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PERSPECTIVEYOUNG PEOPLE have always been
aware of climate change. We learn about
it in school. But I didn’t understand how
urgent it was – or the part Australia played
and lack of action from our politicians –
until last year.
I joined the Australian Youth Climate
Coalition (AYCC) in early 2018. I’m in
their Student Climate Leadership Program,
which teaches us about the science. They
also taught me about grassroots activism.
Now I’m protesting outside Parliament.
The first School Strike 4 Climate was in
November last year. I was in the crowd,
surrounded by people screaming about
our future. There were 30,000 people
striking in Sydney’s Town Hall Square and
1.5 million worldwide. It felt uplifting. What
doesn’t feel great is politicians not doing
what needs to be done. In 10 or 12 years’
time, we won’t be able to fix our mistakes.CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVIST
AISHEEYA HUQ, 16, LIVES
IN WESTERN SYDNEY AND
CAMPAIGNS WITH THE
AUSTRALIAN YOUTH
CLIMATE COALITION. SHE’S
APPEARED ON THE PROJECT
AND WAS MC AT A SCHOOL
STRIKE FOR CLIMATE MARCH.
SHE EXPLAINS WHAT
IT’S LIKE TO BE PART OF
A GENERATION INHERITING
A CRISIS IT DIDN’T CAUSEpush for 100 per cent renewables. But if
we, as a country, mobilise our equipment
and our resources, we can help transition
them to jobs in renewables. That’s the
government’s responsibility. I know we rely
on coal and gas exports, but we need to
prioritise. Do we value future generations
surviving? Or do we value money?
When The Project posted the video,
one guy commented that someone should
tell me to stop using so much hairspray.
You’re a middle-aged man talking about
a little girl’s hair when she’s on TV talking
about climate change? I haven’t had too
much criticism, but student activism is quite
mentally and physically exhausting –
every day for weeks before a strike, I’m
doing media training, then I’m doing
media, I’m going on trips to Canberra –
it’s hectic. So I’m taking a little break and
resting before the next worldwide strike in
September so I can come back strong.
My parents are always supportive.
They’re proud of how far the movement’s
come – in terms of the attention we’ve
gotten and getting the message across.
My dad took the day off work to see me
speak at the last School Strike 4 Climate. I
have twin brothers in Year 8 and Dad said
he’ll take the whole family to the next strike.
Western Sydney is under-represented
in a lot of social justice issues. It’s the
biggest chunk of Sydney, and it’s made up
of people from migrant backgrounds,
minority religious backgrounds, people
of colour – these are people you don’t
see on the podium speaking about these
things. So I’m proud to fight for that
Western Sydney voice.
We’re already experiencing the effect
of climate change – heatwaves, natural
disasters and countries going underwater.
I don’t foresee total doom in my future. But
I’ll have children, grandchildren, and so
will many of the seven billion other people
in the world. We have to fight to make sure
we don’t end up in a dystopian future. But
if we don’t act immediately, we will. E
Visit aycc.org.au for more informationOlder generations who contributed to
the crisis weren’t aware of it; they didn’t
grow up being exposed to the education,
the science, the facts, like we were. But
now they are. So now it’s time to act. Are
we really not going to care about the
generations after us? Are we really just
going to worry about money and big
companies? It’s young people who are
going to have to deal with the effects of
climate change. So we’re demanding the
Adani coal mine be stopped, that we
move towards 100 per cent renewables
by 2030 and that we have no new coal
or gas projects in Australia. If there are
no political parties responding to those
demands, we should lobby for it. I’m not
bitter about the adults who contributed to
climate change, but now they can vote
and have their voices heard. We can’t
approve billion-dollar mines that send our
carbon dioxide emissions soaring.
When I said on The Project that the
Adani coal mine should be stopped,
[conservative panellist] Steve Price asked
me what that would do to the economy.
They give you a set of questions before,
and that one wasn’t on the list, otherwise
I’d have prepared something. I just said,
‘That’s not my job – I’m a student and
I want to make sure my future is safe, and
that those around me actually have a
future.’ I was criticised for that, but I don’t
have a degree in economics – I’m 16. We
have federal institutions in place to take
care of that; we have people who are
experts in those fields. I understand people
who work in mining will lose their jobs if weAs told to: Hannah James. Photography: Courtesy of Aisheeya HuqCULTURE
“WE HAVE TO
FIGHT TO MAKE
SURE WE DON’ T
END UP IN A
DYSTO P I A N
FUTURE”