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Campaigners are celebrating a massive victory as the company UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) announced that it is scaling back its interim injunction against protesters. The injunction has been in place since 2018, and has severely hampered the right to protest against UKOG and its drilling for extreme oil. Campaigners have argued that the injunction has been “the most expansive so far sought by the industry”.
Five women, under the umbrella of the Weald Action Group (WAG), had been expecting to continue their legal challenge against the injunction in the High Court on 9 February. But on 4 February, UKOG scaled the injunction back radically, including removing a ban on slow-walking. Slow-walking is where protesters walk very slowly in front of trucks that are trying to make their way onto oil and gas company sites. It has been a much-used tactic for many years.
“Chilling effect”
Back in 2018, UKOG executive Stephen Sanderson released a statement after the injunction was issued, titled “mob rule and anarchy has no place in modern Britain”. He argued that:
obstruction of the highway (including by slow-walking, lock‐ons and lorry surfing), and obstructing or interfering with our suppliers, does not constitute peaceful protest.
It now appears that Sanderson and his team have changed their minds, as slow-walking has been removed from the injunction by the company.
“Persons unknown”
The injunction had been issued against “persons unknown” and named people. According to Drill or Drop:
The original application, which contained more than 900 pages of exhibits and 500 videos, was against “persons unknown” …
In March 2020, UKOG sought to add more than 100 individuals to the injunction but failed to identify most of them by name. It was argued that few, if any, had been involved in unlawful activities. In April 2020, the company tried unsuccessfully to bar the five women from bringing their legal challenge.
A company can successfully bring about an injunction on ‘persons unknown’ – a.k.a everyone in the world – if it is an interim, rather than a final, injunction. But a recent judgment made on a different injunction stated that it’s “unlawful to allow interim injunctions against ‘persons unknown’ to drag on”. Despite this, UKOG’s interim injunction has been allowed to continue into its third year.
‘Tremendous victory’
Michael Oswald of Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, is acting for the five women. He told The Canary:
The injunction originally sought by UKOG against ‘persons unknown’ was incredibly wide in its scope and draconian in its impact on peaceful protest. Our clients’ long battle to fight the injunction has forced UKOG to scale it back radically. It is a tremendous victory for our clients, for the wider environmental movement, and the right to protest.
After the announcement, Natasha Doane, of the Leith Hill campaign in Surrey, said:
Wide-reaching injunctions aimed at persons unknown have had their day.
Companies cannot buy their way through the courts. The freedom to express your views is a right that shapes democracy and enables current pressing issues to be addressed.
The hearing is expected to go ahead on Tuesday so that changes to the injunction order can be made. And a five-day trial is scheduled for February 2022 to decide whether UKOG’s interim injunction should be made final. UKOG was contacted for a comment, but The Canary had received no reply at the time of publishing.
New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission this week released its long-anticipated advice to the government on how to reshape the economy to meet the country’s domestic and international climate change obligations.
The document sets out three emissions budgets, covering 15 years to 2035 in five-yearly plans. It also provides advice on the direction policy should take to achieve the country’s 2050 net-zero goal.
As one of New Zealand’s six climate change commissioners I have been part of the process of making a clear case to government that we must take “immediate and decisive action on climate change” across all sectors.
The commission’s priorities include a rapid shift to electric transport, accelerated renewable energy generation, climate-friendly farming practices and more permanent forests, predominantly in native trees.
It also says New Zealand must raise its pledge under the Paris Agreement, known as the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), because its current commitment is not compatible with the goal of limiting warming to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels.
Ambitious but realistic carbon budgets The good news is the draft carbon budgets are achievable, with technologies that already exist.
The commission’s advice is built around 17 recommendations that cover many sectors of the economy. One of the key messages is that Aotearoa New Zealand cannot plant its way out of trouble but needs to make real cuts in emissions and eliminate the use of fossil fuels.
Most of the solutions are well known. We need to reduce emissions from transport, from energy and industry, from agriculture and from waste.
