Two Auckland women are coming out of retirement to form the North Island contingent of Extinction Rebellion’s Election Roadshow for Climate. 

Caril Cowan (70) and Dot Austin (65) will start their 11-day journey from Cape Reinga on Monday 14 September, and wind their way down the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) via most of the main centres to arrive in Wellington on Friday 25 September, where they’ll link up with their counterparts from the South Island outside Parliament. 

After a career in health and education, and a lifetime commitment to activism that began with the peace movement against nuclear weaponry in the 1970s, Caril believes action on climate change is so urgently needed that she cannot stand by and simply watch it unfold. 

“I have seven grandchildren. Unbridled greed has created a global threat that will severely impact their quality of life, unless we act now,” Caril says. 

Dot, having recently retired after 46 years in nursing, has similar concerns. 

“I cannot stand by and tell my children that I did nothing to stop the mass extinction of human and animal species,” Dot says. “This threat is real and immediate, and we have to do our best to make this issue this election’s major concern – because it cannot wait another term.”

Both were drawn to join Extinction Rebellion by the group’s focus on climate change and its kaupapa of nonviolent civil disobedience. 

As the roadshow travels the country, it will focus on giving local voters feedback about where various parliamentary candidates stand on the issues of the climate and ecological emergency. The roadshow will also be promoting a sustainable economic recovery from Covid-19, as well as the need to institute a Citizens’ Assembly that honours the unique knowledge and role of Māori as tangata whenua through meaningful partnership, to give the NZ public a voice in responding to the climate emergency.  

The South Island Roadshow crew will start from Bluff at the same time (September 14). Their rendezvous in Wellington will coincide with an International Day of Action on climate change.