Why I’m Protesting Outside The Aerospace Summit In Ōtautahi
When I tell someone I’m going to protest against the New Zealand Aerospace Summit, they often react with confusion.
People ask hesitantly: “What’s wrong with aerospace? I thought that was just GPS satellites and space missions!” And I don’t blame them.
The aerospace industry does huge amounts of public relations work to paint itself as a benevolent, science-focused industry, and it's been pretty successful in its greenwashing efforts. The summit, hosted in Ōtautahi on September 23-24, is themed Aerospace for Good, its website flooded with buzzwords like “sustainability” and “diverse“.
But beneath this glossy corporate veneer lies a violent truth about aerospace.