Is it all really over? What Australian students want you to hear from the 2019 Climate Strikes

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Interviews by Jen Nurick and Alice Birrell.

They heeded Greta’s call. In a protest that set the pace for events happening all over the world, Friday’s climate change strikes in Australia attracted record-breaking crowds in over 100 cities and regional centres. Students, who began striking as part of a global movement led by the Swedish teenage activist at the top of every news agenda — Greta Thunberg — encouraged adults, including teachers and Australian businesses to take part in the day of action.

Take part they did. Organisers estimated crowds nationwide topped out at around 300,000 making it one of the largest protests in Australian history and making up a significant part of the estimated four million people worldwide who took to the streets over the weekend. With an estimate of tens of thousands in Brisbane and 100,000 in Melbourne, the turnout was higher than the national moratorium at the time of the Vietnam War in 1969. 

Over 2,000 businesses including Canva, Atlassian and Oxfam took part including support from the fashion and beauty sector, with Jac + Jack, Kitx, Aesop, The Upside and Jurlique stopping work. In Sydney, crowds gathered at the domain and at organisers estimates numbered around 80,000 people. Since the strikes in March, lead organisers say attendance has doubled, but now that they’re over, what’s next?

 was on the ground and spoke to students and the adults who had come to echo their demands for action, to ask just that, as well as what they’re most worried about, what they’re hopeful for, and what they want people to hear. 

Katherine Mitchell, 18

“I’m here to support the climate change movement and stop climate change.”

“I’m most worried about just not having a future. The climate is getting worse and worse and the animals are getting the worst end of it. We need to help save these animals and help the Arctic and Antarctica stop from melting and actually have an Arctic and Antarctica in the future, that’s what I’m hopeful for.”

“I think recycle and get solar panels and [use] windmills.”

“I think the Amazon is pretty beautiful and it sucks that it was burnt.” 

Jean Hinchliffe, 15

“This is our third ever climate strike that we’ve organised here in Sydney. And it’s a way for us, particularly as young people, to demand immediate climate action from our politicians. Within that, we have our three main demands which are: no new sources of fossil fuels including the Adani mine, full renewable energy and exports by 2030 and for the government to find a just transition for all fossil fuel employed workers.”

“I think that they’ll see that we have hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets, and they realise the fact that they have to take action. The climate crisis is a bipartisan issue and it must be a bipartisan issue. All parties need to have meaningful climate policy.”

“I hope that seeing us, they realise that they need to take that climate action and follow through with our demands and do all that they can to ensure that we stay below 1.5 degrees of warming and ensure that our carbon emissions decrease.” 

“I think it’s really difficult to pinpoint exactly the worst aspect of the climate crisis because there’s so many tiny little issues or big issues, but all of them have so many run off effects…You’re seeing species decline and particularly in insects and that actually leads to a lot of food…which then leads to issues of hunger on top of the issues we already have and that leads to climate refugees. It’s these small things that suddenly have so many impacts that it’s difficult to exactly categorise it.”

“I think seeing these crowds of particularly students, as well as adults this time around, makes me think that we have an amount of hope. We have people power and we have people that are passionate about this, to demand action and to take to the streets to do so.”

“I think the enormous variety of animal species that we have. From tiny little insects to these enormous elephants…I think it’s so wonderful, this amount of life that we have, it’s so scary to think that we’re sacrificing that so we can keep burning coal and other fossil fuels.”

Varsha Yajman, 17

“I want to stand in solidarity with those in the fossil fuel industry  I want to fight for a sustainable future and get the governmental action that we need, because there is no planet B. There’s nothing without a proper climate, because there’s a health emergency in our hands that we need to get rid of…the truth is that the climate is so much more important than anything else, because that’s our world.”

“I hope the politicians understand that this is a crisis. That it’s an emergency…Although the UN says that we have 10 years to a climate catastrophe, that doesn’t mean we start in 10 years. That means that we start now and we need to fund that just transition for those in the fossil fuel industry.

“Right now, I just want to see an acknowledgement that there is a crisis at our hands. That we are going to do something about it…We do not want to see increasing unemployment rates, but what we do want is jobs for the coal mining industry to dissipate, because we want those coal mines to be shut down. We want jobs in the renewable energy industry instead.”

“I’m worried about there being a health emergency, because my mom works in the health industry and she was saying that the pollution and all these effects are just really ruining us and it’s an ecological crisis in our hands that we really need to do something about.”

“So, just like using beeswax wraps instead of cling wrap. Or making sure you’ve put things in the right bin. I know they’re small things and they might seem trivial sometimes, but they’re crucial because those little things, if every single person does them, then they make such a big difference. I just make sure to turn the tap off or turn the switches off. Those things.”