Breaking: New Zealand roadmap to net zero unveiled. Here’s what it means for you.https://t.co/5oLgapQdDC
Recommendations for the transport sector include electrification of the vehicle fleet, improved public transport networks and better integration of active transport (walking and cycling).
A rapid increase in electric cars would reduce emissions from private and commercial transport, while supporting low-carbon fuels like “green” hydrogen and biofuels would help the freight sector (including heavy trucks, shipping and aircraft).
Part of the transport story is urban planning — changing how people and goods move around. The commission recommends limiting urban sprawl, making walking and cycling safer and easier and shifting more freight from road to rail or shipping.
The commission also calls for rapid decarbonisation of electricity generation, and energy generally, to phase out the use of coal. Between now and 2035, it estimates New Zealand could cut transport emissions by 47 percent and those coming from heat and electricity generation by 45 percent.
I can’t stress this enough. We’re heading for economic change, to decarbonise the country. There’ll be winners and losers. Who they are depends on decisions by govts, informed by advice out a week from today by the Climate Change Commission. Have your say! https://t.co/pAs5PLeaKo
Emissions from agriculture Methane accounts for 43.5 percent of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, and more than 80 percent of total methane comes from cud-chewing farm animals. But the short-lived nature of methane in the atmosphere means we do not need to reduce methane emissions so fast.
The Zero Carbon Act calls for a 24-47 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2050, compared to net-zero for carbon dioxide.
Emissions from farm animals account for more than 80% of New Zealand’s methane emissions. Image: Brendon O’Hagan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The commission’s advice is that biogenic methane emissions can be reduced by 19 percent by 2035 while further improving productivity in the sector through better feed, fewer but more productive animals and continued research into emission-reducing technologies.
The commission calls for real cuts in emissions rather than offsets through tree planting, but argues forestry should continue to play an important role in the long-term storage of carbon, for example if timber is used in buildings or furniture and to provide bioenergy.
It recommends a shift towards more permanent native forests to improve long-term carbon storage, biodiversity and soil retention.
Waste is another sector with significant potential to cut emissions. Per head of population, New Zealanders throw away roughly twice what an average OECD citizen does. The commission recommends moving towards a circular economy, where resources are valued and reused.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the main issue in the waste sector is methane release from decomposing solid waste. Capturing that gas at source could reduce methane emissions by 14 percent by 2035.
Cost of a fair transition The commission’s draft budgets recommend an overall reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions of 36 percent by 2035, starting with 2 percent by 2025 and 17 percent by 2030. It estimates the cost of achieving this is less than 1 percent of projected GDP, much lower than was initially thought.
The payoffs for public health, for our environment and biodiversity make this a good investment, let alone the huge avoided costs from unchecked climate change.
The commission’s recommendations will go through a public consultation process until March 14, and the government has until the end of the year to decide which parts of the advice it takes on board.
An important aspect of the advice is inclusiveness and support for all sectors of society as we move to a low-emissions future. The commission takes a te ao Māori (Māori world view) approach, making it clear that Aotearoa must have an equitable and fair transition.
New Zealand’s net emissions rose by 57 percent between 1990 and 2018, placing it among the poorest performers in the OECD. Image: The Conversation/Lynn Grieveson via Getty Images
New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission this week released its long-anticipated advice to the government on how to reshape the economy to meet the country’s domestic and international climate change obligations.
The document sets out three emissions budgets, covering 15 years to 2035 in five-yearly plans. It also provides advice on the direction policy should take to achieve the country’s 2050 net-zero goal.
As one of New Zealand’s six climate change commissioners I have been part of the process of making a clear case to government that we must take “immediate and decisive action on climate change” across all sectors.
The commission’s priorities include a rapid shift to electric transport, accelerated renewable energy generation, climate-friendly farming practices and more permanent forests, predominantly in native trees.
It also says New Zealand must raise its pledge under the Paris Agreement, known as the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), because its current commitment is not compatible with the goal of limiting warming to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels.
