Young People Will Have To Live With The Incompetent Climate Decisions Of The Morrison Government
The IPCC report on irreversible climate damage is painting a grim picture of our future.
The latest IPCC report is a stark reminder of the impending doom awaiting the next generation, but also of how young people are already starting to face the consequences of the climate crisis.
A team of international scientists from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change unveiled their latest findings on Monday, noting all the irreversible changes we’ll face in our lifetime.
Among the revelations is a temperature rise of 1.5℃ within the next decade, released as Greece battles devastating wildfires and, closer to shore, Australia still recovering from the 2019-20 bushfire season.
A Natural Disaster
Extreme weather events like heatwaves, bushfires, cyclones, and floods are already on the rise, and pose a heightened threat to young people in regional and Pacific areas.
“Australian children, just like millions around the world, are already living with the consequences of too little action over too many years,” Save the Children’s Principal Climate Change advisor Paul Mitchell said in a statement. Not only do these risks threaten to destroy schools and homes, but lives as well, he said.
“I want people to know that climate change is destroying habitats, native animals are dying. The land of First Nation Australians is being destroyed. Homes are being lost. Lives are being lost. It’s only going to get worse,” 15-year-old Mackenzie from Victoria told Junkee back in May.
ScoMo, Step Up Or Step Down
Pressure is mounting on Scott Morrison to sort out his climate policy, which plays too safe to appease the interests of his Liberal National Party colleagues and fossil fuel stakeholders — while his net zero by 2050 goal is no longer fast enough.
But in a press conference on Tuesday, the prime minister refused to speed his efforts up.
“I won’t be signing a blank cheque on behalf of Australians to targets without plans,” he told the media, yapping on about taxes, and how technology rooted in gas will somehow sort us out.
Taking Back Control
Aussie kids are trying their best to reclaim power, hold politicians to account, and have their voices included in higher-up decisions that will dictate the course of their future.
In May, school students won a landmark class action case against the government, forcing them to finally acknowledge their duty of care to protect from climate change harm.
Three months before that, a 23-year-old sued the government over its failure to disclose climate risk and associated economic loss to investors, as part of a wider conversation about LNP’s climate inaction.
“This is not theoretical for children; climate change is a real and present threat to their lives now. Today. It’s also stealing their futures, and their right to a liveable planet,” said Mitchell.
The full IPCC report can be found here.