Environmental and social justice advocate Urs Signer running for Taranaki Regional Council

Environmental and social advocate Urs Signer has announced he is standing as a candidate for the Taranaki Regional Council at this year’s local body election.
“As an advocate for the climate and our struggling provincial communities, I will speak up to protect the ocean from seabed mining, push for expanding Taranaki’s public transport network as well as improving the health of our rivers, land and sea. For too long, the Council has just played catch-up when it comes to looking after the environment. Given the state of our planet, it is time for transformative change. We need grassroots and collective solutions for a just, fair and regenerative future” says Urs Signer.

“The council urgently needs progressive and environmental voices at the decision-making table committed to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and I am excited to see a number of candidates in the various wards around the mounga standing up for the environment and grassroots communities. It is time that we shake up the Taranaki Regional Council with radical ideas and solid actions for a better future for the next generation. I am more than ready to step up and be part of a team that takes this region forward.”
“In order to stop catastrophic climate change, we need to urgently bring down our emissions. With over 50% of Aotearoa's emissions coming from the agricultural industry, it is vital that we radically change our farming practices from intensive to extensive, from entropic to syntropic, from degenerative to regenerative. As a market gardener and horticulture teacher in coastal South Taranaki, I know from first-hand farming experience that we have the tools and knowledge to change the way we do things and start to sequester carbon, diversify production, reforest many parts of the region and ensure that the social, environmental and economic spheres start to align again."