Apart from our co-collaborators School Strike 4 Climate Whanganui-a-Tara , we want to thank the following organisations for their practical support. Without it, organising the march and rally would have much so much harder.
They provided high vis, marshals, road cones, PA gear, megaphones, meeting and storage spaces and more:
PSA
Peace Action Wellington
Twofiftyseven
VUWSA
WEGC
Pōneke Anti-Fascist Coalition
Also, the Police for keeping the marchers safe, and WCC for traffic management advice and support.
Last but not least, the individuals who volunteered with putting up posters, first aid, marshalling, and more!
We are continuing to alternate our Friday lunchtime protests between the Parliament Lawn and Midland Park (outside the Fonterra office), 12.30 till 1.30.
21 April
Midland Park
(due to bad weather, Earth Day action postponed)
28 April
Midland Park
post-Earth Day action
5 May
Parliament lawn
If bad weather, Midland Park
12 May
Midland Park
19 May
Parliament lawn
If bad weather, Midland Park
26 May
Nationwide climate march
Meet at Civic Square 11am, march to Parliament, arriving around 12 noon for rally.
Fridays for Future at the Great Big Waterfront Clean-up 28 Jan 2022
On Friday 28 January a break-away group from Fridays for Future signed up to the Great Big Waterfront Clean-up (organised by Museum of Wellington and Sustainable Coastlines).
Inorganic rubbish that is not disposed of properly (into a rubbish bag that is taken to the dump) often ends up in our seas, rivers, streams etc, and then either inside bird/fish stomachs or around their necks.
Armed with garden gloves, plus-size rubbish sacks and specially made “Fridays for Future” flaglets, we followed the instruction to go forth and pick up litter.
Earlier groups of rubbish retrievers had already gone ahead and filled their sacks with the big stuff. We got the low-lying junk clinging to bushes and hiding under piles of leaves – bits of polystyrene, cigarette butts galore, bottle caps, chocolate bar wrappers, clingfilm, unidentified bits of hard plastic, and a cute anxiety ring (that I will take home to clean and wear). All that squatting was quite the inner-thigh workout!
Early arrivals waiting for the rest of the group.
In the meantime, our presence on the Parliament Lawn continued as usual…
Holding the fort at the Parliament Lawn
I will leave you with a photo from the previous Friday, when an impressive family group visiting Wellington for the day joined us to show their support. It is always great to talk to – and pose with – anyone dropping by.
21 Jan 2022 – Joined by members of a Tongan family reunion
We will continue to protest at the Parliament Lawn over the holiday period, including Christmas Eve.
So if you are in Wellington at this time, come and spend an hour with us. Take a break from all the consumption to stand for something real.
We will bring some signs but you are welcome to bring your own (we love seeing climate protest art).
Every Friday at the Parliament Lawn, 12.30 – 1.30pm
Just a note about Friday 17 December – there’s an anti-vax protest expected on Thursday 16th. If they return to Parliament Lawn on the Friday and are still there when we FFF protesters arrive, we will set up further along the Lawn. So look out for our FFF flags!
I’ll leave you with a list of climate-related podcasts from the Fridays for Future Action Network, here. I’m especially looking forward to listening to Suzanne Simard talk about how trees communicate with other!
Some of our Fridays for Future members who took part in Extinction Rebellion Wellington’s recent Week of Action (in October), made it into an article in the online magazine The Conversation.
