How refreshing – hats off to the Wellington climate change activists!!!

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How refreshing it’s been to see climate change activists taking direct action in Wellington over the past 10 days. Hanging banners over motorway gantries, abseiling down over the top of Victoria tunnel and today blocking traffic in transmission gully.

Day after day their actions have disrupted road traffic in and around the capital in a civil disobedience response to the government’s dismal policy response to climate change.

As they point out we have to get people out of cars and into public transport – in particular they want to get passenger rail transport upgraded and improved.

Across Christchurch where I live there are NO passenger rail services at all and no plans for any despite the declaration of a “climate crisis” by our council. Like the rest of the country we are limping towards disaster.

I have seen and heard commentary that these Wellington protests are counter-productive and those taking part are alienating the public rather than building support for stronger government action. Absolute rubbish!

I have been involved in many protests over the years when commentors have said the same thing – disrupting rugby games will only alienate people, ripping up roading at Takaparawha (Bastion Point) will lose the support of law-abiding citizens, marching on motorways is a sign you have already lost. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!

Any short-term inconvenience for some people will be made up ten-fold in insisting this issue is at the front of public and political attention – every day – as it needs to be.

Direct action is the ONLY way we will make progress on this. Leaving this issue to the goodwill and consciences of politicians, who think only in three-year cycles and are dependent on corporate political donations, means the crisis will become a catastrophe.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

Civil disobedience action has a long and honourable history in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world.

To the Wellington activists – BRAVO and thank you!

84 COMMENTS

  1. they should take their middle class bullshit to the parliaments lawns. But i guess that would really upset mummy and daddy, so its easier to just fuck over the working stiffs that really need their fucking cars because in this country not ONE single government – including the current shite one – invested in public transport.

    • ps ….. protesters 21 to 81 year old, working class included, personally 74, spending my limited finance and energy for a future for 9 grandchildren and 5 grandchildren ….
      .

  2. Got to feel for all involved. The Wellington traveling public but mostly for the protest. Michael Wood’s response has been, well, like his namesake, wood! He’s claiming credit for the small improvements to rail NZ First created and that will do us, thank you very much!

    The protest objective is completely common sense, logical and reasonable, use rail to mitigate CO2, you know, offer the traveling public a reasonable alternative, plus freight. But no, Wood is deaf, dumb and blind to any such thinking, his government the same, the Climate Minister seemingly as moronic as Wood. They see this as PR issues they need to put out. It exposes their collective stupidity.

    The really really sad part about the governments response to this is that it’s not that they are ideologically opposed rather it’s they are so thick, so unimaginative and so wrong for the job they do that they just don’t get it! Its beyond them!

    Nothing highlights the shortcomings of this government more than this protest.

    • They need to take this protest to government. Pissing of the working stiffs who need their cars to get around is not going to help anyone.
      Block the drive ways of these lawmakers and their enablers. Every day of the week.
      This is a bit like the idiots in England that pour milk out – something to be cleaned up by some underpaid working stiff who may not even be able to afford milk. You want to alieanate the public. That’s the way to go.
      question: How did these dears get to that place? they drove a car? Cycled? Magic? Teleportation? And were they hoping for a lift from the coppers in their gas guzzling cars to be taken back to town? Maybe they should have walked them back all the way to town.

    • Agree with all you have said here. Interesting that RNZ on the Panel conducted one of their txt polls and over 80% agreed with the protest. I think it is fantastic, people prepared to put themselves on the line.

      • Of course, the average RNZ listener is retired and at home all day. If they polled commuters they’d get a very different result.

        • Your last comment kind of proves the intent of this action, to move politicians to act …. sadly the Government takes little notice of any other means of protest we’ve tried everything …. if we all stand up at once, maybe fewer of us would need to risk our liberty by sitting down and blocking motorists, which we regret but has been our last resort as we are rapidly loosing the chance to act …..

        • It’s the working people and the vulnerable that the issue of the ongoing rise of carbon emissions and rising costs of living will effect first ….. an hour now or a lifetime for future generations ….. ??

