On Thursday Australian Community Media, the publisher of The Canberra Times, launched the first instalment of Our Climate Future, an important new series on climate change. It is being published across Australia's largest regional newspaper network.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The series is being written by some of ACM's most talented young journalists, almost all of whom are in their 20s, and who have experienced the impact of climate change first hand.
Tess Kelly, 22, of The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth, wrote her piece after a trip to Gunnedah to cover catastrophic flooding.
"I've spent the day speaking with heartbroken residents, exhausted council staff, and worn out emergency service workers," she wrote.
"It's the sixth flood the town (Gunnedah) has faced in 12 months. It comes just a week after my home town of Bendigo in regional Victoria faced the worst flooding in my life time.
"Living in regional areas is where I want to be ... but I am worried about the liveability of these places if we don't start taking climate change seriously."
Rosie Bensley of The Illawarra Mercury, also 22, wrote: "I moved to the Gold Coast from Sydney during the Christmas of 2010. I was 11 and it rained the whole summer.
"I didn't realise the enormity of the flooding event that was taking place just an hour to the north in Brisbane and the dozens of lives that were lost.
"All I knew was I'd moved to a place known for its beautiful, sunny days - and all I saw was rain."
Rosie spoke for a large majority of under-35s when she wrote: "I'm part of a generation inheriting a world that's fracturing as it warms. Climate change is threatening my generation's future."
The Australia Institute's State of the Nation report released in 2021 revealed: "Younger respondents [to its survey] are more concerned about climate change and more supportive of actions to reduce emissions."
While 73 per cent of Australians aged between 18 and 24 and 77 per cent of those aged between 25 and 34 believe Australia should be a world leader in finding solutions to climate change, only 58 per cent aged over 65 share that view.
Our young people, and those yet to be born, will suffer most from climate catastrophes as the Earth continues to heat up.
An old Greek proverb says: "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit."
Everybody, regardless of their age, should join the fight to reduce emissions and to mitigate the impact of climate change. The world does not end when we die. We all have a responsibility to the generations that will follow us.
It is unfortunate, in view of this, the Prime Minister cannot find the time to attend COP 27 in Egypt, especially given he wants Australia to host COP 29 in 2024. It would also be an opportunity to renew his acquaintance with US President Joe Biden, France President Emmanuel Macron, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and to meet the new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and new Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni.
Mr Albanese, who says he "can't be everywhere at once" is sending Chris Bowen instead.
When Mr Sunak initially said he wouldn't be going, presumably for the same reason, he was called out by members of his own party and UK Labour for "an absolute failure of leadership" on "the biggest crisis facing our planet".
The same criticism can be levelled at Mr Albanese. He has a clear responsibility to go.
