Issue #34: Small but significant

On using local change to make a global difference

Mōrena, and happy Tuesday! It’s been an incredible week for local climate action:

• Auckland Council passed the Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway

• Greater Wellington Region Council approved Aotearoa’s first binding emissions target

• Hamilton City Council approved a new climate change strategy

Huge appreciation for people across local government, community groups, unions, journalists, activists and analysts alike, who persevered for these systemic changes. And thank you to those of you who smashed out an email or two to a councillor last week. It really made an impact.

Climate Club NZ @ClimateClubNZ

We did it! Thank you everyone who shared, emailed, and tweeted your support for the Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway. Climate action can be a hard grind, but days like this, we're feeling a lot of hope about our future 🌱💛

Critical_Mass @CriticalMassAKL

We move to a vote. 17 for, 4 with reservations. TERP is passed! Welcome to a new era for Auckland!

And not a minute too soon, given the devastating floods in Nelson/Tasman, and the suspiciously warm August days elsewhere. We might be a small country, but we have an outsized contribution to emissions, and absolutely have a role to play in the climate crisis. What kind of role that turns out to be is completely within our power.

Climate Club NZ @ClimateClubNZ

"We need to do the right thing & role model for a 100 small countries that look like us that being little does not get you out of jail free. But being little & taking action reassures others that they can take meaningful actn. Those 100 little countries are 1/3 global emissions."

Alec Tang 鄧振揚 @AlecTang_

ah… I see #TERP has hit Newshub and ZB socials, so time to roll out this vid for some ‘we’re too small to matter’ busting… maybe should pre-emptively send round to committee in advance of Thursdays debate too… 🤔😬 https://t.co/DQYffXSeQb

What can you do today?

The most-clicked link from last week’s issue was the call to stop Shell testing for oil on the South African Coast. AND - for the first time, our guide for emailing councillors about the TERP was a very close runner-up!

🐝 If you have 5 minutes: Cairns you believe it 

• Climate Club is going trans-Tasman! Our wonderful friends over in Aussie have reached out to set up a Climate Club there, focusing on local & regional actions on their side of the ditch. Following the momentum from their last election, there has never been a better time. If you have any friends living in Australia, why not share Climate Club Queensland with them?
  Action: Share Climate Club Queensland with an Aussie

🐇 If you have 15 minutes: Wheel get there

• Bike paths have been slowly but steadily increasing in number, but often people don’t know about them, and they are missing from a lot of maps - including the popular Google Maps. Having good information about bike paths is important for helping people make the most of them, and encouraging them to use low-carbon active transport on safer streets.

  Action: Report missing cycle lanes on Google Maps

• Wellington: Bike and bus lanes are climate action. Wellington City Council has big plans for improving biking and bus travel, but they are facing pushback. Have your say on the Newtown to City bus and bike lanes today.
  Action: Use Cycle Wellington’s submission guide to have your say on Newtown to CBD street changes

💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: Strike while the climate is hot

• The #PeopleNotProfit Global Climate Strike is in 30 days! Fridays for Future (the wonderful young people behind the 2019 Climate Strikes if you remember those, dang good times) have made some epic posters and fliers for anyone to use freely. Let’s make it big!
  Action: Put up fliers around your workspace (toilets are a good one), school, or around town 

• Tomorrow 7-7:30pm, online: Join us for our third lightning talk! This time, Nina will be interviewing Brendon Lane from The Public Service Association (PSA), Aotearoa’s largest democratic union, which is also behind the Vote Climate campaign. It’ll be an interview format this time, so feel free to email us questions beforehand.
  Action: See you tomorrow evening at our third lightning talk!

• Hawke’s Bay: The regional council is proposing to make some improvements to their public bus services - sorely needed in a region where cars are often the only option to get from A to B. They’ve made submissions easy with an online form. You don’t have to know heaps about transport to answer - just think about what would help you ride the bus more often, and share that.

• Action: Share your thoughts on what you’d like to see for public transport in Hawke’s Bay

In case you missed it!

• A couple of weeks ago, Dhanya and Jenny did a 10-minute interview with the team at Vote Climate to talk about why Climate Club supports this kaupapa. Check it out!

• Speaking of local climate action and voting, the Vote Climate campaign for this year’s local election is ramping up, and sending surveys out to local candidates this week. We’re hoping to have the first responses on the website by next week, so sign up for email updates to know which candidates have the strongest climate policies.

Wins!

• As we mentioned in the intro, several fantastic local climate policies succeeded this past week. If you get some time, consider sending a quick thank-you to your councillor if they voted for these measures (for the Auckland TERP, see who voted against key clauses at the bottom of the minutes). It’s great to thank people when they do take strong climate action, because politicians often get a lot of criticism but not very much affirmation. 

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That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. Enjoy this anthology of climate change poetry from Aotearoa, featuring 91 writers and published last month (there are in-library use copies at Auckland Central Library and Tūranga Christchurch, and will soon be available in most other libraries).

See you next week, 

Dhanya, Emily, and Jenny from the Climate Club