Ambitious but realistic carbon budgets The good news is the draft carbon budgets are achievable, with technologies that already exist.
The commission’s advice is built around 17 recommendations that cover many sectors of the economy. One of the key messages is that Aotearoa New Zealand cannot plant its way out of trouble but needs to make real cuts in emissions and eliminate the use of fossil fuels.
Most of the solutions are well known. We need to reduce emissions from transport, from energy and industry, from agriculture and from waste.
Breaking: New Zealand roadmap to net zero unveiled. Here’s what it means for you.https://t.co/5oLgapQdDC
Recommendations for the transport sector include electrification of the vehicle fleet, improved public transport networks and better integration of active transport (walking and cycling).
A rapid increase in electric cars would reduce emissions from private and commercial transport, while supporting low-carbon fuels like “green” hydrogen and biofuels would help the freight sector (including heavy trucks, shipping and aircraft).
Part of the transport story is urban planning — changing how people and goods move around. The commission recommends limiting urban sprawl, making walking and cycling safer and easier and shifting more freight from road to rail or shipping.
The commission also calls for rapid decarbonisation of electricity generation, and energy generally, to phase out the use of coal. Between now and 2035, it estimates New Zealand could cut transport emissions by 47 percent and those coming from heat and electricity generation by 45 percent.
I can’t stress this enough. We’re heading for economic change, to decarbonise the country. There’ll be winners and losers. Who they are depends on decisions by govts, informed by advice out a week from today by the Climate Change Commission. Have your say! https://t.co/pAs5PLeaKo
Emissions from agriculture Methane accounts for 43.5 percent of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, and more than 80 percent of total methane comes from cud-chewing farm animals. But the short-lived nature of methane in the atmosphere means we do not need to reduce methane emissions so fast.
The Zero Carbon Act calls for a 24-47 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2050, compared to net-zero for carbon dioxide.
Emissions from farm animals account for more than 80% of New Zealand’s methane emissions. Image: Brendon O’Hagan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The commission’s advice is that biogenic methane emissions can be reduced by 19 percent by 2035 while further improving productivity in the sector through better feed, fewer but more productive animals and continued research into emission-reducing technologies.
The commission calls for real cuts in emissions rather than offsets through tree planting, but argues forestry should continue to play an important role in the long-term storage of carbon, for example if timber is used in buildings or furniture and to provide bioenergy.
It recommends a shift towards more permanent native forests to improve long-term carbon storage, biodiversity and soil retention.
Waste is another sector with significant potential to cut emissions. Per head of population, New Zealanders throw away roughly twice what an average OECD citizen does. The commission recommends moving towards a circular economy, where resources are valued and reused.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the main issue in the waste sector is methane release from decomposing solid waste. Capturing that gas at source could reduce methane emissions by 14 percent by 2035.
Cost of a fair transition The commission’s draft budgets recommend an overall reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions of 36 percent by 2035, starting with 2 percent by 2025 and 17 percent by 2030. It estimates the cost of achieving this is less than 1 percent of projected GDP, much lower than was initially thought.
The payoffs for public health, for our environment and biodiversity make this a good investment, let alone the huge avoided costs from unchecked climate change.
The commission’s recommendations will go through a public consultation process until March 14, and the government has until the end of the year to decide which parts of the advice it takes on board.
An important aspect of the advice is inclusiveness and support for all sectors of society as we move to a low-emissions future. The commission takes a te ao Māori (Māori world view) approach, making it clear that Aotearoa must have an equitable and fair transition.
3Mins Read There’s a new tech-for-good app in town. Called Mindtree, this Oslo-based startup has created a meditation app that aligns our own health with the planet’s. For every time a user meditates with Mindtree, the company redirects the majority of the profits to forest restoration projects operated by its partner charity Trees for the Future. It […]
As a candidate, Joe Biden made a $2 trillion commitment to leading the fight against climate change. So far, President Biden has delivered on his promise through executive orders and cabinet appointments around a unified goal — this will be the climate presidency Continue reading
New Zealand is heading for a major upheaval under a landmark plan to combat the climate crisis – but the sectors in line for the most serious change are already showing signs of resistance.
