How serious is Wellington about its 'climate change emergency'?
OPINION: Help! Call the climate change police! It's an emergency! Given that some local bodies recently voted against declaring a climate change emergency, with some politicians still denying climate change actually exists, I was heartened to see so many Wellington city councillors vote for it last week. The council's climate plan, Te Atakura First to Zero, aims to put the environment and climate change front and centre in its decision-making. Only Nicola Young, who called the plan "nonsense" and "preachy" voted against the "virtue signalling" declaration. So, let's look at the big emitters in Wellington and what the council is doing about it. Aviation emissions are believed to be responsible for just under 25 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Wellington. So, what's the council doing to reduce these? Subsidising Singapore Airlines to fly between here and Canberra the mayor's idea and supporting a publicly funded extension of the runway. Fantastic. Eastern ward councillor Simon Marsh voted for the climate emergency declaration, yet has written in this newspaper about the vital need to extend the runway. Justin Lester, who also voted to declare an emergency, is another runway supporter. READ MORE: * Wellington council declares climate change emergency * Auckland Council declares climate emergency * Are councils walking the talk with the 'climate emergency'? Yes, the extension has been delayed in court and many Wellingtonians seriously believe it will never happen. Yet emphatic opposition to it from councillors would reassure us that they are serious about climate change. Green councillors Iona Pannett and David Lee have consistently opposed the extension. But getting their Labour buddies to speak out against it is like getting blood from a stone. They know their boss is all for it, so it's complicated and "a long way off" and "not a high priority". As Labour Lambton councillor Brian Dawson joked on Twitter recently, "Occasionally I describe it as a Voldemort policy one which must not be named!" You would think a bright twenty-something Labour candidate with superb environmental credentials, such as Eastern ward candidate Teri O'Neill, would also oppose the runway extension. "Environmental impact is a top priority for me," wrote O'Neill in reply to a question I tweeted. Great. "I would want to see a plan the community was on board with before giving a full support/not support." Really? Why not be like the Greens or Nicola Young and say, "I oppose the runway extension." Cars create a lot of emissions, not to mention the regional council's dirty diesel buses, but on this issue the council has been a little better. It has supported cycling, pedestrians and non-petroleum transport options like electric scooters. But how long will the scooters last? And if charging a little more for residents' parking causes the furore that it has so far, I can't see many councillors having the courage to talk congestion charges and increasing parking charges any time soon. Today, many leading academics and even businesspeople are so worried about climate change that they refuse to travel by air to conferences. Extreme? Perhaps, but with changes in technology it's getting easier to e-conference. Last week I attended a meeting in Wellington of about eight people, one of whom "Zoomed" in from Auckland. The week before I was part of an e-meeting with people in Wairarapa, Rotorua, Wellington and Vancouver. Not a drop of aviation fuel spilt. So what is Wellington doing about this great technological option? We're building a very expensive convention centre, conceived and supported by the baby boomer business establishment, to fly people from around the world to come here and talk about things like how councils can avoid looking hypocritical over climate change. If we actually cared about climate change, wouldn't the money be better spent on technology options so Wellingtonians can better e-conference with the world? There are other questions to do with climate change such as how to reduce the amount of waste in our council landfill which I would love the council to address. According to Young, with the supermarket ban it is the council that is now the biggest producer of plastic bags. Ten million dollars of council money to develop and produce biodegradable rubbish bags, anyone? A consequence of climate change, according to scientists, is more heavy rainfall events. Every time it rains heavily, my Newtown street floods. Last Sunday was the latest. Without fail the council is called, a new outsourced contractor turns up, looks perplexed and leaves again. Occasionally, a large truck comes and sucks away the water. If it doesn't arrive, the water usually disappears after half a day. The problem is deep below the surface in the stormwater infrastructure, and everyone in our street knows it. Expensive infrastructure is badly needed, and I would love our councillors to declare a Newtown stormwater emergency. Yet I'm not optimistic. Where's the votes in that? Climate change declarations look great on paper, but if we are really serious about climate change, wouldn't reducing our addiction to air travel, trying to get more people out of cars, reducing landfill and actually making sure our recycling was recycled be as good or better places to start?