A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
The council decision yesterday to not declare a Climate Emergency is such a disappointment and embarrassing for the region
Overall the result was mostly the fault of staff who presented a poorly-written report that seemed afraid of extra work and the criticism of people who think mostly about their own
comfort and convenience on this issue. The paper created a false dichotomy between a declaration and the ability of council to consider climate implications in all decisions — those things are not mutually exclusive.
The report was full of scaremongering — not about the reality and implications of climate change, but about the risk of declaring a climate emergency. The report suggested a “huge reallocation of resourcing” would be required if an emergency was declared, without actually defining or quantifying what would actually be required.
Nearly every councillor opposed a local declaration, with all kinds of spurious and false claims about the implications of a declaration. Lip service was paid to the importance of future generations while dismissing and minimising the call of local young people asking for real leadership. Instead we got weak platitudes in the decision to essentially continue business as usual. The most pathetic argument against a declaration was probably that people to address the issues do not exist locally.
Half the councillors, including the Mayor and councillor Foster who moved the motion, seemed confused about what they were being asked to vote on and ultimately only a few councillors had the sense to vote against the decision that showed little leadership on the issue.
