Photograph: screenshot

Mike King’s mental health charity I Am Hope is being blamed greenwash After handing out a brochure to children promoting a trucking company and a coal-burning power company as climate heroes.

The parent of a Wellington boy who was given the booklet said he was worried and disappointed when his child brought home the “gray and dystopian” booklet, which featured a truck owned by trucking company TR Group and Genesis Energy, one of New Zealand’s largest coal companies. users – helping a young child experiencing anxiety about climate change.

Name of the booklet TR and Mack, Creation for a New Tomorrow.

The story features a truck belonging to the trucking company TR Group and a dog named Mack who helps a little boy who is upset about air pollution. The boy apologizes and tells the truck that this is part of the problem, and the truck decides to switch to an electric motor.

The boy and the truck recruit others to fight climate change, saying “Genesis and TR Group are coming too.”

The last page is filled with company logos, including TR, Genesis, RV company THL, UBCO and others.

Climate campaigner Tim Adriaansen complained to the charity after seeing the booklet. He also expressed concern about the charity’s Climate Hope Journey, which raises awareness of climate anxiety and is sponsored by the country’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, Fonterra, as well as caravan company THL and car company Ford Genesis.

Other sponsors include electric motorcycle company UBCO and EV charging network.

Adriaansen said King should be commended for raising awareness of climate concern, but his sponsorship of some of the country’s biggest emitters appeared to be “greenwashing.”

“Climate concern is climate change caused by pollution, which has a known cause, so it seems a bit cynical for these companies to turn around and say we are worried about the impacts,” he said.

“I have a short fuse for greenwashing, but it’s even shorter when kids are involved.

“The best way to prevent our young people from experiencing climate anxiety is to reduce climate-damaging pollution as much as possible, as quickly as possible. This should be the first goal of any organization working to meaningfully address climate anxiety (and) livestock and road transport New “They are Zealand’s two biggest sources of climate-damaging pollution.”

Genesis, Fonterra and THL have strongly defended their sponsorship of the climate concern journey, saying they are open about their emissions and efforts to address them, and that being greenhouse gas emitters should not stop them from supporting raising awareness about climate concern.

Photograph: screenshot

King says the booklet was not funded by publishers

King said the booklet distributed in schools was financed entirely by I am Hope, not by any of the companies whose logos appear in the booklet.

He said the journey to address climate concern was a separate initiative.

In response to Adriaansen, which King shared with RNZ, King said the booklet was not about aligning with big polluters or greenwashing, but about validating young people’s negative feelings and listening to them.

King acknowledged the charity was not an expert on environmental solutions but told Adriaansen that the complaint letter reflected divisions in society.

“We see so much judgment and division in the way people address issues, including climate, with so much ‘naming and shaming’…

“I realized that one of the biggest challenges we face is tribalism… Instead of blaming anyone, we all have the potential to contribute positively.

“Your message, although politely written, demonstrates this difficulty. It frames some sponsors as ‘bad actors’ while positioning the letter’s stance as morally superior.”

Parent ‘disappointed’

The parent of the child who received the booklet, who did not want to be named, said the booklet did not reflect evidence of what helps children with climate anxiety or what helps combat climate change.

She was disappointed that there was no room for children to do any of the positive activities they could do to make a difference, such as cycling or taking public transport safely, volunteering or interacting with their local MP.

“This looks like free promotional material for companies that do so much climate damage,” said Wellington’s mother.

“It’s like greenwashing.”

Photograph: screenshot

He said it was given to students ages 5 to 12 at his children’s school.

“This dystopian concrete city, full of trucks and cars (and) a trucking company with a few electric vehicles and thousands of high-emission vehicles, is full of very gray, gloomy and dirty images.

“I was expecting to see pictures of our precious natural landscapes that we all strive to protect.”

TR Group ‘big supporter’

TR Group’s Brendan King, who is no relation to Mike King, confirmed that the truck hire company had not specifically funded the booklet, but said the firm had a long-standing relationship with the charity through its interest in suicide prevention.

“TR Group is a values-based organization that believes in doing the right thing. Two very important focus areas for us are mental health and climate change,” he said.

“TR Group is a big supporter of I Am Hope and the work they do. We were not a sponsor of the Climate journey but we support I Am Hope in general.”

Brendan King noted that the TR truck also appears in other stories Mike King has written for school children.

As for his company’s climate efforts, Brendan King said TR’s 55 electric trucks and one hydrogen fuel cell truck have made the company a climate leader in “hard to abate” heavy haulage, even though most of its fleet remains fossil fuel-powered. He said the company has more hydrogen trucks in the works.

He said the reason the company can no longer do more about electrification is cost.

“The cost is too high, the technology doesn’t exist, if we were to magically replace every diesel truck today with a zero-emission truck, the inflationary impact on us as a society would be so great, we wouldn’t be able to afford bananas” at the grocery store.

“Zero-emission trucks are three times more expensive than diesel trucks.”

Photograph: screenshot

Charity may be misinforming children

Climate communication expert Dr. Jess Berentson Shaw said it’s clear that Mike King is really concerned about climate anxiety.

But he said I Am Hope could harm children by simply voicing concerns that do not already exist among young children as young as five or six years old.

He said the charity could be misinforming children about the best ways to ease anxiety by taking small steps that actually make a difference.

The I Am Umudum webpage suggests easing young people’s climate anxiety by taking “small steps like recycling and saving water,” which are two of the least effective actions in preventing climate change, according to research.

According to the research, the most effective methods are generally to reduce vehicle use, eat less meat, and participate in political actions.

Berentson Shaw said the climate drive sponsored by big polluters was akin to the tobacco industry sponsoring information on quitting smoking. He questioned whether the charity checked whether the information it provided increased children’s anxiety.

“The concern doesn’t make you an expert on how to do this in a way that’s actually helpful and doesn’t harm people, and also the ethics around it actually contributes to more misunderstandings in young people about the causes and solutions to the problems of climate change.”

‘An important issue among our youth’

Farm Source stores have hosted some climate concern meetings, Fonterra said.

It sent a statement from Farm Source director Anne Douglas saying the business supports “mental health and wellbeing in rural communities” and has “supported the I’m Hope Tour since they launched the Tractor Trek in 2020.”

“We continue to be transparent about our emissions and have targets, actions and plans to reduce them,” Douglas said.

“It is unfortunate that some believe we should not support another critical issue in rural New Zealand because of this impact.”

Genesis said it was “proud to support an event that not only highlights an important issue among our youth, but also provides solutions.”

“We’ve been able to provide evidence to young people who are concerned about climate change that companies like us are doing something to address this problem… Genesis is working to build a sustainable local biomass supply chain in Huntly that will gradually replace coal. Power Station,” he said.

The closure date for Huntly’s coal burners has been changed several times.

THL said Mike King’s Ride for Hope team approached it about supplying an electric support vehicle and was “very happy to do so.” It was stated that the journey was a great trial for the e-caravan.

The company acknowledged its “significant carbon footprint” of just over a million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and said it was open to challenges.

Sign up for the daily newsletter Ngā Pitopito Kōrero Curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.