Long-term CANA member Rosemary Penwarden gained global coverage for her recent trial for “disrupting” a fossil fuel conference in Queenstown.

Here is a sample of that coverage:

The Guardian

CNN

Greenpeace

Daily Express

Euronews

Who/What/Why

Although the judge disallowed her eloquent “public interest” defence, after the jury’s guilty verdict, even the prosecutor appeared to agree that Rosemary should be discharged without conviction.

This was, overall, a huge PR blow to the fossil fuel organisation whose conference she targeted, and they have since changed their name…

Well done, Rosemary!

The post CANA activist’s protest trial gets worldwide attention appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Guest post by Silvia Purdie

On Monday 2 May a group of 30 protestors occupied the Takitimu Coal Mine, forcing the mine to stop operations for the day. This was a collaborative action by Extinction Rebellion groups around Te Waipounamu and supported by Greenpeace and the Coal Action Network. One of the activists is a psychotherapist in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Michael Apathy (pronounced Apayti).

Michael describes some memorable experiences from the action:

“It was a great moment at 5.00am on Monday morning. We had succeeding in getting in and we were all in place within the coal mine; the towers were set up at the entrance, the climbers were in place, we had a boat on the lake. “We made it! We have taken possession of this space.” Suddenly I felt a huge buzz and delight, that lasted through the whole day. Even though I’d had no sleep I had this peaceful, energetic, joyful feeling. It became a meditation on being in the heart of the beast.

As the sun rose, the first thing for me was how great it was to actually be there and to see it. There I was, inside the mine, surrounded by all the giant piles of coal, literally inside the machinery that extracts it. Coal is such an abstract thing to so many of us. I talk to people and they are surprised: “We still mine coal in New Zealand?!” It is out of sight, out of mind. Being there made the climate crisis very real, rather than just numbers on a spreadsheet.

It was so stark: here I am on this big piece of machinery among the coal next to a poisoned lake, and on the silhouette of the hill there are cows grazing. Industrial dairying is killing off our waterways and contributing significantly to global warming. This is a key reason why New Zealand is actually really terrible in terms of climate change. This coal goes to Fonterra to be burned to dry milk powder to be shipped overseas. The whole system was so vivid to me in that moment: “It’s all here, the cows and the coal together.”

For most of the day I locked myself onto the conveyor, and I had several police negotiating with me. Late in the afternoon our group made the collective decision to leave. So I said, “So if I unlock, you will not arrest me?” – “Yep” – so I said, “Alright”, and we walked out. It ended with no one being arrested which was nice.

As we walked to the gate we were greeted by a big crescendo of drumming and singing, a celebration of what we had done. It was so beautiful. It made you feel you are part of this thing which is a work of art as well as a political action.

We are taking very serious action about the existential threat of climate change. Direct action like this is intense and serious. But admidst that there was music and dancing. We hung beautiful colourful flags. People wore silly cow onesies. It is important to us that direct action becomes light and playful and a celebration all at the same time.”

There’s more information, photos and video of the action here.

To download  Silvia Purdie’s full interview with Michael Apathi, click here.

The post Takitumu Mine Occupation, May 2022 appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

WELLINGTON PROTEST: Midland Park, outside Fonterra’s office at 157 Lambton Quay, at 1 pm on Friday 28 May.

New Zealand’s largest company, Fonterra, is the major culprit in New Zealand’s most critical environmental and climate problems.

Fonterra, and its farmers, profit from dumping their pollution and waste, for free, into our atmosphere, water and soil.

This is the cause of worsening climate change, unswimmable rivers and undrinkable waters, along with poor animal welfare, tropical deforestation, loss of amenity and biodiversity, and health risks to Kiwis, from premature and breastfeeding infants, to adults risking gastrointestinal illness, including colorectal cancer.

Put simply, Fonterra is at the centre of a web of destruction caused by too many cows, in the wrong places.

Between 1990 and 2019, dairy cattle numbers increased by 82% nationally, from 3.4 million to 6.3 million. Dairy cattle increased almost tenfold in Canterbury (from 113,000 to 1.2 million).

The thin, dry and stony soils of Canterbury, the Mackenzie Basin and Otago are totally unsuitable for intensive dairying, which exists  only through unsustainable inputs of irrigation water, synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and imported feed such as palm kernel.

