Addressing climate change in the Pacific days before super cyclone Winston

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Here is a report from Kevin Hester on Jennifer Hynes’ visit to New Zealand and his attendance of a climate conference in Wellington shortly afterwards.

The timing of this conference could not have been more appropriate , occuring just 5 days before super cyclone Winston devastated Fiji.

From Kevin’s account of events the representatives of the Pacific nation were petty ‘red-hot’ about what is befalling their countries as well as the criminal neglect from larger countries.

In this regard John Key and his and his band of criminal cronies comes to mind

The Eye of the Storm climate change conference

President Tong of Kiribati discussing #Copout21 with the conference

I have just toured the North Island of NZ with U.S. climate and methane researcher Jennifer Hynes author of “ The Arctic Methane Monster”  and “ The Demise of the Arctic”, raising the alarm about the methane discharges from the melting permafrost and sub-marine clathrates which threaten to completely destabilise the energy balance of our biosphere, that up until recently has been destabilised by our rampant discharge of millions of years stored carbon in just 150 odd years of atmospheric arson .

We spoke to an audience at the amazing Hart Family Farm of Rachel and Greg Hart near  Napier  and then travelled south to the capital and spoke in the Hutt Valley  at a public meeting organised by Juanita McKenzie from “ Transition Towns” in Wellington before returning to Auckland for our presentation at Laila Harre’s seafood restaurant and venue Ika Sea. 

Professor Guy McPherson, professor emeritus from the University of Arizona and Paul Beckwith from the University of Ottawa both spoke via Skype and we hope to have the video of that presentation very shortly which was Live Streamed to the net via the team at  Slipstream and The Daily Blog

The Eye of the Storm Conference

I was approached at the Hutt Valley meeting by Victoria University lecturer and activist Pala Molisa and was  asked to speak at “ The Eye of the Storm” climate conference at Victoria University where I was on a panel with Rod Oram speaking about the corporate media and what I consider the two biggest cover-up’s since the shooting of JFK by the military industrial complex which has gone on to murder millions of people. 

The two core subjects of my presentation were the true repercussions of the triple melt down at Fukushima Daiichi and the possibility of Near Term Human Extinction from runaway abrupt climate change. 

For more on NTHE I suggest you go to Professor Guy McPherson’s blog Nature Bats Last  or listen to his and Mike Sliwa weekly radio show on prn.fm also called Nature Bats Last.

Kevin Hester addressing the conference on Abrupt climate change

I am sometimes accused of being “ too emotional” when I speak publicly about our climate catastrophe but I find the imminent extinction of most if not all complex life on this planet a very emotional subject but interestingly,  I experienced an amazing response from the Indigenous representatives at the conference.

I was approached numerous times by participants from Kiribati, Nauru, Vanuatu and the Soloman Islands thanking me for displaying that  emotion and showing a sense of urgency about this unfolding catastrophe as they do when talking about the imminent loss of their historic homelands and the daunting prospect of becoming “ Climate Refugees”, a term that really doesn’t sit well with them.

The developed world have  behaved like arsonists and set fire to the biosphere and as usual the first people to suffer are the Indigenous people and most relevant to NZ are our Pacific neighbours who I believe deserve  a managed access plan to NZ to facilitate an orderly withdrawal for them from their disappearing and daily more  inhospitable Islands.

I believe there is a disproportionate emphasis on sea level rise in this discussion where I believe the first thing to drive people from their Islands will be what James E Hansen referred to as “ The Storms of our Grandchildren” which are bearing down on us already NOT in 2100 as the mantra goes.

I will be interviewed soon by Eric Draitser of STOPIMPERIALISM.org  where we will be discussing the role of imperialism in our catastrophe and the bankruptcy of leadership we see in the world from the Imperialist nations and their lackeys like NZ Prime Minister John Key and the converse inspirational  leadership being shown by Anote Tong president of  Kiribati  who I had the pleasure of meeting and I kid you not, dancing with at the post conference celebration in Wellington.

Professor McPherson and I believe that NZ will be one of the last habitable places on earth which puts a huge ‘cross hairs’ target on our country, I firmly believe we should be pursuing an independent  foreign policy and not signing up to any military alliances as we have with the United States Empire of Chaos as correspondent Pepe Escobar calls it.

Like it or not we are facing a dystopian future, let’s talk about it now and not when the proverbial hits the fan because it already has and is flying towards us all as we speak and twerk in distracted oblivion.

Kevin Hester

At the Eye of the Storm climate change conference I attended this week the TPPA was a big issue for the indigenous people I met, they realise completely that it is a corporate coup and it will restrict our  and their  ability to mitigate the unfolding catastrophe we are confronted with.


