We mentioned seven calls to action in our last letter to Grant Robertson, and Francesca spoke about them during our Earth Day action. In case you missed both, here it is all laid out for you…
# Invest In the Planet: Our 7 Calls for action on Earth Day 2022 to protect planet & people
- Permanently reduce the cost of public transport and increase tax on fossil fuels, provided options are in place such as transport on demand.
- Put a ban on synthetic nitrogen as a way forward to transform agriculture in Aotearoa. Regenerate our soils, our rivers, our water and reduce herd sizes!
- Bring back high-quality products which last and can be repaired. Make it mandatory for businesses to supply spare parts.
- Commit to 30 % upwards of ocean sanctuaries
- Ban bottom trawling and police sustainable fishing
- Upscale/improve recycling of household and industrial waste management systems
- Last but not least: Commit to a Green Oath to Tend to Planet and People, not Profit.
A green oath is fundamental to Green Growth- a path of economic growth that uses the earth’s resources in a sustainable way. A green oath is also crucial to ‘getting ethical’ and redistributing wealth and power in order to take care of planet and people, not profit. We call for the government to take the lead and model this stewardship, this kaitiakitanga, needed to turn our economy around. We need our leaders to tell the story of how we can restore and create a more sustainable way of life on planet Earth.
This is what such an oath could encompass:
- Act in service of a flourishing web of life. Tend to the health of Planet and People by embedding the economy in the living world. Nature is an part of our economic system. Feel the pulse of its feedback loops.
- Be thoughtful in policy making. Always seek to minimise the risk of harm to our planet and people, especially to those that are most vulnerable now.
- Respect the autonomy of communities through engagement and consent. Commit to a deliberative economy so the voices of all people are heard. Respect the wisdom of indigenous communities who lived closer to Nature than we now do, as expressed in Te Tiriti within Aoteroa New Zealand.
- Work with humility, be transparent and reflect on the assumptions and shortcomings of any economic models we use. Commit to an economic model that is regenerative by design and that is dependent on alternative energy systems that mimic nature.
(Adapted from Doughnut Economics K Raworth, p161.)
We call on you, our leaders to take this oath, to act swiftly and have regular press conferences to tell us of the measures put in place to combat climate change and
protect our planet and people.
Francesca Pouwer for Fridays For Future Wellington, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Aotearoa https://www.fridaysforfuture.nz