Utopia

What you want, and what we need.

Start at where you are
Use what you have
You can't make Utopia
Do what you can

Song: Mike Skinner.

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According to Wikipedia, Utopia “typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members.”

It is the opposite of Dystopia, which you might be more familiar with lately.

As our world becomes ever more dystopian, and considering that we’re dealing with an imagined alternative, what would utopia look like to you?

Is it having “enough” of the things you need, or the ability to gain as much as you can without worrying about others, or having anyone get in your way? Or do you think more widely?

Food to eat.

In your utopia, do you eat whatever you like?

Perhaps in a fine restaurant with white tablecloths overlooking a spectacular harbour? There are no microplastics in your food, and you don’t have to worry about the by-products of our current farming practices leaching into our waterways.

The cartoon above relates to the following story, which doesn’t sound very utopian:

The motion from Councillor Vicky Southworth recognises that, as the regional council for Canterbury, ECan "should take a leadership role to urgently address the issue of groundwater pollution impacting drinking water sources and supplies".

It comes after the ECan's recent annual groundwater survey found both E. coli and nitrate concentrations were increasing.

Water samples taken from wells across the region indicated that 14% (49 out of 349) contained E. coli. The declaration on nitrates, as opposed to the quality of the water, made some people really angry.

From 1News:

Crs Ian MacKenzie, John Sunckell and Nick Ward saw the motion as "virtue signalling" and an attack on farmers, who were working to reduce nitrate levels.

Federated Farmers vice president Colin Hurst said the decision was a "shameless political stunt".

Agriculture Minister Todd McClay called it “a gimmick or a political stunt.”

Meanwhile, Freshwater campaigner Will Appelbe said, “Environment Canterbury has approved more than 15,000 dairy cattle to be added to the dairy herd in the Canterbury plains, and that is just going to make the problem worse. The main source of nitrate contamination is intensive dairying.”

I summarised the situation as follows:

Canterbury farmers don’t want a nitrate emergency called because they’re doing their best.

Oh well, that’s alright then, have a cookie.

It seems ridiculous to claim that farmers are working to reduce nitrate levels while also adding another 15,000 stock to the dairy herd.

Faith commented, “I remember when Christchurch had the most pristine artesian water in the country. Yeah, I’m old!”

Neerja: “But Groundswell said that farmers know how best to care for their land.”

A protest outside the Canterbury Regional Council offices to demand action on nitrate levels. Photo: RNZ / Keiller MacDuff.

That’s one vision, or is your utopia one in which everyone has enough good-quality, healthy food, and nobody goes hungry or has to eat meals that look like David Seymour’s lunches?

A land in which all can enjoy the meat, dairy, and produce that our nation grows in abundance, like we used to, without trashing our environment?

Somewhere to live.

In your utopian world, do you own a beautiful house with every feature you could ever want, a home by the sea without the need to worry about climate change?

You may have multiple houses, somewhere to enjoy a holiday, and a dozen or two to bring you a passive, untaxed income. And don’t worry about that climate thingy, the government has a solution for that.

Don’t like expert advice on climate change?

Just cancel the report, because no news is good news.

If you haven’t seen it, take a look at Climate Change Minister, Simon Watts, being quite gymnastic with his positions.

Katie said, “First, they were adamant they weren't going to get rid of the Commission's recommendations....next minute, they are getting rid of them—just another lie.”

Or utopia to you might mean a roof over everyone’s head, a home that they own, however basic.

Somewhere warm and dry that belongs to them without the risk of being turfed out because the landlord has decided to tear down their home and build half a dozen townhouses in its place.

Enough Money.

Perhaps in your utopia, you have all the money you need, and you can buy whatever you want whenever you want to. But it’s not enough, is it? Wouldn’t it be better if you had even more money?

For others, it might mean that everyone has enough. People can turn on the heating when they get cold. They can buy a new pair of shoes for the kids, or pay for them to go on that excursion rather than miss out.

Or simply that they don’t get paid less because of their gender, which is why there are nationwide protests over the next few hours.

You can find a list of events here. My apologies if it’s a bit late for some of them.

Medical care.

Some might see utopia as having the best private care available, enabling them to jump the queue and receive whatever treatment they need whenever they need it.

For others, it might mean everyone having access to good public healthcare. Affordable, timely appointments to see the doctor and rapid specialist follow-up when needed to maximise health outcomes and minimise pain.

All without needing to start a GoFundMe or travel overseas for life-saving treatment, which is far from utopian and the last thing you want when you’re dealing with a serious medical condition.

Like James McGoram, who has Fabry disease for which no treatment is available in NZ. Pharmac “has been reviewing four treatment options for Fabry disease, including one that’s been under consideration since 2006.”

2006? That’s almost twenty years. How much consideration do you need?

McGorman said, “It is absolutely possible to do, and in many OECD countries, there are a number of treatments that are a standard of care. They're not available in New Zealand.

They're available in Canada, the UK, Australia, and those treatments have been available since about 2004 in Australia. Twenty years later in New Zealand, we're still waiting for those treatments to be funded."

Associate Health Minister David Seymour said, “We need to increase the funding more if we want to get to some of these additional rare disorder drugs.

We would have to roughly double the budget if we wanted to fund all of the medicines on the options for our investment list. I don't think that's a possibility at the moment, but we have increased the budget by about 60% already.”

What price do you put on a life? Assuming you’re not Brooke van Velden.

So some people miss out; they pay a tremendous amount of money to stay alive, or they die. It doesn’t sound very utopian.

The report indicated that Australia spends 15% of its health budget on publicly funded medicines, whereas we only spend 5% of ours.

We get all excited when Kiwis leave across the ditch for higher wages and a better standard of living. The sky has fallen when we lose a sporting contest on which our national prestige is dependent. If we’re going to replicate our Aussie mates in any way, surely it is this.

Two groups.

Some of you are already ahead of me, no doubt.

The first people mentioned in each category are those who tend to support the policies of our government, and especially of ACT. Those who see utopia as the opportunity to fully succeed, on a personal level, without worrying too much about those who should have tried harder.

The rest of us, those who want everyone to have enough, with the opportunity for individuals to excel and get a bit more. We support the opposition, and Jacinda’s message of “kindness” that annoyed the other lot is still ringing in our ears.

That was utopia for many, a society that put the interests of the group ahead of the individual, while endeavouring to ensure that everyone has enough.

What does utopia mean to you?

Have a great weekend, folks.

Ngā mihi,
Nick.

To end today, here’s The Streets with Utopia, which was released yesterday.