19 August 2024
Cruise ship passengers on board the Pacific Explorer received an unconventional welcome to Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland this morning from supporters of Climate Liberation Aotearoa.
Passengers were greeted to the City of Sails by members of Climate Liberation Aotearoa covered in fake blood and holding signs reading ‘Cruise Emissions Kill’ and ‘Your Cruise – Our Floods’.
The well-established, nationwide climate action group makes no apology for their confronting message. ‘We believe cruise ship passengers need to know the realities of the industry and its impacts,’ says Jen Olsen, Climate Liberation Aotearoa spokesperson.
The group’s activists were also sending a message directly to the cruise companies themselves. Says Jen, ‘we want to get the attention of the ship’s owner, P&O, because they’ve certainly got ours. The company has a terrible environmental record, receiving 29 water quality violations citations in Alaska alone between 2010 and 2021.’
The cruise ship industry is a major focus for Climate Liberation Aotearoa, given that a cruise holiday is one of the most climate destructive acts an ordinary human can take. ‘The New Zealand tourism industry is well advanced in its thinking around truly regenerative tourism,’ says Jen. ‘It’s time to mobilise a conversation about luxury emissions and whether the supposed economic benefits justify the environmental costs.’
Representatives of Climate Liberation Aotearoa were last week refused entry to the New Zealand Cruise Association Conference in Auckland. Two members registered with the intention of listening and connecting, and to canvas potential support for an open letter to the government regarding the Climate Change Commission’s likely imminent recommendations to include international cruise and aviation emissions in Emissions Reduction targets.
‘We registered as delegates well ahead of time with a genuine intent to initiate a dialogue, not disrupt. We were very disappointed when CEO Jacqui Lloyd advised us by email the night before that we weren’t welcome.’
Today’s Pacific Explorer protest caps off a week of action for Climate Liberation Aotearoa, which began on Thursday 15 August with a comedic theatrical performance involving a fart-contest between sea creatures and a cruise ship whose emissions blew them away. The activists returned on Friday to greet the next incoming cruise ship with a mass-megaphone chorus of protest chants.
The week culminated in a group of CLA entering the Cruise Association Conference at the Cordis Hotel before being forcibly ejected by security guards. ‘We’d tried to attend on good terms, but after being deregistered the best we could do was stand outside their networking breakfast with a sign reading, “Climate advocates here to listen. Jacqui, let us in.’’’