The Climate Change Commission has released a draft blueprint with recommendations on how to slash emissions to ensure the country is carbon neutral by 2050.
The government calls it this generation’s “nuclear-free moment” – radical reform required in the face of rising global temperatures.
“It will be a challenge, but if we rise to the challenge then the opportunity that is in front of us is huge,” Climate Change Minister James Shaw said.
A huge opportunity with huge ramifications – and the challenge different for different sectors.
Coal, oil and gas industries hit
Under the plan mapped out by Climate Change Commission, the coal mining and oil and gas industries will be hit hard – up to 1100 jobs gone by 2035.
“That depends on whether or not you think that the future, that the Commission has painted, will come to pass and I’m not convinced,” John Carnegie, head of oil and gas lobby group PEPANZ, said.
By and large, Carnegie said he found the report thoughtful and nuanced.
But its recommendation to stop gas connections being installed in new homes – he calls a distraction – one which would cost consumers a lot for little upside.
“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and 2035, and we’re quite confident that there’s going to be a role to play for oil and gas in the New Zealand economy going forward,” he said.
New Zealand’s roads are set for a shake-up too under the commission’s vision, with a proposed ban on any new petrol cars coming into the country at some point between 2030 and 2035.
By that end date, it wants two fifths of the light vehicle fleet to be electric.
‘Monumental shift’
Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford called it a “monumental shift”.
“It’s a very tough task, but it does start to focus the mind for New Zealanders about what we need to do if we are going to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.”
For Crawford, the timeline for the import ban may be too ambitious – outpacing other countries and car manufacturers too.
He says consumers will need incentives of some sort to shift New Zealanders to electric vehicles – like the feebate scheme spiked by New Zealand First last term.
“If you want to move faster than the market, you need some government assistance to do that,” he said.
The Climate Change Commission wants two fifths of New Zealand’s light vehicle fleet to be electric by 2035. Image: 123rf.com
Agriculture adjustment
The agriculture sector, too, is in line for some adjustment.
Federated Farmers likes the Commission’s shift away from mass planting of pine – and the way methane is treated separately from carbon dioxide.
Even so, president Andrew Hoggard said the methane targets proposed looks too high.
He also questioned the plan to cut stock numbers – while maintaining production.
“It’s not an easy shift, sometimes we don’t live in a perfect world and sometimes best intentions, it’s not that easy to achieve.”
The final report will go to the government before the end of May – then it will need to decide what to do with it.
Report gives Shaw ‘great deal of hope’ Climate Change minister James Shaw told RNZ Morning Report the biggest challenge the government faced over the report was getting the balance right between different industry sectors.
“Every sector is going to be saying ‘it’s too tough, you need to go harder on another sector’ but then how do you balance it out?
“I think that the commission has done a pretty good job of that in their draft advice. But it is going to come as a bit of a shock to some people.”
Shaw said New Zealand would not meet its targets under the Paris Agreement if it did not enact the Commission’s plan.
He said he also took a great deal of hope from what the report said.
“Although it is a very steep decline in emissions over the coming 10,15 years, the report does say that we have the technology available today, it doesn’t require any new kind of magic science to show up in the next 15 years, and also, the cost of the transition is far, far lower than we had previously estimated.”
Shaw said the government will ensure regions that rely heavily on fossil fuels for employment, such as Taranaki, have alternative options for work.
Five-year budgets the key
“That is the importance of having these five year budgets and having three in place at any one time, so you’ve always got a 15-year forward view, that gives businesses a long enough time horizon to be able to make plans and to invest in alternatives.
“It (also) gives the government enough time to put in place transition plans and work with workers and industries and unions and local communities on those transitions.”
Shaw said the report also had good news for farmers as well.
“Up until yesterday, our projections were that we would need about 1.1 million hectares of land converted to forestry in order to act as a carbon sink.