Photo: Duncan Brown

Intensive dairying also produces copious quantities of two dangerous climate-changing gases, methane and nitrous oxide, in addition to the carbon dioxide produced by Fonterra’s powdered milk factories, which burn about 500,000 tonnes of coal every year.

The waste water from those factories is dumped onto neighbouring, cow-free, “ghost farms”, and is so polluting that farmers and their neighbours dare not drink from their wells, nor eat from their veggie gardens.

New Zealand’s animal overstocking is so bad, that New Zealand risks having trade barriers imposed on us by more environmentally-aware countries, especially since agriculture remains outside the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Fonterra’s toxic rip-off of New Zealand’s environment and people must stop!

We call on Fonterra and its farmer owners to reduce cow numbers by 50% nationwide, and reduce them to 1990 levels in the worst-affected regions of Canterbury, the Mackenzie Basin and Otago.

We also call on Fonterra to stop burning coal by 2027, not a decade later as it currently proposes.

AUCKLAND PROTEST: Victoria Park, cnr Halsey & Fanshawe St, opposite Fonterra HQ at 109 Fanshawe St, at 3 pm on Friday 28 May.

WELLINGTON PROTEST: Midland Park, outside Fonterra’s office at 157 Lambton Quay, at 1 pm on Friday 28 May.

To join the nationwide protest movement, contact your local elected officials, newspapers and trade unions; post on social media and support groups such as:

Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA):  www.coalaction.org.nz

Aotearoa Water Action (AWA): www.aotearoawateraction.org.nz

Extinction Rebellion (XR):  extinctionrebellion.nz/christchurch/water-campaign/

The post Protest Fonterra, New Zealand’s Worst Polluter, this Friday, 28th May 2021 appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Extinction Rebellion takes a tour of downtown Wellington to point out the coal industry stalwarts and ask why they’re still there in the face of a climate emergency. 

“There are coal companies in Wellington??”

That’s the incredulous response every single time we mention taking the public on a tour of the biggest coal industry companies and supporters in Wellington.

Yes, appallingly, there are. Right here in our beautiful, progressive, kākā-filled coolest little capital. While we enjoy our green belt and harbour views, Wellington-based coal advocates and companies are responsible for expanding coal mining in the Waikato, Canterbury, Southland and on the South Island’s West Coast, devastating the local ecosystems and spewing further CO2 into the atmosphere when we are already in a climate and ecological emergency. So, the local Extinction Rebellion group hosted a tour of four of the biggest baddies, highlighting Welly’s less promotional title of the “coalest little capital”.

First up, right there on Willeston Street, is the head office of the biggest coal company in the country, Bathurst Resources. Bathurst started as a small Australian company before deciding to cross the Tasman in search of easier pickings. They scratched around to little effect before partnering with fishing company Talleys, which presumably concluded that its environmental reputation couldn’t get any worse anyway. They formed BT Mining and bought up the mines of former state-owned coal miner Solid Energy at bargain-basement prices when that company went bust.

Between them, Bathurst and BT Mining mined over two million tonnes of coal from New Zealand soil in 2017, leading to an estimated four million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions that our planet’s overheated atmosphere does not need. Bathurst’s reckless destruction of the beautiful, biodiverse Denniston plateau also shows its contempt for anything other than profit.

Coal consumer Fonterra, New Zealand’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has its Wellington headquarters on Lambton Quay. Most of Fonterra’s emissions come from its on-farm activities, driven by its relentless, reckless programme of dairy intensification that has left farmers in hock to predatory banks, and rivers, lakes and landscapes ruined throughout the country. In addition, Fonterra uses fossil fuels for most of its milk-drying. In 2017, the dairy co-operative reported that it had burned 500,000 tonnes of coal leading to 837,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Fonterra is moving to replace burning coal for heat, instead using electricity and burning biomass from sustainable sources, such as wood waste – but its progress is nowhere near fast enough relative to the scale of the climate emergency we face.

Next there is Straterra the mining lobbyist on the Terrace, whose sole purpose is to promote mining. Within Straterra nestles the Coal Association of New Zealand, chaired by the CEO of Bathurst Resources. They have no intention whatsoever to phase out coal. Indeed all their plans rely on the assumption that some magical technology will be discovered that will allow them to keep expanding coal mining forever. Spoiler: it isn’t going to happen.

