Ōtautahi rangatahi voices are growing louder and fighting stronger than ever against the current government's actions regarding climate change.

Locally and nationally, there is a dispute between the younger and older generations in Ōtautahi about Aotearoa’s next steps.

Earlier this year, the Christchurch City Council proposed two options for their Climate Resilience Fund.

The Christchurch City Council established the Climate Resilience Fund in July 2025 to reduce the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather events, sea-level rise, increased temperatures and fire risk.

They have proposed two options. The first is to continue the Climate Resilience Fund, proposing to continue “applying an additional 0.25% increase each year of the Long-Term Plan, as originally intended.”

The second option the council has proposed is to pause the 0.25% rates increase for 2026/27 and resume the contributions in 2027/28. By pausing the rates increase for the fund, overall rate increases would be better managed.

First year law student, Ruby Love-Smith, said she was surprised when she learnt the council was considering pausing the contributions. She said when she looks at what the council has concentrated on so far, like the Christchurch Cathedral, she feels “what they’ve prioritised just isn’t what's important.”

The council’s propositions encouraged Love-Smith to make an oral submission. She said, “One of the things I was trying to hone in by going in person was that this affects my generation and the generations younger than me.”

“It's something that is going to impact all of us,” said Love-Smith.

Nationwide, thousands of students gathered in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and central Ōtautahi on Friday May 14th to strike. The strike had several demands including the instant reinstatement of the Ban on Oil and Gas Exploration, first introduced in 2018 to shift Aotearoa away from fossil fuels and instead produce cleaner energy.

The strike called on the government to re-evaluate its current priorities and move towards a sustainable environmental future.

School Strike for Climate National Coordinator, Kereama Allen, said the ban means rangatahi won’t have to bear the burden of previous climate decisions.

“Expanding fossil fuels locks in more climate pollution, when we urgently need to cut emissions and invest in clean energy that protects our communities, creates jobs, and builds a safer future for everyone,” said Allen.

Ōtautahi 2026 strike organiser, Fiona Matheson-Grant said “Climate change is a uniting cause because it does affect all of us.”

The Year 12 student said she wants the government to reinstate the ban “to ensure we’re not increasing our reliance on fossil fuels when we know they are a massive contributor to climate change.”

Matheson-Grant said when climate resilience is being addressed, it is important to take preventative actions to limit climate change now.

“It shouldn’t just be about adaptation; it should also be about holding big corporations like the oil and gas industry to account and make them stop contributing to climate change right now,” she said. “We can prevent climate change from progressing. We shouldn’t just accept climate change is going to progress and get worse.”

Third year law student, Aurora Gardner-Randolph, said young people have a moral duty in Aotearoa to step up where they can.

She said the politics of climate change are not optional.

“We’re already feeling the effects of the climate crisis with extreme weather events, but it’s about to get a whole lot worse,” said Gardner-Randolph.

To avoid future guilt, young people in Ōtautahi believe there is always something to be done.

Ruby Love-Smith said when she dreams about the future, “I just hope we’re still able to be in an environment where we have our thriving native animals, where young people can grow up playing in parks.”

“You can feel it in the air” – Ōtautahi Youth on Climate Resilience.

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