News release, 12 September 2010

*Elephant takes on dinosaurs at Aro Valley election meeting*

Mayoral wannabes will face the voters' scrutiny at the Aro Valley candidates' meeting tomorrow -- including from an elephant in the room.

Wellington man Patrick Morgan feels so strongly that we need to act on climate change that he will attend the meeting dressed as an elephant.

"Climate change is the most important issue facing us, and we need to talk about it," he says.

"We have a clear choice: continue on the business as usual path, which leads to dangerous climate change, or urgently fix this problem."

He says the dinosaurs didn't see climate change coming and perished, but we have all the tools we need to solve our climate crisis if we act now.

"Plenty of cities are showing the way by investing in public transport, resilient communities and low-carbon businesses, and they will prosper. Let's not miss the bus on this."

"Tunnel vision that is fixated on unwanted bypasses, useless flyovers or a few electric cars is deluded. It's a techno-fantasy way past it's best-by date."

"Roads, rates and rubbish may be core council business, but more importantly, our wannabe leaders need to be accountable for acting on climate change, or they will go the way of dinosaurs."

He says elephants never forget, and neither will the voters.

What: Meet the Candidates

Where: Aro Valley Community Hall, 48 Aro St, Wellington

When: 7pm, Monday 13 September 2010

Pictures from the 2008 General Election Aro Valley meeting are at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF1hhpi7IwE&feature=player_embedded

Why are you dressed as an elephant? In the Australian election a climate elephant appeared at candidates' press conferences and photo ops. It gets the message across: let's talk about this.

Are you part of an organisation? This is a personal initiative, but I know I am one of many who believe we need to step up to the task.

What do you hope to achieve? Fixing the climate is too important to leave to politicians. We all created this problem, and so we all have a part to play in fixing it. There is a lot of frustration about how to raise public understanding about the short time we have to act. I hope that an elephant in the room will generate discussion about the steps that we have to take today.

How many elephants does it take to change a lightbulb? Two, but you need a really big bulb.

ends

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