Indigenous Peoples Did Not Consent to the TPP

Footage from the conference and my two presentations should be uploaded on the Victoria University of Wellington web site any time now. 
It should come as no surprise that the worst and first Cat’ 5 cyclone has just devastated Fiji just days after the conference.
Professor Guy McPherson will be coming to NZ to speak about abrupt climate change in November  and I will give an undertaking to try and include a Pacific Island stop over for the Professor so that his important message can be heard in the Pacific.
Perhaps Pala Molisa could facilitate some contacts in Vanuatu?

Here is a report on the conference from Radio New Zealand

Tears and hope "in the eye of the storm"

Claire Anterea, a climate activist from Kiribati, says the phrase "climate refugee" always brings her to tears.

Radio NZ,

18 Febraruy, 2016

"I have the energy, the passion to speak out, but it always makes me cry to talk about my people. We're not talking about polar bears. We have to look after the survival of our people," she said.

She was among several Pacific island young people telling their stories at the "In the Eye of the Storm" Pacific climate change conference at Wellington's Victoria University this week.

Claire Anterea     Photo: RNZI / Sally Round

Delegates heard calls for support, compassion and a change of mindset from decision-makers and polluters.

Ms Anterea said many Kiribati people are upskilling so they won't be a burden on other countries if they do have to leave their homeland.

Listen to interview with Claire Anterea ( 3 min 26 sec )

The president of the low lying nation Anote Tong, who opened the conference, said his country has seen an accelerated rate of sea level rise, storm surges and changes in climate.

"People are getting quite scared now and we need immediate solutions. This is why I want to rush the solutions so there will be a sense of comfort for our people. They can sleep even when the tide is high," said Mr Tong.

Listen to interview with Anote Tong ( 6 min 38 sec )

President of the Republic of Kiribati, Anote Tong, addressing the Pacific Climate Change Conference.      Photo: Veronika Meduna

He said he has also been motivating the country's 100,000 strong population to prepare and adapt themselves for what he calls migration with dignity.

Claire Anterea said the young people of Kiribati are taking up the education opportunities, training in skills like carpentry and nursing.

She said she also tries to persuade people not to buy imported goods as a way of stopping the problem at its source.

"If we show we don't need (the goods), then the factories will stop producing them."

Loss of culture

Mary-Linda Salvador, from Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia, said climate change is not only affecting livelihoods in her islands, but also culture and traditions.

"The chiefs they get fed up with waiting for the crops to come, or the fish to come and if they don't come then what's the point of hosting a celebration where there's nothing to celebrate? It's part of our culture that we're losing. That's part of our legacy that probably our children won't be able to experience," she said.

Mary Linda Salvador    Photo: RNZI / Sally Round

Ms Salvador said rivers are drying up and there are fewer fish around the reefs, but she said the locals are acting by planting trees and establishing marine and mangrove protection zones.

"We're not sitting back and saying OK we're just going to see what happens. We're taking the next step and taking responsibility and trying to keep the legacy, the culture, our home."

Nauru's Nerida Ann Hubert told a panel discussion at the conference people would be outraged if they had to migrate from Nauru because of the effects of climate change.

She said it is unclear whether coastal erosion is due to sea level rise or new developments by the sea.

She said there is a need for more analysis.

Lack of skills in Nauru

Ms Hubert said the locals think the government should be doing its best to keep people in situ but she pointed out a brain drain and previous hard economic times mean there is a generation of people who lack skills to help put climate change adaptation projects into practice.

She said the same group of volunteers end up doing all the work.

"Give them that education they need. Like we had a lot of projects that started off and then died you know and no one maintained it and we need to empower the people really."

She gave the example of a renewable energy plan which has stalled because of a lack of trained locals.

"The government knows what they're doing on an international level, or a regional level. They sign this and that. But down the scale not a lot of people know what climate change is. It's the people that will be the manpower to do a lot of this work. You need to bring the communities on board," said Ms Hubert.

Delegates at the "In the Eye of the Storm" Pacific climate change conference take in the science of climate change.    Photo: RNZI / Sally Round

Ms Hubert encouraged NGOs and regional bodies to consult local people when they came into the country with climate change projects.

An environmental and indigenous rights lawyer, Dayle Takitimu, said Pacific communities can model to the world a "zero emissions" lifestyle.

She said they are, at the most, two generations away from living in harmony with the earth.

"It is possible to be vibrant and beautiful and thriving as a community without having to be massive emitters of carbon and destroying the planet. And the Pacific is really an awesome model for that and we can show the world that."

Dayle Takitimu also urged Pacific people to reactivate what she calls ancient alliances to create a powerful voice on climate change.

A storm batters Majuro in Marshall Islands in July 2015