AYCC SUMMIT

On the 12th and 13th of September, selected students of FCC made their way to St Kilda hall to meet with other young people passionate about climate change. Many other students from a range of different schools also attended and overall it was a fantastic, eye opening experience.

The first day we learnt the names of some Australian Youth Climate Coalition volunteers and got to understand more about how climate change affects the planet, us and people all around the world. It was interesting to find out that countries who emit the most pollution actually receive the least negative effects, which seems very unfair. We broke off into groups and did activities which explored this further. We then had lunch which was actually a sort of activity. The coloured spots on our nametags decided what we got to eat and where we got to sit. Some got lasagna and to sit on a stage in fancy chairs, some got sandwiches and sat on normal chairs and some got rice and a bit of lettuce and had to sit on the floor. This demonstrated the social classes very well, and showed how unfair it is. After lunch, the day concluded with some brainstorming for ideas to make our school a more environmentally sustainable place.

On the second day, we got into groups to plan and organise a campaign for our school. We decided to make a petition and fundraiser events to install led lights and compost bins in every classroom along with replacing plastic forks, spoons and straws in the canteen to eco friendly materials. For the rest of the day we were working on planning our petitions and strategies for the goals we wanted to achieve. During breaks, they encouraged us to make suns with phrases about climate change on them, and at the end of the day we all got together to rally for climate justice outside of St Kilda Town Hall. Students from every school got the chance to stand up and share their stories of why they care about climate change and the goals they had for their schools.

Overall, it was amazing to see other young people who care about climate change coming together to help make a change in the world. You can feel small when you want to fix a problem as large as climate change, and the AYCC helped us realise that so many more people feel the exact same! The climate justice summit helped us all express our ideas and made us all feel like a community.

By Morgan Lyman and Luke Burgess (Year 8)