Methodist Church Initiative Walk for the Planet for Matariki.

“Recognising how precious life on our planet is and how we need to nurture and protect it, we partnered with the amazing wee Mātakitaki ki te Raki observatory at Oxford Area School,” Walk for the Planet founder, Rev Mark Gibson said.

The walk started and finished at the observatory. After a karakia led by local Oxford Methodist minister, Julia de Groot, the group of 12 walkers weaved their way through the township. The route included eight turns representing each planet in our solar system.

Following the walk, the school launched its new meteor camera, which Walk for the Planet made a donation towards. The camera - one of more than 30 throughout New Zealand, erected at observatories and schools - will benefit the students and it will feed into a global network tracking meteors and meteor showers. One of the largest meteors to fall in Aotearoa landed at View Hill in the Oxford area.

Conversations about doing a collaboration with the observatory started in 2019 but Covid stalled discussions. When the observatory revived plans to seek dark sky reserve status, Walk for the Planet sought a way to support the initiative. Walk for the Planet co-ordinator, David Hill, and his daughter Sasha Crawford began conversations with observatory volunteer Raul Elias-Drago in February and the concept evolved from there. The event was part of the Oxford Matariki Winter Light Festival.

Unfortunately David was unable to attend the walk, due to an injury but there was a strong Methodist presence amongst the walkers and additional guests who gathered for the launch.

The Walk for the Planet Journey

Celebrating the cosmos is the latest direction for Walk for the Planet which was founded in 2008, following discussions sparked by the late Rev Dr Jim Stuart at a Methodist Church event held in Queenstown. The following year, thanks to a grant from the Methodist PAC fund, a hikoi from Rakiura (Stewart Island) to Wellington was organised, to raise awareness of climate change, under the leadership of Mark Gibson and in collaboration with Christian World Service.

Walk for the Planet was revived in 2016 with another Methodist PAC grant as Seven Rivers, Seven Weeks. In 2017 an exploration of seven iconic Canterbury rivers, involving numerous environmental organisations, church groups, farmers, scientists and politicians became a feature film Seven Rivers Walking.

In 2018 Walk for the Planet was revitalised by David and Sasha with a new vision of “health of people and the planet, and celebrating the cosmos.” Thanks to a third Methodist PAC grant, the popular Great Otakaro Avon River Walk, founded in 2012 by Mark Gibson, was kept alive.

The Kaiapoi River Wellbeing Walk was established in collaboration with the Kaiapoi Food Forest to support Community Wellbeing North Canterbury (which local churches laid the foundations for in Kaiapoi in the 1970s and 1980s). Both walks are now well established in the annual Christchurch Walking Festival.

Walk for the Planet has also collaborated with an initiative based in east Christchurch called Flourish, making a financial contribution which allowed the group to gain a larger grant from the Rata Foundation to launch a social media campaign to raise awareness on climate change.