With every heatwave, random downpour or destructive storm, climate change feels more present in people's lives.
Helen Howard and her husband Anton Hakkaart at a tree planting day in Hawke's Bay. Photo: Supplied
The government recently declared a climate emergency, but what can citizens do to tackle the problem?
RNZ talked to one Napier family who says action starts at home.
Howard and Hakkaart live on Napier Hill with their two young children.
The hill above the port and city centre recently felt the impact of adverse weather.
After huge floods in November, slips covered the roads and heavy rain battered homes.
A recent NIWA report about climate change in the region said there would likely be more frosts and heat waves in the future.
It predicts more severe one-day rainfall events, like November's flooding.
This is attributed to higher levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, brought on by human activity.
So Howard and Hakkaart have decided to take some steps themselves.
Every week, Howard goes out to pick up rubbish around the city, in an activity called plogging.
Helen Howard told RNZ some of the ways she reduces her carbon footprint. Photo: Supplied
It is something that began in Sweden, a combination of jogging and picking up litter.
But she said it was for more than just runners.
"If people could just go for a walk or on their normal beach walk or whatever and pick up litter and then if they take a photo of what they've picked up and upload it to the Plog Napier Facebook page or Instagram then they could be in to win some pretty cool prizes."
At home, Howard has taken a few simple steps to go zero waste.
For Christmas she chose not buy her kids brand new presents, so she found a second-hand school bag on Trade Me for one of her sons.
She even went a step further.
"I wrapped all the presents in fabric from the op shop as well, with some festive looking string that I got. It takes a lot of time to wrap presents in fabric but the results - they look really nice. I just reuse them year after year."
She had another few ways she saved on waste around the home too.
"I have a toothbrush subscription to bamboo toothbrushes, I have a worm farm as well, I use shampoo and conditioner bars, that negates the need for plastic bottles and they last about three or four months, I have compostable floss in a glass container."
She also uses pure rubber gloves for washing dishes - she cuts them up and throws them in the compost.
Hakkaart bikes to work from Napier to Hastings and back.
Even though it turned a 40 minute round trip into two hours, he had no regrets.
"We're trying to do our bit in terms of saving petrol and sort of cutting down emissions and things like that," he said.
"Plus it's good exercise and I don't have to join a gym. I just thought I can't just be spending all that money every day driving to work, it's not economical."
Howard said while some of the items she buys could be a bit more pricey, she saved money elsewhere.
"There are some things that are more expensive for sure, like the rubber gloves are really expensive but I figure they're probably offset by other things that we don't buy."