I’m writing this on the eve of what will probably be one of the most important actions I’ll take in my life.
In about eight hours, by the time you read this, I’ll be starting an ascent of the outside of Wellington’s tallest building – the Majestic Centre – to reach the headquarters of Austrian oil giant, OMV.
Abi and Nick on their climb up the Majestic Centre in Wellington to deliver a message OMV
We’re expecting the climb to take about 10 hours. The building is 29 stories high and more than 100 metres tall. OMV’s office is on floor 20. When we reach it, we have a message to deliver.
I’ll have a climbing companion, Nick, with me.
First stop on the climb to OMV’s HQ
We’re using a combination of aid climbing and industrial climbing techniques. The first person will pull up the wall metre by metre using crack climbing equipment, and then the second person will climb up double ropes to reach them.
It isn’t exactly a position I ever imagined I’d find myself in, but a few weeks ago I watched as a monstrous self-propelled oil rig commissioned by OMV came over our horizon and the fire in my gut that compels me to take action all of a sudden burned with a new ferocity.
OMV will be using this rig to drill 12 wells off the Taranaki Coast, with further plans to do the same in the wild and pristine Great South Basin off the Dunedin Coast later this year.
The company is expanding its search for oil and gas to the furthest reaches of the planet, right when much of the world is coming to terms with the fact we’re now living in a climate crisis.
Over the past six months, we’ve seen a growing global movement of governments formally declaring a climate emergency. In New Zealand, councils up and down the country are doing the same, including Wellington, Auckland, and Dunedin.
On the other side of this we have the world’s biggest climate polluters, companies like OMV, hell-bent on robbing us of a liveable future just so they can turn a profit.
It’s not the height of the Majestic Centre that scares me the most – I’m a highly trained and experienced climber and we’re using world class safety gear and techniques – in fact we’re going above and beyond normal procedures for climbing of this kind.
What really scares me is what will happen if we don’t stop OMV.
OMV is drilling for oil in the pristine Arctic. They’re one of the 100 companies that have caused more than 70% of the world’s climate emissions since 1988. And now they’re planning to expand oil and gas drilling into some of New Zealand’s most wild and pristine seas, close to Māui dolphin habitat and breeding and foraging grounds for Blue Whales and Southern Right Whales.
They’re doing all this to search for and exploit the fuels that are driving the climate emergency.
We have just 10 years to turn things around. If we don’t halve global carbon emissions over the next decade, we’ll be locked into extreme weather and heating that will threaten all life on Earth, including our own.
So that’s why I’m here – way up here – taking action.
You don’t need to scale the side of a massive building to take action. All of us have a particular set of skills to contribute. And it’s going to take all of us – every community, every government, every country, every person – using every tool in our belt in this fight for our future.