Wellingtonians Stick Their Heads in the Sand in Response to Govt Climate Policies

7 December 2014

One hundred Wellingtonians braved the weather today to make a statement about the climate.

They literally put their heads in the sand at Oriental Bay as a mass visual response to the Government's inaction on climate change and to its ongoing threats to the New Zealand environment from mining.

"We need to see urgent and collective action on climate change. We gathered today because the Government's response has been instead to stick its head in the sand and push ahead with fossil fuel extraction," says Frances Mountier, one of the organisers of the Wellington event.

The event took place at eleven beaches across New Zealand as well as in other countries including Bondi Beach, Sydney and Lima, Peru, and was timed to coincide with the UN climate talks currently taking place in Lima.

“While the rest of the world is taking action on climate change, New Zealand’s emissions are set to go through the roof. Ministers are wining and dining oil industry leaders and offering them opportunities to develop our fossil fuel resources for a song,” says Jeanette Fitzsimons of Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

"The New Zealand Government has gone past short-sightedness, they have intentionally closed their eyes and seem to be hoping that when they open them again climate change will have just disappeared. They've calculated the cost of taking action, but then crucially refused to calculate the alternative - the economic cost and risks of not taking action. They are pretending that if we go about business as usual there will somehow be no costs, but unfortunately the science is very clear that is far from the case," says Ashlee Gross, organiser for 350.org Aotearoa.

“There are two ways to explain this Government's manic push for mining, fracking and deep sea drilling. Either it has been studiously ignoring the tidal wave of ominous scientific reports over the past twenty years with its head firmly in the sand, or it can see the rising tide but the promise of private profit for fossil fuel companies is somehow more important," says James Barber of Oil Free Wellington.

The Wellington event was organised by a coalition of climate groups including Coal Action Network Aotearoa, 350.org, and Oil Free Wellington.

A spoof promotional video is available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlZPjL5HWHY

Photos from around the country will be available on www.facebook.com/events/1542095289341789/ and https://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/

#HeadsinSandNZ

ENDS

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