#98: Mā te wā, see you in 2024

Time to rest and recharge

Mōrena folks, happy Tuesday!

We made it! This is our last email for 2023 - which we recognise has been a pretty intense year for the climate. So we just wanted to say, ngā mihi nui for being part our community through this time.

For some inspiration and reflection, here are some of the beautiful actions Climate Clubbers have taken throughout the year:

• 💸 “Wrote to my bank about investment in fossil fuels and started plans to leave them.”

• 🚌 “Wrote submission that got electric buses through in Palmy.”

• 🗳️ “Helped get a wahine Māori MP with a background in Zero Waste into government”

• 🌱 “Enriched the soil and increased the biodiversity in my little urban garden.”

• 🛴 “Contacted my children's school to encourage them to run a 'Pimp my wheels' campaign to get kids scooting to school instead of being dropped off by car.”

• ✏️ “Not too big, but feeling good about being more in the know  [..] and also signing petitions and making a couple submissions.”

• ✊ “Protest!”

For me, the best part about being in the Climate Club has been watching this wonderful community grow and support crucial climate action in Aotearoa and beyond. Every week I’m so grateful to those who take part in climate mahi. However small those actions can feel at the time, in a community they add up to something powerful.

We will be back on Tuesday 16th of January 2024. I hope everyone has a restful and recharging summer holiday and see you for another year of action in 2024!

What can we do today?

The most-clicked link from last week’s issue was this satirical big oil advert about fossil fuel divestment featuring Olivia Colman.

🐝 If you have 5 minutes: I like to move it move it

• Tāmaki Auckland: Get Auckland moving! Transport makes up almost half of our biggest city’s emissions. Let the council know that Auckland city needs safer, lower carbon options for getting around.
  Action: Sign up to share your opinion with this fun slidey survey

🐇 If you have 15 minutes: Let’s not Rushmore oil out of the ground 

• The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a risky oil pipeline in Dakota USA which not only enables massive upscaling of fossil fuels which impacts us all, but also threatens the drinking water of the indigenous Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes. We currently have a critical opportunity to shut it down once and for all. This handy toolkit takes you through a range of actions from submitting a public comment to targeted social posts that you can do to help out. 

  Action: Find the toolkit here. One option is to email the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at NWO-DAPL-EIS@usace.army.mil with the subject: “Comments on the DAPL DEIS” and the templated text in the toolkit.

💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: Wai do we keep sponsoring oil

• COP28 has been depressing, dull and full of the same broken promises we’ve seen for decades - but only one group wins when we stop paying attention: big oil. Hosted by Toitū, join the experts on the ground at COP28 for an online discussion: COP28 success or flop? 

  Action: Register for the online event 15th December 12-1pm here.

• Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, due 15 Dec: Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt are consulting on all sorts of amazing public transport + cycling network + infrastructure + three waters management initiatives.
  Action: Use this amazing submission guide written by locals to weigh in on the Hutt public transport survey. Also tell them to take action instead of keeping on consulting!

Wins

• The European Union has become the first international body to criminalise wide-scale environmental damage “comparable to ecocide”.

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That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. Enjoy this article by climate scientist Kate Marvel about why she no longer feels like she’s screaming into a void - solutions-focused climate action is happening right now.

See you next week, 

Cathy & the Climate Club team

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