Kāpiti rangatahi put spotlight on climate change with special chair

Some of the students in the council chambers with Kāpiti Deputy Mayor Lawrence Kirby.

A special chair created by some of Kāpiti’s younger climate activists has been placed in Kāpiti Coast District Council’s chambers to remind them who their choices are affecting.

Anne-Marie Doucet runs the sustainability education programme at the Raumati Technology Centre and said a group of students who were especially passionate about sustainability joined together and formed Youth Eco-Action.

The group have created the chair in hopes of representing future generations of Kāpiti residents still to come, she said.

“The generation chair is a reminder of the tamariki and future generations yet to come. The choices made today will shape their world, and it is up to us to protect their rights and wellbeing.”

The idea for the generation chair first came about at one of Youth Eco-Action’s weekly meetings, and from there they spent the next two months working on it with the help of local artist Micheline Robinson.

The students were encouraged to look at generation chairs online, which were made in Quebec, and they picked one concept as their inspiration.

Charlotte Haxton (back left), Nerys Anderson and Arianwen Jones (front left) and Innès Han with the generation chair.

They used wood panels, wooden blocks, recycled cardboard, popsicle sticks, tissue paper, napkins, and more to realise their design.

The finished chair represents both Kāpiti’s future if the council doesn’t consider future generations, and the future if it does - and it’s split down the middle to show both options.

Ducet said now the chair is in council chambers, the students hoped it would remind the council to consider their generation’s interests in all decisions they make in the chamber.

“It is a strong symbol, from my point of view - a dialogue between generations. I told the students that this chair was the most important at that table because their generation will have to face most of the consequences of the choices made regarding the climate emergency.

“We cannot stop its effects, but we can put measures in place to keep us on a safer trajectory and to better adapt to it. I hope this chair will remind the council of the profound responsibility they hold to create a safer, more just world than the one we inherited.”

And the generation chair idea is spreading too - Ducet said an Enviroschool facilitator in Porirua approached her about creating one there, and she is really excited about the potential.

“The more that are being put out there, the better.”