“What the commissioner saying is that we need to press on actual reductions at source much, much harder than on offset forestry, and they’re talking about limiting forestry to something like just over 700,000 hectares. That should address one of the key complaints that farmers have had about the plans so far.”
Shaw added that Transport minister Michael Wood was looking at incentive schemes for electric vehicles.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Last week’s decision by President Biden to kill the Keystone XL pipeline once and for all raises important questions about whether and how Canada will take care of workers and communities dependent on fossil fuels such as oil and gas.
As the world takes climate change increasingly seriously, fossil fuel sectors like oil, gas, and coal will shrink. Jobs and economic benefits from Canada’s oil and gas development will continue to decline. Denying that reality is like burying your head in the sand—it won’t make the problem go away, it’ll just make us ill prepared, and make the inevitable pain worse for workers and communities.
A new report from Environmental Defence shows that this transition is entirely manageable. Canada can and should plan the phase out fossil fuels, prepare for the economic transition, and protect those most impacted.
As those working in the oil patch already know, the job transition has already begun. Between 2014 and 2019, 33,000 workers lost their jobs in fossil fuel sectors—mostly oil and gas—despite increasing production. In the first 6 months of last year’s pandemic, a further 17,500 jobs were lost. Fossil fuel jobs now represent less than 1 per cent of the Canadian workforce.
It is also worth noting that Canadian unemployment went down over this time—and unemployment went up when oil and gas was booming in the early 2000s—so it’s clear that fossil fuel sectors, including oil and gas, are not the engine of the Canadian economy as some claim.
These jobs aren’t coming back. Several major Canadian petroleum companies have announced permanent layoffs in the last year, including Ovintiv (formerly Encana), Enbridge, and Suncor. The merger of Husky and Cenovus will eliminate one-quarter of their workers.
Every lost job is devastating for a worker and their family. Planning the labour transition will mean less pain and disruption because we will support these workers to find new jobs and get training as needed.
The task is entirely manageable for several reasons. A planned 20-year phaseout means lots of time for workers, communities, and governments to prepare. Because the workforce is older than the Canadian average, more than half the workers will retire over that timeframe.
But also, job creation in the Canadian economy overwhelms job losses in fossil fuels. For every job lost in fossil fuels in the last six years, the Canadian economy created 42 jobs. In fact, it takes the Canadian economy 10 days to create the number of jobs that will be lost annually as we transition away from fossil fuels.
Canada also has historical examples to show that even larger labour transitions have occurred without major disruptions. The downturn in Canada’s manufacturing sector in the 2000s resulted in three times the job losses over half the time period compared to what we are projecting will happen in fossil fuels. On a more positive note, women entered the workforce en masse in the last half of the 20th century and were a positive economic force for the country.
Of course, the best way to undertake this transition is to plan for it, and then support workers and their communities that are affected. This phaseout and transition has successfully been planned for fossil fuel sectors in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain.
Certain principles should be applied to plan and facilitate that transition. These principles include: support for increased labour mobility; incentives for early retirement; income protections for affected workers; skills training; and stronger representation for workers in negotiating transition plans. Planning and support is also needed for communities that are more dependent on fossil fuels. (Watch for a forthcoming blog that elaborates on the 10 principles from our report.)
The phaseout of fossil fuels and the jobs they create is already occurring around the world. Pretending that oil and gas jobs are coming back will only make things worse—the inevitable dislocation will be “sudden, destructive, and out of control.” Instead, Canada can take serious climate action and care for those that currently depend on fossil fuel industries.
Natano said he looked forward to continued and strengthened relationships between the people of the Pacific and the US, especially on the climate crisis facing the “Blue Pacific”.
He said the international community must use the positive development to inject greater urgency to climate action on the Paris goal of limiting global warming increase to within 1.5-degrees celsius
“The announcement comes at a time when the world is faced with a multitude of hazards including covid-19,” Natano said.
“Our Blue Pacific faces a climate change crisis that threatens our future prosperity and the move by President Biden and his administration to bring the US back to the Paris Agreement is warmly welcomed and appreciated.