Even the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has a department called NZ Petroleum and Minerals (NZPAM), whose taxpayer-funded staff spend their days promoting mining – so explicitly that it’s hard to distinguish NZPAM’s work from industry lobbyists Straterra.

NZPAM oversees legislation in the Crown Minerals Act that specifically states its purpose as “to promote prospecting for, exploration for, and mining of Crown-owned minerals” – including coal. Government departments should be managing the end of coal in New Zealand and ensuring a just transition away from fossil fuels. Instead, NZPAM acts as cheerleaders and enablers for this deadly industry.

At this point, the need to phase out coal is obvious. The wreckage of habitats and local air and water pollution from coal mining are reason enough, before even factoring in the climate emergency. And the key point is: we don’t need it. Coal is on the way out – for heat production, for energy generation, and even for steel production. Fossil-free production processes are now being scaled up to commercial levels, and much more could be done with recycling steel and with wood-based construction that has the added benefit of sequestering carbon.

These coal advocates have had a free rein for too long. That era is over.

Melanie Vautier and Tim Jones are climate change activists and members of Coal Action Network Aotearoa and Extinction Rebellion.

The post Does Wellington really want to be the coalest little capital? appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

On Sunday the CANA organising group, along with many other wonderful people, had a great day protesting a coal mine near Huntly.

The protest across the two main gates of the Kopako1 mine at Maramarua

Firstly: What is this coal mine?

It is a recently reopened mine, with the purpose of getting coal for Fonterra to evaporate milk to send to China and pretend its better for Chinese babies than breast milk. While Fonterra recently has been applauded for not renewing their permit for the Mangatangi coal mine, they have instead just restarted this less visible one. Sneaky sneaky!

Secondly: Why Sunday?

The New Zealand and Australia Minerals conference was being held in Tauranga this week, and the weekend included some optional field trips to visit the surrounding gold and coal mines. Conferences, as we all know, are best spent eating lots of free food and trying to meet influential people in your field so you can name drop them on later occasions. These conference-goers spent their weekend looking at blights they’ve made on lovely landscapes and getting yelled at about it at every single one they tried to go to.

Thirdly: What happened?

The CANA team spent a pleasant morning eating scones at a lovely nearby cafe, waiting for the call to head out. Once it came we raced off to the mine, and, along with others from Auckland Coal Action, Peace Action and 350.org, set ourselves up with a multitude of banners.

The conference-goers arrived shortly after, drove up to the gate, stopped for a while to figure out what to do, then turned around. There was another entry!

CANA’s Mel (in the flowery hat) and other protestors at the second sneaky gate as a Bathurst employee tries to unlock it.

We followed them over and, while they were doing whatever they were doing in the coal mine, spent a pleasant afternoon chanting at them through megaphones. One couple with a camper van had ingeniously rigged it up as a giant speaker, which echoed all down the valley (the residents of the house they parked in the driveway of were reportedly quite excited at the goings-on in their quiet rural road). Interspersed with the eloquent heartfelt speeches of the protesters, there boomed out vivid pre-recordings of an angry mob and a siren followed by a brilliantly serious “evacuate…evacuate…this is a climate emergency.”

When eventually the coal viewers tried to leave, they came driving out in their mostly single occupancy cars like good little fossil fuel proponents.

They moved very slowly due to the enthusiastic blockades by protesters further up the road, so I got chatting to the last guy out who was quick to make clear that he was “just there to have a look” and didn’t disagree with what we were saying. He reportedly was very into tree planting and ocean cleanups. His eagerness to not be associated with being ‘one of them,’ (and the very miserable faces of the rest), pleased me enormously.

Perhaps, at last, fossil fuels are negatively received.

Perhaps at last the winds are changing, after the recent reports of just how long Mobil and Shell knew about climate change; with wider public realisation of the lies they paid for; of fossil fuel companies’ intensive lobbying to governments to perpetuate a reliance on them.

Perhaps, at last, fossil fuels are losing their social license.

Fourthly: And then what happened?

The coal people left and we regrouped to have a spontaneous picnic. The police arrived and wandered over, saying (with no hint of believing it for a moment) they’d received reports of protesters throwing rocks. We offered them some cake and a hard-boiled egg, which they politely declined and went away and loitered in the corner while we finished making new friends and swapping cakes, and then we all drove off home after a very enjoyable protest.

