MĹrena folks, and hope you had a restful and refreshing Labour weekend. Labour Day celebrates the achievements of the labour union movement, which fought hard and long for an eight-hour working day. Itâs a great reminder of what can be achieved when individuals come together towards a common goal and scrutinise any barriers to it.
A much-needed reminder too - just in the past week, Nigeria has experienced intense flooding caused by climate change, with over 1.3 million people displaced from their homes, over 600 people dead, and 200,000 homes destroyed. Itâs difficult to take in the numbers, particularly when we are also facing the continuation of the Pakistan floods, flash floods in India, and flooding in Australia. As weâve often seen, those who have contributed least to the climate crisis are often the worst affected.
In slightly colder climates, countries are discussing withdrawal from a little-known 1994 energy charter treaty (ECT), which allows investors to sue governments for making policy changes that could affect their profits đ°France, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands have all recently spoken out against this scheme, since it blocks them from meeting their climate targets. Itâs amazing to think that legal protections for fossil fuel companies like this have been in place for decades, and are still paying out billions of dollars of taxpayersâ money to these corporations. Often behind closed doors, thereâs a lot of legal proceedings and lobbies like these which the public are not always aware of. Coming back to unions, there is a lot to be learned from their work on persevering through barriers no matter how technical, to take ideas that may seem extreme or out-there at the time and make them the norm. Collective action is our chance to pool our power and identify the barriers to the changes we want to see.Â
Thank you to Bernard Hickey at the KÄkÄ for recommending us on your Substack - and hello to our new readers from that community!
What can you do today?
The most-clicked link from last weekâs issue was the Te Whatu Ora Southern Hospital coal petition by Jenny Campbell from Coal Action Murihiku. This has now gone from 25 to 142 signatures in 1 week, great work team!
đ If you have 5 minutes: Letâs con-fish-scate the crude oil
Weâre lucky to live in a land of beautiful coastlines and abundant marine ecosystems which sequester carbon, but these wonât last forever unless we take care of them. The Hauraki Gulf is currently in a biodiversity crisis after decades of overfishing. The government currently has a submission open to establish 19 new protected areas to restore the Hauraki Gulf, and Forest & Bird have made it easy for us to respond.
Action: Use Forest & Bird's quick submit by this Friday to call for a more healthy and resilient GulfEarlier this month, Ugandan police arrested nine students for peacefully protesting the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), and tomorrow they will go to trial.
Action: Sign the petition to show your solidarity for the EACOP protestersÂ
đ If you have 15 minutes: Prioritise public goods over private vehiclesÂ
Ĺtautahi Christchurch will soon have a new stadium opening. To prepare, the Council are proposing upgrades like widening footpaths to create a shared pathway, adding more cycleways, and lowering the speed limit. However, early feedback from some business stakeholders have pushed the Council to also offer a second option which prioritises private vehicles. This will only worsen congestion.
Action: Have your say on the streets surrounding Te Kaha (Anyone can have a say - we like Option 1!)ÂIn issues 25 and 38, we shared the campaign to ban seabed mining. Deep sea mining is a classic example of why capitalist, growth-based solutions to climate change are extremely limited - and may do more damage than good.
Action: Email your local Labour MP and ask them to support this bill with this Healthy Oceans Project action guide
Optional: BCC us at climateclubnz@substack.com so we can track our collective impact with these kinds of actions :)
đđ˝ If you have 30 minutes or more: Tree cheers for nature!Â
We donât have general tree protection in Aotearoa for trees on urban properties. Canal Road in Avondale is home to native trees planted in the 1920s. These old trees provide resilience in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss, but private development has put these trees at risk, and now the activists who turned up to protect them are facing legal action.
If you have 5 mins: Sign the petition to bring back general tree protectionÂTake it further: TÄmaki friends, show your support by showing up for the trial at the Auckland District Court, at 3:45 today
Ĺtautahi Christchurch: Ĺtautahi Christchurch is well-placed to respond to climate change with great people, plenty of renewable energy, and a geography thatâs conducive to active transport, so whatâs holding us back?
Action: Join a team of local experts to hear their take on what hampers effective climate action (Jenny will also be there!)Â
Wins!
For the first time ever, the UK advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority has taken action against a bank for greenwashing - they banned two HSBC ads which promoted their plans to reduce harmful emissions. Let it be the first action of many đĽ
Thatâs all for today, folks đđ˝ Thanks for taking action. Enjoy this cute collection of creatures and take care of each other đ
See you next week,Â
Dhanya, Emily, and Jenny from the Climate Club