This Thursday, March 7th, will see two key Climate Change forums in Moruya. The first will see young people aged 12 to 25 from Batemans Bay to Eden converging in Moruya ahead of the election to urge politicians to address the key issues facing the youth population. The Candidates forum, led by young people and youth advocates, will be at the Moruya Golf Club, Evans St, Moruya on Thursday 7 March from 1:00pm to 2:00pm Hosted by Youth Action, the peak body representing 1.4 million NSW young people and the services that support them, following on from the launch of their election platform ‘A NSW for Young People’. The Organisers offer that the Bega electorate is considered the 12th most marginal seat in the state saying "Issues to be raised at the forum are likely to include mental health, housing, employment and education. Recent events across the state including large swings, discontent with party politics and leadership turmoil have meant that the 2019 election is now anyone’s game. But who will be the game changers? It's young people." "Young people are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. 70% of 18 year olds voted in the 2016 election, an increase of 50% from 2013, and we know that even more are turning out, with a huge surge of 65,000 young people aged 18-25 added to the roll in the lead up to the non-compulsory same sex marriage survey alone." Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, Labor candidate Leanne Atkinson, and Greens candidate Will Douglas will be attending Then at 6pm to 7pm : Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, and Senator Jenny McAllister Later on Thursday, from 6pm to 7pm the Moruya Golf Club will host the second Climate Change forum for the day when Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, and Senator Jenny McAllister join Labor Candiate for the seat of Gilmore, Fiona Phillips to discuss renewables and climate changeand to to hear Labor's renewables/energy/climate change policy offering an opportunity to also listen to community concerns and views.
The event is Free - registrations HERE
On March 15th there will be Student Strikes across the country and the globe; To better understand the imputus of the student led movement this is an open letter written by student leaders from around the world: We, the young, are deeply concerned about our future. Humanity is currently causing the sixth mass extinction of species and the global climate system is at the brink of a catastrophic crisis. Its devastating impacts are already felt by millions of people around the globe. Yet we are far from reaching the goals of the Paris agreement. Young people make up more than half of the global population. Our generation grew up with the climate crisis and we will have to deal with it for the rest of our lives. Despite that fact, most of us are not included in the local and global decision-making process. We are the voiceless future of humanity.We will no longer accept this injustice. We demand justice for all past, current, and future victims of the climate crisis, and so we are rising up.
Thousands of us have taken to the streets in the past weeks all around the world. Now we will make our voices heard. On 15 March, we will protest on every continent. We finally need to treat the climate crisis as a crisis. It is the biggest threat in human history and we will not accept the world's decision-makers' inaction that threatens our entire civilization. We will not accept a life in fear and devastation. We have the right to live our dreams and hopes. Climate change is already happening. People did die, are dying, and will die because of it, but we can and will stop this madness. We, the young, have started to move. We are going to change the fate of humanity, whether you like it or not. United we will rise until we see climate justice. We demand the world's decision-makers take responsibility and solve this crisis.You have failed us in the past. If you continue failing us in the future, we, the young people, will make change happen by ourselves. The youth of this world has started to move and we will not rest again. Above: Youth climate leaders have penned this open letter condemning the inaction of world leaders vowing to "make change happen by ourselves."
Sandy Wilder of Moruya told The Beagle "On 15 March 2019 young people in Australia and around the world will strike from school in protest at the lack of action by governments on climate change" "Many young people have clearer thinking about climate change than many adults and are making up their own minds. Inspired by Swedish school girl Greta Thunberg who very directly speaks to the urgency we face with the earth’s climate, young people are taking action." ‘Act as though your house is on fire because it is,’ advises Greta Sandy said "Surely the events this summer - thousands of dead fish in the Murray Darling, bush fires in precious Tasmanian wilderness never before burnt and the droughts and floods in Queensland are signs that our climate is changing rapidly now not just a variation in the weather!. "Perhaps young people are less confused because – they haven’t had as much exposure to the fossil-funded misinformation campaigns that succeeded in sowing doubt about climate change, using the same tactics as the tobacco industry. "In 1989 there was bipartisan political support for addressing climate change; just one year later the industry had mobilised and succeeded in creating the wedge that went on to polarise the world. This has bought them another 30 years profit-taking at the expense of today’s young people who are understandably outraged by their loss. Some oil companies have owned up to this deceit. Some are beginning to see that their 30 years are up and they too are beginning to suffer the effects of climate change. "So now that their game is up its time all of us stopped buying in to their misinformation and exploiting peoples' understandable fears for their future. Support schoolstrike4climate in your community" said Sandy.