The post The Kopako1 Protest: A View from the Inside appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Protesters today greeted mining conference delegates on their field trip to the North Island’s largest coal mine near Huntly calling for New Zealand to rapidly phase out the use of coal to help stop climate change.

The 15 protesters – from Auckland Coal Action, Coal Action Network Aotearoa and other groups, held anti-coal banners and signs, as around 30 mining industry executives arrived at the mine at 10 am this morning.

coal activists at Rotowaro mine 2

The delegates from the AusIMM mining conference, which begins tomorrow in Tauranga, have spent the weekend on field trips to mine sites, being dogged by protesters at every stop. Yesterday, six activists were arrested in the Karangahake Gorge.

The Rotowaro coa mine, near Huntly, is jointly owned by BT Mining (Bathurst Resources Ltd and Talley’s Energy), and supplies the Huntly Power Station, New Zealand Steel and other customers. Other mines in the area supply Fonterra.

“The need to rapidly phase out coal use to protect the environment has now become extremely clear, and is an essential step to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding global warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels,” said Auckland Coal Action spokesperson, Peter Whitmore.

“New Zealand has an abundance of wind and sun energy that can be captured. With today’s technologies and the advent of wall batteries, more insulation and energy efficiency, coupled with our hydropower, we should be turning away from coal, not digging more of it up – and we should be shutting down Huntly this year, as originally planned.”

Just down the road from the Rotowaro mine is the Kopako1 mine, also owned by BT mining, which supplies coal to Fonterra’s three big coal-fired boilers in the Waikato. The mining delegates will head to the Kopako 1 mine after Rotowaro where they will be greeted by more protestors. 

Fonterra is New Zealand’s second-largest user of coal after NZ Steel.  Kopako1 was re-opened in 2015, after local protests stopped Fonterra from starting its own coal mine at Mangatawhiri.

“Coal mines right around the country are being re-opened or extended because of dairy expansion,” saidCoal Action Network Aotearoa’s Jeanette Fitzsimons. “It feels like we are going backwards on coal, which simply has no role if we want to address climate change.  Our model of industrial farming is unsustainable.”

Both groups called on the Government to put a hefty enough price on coal so as to create a disincentive to use coal, which was still too cheap as the costs of its impacts – from health effects to climate change – are not factored into its price.

A few days ago, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres said in a key speech, “If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us… We need to put the brake on deadly greenhouse gas emissions and drive climate action. We need to rapidly shift away from our dependence on fossil fuels. We need to replace them with clean energy from water, wind and sun.”

“We need to listen to Guterres, and the many others who have given this message,” says Whitmore, and start taking immediate and effective action.”

The post Protesters greet mining conference field trip, demanding rapid phase-out of coal appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Good on Jacinda Ardern and the current New Zealand government for their courage in announcing an end to offshore oil exploration, and issuing no new onshore permits outside of Taranaki.  This vital first step re-directs our focus away from fossil fuels toward an industry sustained by renewable energy.  Transitions do have to start somewhere, and at the least, this is a start.  James Shaw is correct when he states that there is an “enormous opportunity for the creation of new jobs and new technologies that our dependence on fossil fuels has held back for too long.”

And shame on the National Party for responding to this announcement with disdainful terms like ‘economic vandalism’.  Economic vandalism is the refusal—inability—to see the dire economic repercussions of full blown climate chaos.  Regional and national governments are regularly confronted by billions of dollars in cost with every drought, flood and cyclone that devastates a community.  Ignoring the increasing frequency and intensity of these storms is a form of negligence that future generations will be loath to forgive.

Vandalism is deliberate, mischievous or malicious.  Ardern’s announcement is deliberate, cautious and commensurate.  She is setting a course.  Many in the climate movement have responded that the course hasn’t been adjusted enough to make an impact, while the fossil fuel industry warns that driving production overseas will harm the environment; they clearly see the greenhouse gas over New Zealand as somehow more green and less harmful that the greenhouse gases over the rest of the planet.

Discussions, thoughts, about climate chaos can either lure despondency or arouse fury.  It is an issue of such importance that the life of the planet is literally balanced in the outcome.  It’s like we’re in a Bruce Willis movie where all the explosions are played by extreme weather events, and the ultimate good-guy hero that saves the day is you and me – so CANA would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Oil Free Wellington for their successful, inspired and indeed heroic hosting of the Rally for Climate Justice.