“We look forward to working closely with President Biden and his administration, with urgency and shared values for a safe and secure future for our great Blue Planet.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Natano said he looked forward to continued and strengthened relationships between the people of the Pacific and the US, especially on the climate crisis facing the “Blue Pacific”.
He said the international community must use the positive development to inject greater urgency to climate action on the Paris goal of limiting global warming increase to within 1.5-degrees celsius
“The announcement comes at a time when the world is faced with a multitude of hazards including covid-19,” Natano said.
“Our Blue Pacific faces a climate change crisis that threatens our future prosperity and the move by President Biden and his administration to bring the US back to the Paris Agreement is warmly welcomed and appreciated.
“We look forward to working closely with President Biden and his administration, with urgency and shared values for a safe and secure future for our great Blue Planet.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path
Two weeks after the storming of the US Capitol by the followers of his predecessor, in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans, Joe Biden — the 46th president of the US — tried to contain the blaze in his inaugural address.
As aspiration, the speech was pitch perfect. Biden rightly took on the present of America’s most serious domestic crisis since the Civil War. Coronavirus, the Capitol attack, economic loss, immigration, climate change and social injustice were confronted:
We’ll press forward with speed and urgency for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibility. Much to do, much to heal, much to restore, much to build and much to gain.
But what distinguished the speech beyond the essential was the sincerity with which it was delivered. Since the election, there has been a commingling of Biden’s personal narrative of loss with the damage that America has suffered.
When he spoke of the “empty chair” and relatives who have died, it was from the heart and not just the script.
President Joe Biden … “My whole soul is in this.” Video: PBS News
So, as he said in front of the Capitol: “My whole soul is in this”, there was no doubt — in contrast to the statements of his predecessor — that it is.
Complementing Biden’s rhetoric are the executive orders and legislation set out in the days before the inauguration. Immigration reform will be accompanied by protection of almost 800,000 young Dreamers from deportation.
There is a mandate to reunite children separated from parents and a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.
Words to a waiting world But where is America in the world in all this? In Biden’s attention to domestic crises, there was little beyond his intention to re-engage with the world on climate and reverse the previous administration’s myopic immigration measures.
Even the invocations of American greatness, with one exception, stayed within its borders:
Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.
There is historical precedent for the exclusive focus on home. In 1933, as the Great Depression raged, Franklin Delano Roosevelt also made no reference to the world as he said at his first inauguration:
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds.
Beyond the inaugural, there are clues in Biden’s appointment of Obama-era pragmatists: Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security advisor, John Kerry in a special post for climate change. There will be no sweeping “Biden Doctrine”, nor a grand speech such as Barack Obama’s in Cairo or Ankara in 2009.
The first woman and black US Vice-President Kamala Harris … tackling the inequities and divisions in the way of justice for all. Image: APR screenshot/Al Jazeera
Instead, the pragmatists will try to restore alliances, reestablish the “rules of the game” with countries such as China, Russia and North Korea — and work case-by-case on immediate issues such as the Iran nuclear deal.
But for this day, and for the weeks and months to come, the foreign challenges will primarily be an extension of the domestic issues that Biden set out on “America’s day … democracy’s day”.
Recovery of America’s damaged standing will come from success in putting out the fires that are not just in the US: saving lives and vanquishing a virus, committing to a secure environment, tackling the inequities and divisions in the way of justice for all.
For as the world watched, Biden’s exceptional reference to an aspiration beyond the US came in his penultimate paragraph about the “American story” to be written:
That America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.
On Wednesday, from behind a wall of bulletproof glass, outgoing US President Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters to be brave and incited them to march on the Capitol Buildings where the electoral college votes were being counted.
The votes were finally counted. Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States come January 20 and charged with the responsibility of governing a nation politically divided and ravaged by a deadly pandemic.
Why should we, here in New Zealand, concern ourselves with what happened this week in America?
