September - October 2024 Newsletter Pānui

September - October 2024 Newsletter Pānui

Kia ora, welcome to our latest newsletter. This pānui shares an update on OraTaiao activities over the last two months and opportunities to get involved. 

We are following the latest news on the Fast track approvals bill, with a huge list of projects advancing for assessment, including new coal mines. There is no evidence the Government has listened to the public, namely to include environmental and climate considerations, as well as local community engagement in this process. There is no justification whatsoever for the development of new fossil fuel deposits, no matter how much the government will attempt to use other renewable projects in the bill as cover for this.

This cavalier disregard for public and expert opinion was further revealed by the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill, with an extremely short consultation periodOur submission on this highlights the reputational damage this risks to New Zealand internationally.

The third bill in this ‘trilogy of shame’ is of course the Treaty Principles Bill. This is set to be introduced to Parliament on the 18th of November before a Select Committee process and likely to last a number of months. This will undoubtedly be an acrimonious process. OraTaiao will be prioritising our opposition to this in the months ahead. It represents a unilateral watering-down of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and poses significant threats to Aotearoa’s public health and climate response.

We continue to focus our energies on mobilising our members and supporting collective wellbeing. This will be discussed in our next Executive Board meeting on 31st of October. Board matters begin at 7 pm, with broader discussions starting from around 7.45 pm. These meetings are held via Zoom and we welcome all members to join us.

Finally, despite all of the difficulties within health and climate advocacy, don’t forget that it’s Biketober! Take the time to enjoy the longer evenings and better weather, dust down the old 10-speed, and take to the roads, bike lanes, and trails!

Ngā mihi nui,

Dermot & Summer,

Co-convenors, OraTaiao: Aotearoa NZ Climate & Health Council

Image from Bike Auckland

Working group updates:

Join our Te Tiriti working group to contribute to our collective response against the Treaty Principles Bill. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians' (RACP) Māori Health Committee chair has grave concerns about the direct and indirect impacts of the bill on people’s health. The process stirs racism and stress, the mere progression of this bill already causing harm. If you are interested in being part of this rōpū, please email us. Our next hui will be on the 17th of October at 4.30 pm on this Zoom link. We are working on a brief to share with our members. We will be creating a joint campaign and media release with the wider health sector, and call on our members to get in touch with their thoughts, expertise, and potential statements to include in this. We will be updating our website with these resources over the coming months. In the meantime, here are some useful Te Tiriti resources to support your networks.

Regional working groups - A reminder to get in touch if you are interested in participating in a working group for your region. The next catch-up for members based in Tāmaki Makaurau is online on the 28th of October at 6 pm. Please contact Jan to be added to the invite.

Transport working group - Email Steve Grimson if you are interested in getting involved. Our next Zoom hui is happening on Monday 14th at 7.30 pm, all are welcome!

Connect - Learn - Take Action:

Sign this open letter highlighting the responsibility of HealthNZ to strengthen its commitment to environmentally sustainable healthcare. 

Register for the Greening Healthcare Sector Forum (online) showcasing health sector leaders across Australia and the Pacific who are decarbonising their operations, strengthening climate resilience, and actively working to improve health equity.

Image from Climate and Health Alliance

Join Take the Jump NZ for a lunchtime webinar on this people-powered movement happening October 24th. Decarbonise your life is a similar campaign developed by Heatmap and Rewiring America.  Resources such as these highlighting lifestyle shifts are a necessary part of the change needed to support our collective well-being. Another way to frame it, as famously said, is to live simply so that others may simply live.

Save the date for our next OraTaiao webinar on November 7th at 7 pm. Our speakers are members who are normalising climate-conscious lifestyles which prioritise sharing and community, including Alice Miller who runs her local Climate Cafe. Invite to come. *UPDATE: This webinar will now be happening later in the year and the invite will be included in our next newsletter.

We also recommend saving the date for the OraTaiao AGM on Thursday, November 28th at 7 pm. We will be announcing our guest speaker for this shortly. The AGM provides a chance for people to join the OraTaiao Executive Board - please contact us if you are interested in joining. The closing date for applications is October 31st. This will be Dermot’s final AGM as co-convenor.

Essential reads:

Image: Palestinian farmers harvesting olives, November 2015. TrickyH via WikimediaCommons

An important read on Israel’s War as Ecocide“Among all the problems facing the state of Palestine in the coming decade, climate change is the most immediate and certain, and this has been amplified by the occupation and war on Gaza…The genocide against the Palestinians is not just happening alongside the environmental crisis of our age: it is a part of that environmental crisis.” 

The climate crisis is a health crisis. Here are five key messages about planning for future inevitable events: Lessons from Cyclone Gabrielle: 5 key health priorities for future disaster response.

Psychology for a safe climate community holds regular webinars focused on creating supportive connections, as will the newly formed Climate Mental Health Network for AotearoaFrances Sutherland speaks to this:

“We need 'rolling resilience' - continually adapting to rapidly changing circumstances, quickly gearing up to each crisis, and just as quickly gearing down with effective support and recovery in between. To navigate the improbable and engage with the climate emergency requires the skills and ability to rapidly reduce fear and nervous system overactivation, avoid burnout, and cultivate kindness and nurturance. To build emotional resilience and face the terror and despair together, with the strength to dismantle fossil fuel interests currently holding the rest of the world to ransom. It requires kindling our imagination towards post-extractivist, reciprocal, and regenerative ways of living.”

In both networks, Joanna Macy's work that reconnects emerges as essential, as do the wonderful words of Muriel Barbery: to embrace ‘the dazzling splitting of possibilities into unfamiliar pathways’.

Our climate future is not yet written. What if we act as if we love the future? With grace, humor, and collective wisdom, Johnson invites readers to ask and answer this question together: What if we get it right? If you are struggling to picture a transformed world and to see your role in replenishing it, this book is for you. 

At the heart of our work for climate healing, people healing is the nurturing of our connectivity and well-being practices in our daily lives. This beautiful resource Te Pūaha Talks – Ngahere shared by associates of the Centre for Social Impact is a series of webinars and short practices that nourish this. Our hauora is like the ngahere; for the ecosystem to thrive, there must be balance. May this be embodied in the ways our organisation and networks care for tangata and te taiao.

Image from Centre for Social Impact - Ngahere for teams

This newsletter was written by Danielle Newton. 

OraTaiao: Aotearoa New Zealand Climate and Health Council

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