International Day of Climate Action 24 October Wellington Waterfront

What a day!!

On Saturday 24 October, Wellingtonians joined cities around New Zealand and thousands of cities around the world letting our government and the UN know that we support strong, urgent, scientifically recommended action on climate change.

Events and actions

Lots of groups and individuals organised amazing events and actions that took place in the Wellington region on 24 October. Many, many people came and joined one or more of the different activities showing that they want immediate action on climate change!

Photos, videos and media coverage

Photos and videos from inspiring actions taking place in every corner of the globe are displayed on 350.org. To see a slideshow of the Wellington Actions click here.

350 Climate Actions received media attention. Check out 27 October 2009 Dominion Post ‘People's Page’ (B8) for a description of the biking events, watch out for The Wellingtonian later this week, and see the following articles on  stuff.co.nz and TV3:


Also check out this global coverage of the day on CNN:

 

School actions on Friday 23 October

Many schools organised awesome actions. Check out some of the following schools. The youth of today are doing amazing things in support of the future.

Check out the the full list of actions to see the complete list of school actions and to get in touch with the schools.

Climate Action Festival

Food, information stalls and music!

350 Wellington organised a fantastic festival which formed the centre piece of the International Day of Climate Action. Food, information on climate change, ways to reduce personal impact, activities to participate in were all present. And of course: No action without MUSIC!

Several bands and groups performed on the day: Phantom Tollbooth, Thought Creature and Sam Manzanza with the African Drumming band. Batacuda had the crowd up and dancing followed by a much anticipated performance from The Real Hot Bitches.

Batacuda The Real Hot Bitches with a climate action performance

Kids enjoyed doing their part with chalk images, contributing to the ice sculpture, and most importantly being a reminder to us all why a stable climate is so important.  While kids made their mark on the festival, parents perused a great display of information to read up on the science and facts of climate change:

 

And of course, there was food:

 For more information, contact:  350 Festival organisers

 

Cycling for Sustainability and Safety

Cyclists took their two-wheeled rides to make a statement along Wellington's amazing coastline about the need for safer cycle routes, cycling being a low-carbon form of transportation and simply how much fun it is to ride our bicycles!

There were two fun cycle rides organised by Cycle Aware Wellington, one ride around the harbour "the Great Harbour Way" and the other one "Round and Round the Bays".

The Great Harbour Way Ride

Ferry from Queens Wharf to Days Bay

More than 80 cyclists gathered at Queens Wharf in Wellington City to take a ferry across to Days Bay in Eastbourne where they met up with other riders to begin the cycling fun. We were joined by more in Petone, Ngauranga and the Railway Station. In total just shy of 200 cyclists were riding to promote cycling as low carbon transportation and the necessity for safe cycle ways in the Wellington region.

Contact Christina if you want info for future cycling excursions.

Round and round the bays

Around 45 cyclists came along on this ride. We started at Island Bay's Shorland Park at 11am and rode anticlockwise around the bays (Lyall, Breaker, Seatoun, Scorching, Evans, Oriental Bays) to finish at the festival.

It was a glorious day, and the cyclists were cruising along the bays, with several stops along the way. Quite a few kids came along enjoying the freedom to ride around the bays in the safety of a larger group. We are definitely going to repeat this ride!

Contact Willemijn if you are interested in coming along next time.

Thanks for coming along and keep riding ...

Frocks on Bikes

Frolic along the waterfront to a frock-nic

At 12pm, frocks on bikes gathered at the Wellington Railway Station to link up with the Great Harbour Way riders and formed a huge flock of frocked and non-frocked cyclists. They cruised in sweat-free style along the waterfront to Mac's Brewery, the hub of the 350 Day of Climate Action festivities. There they enjoyed an afternoon tea frock-nic and the rest of the climate action festivities. 

Frocks On Bikes

See the website for future frock rides and more! http://www.frocksonbikes.org
email: frocksonbikes@gmail.com

Ecotherapy

Fun with Baby Trees

planting Ecotherapy invited people along to pot up baby trees at the Climate Action Festival. Lots of enthusiastic people were potting up over 1,000 native seedlings and contributed to a practical step towards taking action on climate change.

