This was a speech that Aaron Hawkins did by Zoom to the ICLEI (originally the “International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives’) on October 5th 2021. It was in a presentation titled (you guessed it) “I’ve declared a climate emergency, now what do I do?”.
Strangely if you search for ICLEI on the Dunedin Council’s website, you’ll find only three hits and two of them are freedom of information requests (LGOIMA in the local parlance). If you search for ICLEI on the local newspaper since 2017 you won’t get any hits other than those of the writers of comments.
Now that’s really a bit strange as Aaron Hawkins has been Dunedin City Council’s representative to this organization since at least 2016. And since 2020 he has sat on the Oceanic division’s Regional Executive Committee. He even went to the ICLEI conference in Montreal in 2018 which supposedly only cost (very roughly) about $5,000 (source is the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act Request LGOIMA pdf attached below).
Honestly on the evidence of this video alone how did Aaron ever become Mayor? His interview here is full of woke introduction, partly in Maori (that literally nobody listening would have understood1) and partly in English. This is his apology for being a colonist which I’ve heard is quite the thing these days. He then spends the rest of the interview rambling and complaining about those who are stopping him from doing anything. He barely mentions anything that he might actually be doing other than a vague reference to transport. All talk and no action surely should be his motto. His delivery also makes you think that he’s still at University, maybe some flat at 2am in the morning.
Aaron was followed by Stephen Cowan, Councillor, Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, UK who pointed out maybe somewhat pointedly that change only ever happens when a small bunch of people come together. This was after his ‘well how do I follow that’ (delivered in a non sarcastic tone). Stephen’s presentation was far more professional than Aaron’s although I qualify my support because it was a little full of how Stephen was supporting Greenpeace while still suckling on his mother’s breast (I hope that doesn’t upset anyone….) and relied far too much on over-egged scientific discoveries in the now and non-existent ones of the future. Nevertheless at least he had a presentation. And didn’t speak some token Gaelic at the beginning or acknowledge Boudica or the Stonehenge Celts (they were great guys don’t get me wrong) in his introduction.
So we should add “lazy” to Aaron’s CV.
With thanks to Malcolm Moncrief Spittle whose profile (scroll down) in today’s Otago Daily Times alerted me to this association.
There were only about 1200 who registered, this organization may be well funded but it is not well supported.
I’ve declared a climate emergency, now what do I do?