As the 2050 net zero deadline grows closer, now just 26 years left on the clock, we are left to question whether we’ll meet it on time. The short answer is; we won’t, with many worrying we aren’t on track to meet the 2030 deadline, let alone the 2050 goals. Despite signing the Paris Agreement, Australia’s inability to meet key goals is more than just concerning, especially considering the latest report from the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) ranks Australia at 50 out of 67 countries. Despite an increase of five ranks from the prior report, Australia is still rated low for its actions around the climate.
The main way to ensure Australia is doing its part in the fight against climate change is policy changes and proper implementation. Specifically, policy changes and methods of implementation that we have not seen nearly enough of. Creating and enforcing policies takes time, and time is a finite source that we are running out of. If we do not start to act now, the consequences will only grow. Many people are in agreement that we need to do something; young people especially believe that we can’t wait until tomorrow to do it.
Waiting until we turn 18 to vote means our voices are not properly heard. Even the ability to vote does not ensure that our opinions will be taken seriously, especially on the topic of climate change, not when the majority of leaders won’t see the brunt of climate change’s effects. Because we have to face the facts – climate change will affect the younger generations, current and coming, the most. We are the ones who will have to live to see the tale climate change leaves, the consequences that will mar our Earth. We will watch our precious animals fade into extinction, our ice caps melt, and natural disasters turn our world upside down. It is us, and solely us, as young people, who will have to tell future generations the stories of before, if we do not do anything to impede climate change.
As such, wouldn’t it make sense if young people’s voices are heard on the forefront of the fight against climate change? If we have to live with its impacts on the environment, would it not make sense for our voices to be heard loud and clear?
These very thoughts were some of many that helped spark the ideas for the YCC – more formally known as the Youth Climate Council Queensland. An organisation founded by a group of five young people who came together with one common question, ‘How could youth ensure their voices on climate change are heard?’ And when we couldn’t find an answer that felt right for us, we decided to take matters into our own hands, to create a platform to help youth share their voices and hear others’ voices on the topic.
The YCC is an organisation designed to represent young Queenslanders’ views on climate change, giving a platform for the generation most affected by climate change to ensure our voices are heard. Because when we are the ones who’ll have to live through the consequences that’ll come, we deserve to have a say in how we’ll act today to help make a better future tomorrow. That being one of the main three foundations at the core of the YCC: Youth Voice, the other two being Climate Action and Cooperation.
Not only is it vital for youth voices to be heard, but it is just as important for there to be actions to help prevent climate change. But while we need big actions like implementing policies and cutting down on carbon emission, the small actions individuals and communities do are just as important. Because each small action will add up, they’ll accumulate with all the small steps everyone globally has taken for the betterment of the environment, and they will make major positive changes that will benefit the environment. As such, the YCC is determined to help our environment through things such as park clean ups, fundraisers for the environment, outreach programs and many more. We are determined to make positive impacts for our environment and our community.
That brings us to our last core value, cooperation. Because two minds are better than one, imagine what a whole community coming together could achieve. We want youth voices to be heard, and we want to work with the community and others to ensure that. We want to help our community fight climate change and make a better world for all of us, because a better today leads to a better tomorrow, and each and everyone of us can learn and help each other in order to ensure each day is better than the next.
So knowing who the YCC is and what guides us, we ask of you all, the youth, to join us. To let your voice be heard on climate change and to make a better future for tomorrow, not just for us, but for the future generations to come. So, will you answer the call?