NEST News

Powershift 2017

The climate crisis problem is no longer an environmental issue, it’s no longer a political issue or an economic issue. Climate change is a people’s issue. And the unfair thing is that, it will be up to us as young people and the future generation to deal with the consequences of climate change. It’s hardly fair that we are dealt the first and worst consequences to an issue that we aren’t even contributing much to.

This injustice is why I attended Powershift. I wanted to do something about climate change because I believe that ignoring it, like many people do today, is not the right way to go about solving the problem. Powershift is a 3-day youth climate summit that brought together young people from all across the country. It aimed to inspire these young people to change climate change and show them the tools to make a difference in their day to day lives. Powershift is run annually by the AYCC (Australian Youth Climate Coalition) and the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network.

From July 22 to 24, I attended Powershift along with 1000 other young people, none of whom I knew. What started out as a chilly morning full of awkward ice breaker conversations turned into what I can only describe as the most meaningful weekend I’ve ever experienced. I got to meet so many like-minded people, listen to inspiring panels and performances and attend workshops which taught life skills that people need in stressful times such as now. The first two days passed in this way at Latrobe University. I made so many friends that came from thousands of kilometres away but there we were that day, everyone buzzing with the feeling that with enough of us, we might be able to turn this climate change issue around. On the third and final day of the conference, we took our action to the streets of Melbourne with a march.

It was a truly rewarding experience and I recommend it to every young person who’s interested in attending next year. And if there’s one thing that I learnt from Powershift 2017 it would be:

“We are the ones we are waiting for”.

By Amy Chu - Year 9 NEST Member

NEST excursion to the Melbourne High School Earth Summit

On Friday 4 August, thirty of our Nossal Environmental Sustainability Team (NEST) members attended Melbourne High School’s annual Earth Summit. This summit was organised by Melbourne High School’s own Environment Action Group, and the theme for this year’s summit was conservation. NEST students networked with students from MacRobertson Girls' High School, Suzanne Cory High School, and Melbourne High School, to take part in 4 workshops throughout the day.

The day started off with a captivating speech by Mia Vissenjoux, a year 12 student who is an ambassador for Cool Australia. Students were made aware of the many challenges our Earth is facing because of climate change and human activity. Each school was given their own topic, such as animal conservation and energy conservation. NEST’s topic was water conservation. Our Year 12 NEST captains, Deepthi and Karina planned a hands on and engaging water simulation activity. The activity lead to discussion about the importance of conserving water and realising how easily we can contribute to the critical cause by turning the tap off whilst brushing our teeth and taking shorter showers. The day was filled with innovative discussion, getting to know new people, working together during the workshops and enjoying the provided morning tea! Students left at the end of the day feeling, inspired and keen to run NEST’s own upcoming sustainability summit on the 15th of September.

Jasnpreet - Year 11 NEST Member