Three answers
The answers to that deceptively simple question could fill a book, but this is a Facebook post so I’ll offer you just three.
What happens to the US economy has a direct impact on the world economy and therefore on our own immediate economic future.
The longer covid-19 remains uncontrolled in the USA the longer international travel will be disrupted and that does not bode well for us as an island nation geographically isolated as we are from Northern Hemisphere markets.
The huge issue of climate change requires immediate action to be taken on the dire warnings of science about global warming and not the conspiracy ramblings of social media.
So where is the hope?
It lies in what also happened earlier that day in the USA.
When the votes were counted in the Georgia run-offs, Raphael Warnock became the first Black American in that state to be elected as a senator for that state and, along with Jon Ossoff, it gives the Democrats the control of the Senate as well as Congress.
Mandate for progressive policies
So the Biden administration now has a mandate to introduce progressive policies that will improve the lives of a great many of his fellow Americans.
Here in New Zealand Jacinda Ardern leads a government that has a mandate to introduce progressive policies in our own country and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor and thereby improve the lives of the majority of New Zealanders.
We can’t do anything about what happens in America but we can do everything about what happens in our own country.
We need to accelerate our thinking about how to be more self-sustaining as a country and foster the idea of sharing the nation’s wealth instead of the selfishness promoted over the last 30 years of neoliberal economic policies.
And we need to keep the Ardern government on task by giving praise when praise is due and speaking up when we see fault and injustice.
Bryan Bruce is an independent filmmaker and journalist. Asia Pacific Report is publishing a series of occasional commentaries by him with permission.
A Pacific Climate Warrior today told of personal struggles that impact on island people in the region and how this inspires them to take action for climate justice.
But Wellington coordinator of the Pacific warriors Mary Moeono-Kolio appealed to politicians and policy leaders to take real action fast – before it is too late for the world’s children.
She was making an acceptance speech on behalf of the laureates for the Pax Christi International Peace Prize 2020 at the St Columba community centre in Ponsonby in a livestream broadcast organised by the local chapter Pax Christi Aotearoa.
The audience was called into the community hall by the blowing of a conch shell, followed by a mihi whakatau.
“Climate change is more than just an environmental issue, but a manifestation of the much larger ecological crisis not of our making – one that the Pacific are evidently the first ones to suffer from,” said Moeono-Kolio.
“In my own home of Falefa in Samoa, my dad – who is here today with my mother – has seen within a period of just 50 years, his primary school grounds disappear under the waves.
“His mother’s village of Ti’avea – where he grew up as a young boy playing with his friends – is today, essentially deserted due to the frequent severe weather events such as cyclones and floods that have rendered the village uninhabitable.
‘Our lives are being destroyed’
“For me and my fellow Warriors here today and around the world, examples such as this is why climate change is so personal.
“It’s personal because it is the lives and livelihoods of our families that are being destroyed and continue to suffer due to the consequences of inaction by some and the complicit silence of so many others.”
The Pacific Climate Warriors introduced themselves in turn, and global messages of congratulations and hope were broadcast along with a video of the young campaigners saying how climate changes had impacted on them.
The Pacific Climate Warriors – linked to the global non-governmental climate action organisation 350.org- is a vibrant network of young people who live in 17 Pacific island nations and diaspora communities in the United States, New Zealand and Australia.
Their mission is to peacefully raise awareness of their communities’ vulnerability to climate change, to show their people’s strength and resilience in the face of extraordinary challenges, and to nonviolently resist the fossil fuel industry whose activities damage their environment.
Past winners of the international peace award have included Brazilian Farmworkers Union president Margarida Maria Alves (1988), the Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace in Tokyo (2007), music peace ambassadors Pontanima (2011), and European Lawyers in Lesbos (2019).
Pacific Climate Warriors and family … celebrating the peace award for their struggle on behalf on Pacific Islanders and people impacted on by the climate crisis. Image: PMC
Emissions from farm animals account for more than 80% of New Zealand’s methane emissions. Image: Brendon O’Hagan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