Danielle Villafana-Pore, 15

“I’m here today because I genuinely see climate change as the biggest threat to my future, to my generation’s future and to all those to come.”

“What I really want them to get from this is that the youth, we’re pretty incredible, we’re powerful and we’re going to keep fighting until we see results; until we see the results we need, until they act like world leaders.”

“First of all, we need adequate response, but we need to see results. We need to see tangible action being taken. I think a lot of the responses we’ve seen so far, they’re incredibly fluffy, they don’t actually respond directly to the science…the fact of the matter is, if you look at two of the key things we should be looking at – economics and science – both tell us that we need climate action and we need climate action that is urgent and unprecedented.”

“What scares me the most is that I’m here today because I can’t afford to tell my grandchildren that I stayed silent in light of this injustice that’s happening. I’m scared that if we don’t transition, the future generations won’t be able to live with the same quality of life, the same liberties and the same opportunities that we have.”

“I think today really epitomises what I’m hopeful about. This movement was started by Greta Thunberg, one girl, and now we have tens of thousands of people in the city and hundreds of thousands of people all across the world. What today really shows is that this movement is something that’s so much bigger than I am and it shows that our generation is powerful, we work together, we root for things that we care about and we can push for change. We’re a force to be reckoned with.”

“I think for me one of the biggest things would probably be the Barrier Reef. Especially, in Australia, we grow up and the Barrier Reef is so much a part of our society and culture, even though it’s hundreds of kilometers away from most of us, it’s so much a part of what we see as the Australian identity. It’s so beautiful.”

Ambrose Hayes, 14

“I’m here today because I’m striking for my future and for all the future generations because this is, the climate crisis is something that’s going to affect all of us and we need to stop it.” 

“I hope the leaders will hear that the majority of Australia is angry about this and they want action on climate change because at the moment they’re not taking enough action and we need them to be able to do more because if they don’t, there’s not going to be any action taken, which will be devastating for all the future generations.”

“Personally I hope they’ll respond by actually listening first instead of just talking, by actually acting on it.”

“Even though it might not affect me as much, it’s going to affect some people, especially in rural communities, it’s going to affect them a lot worse than in city areas. And they oftentimes don’t have as much of a voice, so we are standing up for them as well.”

“Well, if I wasn’t optimistic, if I wasn’t hopeful, I probably wouldn’t be fighting because there wouldn’t be a point. Yet I am here today because I am hopeful. I hope that the government will actually decide to listen to us and act on our behalf because at the moment they’re just not really.”

“Aside from being here, which takes up majority of my life these days – I have spent literally hundreds of hours organising this strike – trying to fit school work in as well. I try to use as least waste as possible, try to get ethically sourced food and clothes and just, but most of my work is dedicated to this.”

Eilish Fitzpatrick, 23 (left) 

“The planet is dying.”

“I mean ideally give land back to Indigenous people and have sovereignty because Indigenous people have been caring for this land for 80,000 years and know how to do it and we’re not listening to them.”

“I’m worried that we’re going to continue doing nothing and the most vulnerable people are the ones that are going to cop the brunt of it the worst. And I’m hopeful that just so many young people are so onto it, so much smarter and more clever and wise.”

“I think the most important thing to me is to have people starting to think critically and to think that politics aren’t radical; they’re really important.”

Allya Bella, 31, (right)

“I think it’s really important that everyone turns up because it’s a cause that affects literally everybody.”

“I hope they take this into consideration that not only their current voters, but the future voters care about this, and they need to act on that.”

“I find it almost terrifying that my friends and I are having conversations whether we should have children and that kind of confronting conversation that I never thought I would have in my lifetime…I’m hopeful and optimistic in the way that people are able to rally and link up because we have the Internet now and change can be effective.”

Luca Saunders, 14

“Well I’m here because personally, I’m being affected by climate change on a day-to-day basis, living in a rural community. I live in the upper Blue Mountains so I have been feeling the impacts of climate change since a very young age. In the last 10 years, bushfires have become more extreme and more frequent in my area. I’ve had a fire come within 100 metres of my house before.”

“I know that some of them have been distracted by the fact that we’re school striking, and I know that that’s gotten us to be able to get on a more national level…People have been protesting on the weekend for years and it has not made much of a difference a lot of the time, so we felt like we had to do something a bit more drastic.”

“Across the world, people are becoming more sustainable. Sustainable energy is booming, it’s becoming cheaper now than coal. So many people are trying to switch to sustainable lifestyles. So I really think we’re just mobilising.”