  3. Instead of talking they’re just cancelling travel, it’s an extension of the woke cancel culture bullshit.

    Parliament lawn is the perfect place to protest, minimum inconvenience for maximum exposure. Road blocking is juvenile, always was, and it’s too boring to even hear about – if it wasn’t for this blog I’d have no idea, noone cares except those held up in traffic.

    • I totally agree with you Twgbtm.
      The protestors’ actions are just juvenille and arrogant; they are also increasing the very thing they claim to want to reduce. Parliaments lawn is where they should be.

  4. The poor suffering general public don’t make policy and are increasingly disengaged from the political process.
    I suggest disrupting politicians and big corporates lives would have a better outcome and would be cheered on by the public.
    These are the drivers of climate change that need to be in the sights of protest.

  5. Across Christchurch, there is stuff all railway lines & they are not that well-placed to help commuters which probably explains the lack of commuter rail. I agree that good public transport is essential but gluing their hands to the motorway is not the way to get it.

    • We have railway lines that run from Rolleston to Rangiora, there even used to a major railway station close to the CBD. Shame it is only single track and someone sold off the rest of the rail corridor for a tidy private profit, but it is there, and it does exist. However it was deemed easier or more cost effective to channel millions into upgrading the motorways so thousands of single occupant cars & SUVs from the satellite towns could pour into Christchurch everyday.

      • How many railway lines go to where people work? Like you say not being double tracked is a problem although a bigger disaster is that the old NZ Rail had land along Styx Mill Rd and plans for a rail link south via the airport but that was scrapped decades ago, some politician looking after their own pet project instead of the nations best interest I guess.

        • Railways got well & truly looted when they were sold off in a fire sale and then the taxpayer got to buy back the remains after they’d been run into the ground. Still you’d possibly be surprised by where the tracks go to in the city, but sadly with little or no forethought for the future.

          If I lived in Rolleston or Rangiora, I’d rather ride the train into the city rather than drive. But of course I’d rather live within a half hour bike ride to work than spend an hour or more commuting each way from out past the Styx.

      • One are some children of the soybean who think it is ok to fly to Fiji thanks to the parents paying for the flights, the others are the people working the last major income earning industry left in this country.
        Yeah, have these tractors come and remind the government that no one can eat the empty words of the PM.

        • Yes RB very sensible comments.
          The backlash to the Farmer protest is driven by envy and jealously.
          The Left have always disliked Farmers who without they would live in third world conditions.
          They contribute 80% of our export receipts which is critical to our countries living standards.
          Add to that they are hard working people putting in long hours.Their income is not fixed being subject to seasonal conditions fluctuations in the currency market and incompetent Government.

        • Still stop traffic RB , fucking stupid, just like this comment

          “The Left have always disliked Farmers ” fucking stupid.

          • Well in my lifetime the left have definitely disliked Farmers NSC just read the TDB?
            So why am l being stupid?

  6. So why don’t these fuckwits take their protest to a city like Christchurch that doesn’t have passenger rail? Wellington is well served by rail, it’s how I got to work today. Walked to the station, jumped on the train. Easy. Ironically, on the train I overheard people discussing these protesters. They didn’t get any support from the rail passengers.

  7. In Chch the railway station is way out of the CBD at least a one hr walk so how is this going to help getting people in from the outlying areas without cars or buses to take them to their destination .There is not the population to support a rail service but do not let good sense get in the way of the arguement.
    The buses are constantly being cut as they have no staff because the returns are so small the wages paid are at the low end of the scale.
    These protestors want a train from Wellington to Auckland it is a lovely run when on holiday but for workers it is a 10 hr trip .I am picking most of these protestors are not workers.

    • There was a regular suburban passenger rail service in CHC up until the early 70’s. Lyttleton Tunnel was even electrified.

  8. They would be better off blocking the farmers protest. Someone needs to stand up to those money grubbing rich prick cockies who think that they have a god given right to poison our waterways. I hate them. I really hate them.