This was Rosemary’s fifth Oil Summit blockade, and she felt it was the most hopeful because of the diverse cross section of society who gathered and stood together against continuing a fossil fuel addiction that will literally cost us the earth.  The presence of the Supergrans gave depth and wisdom to the action, but the mix of high school kids, iwi, cyclists, professionals, church groups and activists from all over Aotearoa established this blockade as a unified movement.  It wasn’t just a protest.

“Five years ago, outside the Westpac Stadium, I felt powerless alongside the other protestors, watching the delegates enter the conference, pomposity intact. This year I saw worried-looking delegates hustled through fire exit doors and underground car park entrances guarded by angry police. The diversity affected them too.”  —Rosemary 

Oil Free Wellington ensured that those involved in the Rally understood what is at stake, so they opened and freely shared a vault of wisdom on the Sunday prior to the Blockade.  Scientists spoke factually.  Lawyers spoke of the law.  Tangata whenua spoke of tradition and history.  And the people of Taranaki spoke of their lost taonga, the loss of their food basket and their poisoned land.

“I got a heart-felt connection to the Taranaki people who’ve been fighting oil & fracking for years.  I gained a stronger sense of connection with the many people around Aotearoa.” 

—Torfrida

Oil Free Wellington is one part of the consistent pressure a determined climate movement has been put on the Petroleum Conference since it started convening in New Zealand.  This year, this pressure forced conference organizers into secrecy about the venue and the start date; the conference was delayed a full day.

The annual attendance by climate groups at these oil and gas conferences also forced a huge police presence.  Delegates got up 2 hours early to try to get inside the venue before the blockade was formed, but those working to stave off full-blown climate disruption got up even earlier and were in place when those delegates arrived, so the start of the conference was delayed further.  The determination and conviction of those forming the blockade led to the police escorting and protecting the food being delivered for lunch, which was a bizarre thing to watch.

“I was proud to be one of a group of over 70s who held the line in front of the main doors which were never breached. I was proud that we established a conversation with the police who stepped back from their aggression and shared the odd joke. I was very disappointed to hear later of the violence they showed our people on the other side of the building.”  —Jeanette

Petroleum Conference proceedings were disrupted even further with deafening noise.  The TSB Arena is not much more than a long metal shed, and we all know what a racket can be made by pounding on sheets of aluminium.

“The ‘music’ from the ‘band’ was ingenious!  Rubbish bin lids slamming.  Umbrellas carrying the rhythm of a drum beat.  An orchestra of improvised noise makers.  The oil and gas companies must have got the message that they are not welcome here.”  —Jenny

Jacinda Ardern had intimated that she would lead a government that says “No” to new oil and gas exploration, but her announcement does little to address the possible decades of production if oil were to be found on an existing permit or the continued issuance of on-shore permits.  When the government says, “It’s okay to explore and extract,” the voices of those who know better must be heard loud and clear.  That’s why blockades and actions like the one hosted by Oil Free Wellington are so important.

“There was one point in the blockade where I just stepped outside myself and watched.  The police were standing in a line with their arms outstretched.  All of them were wearing black gloves.  I could hear bagpipes and bicycle bells.  A bunch of yellow-caped grannies and grampies came round the corner carrying placards with photos of their grandchildren.  It was raining, and a guy gave me a piece of chalk so that I could write a message about why I was there.”  —Zella

This government has drawn a line in the sand and set our country on the path to a clean energy, low carbon future.  It clearly hasn’t gone far enough to address the oncoming destruction of full-scale climate disruption, but it is a start.

“This is what change looks like. It’s messy, and it’s never as complete or as urgent as it needs to be, and vested interests who’ve spent centuries colonising and destroying the planet for profit don’t give up easily or quickly. But it’s a step in the right direction, made possible by relentless pressure. Now we have to step up the pressure even further on all fossil fuels.”  — Tim

The post Years Of Pressure On Oil and Gas Exploration Pay Off: Jacinda Ardern Announces An End To Offshore Oil And Gas Block Offers appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Auckland Coal Action handing out leaflets and bags of wood chips

Fonterra was badly embarrassed, and event organisers got the protest moved on – but not before it had made a big media impact. Below you can read posts about the action on Auckland Coal Action’s excellent blog, plus a selection of media coverage. Fonterra’s days of hiding its dirty secret are over. Auckland Coal Action coverage

