JOHN CAMPBELL: In 2017, What Next started a national conversation. We need to come up with some big plans, and we need to do that now. We asked you what you wanted for the future of New Zealand in 20 years ` for technology, the economy, the environment and how we live. Should we continue with Plan A ` keep doing what we're doing, making small changes ` or do we need some big new ideas ` a Plan B? The answer was loud and clear. Overwhelmingly, we're a Plan B country, at least as reflected in the more than 200,000 votes that we have received. Now we're going to look at Plan B in action. We'll meet New Zealanders with big, radical ideas ` people who are passionate, innovative and maybe just the right amount of crazy. Hemp will be mainstream if we make it mainstream. They're showing us a path to future-proof New Zealand. So what does a Plan B look like? Over four episodes ` four different visions for our future ` we'll address the most important issues facing New Zealand in the next 20 years. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) Nigel Latta asks if there's a way the economy can be fair for everyone. Jehan Casinader explores how science could extend and improve our lives. Miriama Kamo examines the impact of AI and technology on the next generation. And Carolyn Robinson discovers how we get the environment in good shape for the future. CAROLYN ROBINSON: Climate change is the biggest problem facing New Zealand and the world. In 2017, What Next asked if we should follow Plan A or Plan B when it comes to the future of the environment. Plan A would be carry on as normal. And you were pretty clear; in fact, you were very clear. An overwhelming 89% of you said you want Plan B. In this episode, we meet New Zealanders who are leading the fight against climate change. Can acting sustainably be good not only for our future but also for our economy? Can we be leaders? Can we undo the damage we've done? When it comes to global warming, I'm not quite sure how much impact I can have as an individual. I want to be good to the environment, I recycle, and I teach my children to do that too. But I worry we're just contributing to an ever-growing plastic mountain. I drive to work every day in my petrol car, and I'm alone. I use a reusable coffee cup, but sometimes I forget it. I consider every single-use cup a fail. But even more troubling for me is the fact there are still people in the world who don't believe in man-made climate change. 25% of Kiwis are unsure, but the scientists have definitely decided. It's pretty incontrovertible that climate change is happening. Global warming is happening. It's easy to say, 'Well, there are these natural cycles, so it's probably just one of those,' but the rate of warming lately is unprecedented, just about. And there's nothing else going on with the climate apart from the increase in greenhouse gases, and we know that's from human activity. Research shows that rising CO2 in the atmosphere goes with rising temperatures at the earth's surface, and the real red flag is that the earth has clearly started getting warmer since the Industrial Revolution. If we keep emitting carbon dioxide at the rate we are at the moment, we'll push the planet to more than 2 degrees of warming, and that looks like it'll lock in many metres of sea level rise, you know ` 5, 10, 15m ` and that would be catastrophic. Basically, we'd be pushing the climate into a state that humanity's never experienced before and could lead to displacement of billions of people. Hard to imagine how bad it could be, actually. Unusually, our political parties are united. Do you believe that climate change is man-made? Yes, absolutely. I think the scientific evidence and the scientific consensus is clear. I have absolutely no question and no doubt, from all of the scientific evidence and research, that we have impacted on the effects and the causes of climate change that we're seeing. No question. New Zealand has signed the Paris Agreement, a global initiative to keep warming to only 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels ` ideally, just 1.5 degrees. To achieve this, our government has set a target of net zero for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. (APPLAUSE) This is my generation's nuclear-free moment, and I'm determined we will tackle it head on. They've already made some radical Plan B decisions. We will no longer be granting any new offshore oil and gas exploration permits. (APPLAUSE) If you think of global warming, I think the only way it will be solved is through incredibly smart minds and technology, but that makes some big assumptions about the willingness that people have to act and behave differently. Behaving differently will mean New Zealanders have to face up to reality. New Zealand is a very small contributor to global emissions, much less than 1% of the global total, but I don't think that's the way to think about it. Per head of population, we're in the top 10 emitters globally. In New Zealand, transport is responsible for 37% of all carbon emissions. Per capita, New Zealand is fourth in the world for car ownership. But there's one major technology set to disrupt our petrol world. If you've got your electric car on the road, basically there are zero emissions from running that car. The emissions might come from the electricity that's powering the car. But that's not the case in New Zealand. New Zealand is already well ahead of the world in terms of renewable energy. You know, we produce 85% of our electricity from renewable resources, and, quite frankly, we could actually go 100%. There are few countries that are as spoilt for choice. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) So what's stopping us from adopting electric vehicles? (ENGINE ROARS) In Taupo, there's one car-loving family divided by the petrol versus electric debate. Like many Kiwis, Dylan and mum Diane worship petrol cars, while dad Tom and son Chad have left the petrol religion, fully converting to electric. Dylan, what have you got against electric cars? Oh, it's... just they don't have the smell of gas, or noise, or anything like that. I enjoy my V8s. Is it that you are against electric cars or do you just love petrol cars so much? I just love petrol cars. They` Why? It's the... Same as Dylan, it's the sound; it's the` you know, they rumble... It's just awesome. I suppose, when you're in a V8, and someone` you roar off down the street, people will turn their heads. (LAUGHS) They look great. You do that in an electric car, someone will be like, 'There's a bee flying around.' Yeah. Yeah. (LAUGHTER) Oh, low blow. Tom and Chad run their own garage specialising in electric vehicles. They've taken their passion to what some would say is a blasphemous level, converting a Holden Torana to an electric drag car. TOM: Really snaps your neck. You've really gotta put your head back before you go, and... (CHUCKLES) Yeah, it's crazy ` crazy fast but no noise. (TYRES SQUEAL) While not great for burnouts, it's unusually quiet. (TYRES SQUEAL) It's undeniably fast, with a top speed of 350km/h. So, what is under the hood? Right, let's have a look at this. (CHUCKLES) Oh, what? A lot of fresh air` Yeah. ...is what's under the hood. The fact that I go racing for the weekend for $6, you know ` it's, um, pretty crazy. And it's clean and green. Is that part of it important to you? Yeah, no, it definitely is. There's no reason that we need to be driving petrol cars any more. We should all be driving electric vehicles. (ENGINE STARTS) But Dean sees a major roadblock ahead. I know so many bogans ` it's unbelievable ` and every one of them will never go away from their Ford or Holden or whatever they own. Do you worry about the future, though? Thinking about the fact that you do have children. I definitely do. I love my kids to pieces, but with global warming and everything else as well, anything could happen. I'll be fixing their cars whatever they're driving, to be honest. So, yeah, nah. It will happen. It will happen one day. (ENGINE ROARS, TYRES SQUEAL) Less than 1% of vehicles in New Zealand are electric, but that number is increasing week by week. Dee West wants to see everyone in an electric vehicle. They just make sense` Yeah. ...economically, environmentally, performance-based, the driver experience, you name it. And all of the excuses are getting destroyed` Yes. Yes. ...one at a time, so now's the time. One of the biggest anxieties with electric vehicles is the range. While this borrowed Tesla can go 354km on a single charge, the average electric car can't even do half that. So in 2014, Dee and her husband, Steve, established ChargeNet, a network of fast charging stations across New Zealand. People won't buy electric cars if they don't have places to charge them when they're going on road trips, and it's very difficult to justify building charging stations... ...without any electric vehicles. Right ` that are gonna actually use them. Yeah. And so the only way to really break that deadlock is to just... ...do it. ...do it. Just take a punt and do it. (RECORD SCRATCHES) Steve's international success with his DJ software company Serato put the couple in a unique position. We thought, 'New Zealand is the perfect place for electric cars. They should be popular, eventually,' and we took a punt, and spent millions and millions of dollars. (LAUGHS) Of our own dollars. ChargeNet now has a growing network of 150 charging stations across the country. While it's helping ease concerns over the range the cars can travel, cost is still a major barrier. Brand-new electric vehicles are more expensive than internal combustion vehicles, and that's because the batteries are expensive. But the batteries are also getting cheaper` Better. ...and cheaper and cheaper every year. While this Tesla model X remains in the luxury category, it's predicted that when battery prices fall in a few years, a new electric vehicle will cost the same as its petrol equivalent, and this will mean more affordable electric cars trickling into the second-hand market, opening up the benefits of EV ownership to more people ` and I'll definitely be one of them. So, if you're saving $2000 a year on your fuel, and you're buying a car for $10,000, then pretty quickly the car's paying for itself. Maintenance is also cheaper. So with the economics less of a barrier, the environmental benefits of owning an electric vehicle are already convincing. It is the single most impactful thing that a household can do. There's two areas that are clogging up our beautiful Aotearoa's air, and it's cows and cars. Each one of the cars is going to stop 2000kg of carbon entering into our atmosphere, and that's huge. Every year. Every year. I think in 10 years' time, every car you buy will plug into the wall. And then 10 years after that, virtually the whole fleet will be electric. The electric cars of the future may well