        • The kulak uprising in [your] 5 districts must be crushed without pity. . . . 1) Hang (and I mean hang so that the people can see) not less than 100 known kulaks, rich men, bloodsuckers. 2) Publish their names. 3) Take all their grain away from them. 4) Identify hostages . . . . Do this so that for hundreds of miles around the people can see, tremble, know and cry . . . .
          Yours, Lenin.
          P. S. Find tougher people.

    • Carlos Machado was 15 years old in 1963 when the bullets from the firing squad shattered his body. His twin brother and father collapsed beside Carlos from the same volley. All had resisted Castro and Che’s theft of their humble family farm, all refused blindfolds and all died sneering at their Communist murderers, as did thousands of their valiant countrymen..“Viva Cuba Libre! Viva Cristo Rey! Abajo Comunismo!” “The defiant yells would make the walls of La Cabana prison tremble,” wrote eyewitness to the slaughter, Armando Valladares.”

    • Grow all your own food Millsy? never need to buy any from supermarket or farmers market?
      If you are not a vegetarian, do you buy meat from supermarket or local butcher shop?
      If you have no need for buying veggies and grow your own and not a meat eater…..then hate on the farmers all you want, good in you!
      If not….you sir are a hypocrite!

      • He does not go to foodbanks as he hates those as well . He seems to hate hard workers bosses volenteers at foodbanks and now farmers .

        • Foodbanks want to withhold food from people because are not deserving enough, and farmers just want to poison our lakes and rivers for profit.

          • Can you explain how poisoning lakes and rivers gives an economical return to farmers?

            You’re probably right mate. I’m a farmer, I get up in the morning and I say to myself, “I need to poison some lakes and rivers today, it’s my sole purpose in life”. At the end of the day I sit back and contemplate how much environmental devastation I’ve achieved, and vow to try to do even more tomorrow. It’s my sole purpose in life.

            • Well, farmers complain that not poisoning the water will ‘make them broke’. so I can only guess the dirtier the rivers and lakes are, the more profits they are making.

    • Millsy, your comment was followed by 5 nasty troll comments but to be expected, right wing.

  9. OMG you are fools.

    This is the very thing that we did in 1981 many times, we helped to make real change.
    The Peace movement, the GE movement!

    I am proud to see this happening , protesting on parliament does nothing we all know that. You have to do radical things to get into the media and make the issue front and centre.

    The most important issue in te ao is climate change, this should be front and centre.

    • Maybe its the most important issue to you, but The IPSOS survey shows what is important to most kiwis and CC doesnt make the top 5. Sep 22 results:
      Cost of Living 58%
      Housing 33%
      Healthcare 32%
      Crime 31%
      Economy 23%

      • And maybe this is one of the reasons why people are blocking motorways in Wellington. I’ve seen more discussion on climate change this week and more media coverage than ever before. Climate change is already happening and will significantly affect our lives. Most of us are in denial. Contemplating the consequences of climate change is not easy. But until climate change is seen by us as at least as important as crime, we are delusional.

      • No it is the most important thing going on right now in the entire world, and if we keep delaying doing something about it, it will be even more catastrophic.

    • Okay so last week I took time off work as my elderly mother has a specialist appointment at Wellington Hospital. Due to these idiots we were late, causing a huge amount of stress. Fortunately the hospital staff (doctor and nurse) gave up their lunch break to fit my mother in. My employer was able to give me the whole day off as caregiver leave.

      But fuck those white middle class wankers! I’ve taken my car to work all this week to spite them. And it’s turned out to be quicker and more convenient than the train at about the same price. I’m planning on using my car from no on

      • Perhaps this is the definition of cutting off your nose to spite your face? Obviously you were looking for an excuse to use your car without having to think about the effect on the environment. And presumably you didn’t support their cause of passenger rail or climate action? And sorry about your Mum. She must be even angrier than you about all this.