• Exciting announcement from Fonterra at Field Days
• Fonterra’s coal use under the spotlight at Mystery Creek
• “Your days of burning coal are numbered few”

Selected media coverage

• Radio New Zealand: Climate change protestors kicked out of Fieldays
• Waikato Times/Stuff: ‘Fonterra’ flyers stir the pot at Fieldays
• Newstalk ZB: No letup in Fonterra coal campaign

The post Auckland Coal Action Exposes Fonterra’s Dirty Secret: Coal appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Fonterra’s subsidiary Glencoal has put its plans for an open cast mine on SH2 at Mangatangi on hold indefinitely. The local community is celebrating. They worked very hard with submissions on all the impacts of coal mining that you are allowed to talk about in consent hearings – water, dust, traffic – but not climate change, the worst impact of all. We hear Fonterra was really surprised at the strength of the opposition.

Much of the credit though must go to Auckland Coal Action which has turned out seven times on the last afternoon of holiday weekends to face traffic crawling back to Auckland from Bay of Plenty and Coromandel, with huge placards saying

“Fonterra plans coal mine here”

“Coal Cooks the Climate”

“Fonterra could use Waste Wood”

The mine was planned for such a public site, adjoining SH2 and the protests got some publicity, as did CANA’s opposition at the consents hearing. We brought expert evidence (PDF) to show wood chip from forestry residues was available and technically feasible as a boiler fuel with no net carbon emissions. This is what a win looks like. But….

Solid Energy has just reopened Kopako 1, an old mine around 5km away which still contains a lot of coal, on a back road hardly anyone ever a uses except for mining. It’s part of the same Maramarua coal field. They have a contract with Fonterra to supply more than 100,000 tonnes a year for their Waikato milk drying plants. Fonterra has just sneaked round the corner and passed responsibility for the mining to Solid Energy.

From the perspective of the atmosphere, nothing has changed. Emissions will continue as planned. But we have shown that Fonterra is susceptible to pressure. All those motorists tooting support for the ACA protests has got to them. They have had to sneak away to a less public site. But it’s not that easy.

Now is the time to keep up the pressure. Fonterra is the third largest coal user in the country by far. With the Huntly power station phasing out they may already be the second largest, after the steel mill. At least 400,000 tonnes a year – we are still working out just how much more than that. This is not compatible with the “clean green image” they like to use to sell their milk overseas.

There is a big opportunity here for Fonterra to position themselves as working towards sustainability by transitioning to wood waste. In fact they told us they were doing that, but are dragging the chain. We intend to keep the pressure on to help them recognise their own self-interest.

The post Fonterra Sneaks Round The Corner appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

220 people took part in Heads in the Sand at Christchurch’s New Brighton beach. This photo gives you a sense of the scale of the event. Photo credit: Alan Bishop

Mission Bay, Auckland: looking across a lot of Heads in the Sand to Rangitoto at one of 4 Auckland events today

220 Christchurch people came to New Brighton Beach for #HeadsInSandNZ. As local MP Megan Woods said, “Sea level rise will get real here!” Photo credit: Ruth Dyson MP

Images from Wellington’s event at Oriental Bay: whether it’s many of the close to 100 participants high up the beach or one activist daring the rising sea, the message is clear: get your head out of the sand on climate change, John Key.

Browns Bay: part of the crew who turned out for our North Shore #HeadsInSandNZ event which was organised over the last couple of days. Photo credit: Gabriele Schmidt-Adam

Waiheke took on Heads in the Sand in their own distinctive style. Photo: Peter Rees

At Bethells Beach, West Auckland, participants gather prior to #HeadsInSandNZ

At Bethells Beach, this dog was resolutely on-message for #HeadsInSandNZ. Photo credit: A. Rogers / NZ Greens

Again at Bethells Beach, Green MP Jan Logie shows her commitment to #HeadsInSandNZ in acrobatic style. Photo credit: A. Rogers / NZ Greens

It looks a bit nippy at Dunedin’s St Clair beach, but that didn’t stop these #HeadsInSandNZ participants. Photo credit: Ruby Harris

At Dunedin’s St Clair beach, participants face the dunes that separate low-lying South Dunedin from the sea. Photo credit: Namakau Nalumango

At Invercargill’s Oreti Beach, it was climate change rather than toheroa that had people digging in the sand. Photo credit: Dave Kennedy

The post Images from Heads in the Sand events today appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.