Climate breakdown is happening now, so we’re stepping up. Seems crazy, but that means deliberately and peacefully getting in the way of ordinary people. Maybe we’ve already passed too many climate tipping points to make a difference. We don’t know for sure if we can actually reduce emissions, reduce consumption and change the way we live in time to save a liveable future. Scientists tell us that window is about to close, so we’re stepping up. 

In the old days climate activists like us would blockade a coal mine for a day, or a Fonterra factory, or a coal train. But that’s not enough anymore. High stakes, repetitive, annoying but peaceful civil resistance is needed now. That’s what has worked when people have found themselves in unbearable, unjust situations throughout the ages – like the suffragettes, like the civil rights campaigners, like thousands upon thousands of people throughout history. 

Now it’s our turn. The world’s governments are knowingly allowing emissions to keep rising. That’s unbearable and unjust – more, it’s criminal. We’re headed past 1.5 degrees, past two then three degrees of global heating, and it won’t stop there. We are hurtling towards the end game for humanity. 

Restore Passenger Rail’s demands, to restore an affordable nationwide passenger rail network and to make urban public transport free – are two simple doable steps the government can take. They’re small but popular and they will help to begin lowering our transport emissions, our fastest growing sector.

Those demands are aimed at the government, but unless we get in the way of ordinary people going about their everyday business we will be ignored, the way climate activists have mostly been ignored until now. Our annoying behaviour has to get more attention than the lobbyists of the biggest polluters who get most of the government’s attention and keep emissions going in the wrong direction, taking us all into climate hell. 

Our tactics are new to the climate movement in Aotearoa, but they’re being used in ten other countries: Germany, UK, Austria, Italy, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, USA and Australia. Our demands are different, for example the Swedish campaign is demanding the restoration of wetlands, in Germany, one of Last Generation’s demands is for the government to impose a speed limit on the autobahn, and in the UK Just Stop Oil is demanding no new oil and gas exploration. Our cultures are different, our police repression, or lack of, is different, but all of us are connected in our determination to force our respective governments to actually start bringing down emissions. We are a group of connected projects, called the A22 Network, engaged in a mad dash to save humanity. We hope that eventually some New Zealanders will see through the disruption, the police scare tactics and the politicians’ red herrings to the bigger picture and join us. Restore Passenger Rail is helping to build a culture of peaceful civil resistance from the bottom up to shape the future we desperately need. 

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Carbon News is keen to hear from others on what they think the legimate limits of protest are in the face of a climate emergency. Please send submissions to: editor@carbonnews.co.nz