On Youth Decide

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Author: Alana Smith
National Director of Vision Generation and a Youth Decide spokesperson.

Through social media like Twitter and Facebook, young people are connected and speaking to each other like never before. But on the issue of climate change, I believe we are not being heard in one very important place: Canberra.

Right now, Australia’s politicians are debating the detail for laws that will decree how strongly Australia tackles the effects of climate change. For many Australians, the debate seems to be about far-off dates: goals to cut pollution by 2020 or 2050.

But my generation – Generation Y – will inherit 2050, and whatever climate change impacts come with it.

In my role as National Director of Vision Generation – World Vision’s youth branch – I have been lucky enough to talk with teenagers all over Australia. They are all concerned about climate change. What does it mean for their future jobs? For the environment? Even for the world’s poor, who will be affected the most?

As a group, Generation Y is often accused of being lazy or uncaring, but the teenagers I speak with are working hard to make changes for the world’s environment. They are changing their polluting habits with simple acts, like using a bike or public transport instead of driving.

However, many Gen-Yers take these actions with great frustration. Are they enough to improve or make a difference to the effects of climate change? They are not – young people want the Australian Government to step up and provide some serious leadership on climate change.

Yet so far, the voices of young people – the next generation of voters, and those that will inherit the devastating effects of climate change – haven’t been heard.

Many politicians are speaking about the effect of climate change ‘on our children’, but these words are not turning into actions. The term ‘our children’ refers to us, and all we are seeing is political point-scoring and bickering.

That is why Youth Decide was launched. From 14-21 September, young people will be able to vote on what sort of climate change action they would like to see from the Australian Government. It a chance for young people to combine their voices and send a strong message to the nation’s leaders.

The results will be presented to the government, and to the United Nations in New York.

Australia’s young people are wondering what sort of lives we will be living in 2050. Will we be the victims of short-sighted political decisions made on climate change 40 years earlier? Or will we be the "lucky generation" who receive the gift of a world that is on its way to avoiding the worst effects of climate change, all because of politicians who showed true leadership in 2009?

To Australia’s political leaders, in Government and in Opposition, we are asking you to be bold in the targets you set for reducing carbon emissions. We understand the enormous changes it will cause to life in Australia, but my generation is willing to inherit those changes.

www.youthdecide.com.au 

Opinion Pieces, Climate change, Asia and the Pacific, Alana Smith, Australian Government, Climate Change, Environment, Young People

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