        • Ross, unfortunately public transport doesn’t really work for me. I generally work just outside standard rush hour, so commuting by car saves about about 2 hours per day. Cost is negligible as I charge my car (and electric bike) overnight, the biggest cost is paying for parking. As for cost to the environment between my electric cars, energy efficient house and the environmental work my family does on the farm, I’m probably well ahead of any of these protesters in looking after the environment. I just don’t wank off in public about it, to try to get laid.

  10. just glue themselves to the enterance of the beehive carpark, inconvenience the pollies who make the decisions,,everybody is happy apart from the targets

  11. Well said John. Hopefully the numbers can be built to those of ’81 days and really block those motorways.

    My prediction is the Tractor people will have zero arrests.

    • Nostalgia for 81 days shows how you really just want a protest cause TM.
      Makes you feel wanted and I understand that.

  12. I do admire their commitment and it is heartening to see people hold fast to their principles in this day and age when most complain without doing. As someone who has been caught in this traffic twice, it is somewhat of a pain but it is what it is.

    My issue is that the protestors may have a very valid point but sadly that boat has sailed. NZ could have had decent city rail services if they had the right gauge railways but stupid Kiwirail (in discussion with the Govt) rebrought the current gauge trains which cant support anything faster than about 60kms an hour on a good stretch. That meant they didnt have to rebuild track which was more expensive but could have been done without too much problem in some cities like Wellington etc and could have resulted in a really decent commuter service. But no, we would rather shell out for lots of polluting buses that spend the day 1/2 empty and fail to win over more commuters because the train services are too slow, too crowded (maybe not now with work from home) and too rigid.

    Wellington has a really dense CBD but isnt good for biking if you live up a hill in the suburbs, it has two large hinterlands and other sites further afield which trains are ideal for butwe did it all on the cheap when the chance arose and at next renewal despite their green commitment, they will do it again despite all the growth in housing to the Western and the Northern areas.

    • “That meant they didnt have to rebuild track which was more expensive but could have been done without too much problem in some cities like Wellington etc”

      To move from the narrow gauge to standard gauge requires massive realignment of the rail corridor. You cannot have the same minimum radius curves in standard gauge (minimum for normal running is 170 metres) that we currently have in narrow gauge (minimum radius for normal running 130 metres). For example the extreme 100 metre radii curve leading into Auckland’s Britomart would be impossible to achieve with a standard gauge track. Same for engineering marvels like the Raurimu Spiral. Impossible to create a standard gauge rail line on the same corridor. Never mind getting across the Southern Alps. There is a good reason Switzerland and Japan run the rail lines on narrow gauge (except for their high speed networks which don’t integrate with the narrow gauge in the mountains.

      With high speed rail, you need straight corridors with sweeping curves and minimal elevation changes, to maintain speed. Plus you need to eliminate road level crossings to ensure minimal distribution to rail traffic flow.

      In Wellington you would end up with two gauges of track on the same corridor. You need a narrow gauge rail line to get freight to the new rail ferries. Only place I know of with two rail gauges in same corridor is Bangladash where their standard gauge coexist with the Indian broad gauge tracks and trains.

      • Good bit of education for me Gerrit thank you. Many of us have been wondering that for years here in Wellington where Hutt Valley line is straight and Kapiti mostly straight. Also Hutt valley Line does go over to Masterton so probably creates issues with either curves? and/or tunnels.

        I dont quite understand why you’d need narrow gauge to get to the ferries as the rail station is nearby. Do you mean the curve by the cake tin precludes it?

        Having said all that Kiwirail has been considering double tracking some parts of the lines so we dont have to have such a slow system held up by other trains sharing the track into Upper Hutt for example. But 15 years have passed and still no action. The numbers commuting by road into Wellington from Kapiti and Upper Hutt are substantial and to my view, unecessary.

        Also am I right in thinking the narrower the gauge the less carriages can be carried or is this more to do with terrain? We also have a problem (or used to have) with overcrowding.

        • Only if the rest of the country is standard gauge will he need for dual gauge track be eliminated. You cant have a rail network based with freight on narrow gauge and suburban people transport on standard gauge.

