Day 6: The time has come to do what’s essential

Tena koutou,

I’m sitting with the CEO of Greenpeace Australia/Pacific Steve Shallhorn in Aitutaki, waiting to be picked up for our final leg of the journey. It has been a wonderful journey, an emotional journey and a meaningful journey. I have learnt so much and have fallen in love with The Cooks.

Being a mother changed my perspective, on the world and on life. When I first got involve with the Sign On campaign, I didn’t know much about climate change, I wasn’t educated on what greenhouse emissions are or how we could change things. I came here because I wanted to know what I could to do as a human being to help and because the Pacific is close to my heart.

What I’ve seen here are the effects of climate change that people live with and cope amazingly well with. Their love of life is infectious, their love of their land is contagious and when they smile you have to have a heart of stone to not feel instant happiness.

I haven’t come out of this trip with the knowledge of a scientist, nor have I come out with all the answers on how to solve climate change but what I do have is a stronger passion than before to allow our Pacific neighbours’ voices to be heard. It’s essential right now that we New Zealanders do our part, we need to get behind our government and ask them to represent us as a whole, to make the decisions we want made at Copenhagen in December. If New Zealand reduces its greenhouse emissions by at least 40% by 2020, we are helping our Pacific neighbours in the biggest way possible. The Pacific feels a long way from Copenhagen, but it’s important to not forget the connection.

I am told that the NZ Government has just announced that it will consult New Zealanders over an emissions reduction target. All I can say is two things. 1) The Government better be ready to listen to ordinary Kiwis as well as to big business and 2) as a New Zealander, take every chance you can to speak out about the necessary target – 40 per cent by 2020. The time has come to do what’s essential, not what’s convenient.

Also this week a global movement of NGOs (including Greenpeace) supporting the target was launched. It’s called tck tck tck…as in, time is running out. Check it out here tcktcktck.org.

Thank you all again for your amazing love and support. Having a backbone of Kiwis behind you is an incredible feeling and I wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise. The Sign On campaign is just going to get bigger and better in the lead up to Copenhagen and I’m going to stay involved as much as possible.

Love & light –

Keisha x

Recap

• Read Keisha's previous blogs
• Watch her video blogs
• See images of the tour