Seeking Climate Justice. Findings Report on Oil Free Activism and Oil and Gas Development 2013-2016

Abstract

This research was conducted by Dr Sophie Bond (University of Otago), Dr Gradon Diprose (Open Polytechnic) and Dr Amanda Thomas (Victoria University of Wellington), with research assistance from Jule Barth and Sonja Bohn, funded by the University of Otago, Open Polytechnic and Victoria University of Wellington.
 
 Nga Mihi - Acknowledgements
 We would like to thank all of the research participants who volunteered their time and energy to take part in this research, and their ongoing work to demand and imagine a more just society. We are particularly grateful to a number of activist participants who provided feedback on earlier drafts of this report.
 
 We would also like to thank:
 The University of Otago, the Open Polytechnic and Victoria University of Wellington for funding this research
 Phillipa Clark for creating the illustrations throughout this publication, Seán Dunne for layout and design, and
 Oil Free Otago for granting us the use of the photograph on page four.
 
 
 To cite this report: 
 Bond, S., Diprose, G., Thomas, AC., (2018) Seeking Climate Justice. Findings report on Oil Free Activism and Oil and Gas Developments 2013-2016. Published by the Climate Justice Research Collective, Dunedin and Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.

While nationally and globally there continues to be demand for genuine responses to climate change, some states and industry groups are attempting to actively limit public debate about these issues (see for example, Swyngedouw, 2013). This is often done by pitting economic growth against environmental protection (Diprose, Thomas, & Bond, 2016), and criminalising protest against protest against profitable extractive industries. These international trends have been noted in Aotearoa New Zealand (see Bond, Diprose, & McGregor, 2015), but the extent has yet to be investigated. We therefore explore the extent to which democratic debates around oil and gas developments are constrained in Aotearoa New Zealand, what processes are used to close down public engagement, and how these processes are experienced and contested by activist groups concerned about climate change.