          Now to convert ALL the train network to standard gauge requires a massive expenditure to realign the corridor to meet the curve requirements that allows standard gauge. If the few kilometers of a light rail in Auckland is going to cost $15B . Imagine the cost of ripping up all the narrow gauge track, the earth works required for the new corridor, the cost of rail, ties and sleeper’s, replacement of all tunnels and bridges, etc. Plus the need to convert all the rolling stock to run on the standard gauge track (some 70 odd people mover trains in Auckland alone).

          With the wider gauge comes the need for larger distance between tracks. A wider corridor meaning stations like my local at Manurewa will need to be half demolished and one platform moved back to allow the track separation required. Island based passenger platforms are OK.

          This comment uplifted from here https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2014/01/07/a-question-of-gauge/

          “Min. track radius is very much a function of track gauge. Since the axle is solid the outer wheel must travel further than the inner when negotiating a curve. That variance is accommodated and limited by the clearance of the inner rail edge to the wheel-flange and the coning of the running surface of the wheel at 1:20. Working outside these parameters causes the screeching one hears when negotiating curves tighter than the design limit and that screeching also represents rail and wheel wear as one wheel alternately grips then slips at high frequency. The differential motion is directly proportional to track gauge therefore at 3’6″ gauge the vehicle can negotiate a radius 25% tighter than at 4’8.5″ before this limiting state is reached assuming standard track geometry is maintained.”

          Queensland with over 6600 km of narrow gauge track is battling not with the engineering problems (everything is easily overcome by engineering) but rather a political and fiscal one. Huge expenditure for little extra return.

  13. ” Civil disobedience action has a long and honourable history in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world ”

    Beware John of what the neo liberal state is enacting to not protect the public but their own financial control.

    And another neo liberal move for control that Bomber has highlighted happening here and more recently the U.K

    ” The home secretary has unveiled plans for a major crackdown on disruptive protests carried out by environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion.

    Suella Braverman says the new Public Order Bill will stop demonstrators holding the public “to ransom”.

    Ministers will be empowered to block protests causing “serious disruption” to key infrastructure and goods.

    Activists said they would not be intimidated by law changes aimed at “silencing non-violent people”.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63272648

    BBC is a wealth of information as they masquerade as being the broadcaster everyone trusts. They always show exactly where the lords and masters will take their country and dress it up as necessary and protecting the public ! when it is their financial interests they are prepared to take draconian measures to protect the status quo.

    Expect the Nasty Natz and Association of Corporate Thieves and traitors to respond when the anger that is out there explodes.

  14. Yes protest for climate action but lets remember private cars for most people are personally more convenient, time efficient and cost effective than public transport. The future economy will respond to consumer demand for Tesla cars, Rivian utes and Thorium nuclear power and then fusion. The electric wind generators will be abandoned just like the dutch grain wind mills.

  15. “International Energy Agency estimates that in 2040 fossil fuels will still meet three-quarters of world energy needs, even if the Paris agreement is fully implemented. The U.N. body responsible for the accord estimates that if every country fulfills every pledge by 2030, CO2 emissions will be cut by 60 billion tons by 2030. That’s less than 1% of what is needed to keep temperature rises below 2.7 degrees. And achieving even that fraction would be vastly expensive—reducing world-wide growth $1 trillion to $2 trillion each year by 2030.”

  16. Inconveniencing the public to this degree is counterproductive. I’d have cheered up the motorists by giving the protesters lots to drink, and then leaving them glued to the road.
    And then their bladders and bowels get full, and they have to wet and soil themselves.

    • Every protested against anything John+Roy and had success, do tell. I take my hats off to them, putting themselves on the line.

  17. All species on earth including humans will suffer in the future due to changing climate. The suffering will be reduced if we reduce our impact on the environment. This is and has been scientific consensus since the 70’s and there is no science that contests the millions of predictions (computer models), measurements/observations and tests completed since the 70’s.

    These brave protestors are small part of a larger and diverse group that’s is humanities hope. They are doing what they can the best way they know how.

    Thank you and love you folks out there on the road.

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