Photo: ODT filesEnvironment Southland has today voted against declaring a climate emergency. Councillor Robert Guyton put forward the motion at a full council meeting to declare a climate emergency. Debate on the motion focussed heavily on the word "emergency", with several councillors voicing their concern over using the word. Chairman Nicol Horrell said declaring a climate emergency would be a "symbolic but empty gesture" and, "we can't afford to devalue the word emergency." She said there was no denying there was an urgency to deal with the issue and said she was "willing to overlook the semantics of the word emergency".

Source: Otago Daily Times July 03, 2019 01:07 UTC