I/W w/ Fossil Free UoA: January 23, 2019

Isaac Ottley and Wednesday Davis are part of the Fossil Free University of Auckland group here on campus. It is part of the wider 350 movement looking to unite people around climate change solutions. 350 Aotearoa hopes to grow climate action in NZ. Fossil Free UoA formed in 2015 with 350s support and their aim is to have the University completely divest from fossil fuels. Newsroom reported this week that coal-fired generated energy from Genesis Energy’s Huntly station was the highest in the December quarter in more than five years. Genesis said “conditions in the market were “unprecedented” given the unusually low lake inflows for that time of the year and reduced production from the Pohokura gas field”. Essentially, tight gas supplies last year and NZ’s reliance on the flexibility of Genesis to run it’s dual fuel units when required, meant they had to burn a lot more coal than usual. Isaac is the President of Fossil Free UoA, and Wednesday is the Treasurer. Their campaign has been going on for a while, and Lillian Hanly wasn’t entirely sure what the group did behind the scenes of public demonstrations at the university calling for divestment but had also heard there had been some movement within the University’s Council in looking into this issue. Lillian spoke with Isaac and Wednesday to find out more, they talked extensively about the wider issue regarding divestment and fossil fuels themselves.