Teenager sees Extinction Rebellion as answer to Australia's climate change inaction

The 17-year-old Trinity Christian School student said she has become disillusioned with more passive means of getting the message out that her and her friends fear for their future.

"While petitions do help and donating does help it hasn't been enough," Savannah said.

"I wanted to take a more kind of radical action."

Savannah has spoken out about what she believes is elected official's duty of care to take care of her and her friends.

"We are the future leaders, the future generation which will deal with the brunt of the impact of the warming climate, she said.

"I think in a developed country it's appalling that a government isn't taking care of its own citizens."

Savannah's message follows action brought by eight Australian teenagers against Environmental Minister Sussan Ley last month.

The young activists successfully argued the Australian government had a duty of care to protect them from the harm an expansion of a Whitehaven Coal mine near Boggabri, NSW would do to their health.

The minister lodged an appeal of the decision and sought an expedited hearing of the case, claiming no such duty of care exists.

Asked whether she planned to approve Whitehaven's Vickery Extension Project, a spokesman for Ms Ley it was not appropriate to comment while the matter was before the courts.

"The minister takes seriously her responsibilities under the act to protect the environment and, in doing so, the interests of all Australians," the spokesman said.

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Savannah said she didn't feel like Trinity Christian School was progressive enough to allow students to express their feelings about climate change overtly. However, she said a lot of students felt the same way about the "crisis" as she did.

Savannah rejected the idea she'd been forcibly radicalised or was too young to form her own informed opinion on the issue.

"It's something that I've pursued personally," she said.

"My parents are open to it but they don't necessarily encouraged me to go out there and protest."

Given the recent heat Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been under this week with the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report urging governments to radically cuts greenhouse gas emissions in order to contain global warming, Savannah had a message for the PM.

"Scott Morrison is a Christian and so am I," she said.

"If I ever got to talk to him, I think I'd ask, 'Is he really trying to be a steward of the earth? Does he think that his actions and politics align with his calling to be a steward?'"

"We're at a critical point right now, where we can either mobilize and create change, or we can become complacent and subject ourselves blindly to the future impacts of the disasters that will fall upon us."

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