“Trying to buy less plastic, that’s one thing. Driving a little less, driving a little less helps so much.”

“Between all things in the natural world, there’s this incredible connectivity. It all seems to be in its right place; everything seems to be completely perfect in the natural world.”

Amber Belot, 18

 
“I’m here because I want to be on a planet where the government cares about the planet.”

“I’m most worried about that we’re going to get to a point of no return, that we’re going to do damage that we can’t undo anymore. But I am hopeful because things like this are happening, and there’s change, and people are speaking up and they’re realising… I have hope that we will live.” 

“100 per cent no plastic. Being really conscious of what you’re putting and where you’re buying things from, because your dollar is like a vote.” 

“The beach. The ocean is not doing well and the creatures in the ocean are so magical and so beautiful, we don’t want to hurt them. I love the beach; it’s so healing.”

Daisy Jeffrey, 17

“I’m here to be part of the climate strike. I’m here because we are on the outskirts of the biggest catastrophe humanity has ever seen. To be honest, before getting involved with the strikes before November, it was suffocating to feel like you couldn’t do anything. I think to be part of this movement has, at least, alleviated that stress a tiny bit.”

“I think they’ve heard a lot. I think they just need to see the photos. They need to see how many people are out here today. We’re not asking for much. All we ask for is adequate climate action and climate justice…”

“I think they’re going to need to save face. I think their only way to respond in the short term, unfortunately, is going to have to be a 180 on what they’ve been doing…They need to stop ignoring the Pacific Islanders who are crying out for help. They need to stop ignoring the people. They need to flip a 180 and their only way to save face is to move with the market. They need to be on the right side of history.”

“I’m worried about having kids and not being able to look them in the eye, because I know that I’ve given them a lower quality of existence than they deserve. I’m afraid to be sitting back, watching the human race, but also the animals. Everything on earth falling apart is going to be devastating.

In the year 2050, I will be 48. I will very much be a parent that may be a teenager and this is the world that they will be growing up in… But also, within this process, our third demand is fund a just transition in the creation of new jobs for fossil fuel workers who will be impacted by the crisis.

That demand is particularly close to my heart. On my dad’s side, we have generational coal mining. My granddad came out to Australia from the UK to work as coal a mining engineer in our mines. He came to provide a better life for his family. When the industry tightened in the 80s, he lost everything. It was central to his identity. He was a single dad providing for two children. He ended up having to work a fair bit as a cleaner. For him, it was a really significant loss of identity. …What we need to make sure is that just transition needs to be pushed as much as possible. It needs to happen. We need to make sure that people know that they’re not going to be left behind.”

“I see the good in people, more so, than I see the bad. You always have to be optimistic in this movement. We all have to be optimistic. We just don’t have any other choice…I’ve had times where I’ve just broken down…It’s really tough to stay optimistic, but we just have to. I see the good in people. I see the good in our prime minister and in Gladys Berejiklian, here in New South Wales. I hope that they will do right by the people.”

“We don’t need one or two people things perfectly. We need millions of millions of people doing things imperfectly. I’m vegetarian, but my family, as a result, they eat less meat. Agriculture is a large part of the climate crisis. It is, undeniably, a contributor. I catch public transport. We, generally, are just very careful with our waste. Also, I think a lot of it is being able to sit down with someone and have a real conversation with someone. If they disagree with you, that’s okay. But, if you’re able to sit down, willing to negotiate with each other, you can come to midpoint.”

Ilona Elbaghad, 18

“I’m here today for a sustainable future…The earth is getting hotter, the ice caps are melting.” 

“I’m most worried about the fact that we are not going to have a sustainable land to live on. Animals are going to start dying off, a lot of people are not going to be able to live where they live anymore. People are already struggling. There is a drought here and we’re already pressed for water.”

“I would like to say here because it’s the only place I’ve been to…When you see people enjoying it, you just want to protect it and sustain it for as long as possible.” 

Luca Young, 20

“I’m here because I care about climate action and I believe that it is important to save the world.”

“Social media obviously is probably the most important. Listening to people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is calling for a green new deal. Joining grassroots movements. Basically just organising and ensuring that you get your voice heard whichever way possible you can. Creating YouTube videos, messaging your friends to show your support with them, telling them to come out today and other climate action that is going on all around the world.” 

“I think probably just the lovely nature that we have around the world. The Amazon, for example. That was the worst, it was absolutely devastating, I was incredibly depressed about it. Never in my lifetime had I thought that the Amazon would be burning like this.”

“New Zealand is probably the most beautiful thing for me.”

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