Extinction Rebellion stops weekly action outside Nelson council
The Nelson branch of the global environmental movement Extinction Rebellion (XR) has called time on its weekly gatherings outside the Nelson City Council offices.
But a spokesperson said the branch would continue to work with other groups for swifter and “more robust” decision-making on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and social justice.
XR Nelson Whakatū member Ami Kennedy said between three and 50 people had gathered on the corner of Halifax and Trafalgar streets on Fridays between 12pm and 1pm for the past two years to remind people that “we are in the midst of a climate and ecological emergency”. But the group now felt it was time to “gather alongside other people”.
“We are by no means going to be stopping our actions. We are going to continue our direct, non-violent action and ... our sharing of information based on science and the lived experiences of people.”
A handful of members gathered for the final regular protest outside Civic House yesterday.
Kennedy said the group would work alongside tangata Tiriti and tangata whenua, local anti-racism groups, and the groups Te Waka Hourua and Climate Liberation Aotearoa, “for climate action and social justice action”.
XR Whakatū, together with the national group, XR Aotearoa, was calling for te Tiriti-based people’s climate assemblies to achieve “more resilient, robust and speedy decision-making processes”, she said.
“We first mobilised [outside the Nelson council headquarters] when we realised that we had shared concerns about the silence that was coming from the council and government as to the urgency of the situation, and the lack of solid action to mitigate ... atmospheric and ocean warming.”
The council had stopped communicating what action it had taken after declaring a climate emergency nearly five years ago, she said.
Earlier this month, the European Union’s climate change service found that global warming had exceeded the 1.5C Paris Agreement threshold across an entire year for the first time.
“The effect of the climate emergency is affecting all of us, and we should have a part in making decisions about how that happens,” Kennedy said.
The group would focus on calling for “brave leadership” to ensure a ”liveable future”.
For the council, that included encouraging people to be more mindful of the energy resources they were using, she said.
Introducing electric buses was “a good step in the right direction” towards reducing transport emissions, Kennedy said, but the council needed to do things like encourage ride-sharing.
It was “really easy to get frozen with fear” on these issues, Kennedy said. But she referred to an expression circulating on social media: “What can I do? I’m just one person, said 7 billion people.”
Tackling climate change often “does feel too big for us individually, but if we can work with our leaders ... we can make the changes that are necessary”, she said.
New Zealand’s response to floods, earthquakes and fires showed how well people could connect and take action, and the same leadership, organisation and resourcing was needed on climate issues from elected members, she said. “We can all do something. So get connected, be kind, listen to each other, seek information, ask questions of our leaders, and learn from each other – take action.”