Climate Roadshow arrived in Westport on Tuesday, September 22nd at the Community Stage, NBS Theatre, Palmerston Street

The Election Roadshow for Climate, an initiative of Extinction Rebellion (XR) supported by Aotearoa Climate Emergency (ACE),  has completed its Westport leg of the journey. The Roadshow is attempting to put climate and ecological change at the forefront of this election.

The Roadshow, which started concurrently from Bluff and Cape Reinga on Monday, is promoting three election issues: the declaration of a national climate emergency; a Citizens’ Assembly on climate next year; and a green post-COVID-19 economic recovery plan.

Westport local Terry spoke of his experience and how the glaciers have retreated over the past few decades and his worries over the next few years. 

“We have the sea coming in,” says Terry. “All along the coast, it is coming in and reaching houses”.  

Terry was joined by Catherine Cannan from Punakaiki and Carl Horn who both expressed frustration from lack of government action and worry about the future for the West Coast and wider Aotearoa. 

Carl said, “We need to be a good ancestor and we are not going to be if we continue living like we are.” 

Catherine said, “Nothing seems to be effectively done and I like the idea of a Citizen’s Assembly on Climate Change.”

“We need to be implementing a sustainable economic recovery from Covid-19 now,” says Mathias Corwin, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. “The IPCC has made it clear that we need to halve emissions by 2030. If we wait a few years until we are in a better situation economically then we are going to miss this target.  The answer is to take advantage of the recovery package set aside for Covid 19 to transition to a sustainable economy.”

At our current rate of emissions we are on a path to further economic harm, a loss of food security and a scarcity of resources. Tens of billions of dollars are going to be spent on the economic recovery over the next few years and generations of kiwis will be paying for this. 

“It’s shocking to think that we might leave Kiwis of future generations to deal with the one-two punch of the bill from Covid 19 and the astronomical costs of climate change,” Mr Corwin said. “The need for a transition to a green and equitable economy has never been more urgent; we simply cannot wait any longer.”