We sent the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, a letter about our Earth Day action.
Good day Mr Robertson,
We thank you for the response from your office to our letter for Fridays for Future World Action Day on the 25th of March.
This response included a link to the Press Release of 16 February 2022, where you confirm the date of the 2022 Budget Announcement and states:
“This year’s budget will include a focus on the Government’s health
reforms and investing to meet our climate change goals.……. It would be irresponsible to acknowledge that our health system needs improvement, based on the lessons from COVID, but then not doing anything about it.
Just as it would be equally reckless to just say ‘let’s forget about climate change for a year or two’. These are investments that we need to make as a country. We can’t afford not to make them.”
We cannot agree with you more. We cannot afford to delay climate action!
As you will know, the latest ICCP Report calls for swift action now to reduce the ever-rising emissions. We have till 2025 to reverse this trend to stay below 1.5 C. If we do not act now, global warming will reach 3.5 C before the end of this century. Global ice meltdowns will commence, leading to permafrost melting and megatons of methane being released. This sets off unprecedented catastrophic climate change and the massive extinction of flora, fauna and humanity itself.
DECARBONISE NOW
We cannot afford “the careful pragmatic approach” that you advocate in the February 22 press release, the need “to strike a balance between the important projects that need to be done and the ongoing need for fiscal sustainability.”
The only important project is to enact a green budget that prioritises our environment, reduces emissions across every sector and commits to an equitable social system. A system that cares for the marginalised and where the corporations and those responsible for pollution pay for cleaning up and creating green options.
# Invest in the planet is the theme for this year’s Earth Day
Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect life on planet Earth.
We need nature; Nature needs us
We must Invest in Our Planet.
Time is short
It’s going to take all of us. All in partnership. Businesses, governments, and citizens.
We ask, Mr Robertson, that you join US, concerned citizens of Aotearoa, at Parliament on Earth Day 22. April 2022 from 1.30 pm.
The Wellington Earth Day Event starts from 12pm at Midland Park with action song and public speakers. We will then march to Parliament via WCC on the terrace where we will deliver a letter to halt expansion in aviation.
At 1.30 the honourable Jan Logie will meet activists to receive the 350.0rg petition that calls for a total ban for fossil fuels at our schools.
School students will be there to speak to this initiative.
After that, there is opportunity for climate action groups to voice their calls for bold climate action now.
Hear and then respond to our calls to action:
How we can care for planet and put people before profit – before ‘fiscal sustainability’.
We look forward to your response to meet us on Earth Day 2022
Sincerely yours,
Francesca Pouwer and the team at
