Tomorrow, Friday 9th October, hundreds of people from all corners of Aotearoa will be ‘Flooding our Streets’ with chalk, sharing messages and visions of climate justice and the importance of this election and this moment in time for our response to climate change.

This action is being coordinated nationally by Vote Climate 2020, a movement that is using people power to spread the importance of voting with climate justice in mind to create a better Aotearoa, for our communities now and the future generation. The ‘Flood our Streets’ action is also being supported by Generation Zero, a youth-led climate action organisation mobilising New Zealanders to engage with decision-making and campaign for intergenerational climate justice.

“We only have three election cycles left to take the necessary action to halve our greenhouse gas emissions, to be in with a chance of staying below 1.5 degrees celsius of warming. This moment in time is crucial. This election counts!”, says Sophie Handford from the Vote Climate 2020 team.

People will be gathering in Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin, Kāpiti, Waitaki and several other towns, both big and small (https://www.facebook.com/events/661232557852529). At various times throughout the day and even on Thursday night, people young and old will be chalking the streets, slapping up posters and bringing the conversation of climate justice to the front of people's minds during this early voting period and as we near Election day on October 17th. Those attending events are encouraged to bring their friends, family, your neighbour, their dog and all of their energy. Vote Climate 2020 will bring the chalk. Those not attending events are encouraged to chalk in their own communities and flood their streets too.

“The importance of building momentum behind a vision of climate justice has never been so clear. What does or doesn’t happen in the next 10 years will determine the future of the next generation and our votes, voices and actions can influence this for the better. We have both a responsibility and an opportunity this election” says Dewy Sacayan from Generation Zero.

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