School Strike 4 Climate nationwide this Friday

Written By: - Date published: 12:42 pm, March 1st, 2023 - 32 comments
Categories: climate change - Tags:

Friday 3rd March across New Zealand

This moment in time is crucial, and we all have the opportunity to be a part of the change our planet and people so desperately need, by demanding our leaders truly LEAD. So – time to unite for climate justice. 🌏
Tag three friends, whānau, colleagues, classmates who you’ll be bringing along to a climate strike on Friday!
Aurora Garner-Randolph, a 17-year-old climate activist and high-school student in Ōtautahi/Christchurch writes at Newsroom,

On March 3, protesters across Aotearoa will hit the streets for the annual global climate strike. The main organisers of these strikes are teenagers. Our afterschool hours are filled with committee meetings, incessant emails, phone calls, and climate anxiety, but above all, an unshakeable determination to make these strikes a success.

My generation is growing desperate. With each passing year of unfulfilled political promises and unambitious climate policies, we are watching our future become unliveable. We don’t strike because we fancy a day off school, we strike because it’s the most effective tool we have to make our voices heard. But we can’t do it without your support.

…

These extreme weather events aren’t just killing people abroad. The recent Tāmaki Makaurau floods and Cyclone Gabrielle have brought the painful reality of the climate crisis to our own shores and claimed the lives of 15 people so far. These deaths are awful, but not surprising. We were warned of the increasing frequency of extreme weather events around the corner, and we did not act swiftly to cut emissions and redesign our cities to better withstand flooding.

…

This climate crisis is a structural issue. It’s the result of the failings of capitalism, and of neoliberal short-term electoral politics. A crisis of this magnitude isn’t going to be fixed by your beeswax food wrap or electric vehicle alone. It requires a rehaul of the system that makes convenient single-use plastic ubiquitous, the system that demands and glamorises the use of fossil-fuel-powered personal vehicles. What it requires is a mass movement of citizens protesting for policy change and a dramatic redesign of our economy.

SS4C demands for the March 3rd Strike (links to SS4C FB for details, quotes from Newsroom):

No new exploration or mining of new fossil fuel resources

No new fossil fuel mining or exploration. We know to reach carbon neutral by 2050, this is a necessity. Corporate greed is the force driving this exploration, and it must be denied.

Lower the voting age to 16

To lower the voting age to 16, in line with the ruling by the Supreme Court that the current voting age is a breach of human rights.
A 30 percent increase in the area of protected marine reserves by 2025. The current Marine Protected Areas legislation is ineffectual. We need to protect our moana from harm by extending protections as soon as possible.
Support for farmers in their transition to regenerative farming. Agriculture accounts for 48 percent of Aotearoa’s carbon emissions, but it provides our food and is a vital sector of our economy. Farmers need to be incentivised and supported more radically to phase out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, to restore wetland and topsoil, and to reduce their herd.
Rebates on ebikes for low income households. A similar scheme for electric cars has been very successful. A rebate will make ebikes affordable to everyone, reduce congestion on our roads, and improve travellers’ health.

 

Strike events listed so far:

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: Britomart Station, 3pm

Kaitaia: Te Ahu Centre, 2.40pm gathering for 3pm march

New Plymouth, Puke Ariki Landing at 12 noon

Te Papaioea Palmerston North: The Square, 3pm

Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington: Civic Square, 2.30 pm

Whakatū Nelson: Trafalgar St, 3pm

Ōtautahi Christchurch: Cathedral Square, 3pm

Ōtepoti Dunedin: Octagon, 3pm

Tāhuna Queenstown, Village Green, 3pm

Wānaka, Lismore Park, 3.15pm

32 comments on “School Strike 4 Climate nationwide this Friday ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Robert Guyton 1
    1 March 2023 at 1:35 pm

    This will inflame the Luxonites.

    • AB 1.1
      1 March 2023 at 3:42 pm

      Chronic inflammation is bad for you. The 30+-year long campaign to turn education into a machine for lowering the costs to business by churning out young people with the 'skills' (ironically, in Kiwispeak, "skulls") that business thinks it needs, might just be failing.

    • adam 1.2
      1 March 2023 at 6:42 pm

      Robert Guyton. On first read, I read

      "this will inflame the Luddites"

      Me rolling back to thinking it was 1810, probably a bit to modern for some of them.

  2. Tiger Mountain 2
    1 March 2023 at 4:54 pm

    Am going–march 3pm from Te Ahu Centre in Kaitaia. Non school kids down the back!–all my old Green mates. My two signs…

    Natz = Climate F**kers

    No Planet B!

    • MickeyBoyle 2.1
      2 March 2023 at 7:29 pm

      "Natz = Climate F**kers"

      Yes, Labour and their various partners have been outstanding environmental protectors over the past six years eh…

      This is the issue with many on the left. You are so worried about a potential NACT coalition. That you don't see the damage this current lot are doing. Or at least fail to call them out on it.

      NACT may well be shite. But the morons currently in aren't a hell of a lot better when it comes to the environmental, inequality, social outcomes or delivery.

      We deserve better from all of our representatives.

  3. Mike the Lefty 3
    2 March 2023 at 10:44 am

    I wonder if Heather du Plessis-Allan will start insulting them again, even though she got her fingers smacked for that recently. She won't be able to resist the temptation I would bet.

  4. Ad 4
    2 March 2023 at 10:59 am

    Talk about out of sequence with political reality.

    Where was this crowd when we needed them in the 3 Waters debate, which Labour has now lost? That's by a long shot the most important climate policy contest we've had since the June 2020 ETS legislation.

    Or the cycleway over the Waitemata Harbour killed in October 2021? Another massive loss against transport mode shift, which we lost through public opinion having near zero countervailing voice.

