Pt Chev Streetscape

Keen to see a quality Pt Chev streetscape take shape? It’s time to raise your voice! Let Auckland Transport know they should crack on with upgrading our main streets – keeping footpaths free by giving people proper room to ride and scoot. More

National Postcard Campaign for Emission Reduction

20 May to 20 June 2022

The Government’s Emission Reduction Plan comes out in May 2022 – the first opportunity we’ve had to see and comment on the targets for carbon emission reduction, in three steps to 2035.

This is a crucial stage in Aotearoa’s commitment to play its part in keeping the temperature rise to 1.5C degrees. But there is a real risk that MPs will be distracted by other urgent business, and underestimate the importance of urgent, decisive action now. If we do not seize this opportunity, we and future generations will have to live with the consequences. Please act now, in this old-fashioned but highly effective way, to ensure that our MPs get the message loud and clear, and feel supported to act urgently for a better future.

The National Campaign for Emission Reduction is reaching out to all Climate Aware people in Aotearoa, and asking you to send Postcards of Support to your local MP, Ministers and List MPs during the period from 20th May to 20th June.

Postcards will be seen as representing a greater level of effort than just signing a petition – they will load up the MPs’ in-trays with support, and the best ones will go up on their walls!

The MPs in all political parties need to support the Emission Reduction Plan, and to collaborate and move with urgency to meet the targets for our country to play its part in the global effort to keep Planet Earth liveable.

Gardening events in July

Coming up 2 delicious events at the Community Garden at Dignan Street:

Sunday 25th July 10.30- 12.30
Working bee followed by shared wood fired pizza 12.30-2pm. We’ll supply GF bases, sauce and cheese, so just bring along a topping. Weather dependant.

Wednesday 28th July 12.30-2pm
Di’s famous Yacon Kimchi making workshop.
Bring along a large bowl, a sharp knife, a potato peeler, a colander and $15. Register with Di at bozndi at gmail.com.

Gardening events in May

Please see a summary of our May events below:

  • Wednesdays 9.30- 12.30: Weekly working bees 
  • Saturday 8th May 10.00- 11.00: Growing Point workshop. Measuring brix levels as an indicator of plant health. 
    This is a great way to understand what the sugar levels in your plants are doing which indicates the health of your soil. We’ll suggest ways you can wake up your soil food web to then grow nutrient dense food.
    Please share with your friends and family who might be interested.
  • Sunday 30th May 10.30- 12.30 pruning working bee followed by…
  • 12.30- 2pm shared wood fired pizza. BYO topping and drinks.

It’ll be great to see some of you at the garden, nau mai, haere mai.

The RLTP’s core flaw: “holding VKT steady”

Submissions are due on the draft Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) this Sunday (2nd May). I outlined what is needed back in February: A Climate-Ready RLTP – No Litigation Required.

The sooner we fix this city’s transport system so that it’s quiet, sustainable and safe so our kids get their freedom to walk, scooter and cycle, the sooner we start to reap the benefits of more socially connected communities and more healthy, active people. There are some good projects in the plan. As usual, it fails to deliver cycling infrastructure at anything like the rate required, and it fails to reduce emissions in line with our commitments.

The plan proposes investments that will increase emissions by 6% by 2031 (or decrease them by 12% if government makes policy changes around biofuels and EV uptake):

Auckland Council, on the other hand, laid out in the Auckland Climate Plan that a 64% reduction in transport emissions is required, and the 1Point5 Project believes Auckland’s transport must be largely decarbonized by 2030.

In this post, I want to explore Auckland Transport’s technical misunderstandings that have contributed to this failure.

Garden April News

We’ve had a lot going on in the garden planting in our Autumn guilds – please see our schedule for this month below:

  • Wednesdays 9.30- 12.30: Weekly working bees 
  • Sunday 25th 10.30- 12.30: Monthly Working Bee followed by Shared Pizza 12.30- 2pm

Climate Change Commission (CCC) – submission due 28 March

The closing date/time for submissions on the Climate Action is this Friday March 28, presumably midnight. The Government Climate Change Commission (CCC) submission form is very simple (much easier than the Auckland Council one), people can either fill in some/all of the spaces under any one or all of the six headings as following:

  1. The Pace of Change
  2. Future Generations
  3. Our Contribution
  4. Role and Type of Forest
  5. Policy Priorities to Reduce Emissions
  6. Technology and Behaviour Change

Here is a template from the Greens – if you would like some ideas. Or you could write a simple general submission and send it directly to Dr Rod Carr, Chair of the CCC.

Because the government submission form has a special designation of “Young Person” a member of our group has sent in her 7 year old granddaughter’s thoughts (all her own she assures us ;>) on what we need to do to help the climate: 

  • Stop creating rubbish   (Last year she went on a school trip to the city rubbish dump & it affected her greatly!)
  • No more cars/buses/trucks that use petrol – change to electric
  • Use solar and wind power for factories
  • Don’t cut down trees – plant more trees
  • Make toys for kids out of re-usable materials, like wood
  • Use paper cups and straws and wooden spoons at parties, not plastic (and no balloons, because they are plastic and when you let them go, the fish eat them and they die)

Even if all you do is to ask your children/grandchildren their thoughts, and just put only those into the form, you will be taking some action on behalf of the planet in this way. Please do something – it takes such a tiny amount of time.