By Anna Rose, National Coordinator, Australian Youth Climate
Coalition
Presented at a Sustainability and Spirituality forum at the Burswood
Dome, Perth in June 2007

Whenever I hear someone talk about predicted climate change impacts,
I do a rough mental calculation about what that is going to mean for
my generation such as increased water security problems in Australia
by 2030. By the same year when I will be 47 years, many species will
be extinct, and environments like the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, and
the Queensland Wet Tropics, will have been destroyed. Sea level rises
in storms and coastal flooding will have a bad impact on Australia by
2050, and Australian agriculture will have dramatically declined due
to increased drought and fire. And when I reach 67 years, probably at
the stage of my life when I´d want to be spending lots of time with
grandchildren, I wonder what kind of world will exist for me to show
them?

Scientists tell us we have around 10 years - at the most - to make
enormous changes to our society and economy to avert this climate
crisis. This means that by the time I´m 34, I will know if the things
we are doing today were enough to keep our Earth living not only for
my generation, but for my children and grandchildren´s generations.

The issues at hand regarding climate change are no longer abstract,
especially for people my age. This is personal; here, now, today, for
you and me, as George Monbiot said, "The victims of global warming
are no longer abstractions. Among them might be my child, or yours,
me, or even you." We are the last generation that has the ability -
in terms of timeframe - to stop climate change, and prepare for the
effects that are already inevitable. I am looking at the earth we
inherited and I am terrified; I am terrified by what we are doing to
it, and by our enormous responsibility to preserve it.

Currently, children and youth account for nearly 40 percent of the
global population. Young people´s lives are today being threatened by
the use of fossil fuels, especially coal, from extraction to
consumption. Youth in the Pacific have already been forced to leave
their homes due to sea level rise. I have a friend my age in
Micronesia called Ben, he´s a University student like me. He can not
plan his future like a young person growing up in Perth is able to,
because he literally does not know where he will be in ten or twenty
years as his country is already being affected by sea level rise.
There are islands off the coast of Papua New guinea that are already
being evacuated because of sea level rise. It is expected that
climate change will force at least 1 billion people, from their homes
between now and 2050. Many of these will be young people, like Ben.

For me, climate change is an ethical issue, an issue of social
justice and survival. I have met many young people from around the
world who are already experiencing their spirituality and cultural
knowledge being destroyed by climate change; from Indigenous youth in
the Arctic who see their culture and way of life destroyed as the ice
recedes, to aboriginal young people here in Australia whose sacred
sites are by coal and uranium mines. In both cases the things being
taken are not just livelihoods but also their futures.

The climate change discussion in Australia has been dominated by
politicians, who won´t even be around when the worst impacts of
climate change start to hit. It´s time for young people to engage in
formulating climate policies and solutions. Youth are often excluded,
even though we are to inherit this world, this climate and its
effects. As young people, we have the right to determine our own
destiny, we have the vision, ideas, passion and huge stake in solving
this problem.

Our desire to engage in the decisions that affect our lives is being
impeded by the lack of support from Australian governments at all
levels.

For the sake of my generation, our governments need to implement
policies that simultaneously prevent dangerous climate change,
protect human rights, and promote social and environmental justice.
Fossil fuels and nuclear power are not sustainable resources and they
have devastating long-lasting effects. There are simple things our
governments can do right now - most importantly, set emission
reduction targets at least 90% by 2030, increase the Mandatory
Renewable Energy Target (MRET) to 20% or more by 2010, improve public
transport, ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and support climate refugees
from our neighbouring small island countries. We need a national
moratorium on fossil fuel exploration - no new coal-fired power
stations, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies. If Australia is
serious about climate change, we can not make excuses for the
continued expansion of our coal industry. Renewable energy and a new
type of economy is the way of the future, creating new, clean jobs
for my generation. We also do not have time for false solutions like
"clean" coal or nuclear power.

That may sound like a far-off dream, but it really isn´t, it´s a
dream borne of necessity. Climate change is already happening, and it
is young people who will be dealing with the fallout from the current
inadequacy of Australian climate change policy in the decades to
come. It is we who will have to explain to our children why, as a
community, we failed to protect our earth and their future.

At my University, for example, we´ve already begun. A large group of
us have been campaigning for the past 2 years to get our University
administration to adopt a climate action plan committing to
purchasing green energy, installing on-site renewables, investing in
energy reduction programs, and more. So far, the University has
agreed to spend 1 million dollars on renewable energy research. It´s
not enough, but it´s a good start. This is part of a growing movement
of young Australians already taking steps to reduce the impact of our
campuses and communities on the global climate. We are educating and
empowering our fellow students, creating a new generation of young
people taking action to protect our climate. The Australian Youth
Climate Coalition is now uniting many of these youth organisations to
make this movement even stronger.

The required technologies to start making the change already exist
today, and in fact, these technologies will improve in ways we could
not even imagine. Yet the problem is that we can not wait, as the
need to transition to a clean energy future is here and now. We need
to create the political pressure just today to address climate
change, otherwise, we will run out of time.

Albert Einstein said, when the bees disappear humans will have 4
years left. Well` the bees are disappearing already, and another
warning is when youth lose hope. I haven´t lost hope because I know
that we can stop dangerous levels of global warming if enough of us
demand change. Stand up and let your governments know that you
believe more must be done to tackle climate change. Get involved in
networks like the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Join your
school or university environment group, and together we can change
things.