    We're going to keep losing really big initiatives if the kids just keep living on feelings, to quote the prophet Whitney.

    • That_guy 4.1
      2 March 2023 at 11:49 am

      I see. The climate emergency is all the fault of the kids, for having feelings, and because they don't have the contacts, money or skills (at 12 years old) to massively shift public opinion on a number of specific issues.

      If you're looking for someone to blame for the climate emergency and you target kids who are protesting, but not in the way you would prefer, that's an… interesting.. choice of target. To put it politely.

      • roblogic 4.1.1
        2 March 2023 at 8:30 pm

        An effective protest (or social movement) has a clearly defined, achievable, finite purpose.

        SS4C is about as useful as protesting against the moon causing tidal movements.

        • That_guy 4.1.1.1
          2 March 2023 at 10:39 pm

          If you can make use of your mousewheel, you can use the "scroll up" function to view the clearly defined and finite purpose.

          Whether it's acheiveable is a matter of opinion. Please, continue to share yours, but don't mistake it for the undebatable truth.

        • weka 4.1.1.2
          2 March 2023 at 10:58 pm

          An effective protest (or social movement) has a clearly defined, achievable, finite purpose.

          Why?

    • Mike the Lefty 4.2
      2 March 2023 at 12:04 pm

      You are talking like a ZB Snoozetalk talking head. I hope that was unintentional.

    • weka 4.3
      2 March 2023 at 12:44 pm

      the kids are more concerned about the lack of action on mitigation and transition. Whatever we do with 3 Waters it won't survive runaway climate change, and it's that generation that will bear the brunt of it, not yours or mine or that of the people in a bunfight over how to manage water infrastructure.

    • adam 4.4
      3 March 2023 at 5:21 pm

      Because Ad, the one thing working people can do is never asked of them on this issue.

      Working people kindly withdraw your labour, until some changes and protections are locked into place.

      This means mitigation and adaptation

      Then the threat of more walk outs are the sword which keeps it in place.

      • KJT 4.4.1
        4 March 2023 at 5:19 am

        They can't!

        Strikes for that purpose are illegal in New Zealand.

        in fact you could even be charged/sued for "inciting" one.

  5. MickeyBoyle 5
    2 March 2023 at 7:23 pm

    Why does it have to be E-bikes?

    How about just regular old bicycles?

    They're far cheaper, will last longer and are better for your overall health.

    • That_guy 5.1
      2 March 2023 at 10:46 pm

      It's a fair point but practically speaking having the ZOOM button does massively expand the number of people who want to be on bikes.

  6. roblogic 6
    2 March 2023 at 8:28 pm

    Auckland kids have missed about a year of schooling from Covid and also the first week of 2023 thanks to giant storms. Let's waste some more of their time.

    • Muttonbird 6.1
      2 March 2023 at 8:35 pm

      Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: Britomart Station, 3pm

      Schools out. Or would you like to control them outside of school hours also?

    • weka 6.2
      2 March 2023 at 8:43 pm

      protesting and activism is education.

      • That_guy 6.2.1
        2 March 2023 at 10:44 pm

        100% weka.

        Organising a large group of people with clear comms for a specific purpose?

        Seems like a useful skill for kids to develop.

        Or maybe they could just sit in class… which is unlikely since the protest is out of school hours.. and learn about how the current level of species extinction is approximately 10,000… that number again… 10,000 times faster than the natural background rate.

        Always keen for education in biology!

      • tWiggle 6.2.2
        2 March 2023 at 11:33 pm

        And it shows societal engagement. A glaring ethical contrast to the self-absorbed freedumb demonstrations.

        • Mike the Lefty 6.2.2.1
          3 March 2023 at 7:07 am

          So true!

          They march because they care about their planet. The clods trashing parliament grounds a year ago cared only about themselves.

          • PsyclingLeft.Always 6.2.2.1.1
            3 March 2023 at 7:52 am

            I have much Respect for these Students. Wish them all the best. Its their Future ! Some will carry on with this ..all their lives.

            No Planet B !

            And re the clods? Deluded , deranged, dangerous ? …and some a toxic mix of all three : (

  7. Ad 7
    3 March 2023 at 9:15 am

    Bitter Anti-Cycling Bingo Cards from Auckland Transport's own staff against cyclists and cycling infrastructure from inside Auckland Transport.

    https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/28-02-2023/at-cycling-seminar-derailed-by-at-employees-hating-on-cyclists

    Just in case we wonder why this kind of change is really hard.

  8. hetzer 8
    3 March 2023 at 5:23 pm

    Guess they learning about Real Politik too. And that can only be a good thing. Wheres our nuclear free moment? etc

  9. Drowsy M. Kram 9
    3 March 2023 at 5:33 pm

    A younger speaker in Palmerston North framed this School Strike 4 Climate protest as (enlightened) self interest, seeing as how therapsids and mammals didn't fair too well in some earlier extinction events. And we're all mammals.

    Mammals did bounce back, and will likely bounce back again, but it may take a while.

    The Current Mass Extinction
    Mammals, for instance, have an average species "lifespan" from origination to extinction of about 1 million years, although some species persist for as long as 10 million years.
    …
    And while the fossil record tells us that biodiversity has always recovered, it also tells us that the recovery will be unbearably slow in human terms — 5 to 10 million years after the mass extinctions of the past. That's more than 200,000 generations of humankind before levels of biodiversity comparable to those we inherited might be restored.

    At least we know what we’re doing, and where we’re heading – well done us?

    • That_guy 9.1
      4 March 2023 at 12:05 am

      Whoever it was, the framing is accurate. Biodiversity will simply never recover in timelines relevant to humans.

      The negative viewpoint is to give up.

      The positive viewpoint is to accept that our planet is not a natural environment any more, it is a garden. We are the gardeners. Let's be good gardeners.