Concerns on oil well vented

WHAT'S it like spending a weekend on a marae with a bunch of environmentalists looking at climate change?

For me, fantastic. Last weekend I joined 80-plus people from around New Zealand for a close-up look at the reality of the oil and gas industry in Taranaki.

It is not the rosy picture often painted of a successful province - people living on the neighbouring farms, lifestyle blocks, marae and country schools have real concerns about the industrial activities happening next door.

As well as hearing from environmental campaigners, we had a doctor from Ora Taiao (the New Zealand Climate and Health Council) discuss evidence about health risks, an engineer from Engineers for Social Responsibility talk about low-carbon energy solutions already happening and a presentation on connections between the global economy and changes in the oil price.

We also had one of my heroes, former Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons, now with Coal Action Network Aotearoa, and her outline of the Jobs After Coal report prepared for the West Coast was insightful with real options for a sustainable future. With Solid Energy struggling, it may be needed sooner rather than later.

Lyn and Graham Pearson from Sustainable Whanganui Trust were present, along with several others I hadn't seen in years, as well as a few conservation connections of the humankind I had yet to meet in person - it was lovely to be together.

The gathering was zero waste and the food was vegetarian - and absolutely delicious - without pretension or judgment, and no one sang Kumbaya. It reminded me of my experience when I attended my first Green Party meeting in Whanganui nearly two years ago. I was nervous that, despite my environmental credentials, I wasn't "green enough" to join the party.

But I bravely turned up on my own at the Quaker Settlement (another first for me), with my plate of cheese and crackers to contribute to a shared dinner, wondering whether it would be all mung beans and tofu and I would be found out as a fraudster. The relief I felt when I walked in the room and saw Pizza Hut boxes on the table was huge - it was the beginning of a homecoming.

This weekend's gathering was the same. These activists are not stereotypical tree-huggers who care more about some rare species you'll never see - they care about people and the planet and welcome you in.

They are part of a climate justice movement that recognises the inter-dependency of our society and environment, and they promote intelligent and achievable solutions that increase connections to the natural world while building a more equitable prosperity.

We shared success stories about communities taking action from the ground up, whether it was the Lock the Gate movement in Australia stopping farmers losing control of their lands to the mining industry, a Nelson community's hot compost system providing enough energy for a weekly barbecue or a Scottish island's wind power providing more energy than the local community could consume, resulting in free scholarships for all their senior students.

There is another way. We need government and industry leadership to join us to speed up this essential transition away from fossil fuels for all our futures.

-Nicola Young works for global consultancy AECOM from home in Taranaki, and is a former Department of Conservation manager. She was educated at Wanganui Girls' College, has a science degree from Massey University and is the mother of two young boys. These views are her own.