Volunteers, staff, board members, and friends from our communities were welcomed into the Boys and Girls Institute in Te Whanganui-a-Tara last weekend for 350 Aotearoa’s annual volunteer hui. We gathered not only to strengthen our relationships and work together in person, but also to celebrate 15 years of grassroots mahi for a climate just world! We took this opportunity to rework our foundations and adapt our vision to the vast changes we have seen to our landscapes, people and currents over the past years through various workshops and activities. Over the past year, we have looked back on all we have accomplished as an organisation. We reviewed the past 15 years to understand how our role within the broader climate movement in Aotearoa and globally has evolved and changed. This helped us develop a thorough and timely strategy that will help transform the world into a prosperous, just, and equitable planet in the years to come.
This hui was an opportunity for us all to connect and embody these new foundations, rally around the new strategy, and build campaigns. Ensuring that communities are safe and interconnected is a key tenet in our vision for a climate just world. Therefore, we worked together to build a safe, accessible and welcoming space for all that wanted to join in by, among other things, offering safe spaces and providing comprehensive resources under different formats to members.
Nestled in warm arms
Enacting the world we wish
Haere mai to all
Following the mihi whakatau by the fabulous BGI staff and personal-story-sharing on Friday evening, we delved into 2 days of intense, rewarding, and fruitful presentations, sharing circles, art-making, and campaign building. These moments were interspersed with absolutely divine kai, informal kōrero, and even a colorful “Quinceañera” party! This weekend felt like a celebration of the indispensable mahi done by 350 Aotearoa’s founders and members over the past 15 years that brought us together, where we are today.
Shoulders of elders
Give us strength to fight for our
Future ancestors
This volunteer hui was also an important time for piecing together a launchpad for the next cycle of grassroots collective organising towards justice and collective liberation.
Clean water is sweet
Fresh air fuels fires of passion
For collective good
The brains, creativity, and passion of some of our current volunteers from different regions, including Pōneke, Ōtautahi, Tāmaki Makaurau, and Pāmutana, came together during the weekend. Many of these people had campaigned together online previously, but came together in person to further build community, celebrate successes, and train/prepare for future climate action.
We spent Saturday morning rooting ourselves in the climate justice movement by working together to understand our mission, vision, and values; the pakiaka that build our kaupapa. Along with coming up with a truly entertaining skit that enacted our mission (“We support a just transition to a community-led renewable energy future by fostering and enhancing a resilient climate movement”) and writing poems (dispersed in the present text) that represent our values, our volunteers worked on a collage that represents our vision.
Working together
Fostering relationships
For community
Rooting ourselves in our vision is crucial in ensuring we are nourished with clear inspiration of the future we are fighting for. As this coalition government continues blatant attacks on Te Tiriti, on the environment, and on democracy, we remain clear of our vision; a safe climate and a just, prosperous, and equitable world built with the power of engaged advocates.
Mātauranga from
Whenua and moana
Draws us together
We’ve created a lot of change over the past 15 years – from getting universities, councils and banks to go fossil free, to stopping oil conferences, to the ban on new offshore oil & gas. We’re so excited for what we can achieve over the next 15 years, as we fight for a just transition towards a cleaner, fairer, Te-Tiriti compliant Aotearoa. We aim to uphold the Whakataukī: ;Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua’ (I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past).
We are the power
Nourished by the rain and sun
Blooming better worlds