#85: Vote for Climate 2023

How we’re going to make it a Climate Election

Mōrena, and happy Tuesday!

We have 19 days until the start of the voting period on 2 October. Latest polls say we’re heading towards a government that has committed to scrapping the ban on new offshore oil & gas, increasing the price of public transport, locking in higher transport emissions, and putting $2.3b from the Climate Emergency Response Fund into general tax cuts.

However, I still have hope. That’s because:

• A recent poll also shows that 20% of voters are still undecided

• Last election, almost a quarter of voters under 40 didn’t vote

• There are about 1 million kiwis living overseas. ~700,000 of them are eligible to vote. Last election, less than 10% of them voted. 

Can you imagine the difference that shifting even a fraction of these numbers could make?

The conversations that we have over the next 2 weeks will determine whether NZ does its bit to ensure a safe climate future for everyone, or whether we continue our current trajectory. That’s why we’ve made this election guide, for everything you need to vote for climate action, and more importantly to urge others to do so as well:

Thanks to all of you who have talked about Climate Club & Vote for Climate with your friends, dropped it in your work chats, shared it with your overseas friends and whānau. Let’s go team, let’s swing this election around 💪

What can we do today?

The most-clicked link from last week’s issue was the new petition to stop subsidising pollution. This new coalition campaign is off to a great start, follow their work on socials via Instagram or Facebook.

🐝 If you have 5 minutes: Ain’t no party like an election party

• We have less than 3 weeks until the start of the voting period to convince as many voters as we can that we need a government that takes climate change seriously.
  Action: Check out the Climate Club 2023 General Election Guide and share with two friends!

• A coalition of heavy hitters in the climate & justice space including 350 Aotearoa, Renters United, and ActionStation have released a set of election scorecards. It shows you which parties have committed to delivering on climate, fairer taxes, workers’ rights, housing, Te Tiriti, and more. It’s communicated simply, but contains a lot of info and policy-level evaluation.
  Action: Share the Election Scorecard with 1 friend, group chat, or community (Instagram, Twitter)

🐇 If you have 15 minutes: Good things come in threes 

• ActionStation has launched an epic “vote tripling” initiative. This is a proven method to boost voter turnout which saw great success recently in the US. It supports each of us to nudge 3 swing-voter/non-voter friends, essentially tripling our impact and and focussing our collective energy on convincing the “persuadables” who do care about the climate, but for whatever reason might not vote effectively for climate action.
  Action: Triple your impact by signing up for Triple The Vote and think of 3 friends who care about the climate but might not vote for it without your friendly nudge!

• Due this Friday: The Ministry of Transport is gathering feedback on the draft Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS 2024). It will guide funding priority for roading, public transport, and road safety over the next 10 years. Emphasising the need for more investment in cycling infrastructure, affordable public transport, and safer, more accessible streets for pedestrians will be key.
  Action: Submit on the draft Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024 with this guide before this Friday 15 Sep

💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: Join the great debate

• Election debates abound! These debates are a great time to ask questions from the parties - we have a guide for you here. Here’s a roundup of the ones we’ve heard of:

  • Auckland, 4:45pm tomorrow: EDS environment political forum

  • Auckland, 6pm Fri 22 Sep: Gen Zero, Is this a climate election? political debate

  • New Plymouth, 6pm Thurs 21 Sep: Taranaki Climate Debate

• Kirikiriroa, Thursday, September 21: You already know we’re big fans of cycleways here - and the Waikato has a chance to have seven new cycleway projects approved. Join the Bike Waikato folks to pack the Hamilton City Council and show support for these projects.

  Action: Join the team to show your support for Hamilton's new projects

• Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, 11:30am today at Wellington High Court: New Zealand has for the first time imprisoned people for climate action. We all know how it feels to watch as calls for real action fall on deaf ears. For some in the climate movement, only radical peaceful civil resistance holds hope. Climate groups are gathering for a peaceful protest event in solidarity with the arrested protesters.
  Action: Show that there is widespread support for arrested climate protesters by being at the Wellington High Court at 11:30am today

Save the date

• Tāmaki Makaurau, October 7th: Save the date for a climate march 1 week before election day

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That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. Enjoy this collection of political meme accounts 🙃

See you next week, 
Jenny & the Climate Club team
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