bring down emissions, but what about the cows? And could the solution lie with this national treasure? (ENGINE REVS) Assertive ` that's how I describe my driving. On the open road, you're aiming for about 10 to 15 above the road sign. Nah, nah, passengers don't get to call the shots. I'm the one driving, so I choose the speed. (WEATHER REPORT PLAYS ON RADIO) (ENGINE REVS) If you wanna drive, then you can drive. That's what I always fire back. They just don't understand how you can drive quickly and safely. If anyone tells me to slow down, I give them the same response every time ` my car, my rules. * (IGNITER CLICKS) We know that gas emissions from livestock are a big contributor to global warming, and New Zealand has a high ratio of livestock to humans. The farmer-owned group Beef + Lamb New Zealand recognises this, and Melissa Clark-Reynolds is the first non-farmer to join their board of directors. Look, none of us can carry on as usual if we're gonna combat climate change. And what's interesting is that if we don't combat climate change, we're not gonna be able to carry on as usual either. A couple of years ago, I came across this great slogan, which has been, probably, my rallying cry for the last few years, and it's 'Un-fuck the world.' The farmers I work with ` they wanna un-fuck the planet just as much as anybody else. Beef + Lamb New Zealand set a goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. With 80% of New Zealand meat produced for export, the environmental concerns of overseas consumers are helping drive that change. Consumers want transparency throughout the entire supply chain. So they want to know... If they're in Europe and they buy a piece of New Zealand lamb, they actually really want to know right back to the farmer now. So, grass-fed, no GMOs in the feed, no antibiotic use will be required by those markets ` and then, of course, free-range. So the good news for New Zealand is that we're already producing beef the way that the world wants beef produced. Over the next 20 years, the amount of meat New Zealanders eat looks likely to change. I genuinely believe that our per capita meat consumption is going to decline. And it's going to decline for health reasons; it's going to decline for environmental reasons; it's going to decline for ethics reasons. People will still choose to eat meat. But I'm hoping that if they're going to eat less meat, they eat much better meat. And that's pretty much where the New Zealand meat industry is putting its money down and saying, 'That's the kind of meat we have to produce in the future.' Worldwide, the meat industry's facing competition from an onslaught of new meat alternatives. There are plant-based meat substitutes like New Zealand's Sunfed chicken, made from a split pea protein. And now there's meat grown in a lab. While this technology is in its infancy, in time it could become the main meat product we all eat. The meat industry isn't the only one facing an uncertain future. Dairy is also under pressure. One big idea is being developed by a very unlikely source. I'm most known for starting Cookie Time in 1983 at the tender age of 21. 5000 cookies sold the first week, $240,000 worth of cookies sold the first year, and that was really the beginning of my own personal food journey. People are waking up right now, and I'm only waking` I've just woken up. You know, I've sold my very expensive hybrid Porsche, and I'm now driving round in a Japanese-import Nissan Leaf. I'm becoming a minimalist. I'm really conscious of how I spend my money and of my environmental footprint. Now Michael is facing a major contradiction. I find myself now in a position of being a vegan that owns a cookie company selling cookies with butter and eggs in it, so that's an incoherence. So, I've changed, my values have changed; so now I've got to somehow bring some coherence to that. And he thinks he might have just found the way. We need to find a solution for farmers so that they can transition away from animal agriculture, which is destructive to the environment, and do something instead that is regenerative. I came to understand that hemp was the perfect product to do both these things. Hemp is not marijuana; hemp is a formidable vegetable. So, this is the seed that the hemp plant is famous for. This is 40% fat and 40% protein. This is the superfood that we all need to be eating. The wonderful thing about that hemp seed is that from the hemp seed you can make hemp milk, and from the milk, you can make everything that you would normally make with cow's milk. This is hemp butter. This is incredibly good for you and the planet. Hemp sequests four times the amount of CO2 per hectare per year than trees do. So if you want to cool the planet, plant hemp. While hemp is good for the environment and has thousands of applications, Michael, naturally, has been experimenting with cookies. Delicious. Isn't it? Really. You can't have a cookie without milk. That's what I was thinking. And so here it is ` hemp milk. Cheers. Here's to hemp milk and cookies. Yeah. Michael has his sights set on one of our biggest exports. This was made from milk, and in this particular case, we've just freeze-dried it. He's trying out new processes to make hemp milk powder. We need to find a better, faster, cheaper way of making milk powder. This is the gold standard in terms of export. Hemp will be mainstream if we make it mainstream. In order for hemp to be mainstream, every one of us is gonna have to start eating it, wearing it and using it wherever possible. If that happens, then farmers will grow it; and if that happens, the environment will be repaired. In 2017, What Next asked if you would eat bugs instead of beef if it helped the environment. 