“Real solutions to the climate crisis are being built by those who have always protected the Earth and by those who fight every day to defend their environment and living conditions. We need to globalise these solutions.
For us, the struggles for climate justice and social justice are one and the same. It is the struggle for territories, land, forests and water, for agrarian and urban reform, food and energy sovereignty, for women’s and worker’s rights. It is the fight for equality and justice for indigenous peoples, for peoples of the global South, for the redistribution of wealth and for the recognition of the historical ecological debt owed by the North.”
Read more here… Climate Justice Assembly Declaration by ‘Climate Justice Now!’, a network of organisations and movements from across the globe committed to the fight for social, ecological and gender justice.
There are loads of solutions out there. These are but a few:
ENERGY :
- first of all we must reduce energy use (eg. walk don’t drive),
- then use it efficiently (eg. turn things off when not needed),
- and use clean, renewable energy such as micro-hydro, solar power, wind power, kinetic power (eg. hand cranks, cycle power), passive solar, methane digestion…
TRANSPORT :
- use your body – walk, skate, bike, row, sail, ride a horse…
- share transport – ride share, carpool, hitch-hike, bus, train, tram…
- stay home or travel less – conference calls, video-link meetings, plan infrequent long stays instead of frequent short stays, gather where the least people have to travel to.
HOUSING :
- make buildings energy efficient by insulating the roof, floor and walls; use the sun and natural air movements to heat (eg. face windows to the sun) and cool (eg. open windows); and heat transfer systems (eg. high and low wall vents), passive solar (eg. brick walls/floors facing the sun), trombe walls…
- use natural, renewable, biodegradable or recycled materials such as cob, mudbrick, cob and wattle, strawbale, hemp, ghers/yurts/tipees, recycled timber, ‘earthships’…
WASTE :
- reduce eg. take your own bags, packaged goods
- re-use eg. bottles for pickling
- refuse eg. excessively packaged goods
- recycle eg. composting, worm bins, greywater and blackwater treatment, methane digestion…
FOOD and other products :
- grow and buy local produce
- get involved in Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), community gardens, urban farming, community markets, local craft collectives, DIY
- support sustainable farming and horticulture such as organics, polyface, permaculture, biological farming, biodynamic…
STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY
- learn how to organise yourself and your community collectively
- get involved in community projects such as intentional communities, community resource centres, social centres, village groups, collectives, co-ops…
- get involved in community boards, local, regional and national government so social, ecological and economic sustainability is priority one
CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE
- clarify your goals
- work out a strategy to achieve your goals
- build allies to help you get there
- work sustainably – manage your time and needs well so no-one burns out
CARBON STORAGE
- support or initiate soil regeneration, forest regeneration, old-growth forest, river and marine protection projects – these are the great natural carbon sinks of the planet
- return clean, untreated waste wood, paper, cardboard, ash and charcoal from your fire, and old bones and seashells to your garden soil and compost
Below are some resources and links you may find useful:
Permaculture In New Zealand (PINZ)
Earth Building Association of NZ (EBANZ)
Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) NZ Directory
VIDEO: A community boots out the fossil fuel company:
Climate Justice Taranaki 