Barbara Gilchrist has been given the green light.
The Timaru resident has been announced as the Green Party’s candidate for the Rangitata electorate.
Mrs Gilchrist felt this year, after witnessing the devastating weather events in the North Island, people would realise the importance of voting for the environment.
She felt wealth was not going to protect people from the consequences of climate change, and people with luxurious beachfront properties and those who owned the most ‘‘will have the most to lose’’.
The electorate was facing ‘‘the very real prospect of managed retreat’’.
She said while it might not be possible for people to do everything to reduce their environmental impact ‘‘if everybody can do something, that’s a good place to start’’.
For herself, Mrs Gilchrist has not used a single-use coffee cup for years, not even a biodegradable one.
‘‘They are a product that has been completely greenwashed. I just feel, how can something be compostable if it can hold a hot drink for 30 minutes without leaking?’’
But if reducing packaging was too tricky for someone, they could swap the milk in that same coffee to oat, which would take pressure off farmers to increase their herd sizes.
As consumers, she felt, we should be supporting farmers to move to more sustainable farming by ‘‘demanding then buying’’ their more sustainable products.
With crop failure and severe weather events, the agriculture sector ‘‘really stands to be harmed by climate change’’.
‘‘I’ve spoken with lots of people recently who haven’t seen themselves as traditional Green voters in the past, but — like me — they’re worried about our most pressing issues.’’
Along with the effects of climate change and the legacy of environmental damage she said another issue was the increasing gap between ‘‘those with too little and those with too much’’.
She has been a strong voice in health and disability, social justice and environmental sectors for many years.
She recently spent three years as a Timaru district councillor, progressing the council’s work on climate change and accessibility.
Mrs Gilchrist is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in.
‘‘I’m a person who doesn’t even like going out in a singlet; I like to be covered’’.
So when she was plastered on billboards around Timaru — seemingly topless — to encourage residents to ‘‘recycle topless’’, she hoped that those who knew her would understand how important the topic was to her.
Working two jobs — and dealing with secondary tax — Mrs Gilchrist was not immune to the workings of the current tax system.
‘‘I want a system where people are taxed fairly and the benefits are spread across society.”
‘‘Mum was a nurse and Dad was a teacher, so I grew up in a house where the most important thing was that things were fair and just.’’
The middle child, with an older brother and a younger sister, Mrs Gilchrist said she had ‘‘no interest in gathering valuable assets. It doesn’t hold an attraction for me’’.
Life for Mrs Gilchrist is about relationships and experiences.
One of the relationships she cherishes is with her husband Tony.
Diagnosed with motor neuron disease 14 years ago, he is her biggest supporter and is doing what he can for her campaign, including using graphics programmes which he works on with assisted technology.
With two daughters and four step-daughters, she said together they had ‘‘just the right amount’’.
She also has four grandchildren under the age of 4 and worries what their world will be like, how they will provide for themselves and whether they will be able to live a good life.
She wanted New Zealand to be a country that was fair, equitable and just ‘‘for all people and the environment that we rely on’’.
‘‘Change is not optional. It is imperative’’.