50% of you said no. Back then, we met Christchurch start-up Anteater, who were harvesting ants and locusts as an alternative protein source to meat. They're now working on something they think could be a huge opportunity, and it involves a Kiwi classic ` huhu grubs. The huhu grub industry could be as big as our kiwifruit industry. People in China ` we know they're very receptive to new products. We see that there's huge potential in huhu grubs as an indigenous New Zealand food product and something that's unique here, also as a really, really versatile ingredient ` quite mild in flavour, kinda like pine nuts. (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) They use 2000 times less water, 100 times fewer emissions and 10 times less land space than beef or lamb. One third of people are super keen, one third are, kind of, on the fence and they'll try it if their friends also try it, and one third of people are, 'No way.' I'll admit, pulling that 'no way' card is very tempting, but if I'm going to do my bit for the environment, I guess it's time to step up. This is a huhu grub pesto ` fried huhus with garlic. So not just huhus on the top ` they're all through it. All through it. (CHUCKLES) OK, and this one? That's your five-spice fried huhus. It's like a Thai salad, pretty much. This is for the environment. That's it ` what it's all about. (CRUNCH) It's good. It's good. See? Not` It's all good. Do you reckon you could see this on the family dinner table? 100%. Kids love eating bugs. (CHUCKLES) I'm convinced. See? I'm not sure if my kids will be, though, so it might be easier to start with something a little more palatable. The Stoddard-Smith family is trying American Beyond Burgers for the first time ` a plant-based meat alternative. Interested to see what these actually feel like as well. They do feel like meat patties as well. Well, it looks the part; that's half the journey. The Stoddard-Smiths are joining the growing number of New Zealanders who call themselves flexitarians, also known as casual vegetarians. For most flexitarians, including my family, eating less meat is driven by our concern for the environment. We know that cows are the greatest emitters of carbon globally. If we can reduce our meat intake, then we can reduce the number of cows we need, and then we can reduce our carbon, so then we can slow the effects of climate change. So that was the driver, I suppose, behind that decision, and then I imposed it` (CLEARS THROAT) ...on the family. (BOTH LAUGH) We're willing participants. (SIZZLING) Doesn't brown quite like meat, does it? Smells good, though. Yeah. Yeah, it does smell good. It smells like a genuine meat patty. Yeah. I'm actually quite excited about this. What do you reckon? Does it smell good? Yep. Right, who's hungry? Me. Let's try this. Let's do it. What do you think? It's good; it's kinda smoky-tasting. If I hadn't have known it was plant, I probably wouldn't have guessed it was plant. Mm. It still doesn't really taste like it would be meat. Do you like it, though? Yeah. When I smelt the food, I thought it was literally meat, but now that I know that it's not meat... (LAUGHS) I don't know what to think any more. (LAUGHTER) It might just be a drop in the bucket, but let's all start filling that bucket. You know, we might just be one family putting a little drop in the bucket, but if more families came on board ` and it's incredibly doable. While every drop in the bucket helps, we also need some big changes. Our buildings contribute to global warming. But can a national icon show us you're never too old to change? VOICEOVER: Hey, Auckland, which of the Youi 40 ways to save would work best for where you live? Grey Lynn, close to the city, is where Ava lives, so number 1 of 40 - "Don't drive to work" - could be best for her. Titirangi, where most people have off-street parking, is Rick's suburb, so number 24 - "Park securely at night" - could be best for him. Why not see which of the 40 ways apply to you? You could save lots. Get a quote online at youi.co.nz and save 15%. * New Zealand's buildings are responsible for 11% of our CO2 emissions through heating, cooling and lighting. While the iconic Auckland Museum is 90 years old, it's facing the future head on and bringing down its carbon emissions. The museum is actually three buildings ` the original 1929 war memorial, with additions built in 1960 and 2006. Thinking about the original building in 1929, I don't imagine sustainability was even on the list back then. No, it wasn't. It was, basically, naturally ventilated; it allowed air in and out ` no air conditioning whatsoever. All single-glazed windows. Most things didn't lead to sustainability. It wasn't a big interest or challenge, I think, in those days. The museum has used 21st-century technology to make major changes in the way the buildings use energy. We're part of the New Zealand community, the world community, and to fight global warming is a big challenge. We've actually halved our carbon footprint; it's the equivalent of taking about 1250 cars off the road. And most of that has been achieved behind the scenes. New methods for temperature control have made a huge difference. Seven years ago, we were spending $1 million on gas and power, electricity. We dropped that to $700,000; That's a $300,000 saving, so that money gets reinvested into the museum to provide a better place for the public. It's not just a sleepy old museum. We want to be one of the top 10 sustainable heritage museums in the world. (TRANQUIL MUSIC) Our homes are also contributing to climate change. If we built energy efficient homes, we would decrease the amount of CO2 released, but there would also be a serendipitous side effect ` our health would improve. The houses that we build in New Zealand, practically none of them meet World Health Organisation standards. 