2016 is already looking like it will top 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history.  

Despite it being absolutely essential that we leave most of the world’s fossil fuels in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate change - John Key’s Government is still hell-bent on drilling for more oil.

That’s why on Monday, we will be at the oil industry conference at SkyCity in Auckland. Through non-violent peaceful civil disobedience inspired by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, we will send the strongest message we can that New Zealand must join the global fight to quit oil and meet the greatest challenge of our time - climate change.

Now is the time for people to stand up. 

In this video posted today, climate movement leader Bill McKibben calls for New Zealanders to take action at the Oil Conference, and speaks of the power of peaceful civil disobedience in the fight against climate change.

In it he says: 

“We thank you in advance for being willing to stand up peacefully and non-violently to the most violent forces on our planet.”

He says New Zealand is one of the most “beautiful places in the world” but now stands as a place that needs to get serious about the climate crisis. 

“Everybody went off to Paris [climate conference]. Everybody said lots of sweet things. Everybody pounded each other on the back about what great people they were,” he says.

“[But] if you come home from Paris and say ‘nothing is changing – we’re still going to mine coal, we’re still going to go drill in the deep blue sea for oil, we’re still going to frack’, then you did not get the message.”

Climate change is something that affects all of us - every living thing on this planet. In the face of political indifference we are calling for an escalation in protest tactics at the oil conference this year. 

We need as many people as possible to stand with us and say “NO” to the oil industry, and demand that the Government take Real Climate Action Now. You can help by sharing this video on Facebook.

We need your help to make this action the strongest it can be and to help build this global people’s climate movement into something that will change the world.  

The power of people and  peaceful participation is the most effective way for us to demand that government and industry quit oil and move to clean energy.  

There’s more information on the Facebook event and our  website.