'Jan 27 changed everything,' says city councillor at Climate Festival opening
January 27 hit, and it changed everything. The relationship with water is a very challenging one for many people now, says Auckland Councillor Richard Hills, speaking at the launch of Septembers Auckland Climate Festival Te Huinga Aahuarangi o Taamaki Makaurau . Founded two years ago to tackle the urgent need to accelerate climate action in Aotearoa, the third festival opened this week in the misty dawn of the Auckland Botanic Gardens, in partnership with iwi hosts Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua. The festivals month-long programme includes 150-plus activations, events and pop-ups covering food, fashion, urban environments, transport, the economy, film screenings and more. During the launch event, calls for climate action and more sustainable infrastructure are interspersed with waiata, stirring kapahaka and reflections on how recent intense weather events are changing our relationship with water. In the last four years Auckland had two years of the worst drought we've ever had, which was obviously due to climate change, says Cr Hills. It's hard to believe that I was spending most of my time updating the community on our dam levels, our water restrictions and how we could preserve our water. Then, over the last 12 months we have had over two metres of water, which is something I could never have imagined happening. Our normal average rainfall is about 1.1 metres of rain in a year. We have already surpassed that in this calendar year. On January 27, we had a months rain in about three hours. Hills says of the floods, that the challenge and riddle the water gave us, was that it took the pathways through the city that many of the original awa, or streams, used to take. That was Before we shoved them all into pipes, covered them in roads and put houses in the way. Hills says mana whenua have been telling us for centuries, Dont pipe our awa, or build there. The outcome: two metres of waters through some communities, ten thousand slips, hundreds of parks damaged. Hills says given the destruction weve seen in our communities, you might think it would galvanise people to focus on reducing our emissions and adapting our cities, but that is not always the case. But Hill says its not about giving up. Some people will tell you that adaptation is only where we should be focusing now, but people need to realise these disasters, droughts and storms, the issues we're facing as a city and a country are at 1.5 degree of warming. We don't want to get into two, three and four degrees. We need to reduce our emissions, he says. Among the positive initiatives that are underway are collaborative community restoration projects to open up streams and make space for water, such as is happening with Te Ara Awataha in Northcote, and also in Papakura and Manurewa. Johnnie Freeland, of the Iwi host Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua says At one point in our whakapapa all of us were indigenous, but we have become displaced and disconnected from those whakapapa. What we can see at the moment, says Freeland, are little nudges to sort ourselves out. The science supports the understanding that things are going to get more intense. These are the little reminders and nudges for us to come together. Not just a call to action but a call to come together as a people. One of the key things, is lets not make race, ethnicity or culture be an impediment for us coming together. Because what's at stake is not the world its us. Without working together, we'll end up like dinosaurs. The Auckland Climate Festival runs from 31 August to 29 September. The month-long programme includes more than 150 events across Tamaki Makaurau.