Urgency but not an emergency

They were under pressure to declare a climate emergency but New Plymouth’s District Council has instead decided to act with ‘‘urgency’’.

It was no surprise to Ethan Griffiths. The student and climate change campaigner addressed the councillors before their decision, which came during an almost sixhour meeting on Tuesday, and predicted they were unlikely to declare an emergency.

And, though this was upsetting, he said it would not be surprising. He told them he had made a presentation alongside Greta Thunberg, the famous teenage climate campaigner, and mentioned ‘‘this very council’’.

Griffiths said he understood many councillors thought a climate emergency was simply something on a piece of paper, and they were right.

‘‘But as Greta [Thunberg] said to me: if your house is on fire, you acknowledge it is an emergency before you go at it with a hose and call 111. At the moment you are tipping a small cup of water on a burning fire.’’

Emily Bailey, of Climate Justice

Taranaki, also urged councillors to declare an emergency, as this would encourage climate initiatives to be put into action sooner.

Mayor Neil Holdom later attracted boos from some in the public gallery when he said the council should just get on the with the task of fighting climate change.

‘‘We are about getting the work done as opposed to making bold statements,’’ he stated.

However, Holdom later changed his mind and supported the motion of councillor Harry Duynhoven, who called for the council to take urgency – a step back from declaring an emergency while acknowledging the seriousness of the issue.

It included climate adaption work, such as planting trees on council land, between now and the new Long-Term Plan coming into effect in July 2021, as they would consult on how to include it in the Long-Term Plan..

Councillor Murray Chong said he was a green councillor but he did not believe in the ‘‘climate change fiasco’’, while councillor Marie Pearce said she did believe in climate change but that it had been happening since the ice age.

Councillor David Bublitz said the council did not have enough initiatives in place to declare a climate emergency but declaring they would take urgency meant they could do more, or better, with the initiatives already under way.

The option was then changed from an ‘‘intermediate’’ to an ‘‘advanced’’ response to the climate action framework.

This meant more council resources, including funding of up to $350,000, and lost some votes as a result, but was passed to applause from the gallery.

Councillors also approved $350,000 of rates surplus to go towards climate adaption and mitigation.