For more information on this event and contact with the organisers:

www.ecotherapy.org.nz

 

Silent Meditation, Contemplation or Prayer

Sitting in Silence to Save our World

In Frank Kitts park adjoining the waterfront in downtown Wellington, people came and sat in silent meditation, contemplation or prayer for as long as they wished - one participant sat for the whole time! Between 80 to 100 people sat for varying periods to "hold" the space during the day - 350 minutes!

We opened the time of silence by striking a gong. The gong was sounded half hourly until 3.50pm when people ranging in age from pre-schoolers to pensioners helped us to sound it for 350 seconds.

Why sitting in silence?

We chose sitting in silence as our climate action as:

For more information: http://www.350.org/350silentsitting

 

Yoga

The Big Stretch

Around thirty yoga lovers came to Frank Kitts Park to get down for some Climate Action. Yoga teachers, Karah-Leah (Prana Flow), Marianne (Yoga Unlimited) and Bridget (Yoga-by-the-sea) put together a wonderful yoga session

Ice sculpture

GIVE IT UP ... for the climate!

Organized by: Jo Campbell

A 'flash mob sculpture' made by da people – yep, that’s you – to celebrate the many ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint and reach the CO2 emissions reduction target of 350ppm – the world’s best hope for a stable climate. The sculpture was made from ice blocks, each one filled with something anyone can give up to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and thereby freeze climate change.

For more information, contact the organiser, Jo: take.heart.jo@gmail.com 

Visit the following website to read more on the idea of building an ice sculpture:http://www.biothinking.com/carbonfocus/one.htm

 

Have a look at the You tube movie of the making of the sculpture:

 

Ride around the block

350 km around the Tararuas

John Randal and 3 friends got up at midnight and started their incredible cycle ride of 350 km!

John, Dave Sharpe, Clive Bennett and Brian Bushe are all local cyclists. Between them, they race on and off-road, commute, cycle tour, and ride recreationally.

In preparation for the summer racing season, those mad bastards went on a wee jaunt around the Tararuas. They left Upper Hutt a couple of minutes before midnight - a wee bit ahead of the scheduled start of 00:01 on 24 October, the first of many "actions" on 350.org's International Day of Action. "It was getting cold!" explains John. Together, they rode over the Rimutakas, to Martinborough, then north through the Wairarapa. After an early morning pit stop in Pahiatua, they headed over the Pahiatua track, then south to Waikanae via Shannon, and back to Upper Hutt via the Akatarawas.

Initially, they were uncertain about how long it would take, and even whether or not they would manage to complete the challenge, but figured that 350km was the most appropriate distance given the occasion. In any case, they figured it would take quite a while. Their aim was to average 25km/h for the trip, including breaks. Even at this speed, the ride would take 14 hours!

In the end, they managed to ride 23.4 km/h (see close-up photo of the odometer), and arrived at the Climate action festival just before 3pm to join in the festivities. When John was asked how he felt, he answered in real kiwi style: "I am alright, got a bit cold around 5am in the morning, but it went pretty smooth all the way". Close observers could see his legs were not as straight as they should be - but what do you expect after 15 hours in the saddle?!

 Please contact John Randal john.randal@vuw.ac.nz (021 921531) to hear more about his cycle adventure.

 

Human Sculpture

350 Group Photo

At 3.50pm, participants and visitors of the festival came together on Oldins Plaza to form the biggest kiwi in the world. From its beak a speech bubble with the number 350 in it helped reiterate the message. The kiwi united our small voices into one big voice to tell the world that we want Action on Climate Change, now!

 

Opening at Dawn - Drum up the day!

On the peak of Brooklyn Hill in Wellington, beneath the mighty whirr of the wind turbine, and looking out over stunning views of a still sleeping harbour, over fifty New Zealanders gathered together before sunrise this morning to be the first people in the world to welcome in the dawn of a momentous day: October 24th 2009: International Day of Climate Action.

The dawn ceremony in Wellington was the first of a series of over 150 events and actions taking place throughout Aotearoa today, kicking off international action with over 4500 events in 175 countries around the world. This makes it the largest international day of action the world has ever seen.

Email mailto:aaron@350.org for more information on the dawn ceremony