Student-led Nelson protest demands urgent action on climate change
Climate change is not a far-off problem, it is happening now, says Emma Barnes-Wetere, the Nayland College student who organised a climate crisis protest in Nelson demanding urgent action. Barnes-Wetere told the crowd on Saturday that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was clear that a global mean temperature rise greater than 1.5 degrees Celsius would put the future of humanity and all life on earth at risk. That's why we, rangatahi o Whakatu/young people of Nelson, demand that the New Zealand Government and the Nelson City Council do everything in their power to limit warming to 1.5C, she said. READ MORE: * Government declares climate emergency and looks to clean own house * Declarations not enough - urgent action needed now, students say * Nelson sets more ambitious carbon emission targets, but wants more government action That demand came because the protesters could already see the effects of the climate crisis, such as sea level rise affecting the Pacific Islands, climate justice was social justice and our future is being threatened for the profit of a few and the preservation of business as usual. We demand this because we believe in Te Tiriti [o Waitangi] justice, Barnes-Wetere said. We demand this because we must act now. Other student-aged speakers talked about the importance of unity to effect change. Nayland College year 10 student Astid Sayer said a common misconception she had heard from some adults was that events such as protests were causing anxiety. This event is for healing and reassuring us that there is hope, she said. Giving a sense of belonging and unity. Nelson City councillor Rohan O'Neill-Stevens told the crowd in 1903 Square that just over 18 months ago, the council had declared a climate emergency . Just over a year ago, I was stood here MCing another climate strike ... just over a year ago I was elected to Nelson City Council and just this week, the New Zealand Government declared a climate crisis , he said. That was a declaration of the people, of the students who came out in the thousands, the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands both here and around the world in 2019 to strike for climate action . Since the city council declaration, a lot of things had been done. We've set emission reduction targets, we've been investing in our communities, we've seen the launch of what is an internationally unique thing in the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum, O'Neill-Stevens said. Those great wins should be celebrated but we also need to acknowledge that in the global picture of things, they are still small and the pace at which we're making those changes is still slow and it is still not truly recognising the level of the threat that we are facing. In urging people to keep pushing for action, O'Neill-Stevens said the youth voice was crucial because, at the end of the day, who is going to be there to pick up the pieces? It's not going to be most of my colleagues; they will be dead as I lovingly remind them it is all of you. Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said as a newly-elected MP one of the first votes she cast in Parliament was to declare a climate emergency. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had also announced the public sector would be required to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025 . Boyack said that announcement meant finding alternative energy generation to coal boilers in schools and hospitals, such as Nelson Hospital. She urged the mostly young cohort of protesters to keep putting pressure on politicians. For politicians, when we stand up and there's no-one behind us, it makes it much harder to make the change that we need to make, Boyack said. Please, keep banging on my door.