#77: Real politics

On all the things we can do alongside voting

Mōrena, and mānawatia a Matariki! I hope everyone had a restful and reflective long weekend.

We’re now 3 months out from the NZ general election on October 14th. There’s a lot at stake: we’re in the crucial window for keeping warming to 1.5C, dealing with worsening weather events, and figuring out how we do that in a way that makes life better for us all.

Given all that, it seems ironic that the Labour party ruled out a wealth tax & capital gains tax. Tax is an effective way to limit extreme, excessively damaging behaviour (like flying around in private jets, or buying entire households worth of new things each year), and using that money to support our transition to a low-carbon society. We’re currently seeing record-breaking heat waves, floods, and wildfires around the world, so it’s pretty wild that major political parties are still not taking climate change seriously.

After screaming into the void for a few days, I remembered that while voting is an effective form of climate action, there is so much more we can do to influence policy alongside voting every 3 years. Meteorologist and climate communicator Professor James Renwick shared this concise list of changes that we can push for: public transport, bike lanes, EVs, solar & wind power, home insulation, denser housing instead of urban sprawl, shifting some land use from dairy to farming foods that are easier on our environment.

There are many ways we can do this - petitions, protests, letters to MPs, letters to the editor, asking TV stations for primetime climate debates, asking questions at local candidate & council meetings, and inviting friends to do it together. This encourages our representatives to work towards these goals regardless of where we’re at in the 3-year election cycle; the Earth definitely isn’t pausing until the next election!

As always, we’ve got some actions below to get you started - and you’re in good company, because there are now over 2000 of you wonderful folks reading these every Tuesday!

We hit 2000 subscribers yesterday!

On that note, we’d like to give a big thanks to Professor James Renwick for mentioning us in his easy-to-read, actionable book “Under the Weather”. Welcome to some of our new subscribers who have joined us since reading the book!

We're mentioned in the "Resources" section of James Renwick's Under the Weather book!

What can we do today?

The most-clicked link from last week’s issue was the petition to stop offering more of Taranaki land to oil & gas drilling!

🐝 If you have 5 minutes: Liberate our legs and dollars

• Pollution from transport is a big chunk of our emissions, and getting as many people out of cars is part of the solution. Bike Auckland’s Liberate the Lane campaign has written an open letter to Waka Kotahi NZTA, and it’s now available for individuals to sign (you don’t have to live in Auckland).
  Action: Read the open letter and sign your name here

• The World Bank has a new President, Ajay Banga. With this change in leadership, the bank could become a powerful force for ending fossil fuel projects worldwide, and instead investing in clean energy and net-zero economies in the burgeoning Global South.
  Action: Send a quick letter using this form

🐇 If you have 15 minutes: Ye Olde Activism

• Even if you might not have picked up a physical newspaper in a while, they have very wide reach that goes far beyond our social media & personal networks (for example, in 2022, the NZ Herald reached 598,000 people!). With the eerie silence on climate change in most newspapers, it’s up to the readers to make it impossible to ignore. Climate change will impact every aspect of society - we just have to tell that story!
  Action: Pick a recent topic that you’re interested in, and write a short 5-8 sentence letter to the editor using our guide

💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: All aboard in Ōtautahi

• Christchurch City Council are consulting on how the future of Christchurch should look like, with plans for concentrating future growth in urban areas, an improved public transport system, and reductions in carbon emissions. You don’t have to live in Christchurch to submit!
  Action: Use our guide to have your say on the future of Christchurch 

• Ōtautahi/Christchurch, 1pm Sun 23 July: Christchurch had one of the biggest crowds in the country at the recent climate protests, and they’re now planning for the next ones. You don’t have to be a student to join; in fact, the more diverse the crowd, the better!
  Action: Join the team for shared kai and planning 

• Online & in person in Ōtautahi/Christchurch, July 25th: Imagine a society that is able to make transformative change in urban and climate matters, while meeting today’s needs and protecting the wellbeing of future generations. How can we create the structures needed for such a future?
  Action: Come along for a conversation with Sophie Howe, recent Future Generations Commissioner for Wales (who achieved some pretty epic stuff during her term).

Wins!

• Lawyers for Climate Action NZ has won a High Court ruling which now requires the Minister of Climate Change to reassess the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) settings, so that they are more in line with our emissions reduction targets. More info here!

• The capital of Texas, Austin, endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty proposal. Texas produces 43% of the US’s crude oil, and Austin has become the first capital of a major oil producing region to call for a transition away from fossil fuels. They join 90 other cities, but there are none from NZ yet! Maybe it’s something your town’s councillors might like to hear about? Here’s some inspo.

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That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. Enjoy this short series by The Spinoff, “100 Year Forecast”, which explores what a high emissions future would mean for NZ, and how much difference a low emissions future could make.

See you next week, 

Jenny & the Climate Club team