1600 more people die in winter than in summer. A third of our 7-year-olds in New Zealand have asthma, and we have the highest rate of asthma in the world. We've been suffering in substandard housing and putting up with it. It's kind of like we're a Third World country. 98% of our houses are only built to the minimum standard required. These inefficient builds increase emissions and make us more susceptible to illness. To tackle this, Bob has embraced the New Zealand Homestar rating. Homestar's really about energy, health, comfort, but also about other resources ` water use, eliminating waste. Most existing New Zealand homes achieve a two out of 10 Homestar rating. A new home built to minimum building code requirements would only achieve a four out of 10. Bob has designed and built the first 10-star-rated home in the country. It's really warm. Really warm in here. Yeah. The insulation is probably more than double what is the code, and we started by fully insulating the floor. Insulation value of the windows is about four times what normal double-glazed windows are. So, why are our standards so far behind other countries? The government don't want to improve building standards because they're paranoid about housing affordability. But in actual fact, we'd be a lot better off financially, and we'd be healthier and happier if we did improve building standards. I think that's a common myth. A good six or seven-star home shouldn't cost more at all, and your power bill might be around about half what it would normally be. We need to make people aware it's financially positive to build sustainably. So we got salt-water batteries here for storing the solar energy. We need to really be thinking ahead and designing for the next 100, 200 years,... thinking of our children and our grandchildren. And Bob's doing his bit to make that a reality. He's in the design stages of a new development, an ecovillage of 50 carbon-neutral and energy-positive homes on the hills of Christchurch. Award-winning architect Jo Aitken is looking at an even more revolutionary Plan B. As part of Futurelab, she's exploring biological design. She's utilising the natural world to glimpse a strange but beautiful future. So, I see a utopian vision for the future, especially now that we can embrace all these changes that will come about by biodesign. It's not the dark skies you see in the futuristic movies of the past. Houses of the future will be more organic, both in content and form. Jo's already looking at ways to bring biodesign into home lighting. Overseas, they've successfully taken bioluminescent bacteria from jellyfish and injected it into bunnies to make them glow. And MIT in the US has started to grow glowing plants. Jo has teamed up with Dr Siouxsie Wiles from Auckland University to experiment with bioluminescence. So, in there will be trillions and trillions and trillions of bacteria` Wow. Wow. ...all glowing, all alive. The really cool thing about these bacteria is they... they glow without us really having to do anything to them. We just grow them, we give them a bit of nutrients, and, providing they're alive and they've got oxygen, they'll glow in the dark. This is our first time working with actual bioluminescent bacteria, so we're looking forward to seeing if it works and how bright the future might be. (CHUCKLES) With a dim glow time of only two hours, it'll be a while before these replace our current light bulbs, but Jo sees a future where our cities are lit by nature. For me, I think, it's more exciting thinking of it in an urban use. So, for example, we're looking at creating glow-in-the-dark trees. This stuff sounds like science fiction. Can it really happen? Of course. Anything can happen. I mean, we've moved into the age of artificial intelligence. We're increasing space travel. Now we have glow-in-the-dark trees, bunnies; I mean, what can't we do? But before we get there, we have some stuff to deal with, like getting rid of all of our waste. Plastic is a major contributor to climate change. Could we start with changing the way we wash our hair? Your eyes have the power to speak. Make each look worth a million. Our most iconic mascara infused with precious oils for delicately separated volume. Volume Million Lashes. And complete your look with new Flash Cat Eye. From L'Oreal Paris. * Single-use plastic has been put on notice. Around 4% of the world's yearly oil supply is used in making plastic, and a new study shows that plastic leaks methane as it degrades. If we reduce our plastic use, we can reduce greenhouse gases. But we still have to deal with the problem we've already created. The plastic problem is a nightmare. It is a nightmare. And the amount of it that ends up in the ocean, the amount of plastic that just sits in the