OUR mission

Restore Passenger Rail

Cyclone Gabrielle was a reminder: the race is on to future-proof not only our transport system but our entire economy, our homes, our people and all the things we care about. This campaign, along with our sister campaigns in the A22 network, aims to actually change the political playing field on climate across a number of democratic countries, and save people, habitats, plants, and animals from the devastating effects of climate change and ecological collapse.

No one wants to make climate change worse every time they travel because there’s no alternative. Trains are a natural choice in other parts of the world – we want that choice here too. An affordable nationwide passenger rail service will give New Zealanders a transport option they can feel good about.

Free Public Transport

Making public transport free will enable many families to get rid of their car or cut down from two cars to one. This will lower the cost of living, reduce emissions by reducing consumption of the natural world. In addition, it will enable more accessible travel and reduce congestion on our roads, meaning that those who do still need a car will be able to get around more freely too. Win, win, win.

How?

We’re starting now with mass mobilisation, civil resistance, and a network of campaigns across 11 countries. All disrupting Business as Usual at the same time. We’ve picked two winnable and popular demands: Restore Passenger Rail, and make public transport free. We can win these quickly, building strength for a bigger win.

There is a lot more to it. And we need your help. Join us on Zoom to find out more.

We need your passion, and your experience. All our collective efforts have not yet secured our future. However they have brought us together, strengthened our resolve, and imparted much knowledge and skill. Come along to see what you think and how to get involved. Together we can build on our proud history of civil resistance in Aotearoa.

Why?

We have no time to lose: We are on a path to two degrees of warming in the next 10-20 years. This could make 20% of the earth uninhabitable. As a result scientists estimate there will be one billion climate refugees. This will bring violence, war and societal collapse. As a society we can choose to turn things around but governments here and around the world stall and say they are dealing with it. Meanwhile destruction of the natural world is accelerating and emissions are still rising. Civil resistance is needed to balance the power of lobbyists and special industry groups who are blocking change.

Why block roads and annoy people?

The long history of civil resistance has shown that change has come by people taking bold disruptive action that ensures people pay attention. Being liked is not a prerequisite to success, in fact most of today’s social justice heroes were despised and hated in their time. We do not take action in the hope of being loved in the future, but because we deeply believe we have a moral obligation to resist the demise of all we hold dear. Recent history of environmentalist activism also shows that writing submissions, signing petitions, protests and occupations of sensitive sites like tree protection or blocking heavy machinery has failed to bring about the large scale change that is now desperately needed.

But we can’t have rail in this country because …

Yes we can! check out these 10 popular myths about rail in NZ and why they are all wrong or this video here

Is it really that bad?

Sadly – yes. We can see with our own eyes the devastating effects of climate change and ecological collapse and the adverse affects on societies and global stability as a result. Here in NZ we are seeing 1 in 100 year extreme weather events happening year on year, sometimes twice in a year. We see fish wash up on our shores dead, in India we have seen deaths due to extreme heat, wildfires across the world, extreme cyclones in the US, Pakistan 1/3 underwater with 30 million people forced to leave their homes. Here is what the experts are saying:

“We have to move rapidly. What we do, I believe, in the next 3-4 years will determine the future of humanity.” 

Prof Sir David King, ex science advisor to successive UK governments, last year

“…Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.”

Hans-Otto Portner, co chair of the IPCC Working Group II, sixth assessment in February this year (2022)

“Delay means death”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, this year (2022)

“If we don’t take action the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon”

Sir David Attenborough