You are warmly invited to a meeting on Denniston, the fossil fuels divestment movement, and the campaigning we can do in Wellington to urge financial institutions to divest from Bathurst. Bathurst is the Australian coal company who wants to turn the beautiful Denniston Plateau into an open cast mine.

When: 6pm – 8pm, Wednesday 25 September

Where: Dance Studio, Toi Poneke, 61 Abel Smith St, Wellington.
Entrance is from the rear of the Arts Centre – follow the signs!

Hosted by: Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA), 350.org and the Keep the Coal in the Hole Wellington network

What:

  • 6:00 – 7:00pm: Speakers from CANA, 350.org and Forest and Bird
  • 7:00 – 8:00pm: Facilitated discussion on what we can do here in Wellington

Come along if you are keen to get involved, or want to learn more*

Join the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/457375387709529/

About Denniston:

From: http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/campaigns/save-the-denniston-plateau-ours-not-mine

Paved with sandstone and edged with rocky outcrops, Denniston Plateau is home to a number of geological curiosities that bring to mind images of Middle Earth.

The unique rock formation that makes up this ancient part of New Zealand gives rise to a rich mosaic of life that is only found here: bonsai gardens of rata, tussock and pygmy pine.

At night, great spotted kiwi and our carnivorous giant snails can be found hunting out worms and grubs.

Cryptically hidden in the shrublands lie  vast communities of green geckos, ground weta and speckled skinks.

Doused with an annual rainfall of 6 metres, water carves the quartzose sandstone into unusual shapes.

But Denniston is under threat from Bathurst’s planned open cast coal mine. Forest and Bird, CANA and others across the country have been campaigning to save this beautiful conservation land.  Bathurst is only still in business by the good grace of their bankers who, last September, waived their right to take retaliatory action after Bathurst breached their repayment agreement. See CANA’s article on http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1308/S00200/the-westport-story-right-of-reply-from-coal-action-network.htm

About divestment:

The global divestment movement was initiated by the international climate action organization, 350.org.  Here in Wellington, it was launched by Bill McKibben at his Do the Math tour earlier this year.

From http://gofossilfree.org/nz/:

It’s our money, so we’re asking them to divest! We’re all connected to institutions that ought to be looking out for the public good.

Many of these institutions, however, support the fossil fuel industry through stocks, bonds and investment funds – using our money.

We’re part of a rapidly growing global campaign calling on institutions and organisations we’re a part of to divest all direct investments from fossil fuels and increase investment in renewables. Collectively we have the power to take on the multi-billion dollar industry driving climate change.

The Anglican Diocese of Auckland recently decided to divest from the fossil fuel industry; the first institutional body in New Zealand to do so: http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2013/09/auckland-diocese-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels.aspx

Groups across the country are campaigning for divestment.

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For more information, please email coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

We look forward to meeting with you on Wednesday 25 September

*Spies not welcome!