet. And, yes, there are plenty of other possible explanations for my unseasonal strawbs (and the daffodils that have bloomed down the road!). However, scientists are increasingly saying that we can expect to see changes in New Zealand’s natural cycles as the greenhouse effect makes its presence felt.

Subtle things like plants flowering and fruiting a week or two later in the season will be fairly harmless, and possibly pleasant, but other things may be a nuisance. The first real cold snaps of winter usually knock out the fly and mosquito numbers, so as the planet warms we may well find summer pests linger longer – and farmers and orchardists could find they have different kinds of bugs to deal with, too.

The natural world’s not the only thing changing though – people everywhere are doing things differently.

Last week, for instance, something silver went zipping past my ear on the way to work. I turned around to see a sprightly older lady whizz by on an electric scooter. As she disappeared around the corner, a huge biker on a gas-guzzling Harley gave her an enthusiastic whoop – and it looked for all the world like the past saluting the future.

Wow, I thought. That’s new – someone commuting to work on an emissions-free scooter, while the fossil-fuel economy looks on enviously. It was as surprising a sight as strawberries in winter – and made me realise that we don’t need to wait on central government or councils to take action on climate change – the power is in our hands.

Yip, I thought, the world really is changing – and some of it’s for the better.

Greg Roughan
 Editor, Green Ideas magazine

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