natural environment for decades ` it is simply not sustainable. We have to do something about this. We all know the idea that New Zealand is 100% pure is just clever marketing. Until recently, we could send our plastic offshore for recycling in China, but now China has said no. Getting rid of our plastic after it's used is a huge task. One way ahead will be to ban all single-use plastics. Plastic bags and straws are already on the way out, but packaging still has a long way to go. Christchurch company Ethique has a Plan B to change the way we use shampoo. A typical shampoo is 75% water. A conditioner can be even higher at 95% water. Yeah, and you use these in your bathroom, where there is a considerable amount of water, right? So it made sense to take the water out of a product and just ship what makes a product a product to the customer. It seems like such a simple idea. Yeah. It really is. It's simple, it's logical, and in fact, it's what we used to do 100 years ago before the marketing machine started. Only 12% of plastic around the world is recycled, so most of it ends up in a landfill, and it, kind of, stays there indefinitely. It will outlive you and I. It will outlive our children, our children's children. Every piece of plastic that has ever been made still exists. Moving from plastic to compostable cardboard packaging has been the easy option. Our boxes are still affordable, but they are 10 times the price of a plastic bottle, so we do need companies to take that little bit of a leap of faith and spend that little bit more. It's nice to be able to see that we're actually making a difference. It might be small in comparison to the 80 billion plastic bottles, but so far we've save about half a million bottles. What we need is to make companies responsible for this packaging so they are financially required to provide a way for that packaging to be recycled or to be reused. You can no longer continue to produce plastic bottles at the horrendous rate that we produce them and not be penalised for it, because it's ending up in our oceans, killing our fish. Nine out of 10 fish in our oceans contain pieces of plastic, so we are now eating that. The fashion industry also contributes to carbon emissions, something I hadn't properly considered. It's another thing to feel guilty about. Each year, over 80 billion items of clothing are made, three-quarters of which are landfilled or incinerated. The Formary, in Wellington, is a textile research and development company looking at how to reduce and reuse the huge amount of textile waste in New Zealand. Always find it interesting how we're talking about electric cars now as the way forward to get of the petrol consumption, the carbon side of that, but actually polyester garments are exactly the same. Polyester fibre comes from petrol. And the amount of clothing we go through is growing by the decade. In New Zealand and other First World countries, fashion has become throwaway. It's reported that a lot of the high street stores are recording very low wear numbers. Often it's touted as about six wears per garment. So it's quite incredible how quickly people, I guess, fall out of love with their purchases. 20, 30 years ago, you didn't shop as a pastime; you didn't go out to enjoy shopping. You went to buy something to use it, because you needed it. And it's not just consumers creating large amounts of clothing waste. Businesses, too, are binning tons of material. BERNADETTE: Domestically in New Zealand, we buy about $5 billion worth of clothing every year, but the commercial scale is estimated to be about 40 times greater than that. I'm just waiting for one to come through from Auckland. The Formary's looking at how we can get more value out of the waste and reduce the amount of clothing that's shipped and manufactured. New recycling technology is one of the ways forward. Working with Air New Zealand, the Formary partnered with a US company to work out a way to recycle old uniforms into plastic pellets. So, those pellets ` they're just a raw plastic now, so you can make anything from it. The Formary's also been looking at other, simpler ways to stop clothing ending up in landfills. We've taken used garments from corporates, removed the branding and actually given that to community groups. We just look at ways of extracting as much value out of those waste streams as possible. So as an individual, what can I do to help? Consume less. And there could be a new way forward for business and industry to operate sustainably. It's called the circular economy. Humans are the only species on the planet that produces stuff that's waste. When products are made, we should be thinking about their ultimate fate. For generations, we've been accustomed to the notion of just throwing it out, and that's become the problem. So how do make sure that the things we buy and the materials we consume have a constant life? The circular economy is really driving at the notion of reducing, maybe eliminating, waste. Waste Management Limited has broken through the barrier and has built a working circular economy. They collect our waste, process the compostable waste, capture the methane gas that's produced from that process, turn that into electricity, which powers the electric trucks they've converted from diesel. Then they use those trucks to go collect our waste, starting the cycle again. And the process powers a few thousand homes across New Zealand as well, eliminating a whole lot of greenhouse gas production in the process. Does this mean there's hope left for the planet? Could we actually stop global warming? You're still numbing sensitive teeth? It's the way. There's a better way. Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief actually helps repair the openings to exposed nerves. That's, uh...that's... A better way. (GROANS) Ohh! VOICEOVER: Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief. * While we need to talk about consuming less ` less meat, less plastic, fewer petrol cars ` to fight global warming, there is one thing we need more of ` trees. When we plant trees and they grow, they absorb carbon dioxide. If we plant lots of trees now, that reduces the total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Ultimately, it doesn't provide a solution; it buys us some time to think of a longer-term solution. If we plant 100 billion trees worldwide, could we delay temperature rise in decades to come? The New Zealand government aims to plant one billion trees by 2027. It's become more common for businesses and individuals to offset their carbon emissions by paying for trees to be planted. I wanted to see whether we could make the production of this documentary carbon-neutral. We sent you an empty spreadsheet, and you guys filled in the data. Electricity, fuels that you used, driving that you did, some taxis ` there was some waste, and there was the flying, and as you can see` Yeah. ...the thing that is the biggest feature in all of this is the emissions from flights. It's like a high-rise building. I had to take a few flights. I had to come here and interview you. That's right. And your net emissions for this episode is 2.28 tons of CO2, and if you want to net that out at zero, then you need to buy 2.28 tons of carbon credits, and that's exactly what we've done. And we've got your carbon offsetting certificate right here. Oh, nice. That marks the event that you've measured, reported and offset your emissions, so that you've got a zero-carbon episode. Right. Thank you. So, how much has this cost me and the crew? It cost you and the crew a grand total of $63.80. That's a good deal. Yeah. Yeah. That's you being an investor in the future. Our $63.80 will go to the owners of the Rarakau native forest in Southland. The scheme has allowed them to turn away from forestry, which releases carbon into the environment, and concentrate on conservation. This is not forest that's been planted by man. This is old, indigenous forest. And we're demonstrating to other landowners that by protecting your forest and all the creatures that live in it, they, we and it make this huge contribution to the atmosphere, which is so necessary for our survival. What's really important is that this isn't our forest. Our role is to help protect it. Because, as humans, we're exploiting so many resources around the world, our role is to protect what we have. In 2017, What Next asked, 'Can you personally fight climate change?' 92% of you said yes, and me and my reusable cup agree. This journey has confirmed that we all have a role to play ` that what we do individually can collectively make a difference. Not a solution for one individual, one country ` this is going to be probably the biggest uniting factor of our future. We might have to sacrifice convenience, but tackling our problems will inspire innovation and new global opportunities for New Zealand. Change is upon us, whether we like it or not. And the only way forward is to front-foot this, absolutely. When we lead, we win. You know? People were saying for years, 'Oh no, we need to be a fast follower', etc. Well, I just think that's bollocks, you know? If we lead, we will win. Protecting the planet for future generations should be a pretty big motivation for all of us, and it's not like we haven't done this before. Slip, slop, slap and wrap. Sounds like me at dinner. We may have forgotten why New Zealanders need to slip, slop, slap more than other countries; our high skin cancer rates are partly due to the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. The problem with the ozone layer's a great example of the kinds of things that could happen with climate change. There was a problem identified about 30 years ago ` these chlorofluorocarbon gases getting into the stratosphere and eventually destroying the ozone over Antarctica. It was worked out pretty quickly what the science was, and within a few years there was an international agreement ` this Montreal Protocol ` an agreement to stop using these gases. And in the 30 years since then, the amount of this stuff in the stratosphere's gone down, and the ozone hole is starting to fill in; it's starting to get smaller. But it's gonna take another 50 years or so before it's completely healed. So the ozone hole was a 100-year story. Climate change is a much harder problem to deal with, and so I think we're looking at hundreds of years. We've already had a couple of hundred years of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. It's a big problem, but if we get on with it now, it can be a success story, like the ozone hole story has been. The government has signed the Paris Agreement. This could limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees. Businesses see that being good to the environment is also good for business. If we change our own habits and hold both business and government to account, well, it might not be too late.