I’m a reluctant climate activist. I was brought up thinking that protests and marches are just for scruffy loonies and rent-a-crowds. As a marine scientist, I’m methodical and factual.
I prefer being underwater to being in a crowd of humans. Biology and statistics make more sense to me than sociology and politics.
Yet here I am, a lead facilitator of my city’s youth-led Global #ClimateStrike, and a co-founder of Australian Parents for Climate Action – a growing national network of parents, grandparents and caregivers calling on our government to act now, for a liveable future.
I find myself asking, how did I get here?
During the past decade, I’ve watched my favourite places on Earth – coral reefs and polar regions – being decimated by climate change. And despite the climate crisis being the greatest threat to human health, our economy and human civilisation itself, it’s being denied, downplayed and ignored by those elected and paid to lead us.
Side note…Watch Greta Thunberg’s UN climate change speech. Post continues after video.
I’d signed petitions, shared posts on social media, reduced my personal carbon footprint, even contacted my elected representatives. As the crisis has deepened, our governments have continued to fall short of the vital role they need to play. And I have realised the part I was playing was not nearly big enough.
Then, I became a parent. Suddenly it was deeply personal. The years beyond my own life on this planet became more important than ever.
My son’s tender five years of life have been the five hottest on record. He’ll only be 16 in 2030, when we’ve either saved or condemned ourselves – and him – to our climate futures. I see it as my parental responsibility to demand the necessary urgent political action to solve this crisis.
As parents of young children, we’re all busy. But the daily demands of looking after our children cannot prevent us doing whatever we can to safeguard their future.
This Friday, September 20, students around the world are walking out of school to demand climate action and they’ve asked all of us to stand with them. Our children have the moral ground, and I will stand with them all the way.
We’re running out of time, and I will not waste this precious time simply listening to denial and excuses. The scope and scale of change we need cannot happen without immediate, dramatic action from all sections of society – us as individuals; local, state and federal governments and the private sector.
Yet our Prime Minister Scott Morrison will not attend the emergency UN Climate Action Summit next week. His government continues to deflect and spin the facts, instead of taking meaningful action to transition us to a low-carbon existence.
Holly Wainwright and Andrew Daddo speak to a 15-year-old girl who organised a school walk out for climate change. Post continues after podcast.
So, reluctant activist that I am, I am now completely convinced that our only way out of this looming catastrophe is for all of us – and I mean ALL of us – to walk the streets in massive shows of people power.
To demand our governments implement the widespread changes necessary to transition to a safe climate future. The UN Secretary General, the Governor of California and Australian politicians telling the truth about climate have begged us to raise our voices to give decision makers the push they need.
They tell us there will be no action without massive, relentless public demand. The time of watching public life from the sidelines is a luxury we can no longer afford. Let’s come together on September 20 to show that the world demands climate justice.
I know that in years to come, our children will ask us what we did to solve the climate crisis. I sure hope they don’t ask us why we failed to solve it, when the solutions were at hand.
If there was ever a time to get off the sidelines and raise your voice, it’s now.
We speak not only for ourselves, but for our children. Will you stand with my son and me on September 20? Will you fight for your children? Reluctant or not, we have no other choice.
All 100 Australian Sept 20 #ClimateStrike events can be found here.
Marie Carvolth is a coral ecologist, climate campaigner and Mum of a five-year-old boy based on the Gold Coast, Australia. She is a co-founder of Australian Parents for Climate Action and an Al Gore-trained Climate Reality Leader.
Top Comments
If you really believe it, that as AOC and some Democrats running for President claim that we only have 11 years left, well take your son out of school and left him enjoy being a kid. No point planning for his higher ed, may as well apply to access your super now as well.
If you really believe what your Al Gore training says, then live it. I’ll make you an offer for your home right now with an 11 year settlement, 12 if you want to be sure. Take my cash now, please.
The Conversation are now deleting any comments on their stories from deniers. All news outlets who believe that the threat of climate change is indeed real should start doing the same. The deniers are wrong and we need to be listening to experts, not Joe Blow on social media who looked out his window this morning and thinks he knows more than people who have qualifications in climate sciences, who actually study this and have dedicated their lives to it.
How does ignoring or deleting people/ comments you disagree with help climate change? How many people change their minds based on social media content? I’d say zero. Social media is basically preaching to the choir.
Peoples’ votes at the last election show where their concerns lie.
I switched on facebook for the first time in years yesterday, and was reading through the comments on a strike for climate news article and they were overwhelmingly puppet accounts that have just been made with no friends etc. Talking about Agenda 21 and the green new world and all other types of conspiracies. Like 90% of the comments were dodgy. So I agree with you, this is getting out of hand, unless someone has actual evidence to back up their claims and it's an onvious puppet account, they should be deleted.
Just like with anti vaxxers and flat earthers there are not two "sides" to this story, there is overwhelming scientific evidence and there are people who ignore that evidence -their opinions are not equal.
Censorship is odious and incompatible with democracy.
My concern about all of this discussion about climate change is that it is driven by monetary interests on all aspects of the debate. The big coal and fossil fuel industries naturally do not believe in climate action. It is BIG MONEY for these CEOs, executives, and the employees are just protecting their jobs. Climate action for these people means less money and job loss. They back our major political parties. The renewable energy sector is also driven by big monetary interests, and naturally they do want climate action. Of course they believe in climate action, they stand to make BIG MONEY from it. Our governments are driven by monetary interests. I see daily, new public service jobs centred around climate change and energy policy. Of course these public servants believe in climate action, their careers are built upon it. They are protecting their jobs. Our universities are driven by big monetary interests. Our climate change researchers naturally want to find more evidence of climate change. They are protecting their jobs. They are protecting their monetary interests. They also advocate for more grant money from the government so that they can do more research recommending to governments that they fund even more research so that they can make MORE money. Nobody is beyond reproach. Any person can be corrupted. Our big industries (mining, energy, banking, etc) are corrupt. Our governments are corrupt. Our big institutions are corrupt. Our banks are corrupt. Our local councils are corrupt. Our universities have been corrupted with money, and there is no reason to think that our scientific community cannot be corrupted too. It disappoints me that people do not understand the extent of public sector corruption and how this might influence public policy. Ask yourself... Do you trust a person claiming that climate change is not real when they work in an industry heavily reliant on fossil fuels, and that person makes $100,000 per annum from it? You shouldn't. Do you trust a person claiming that we need government action on climate change when they work for a university or government department reliant on climate change grant subsidies, and that person makes $100,000 per annum from it? You shouldn't. Even if that person is earning a much lesser amount of money they are still influenced by it. Money corrupts. It corrupts everyone.