I’m 16 years old and today I will be striking from school because of the government’s complete failure to combat a very real, and very dangerous threat to my future. I live in western Sydney and have lived here all my life. I enjoy school and take my education seriously. I take pride in my academic achievement. Despite this, I’m walking out of school to fight for my future.
When I was in primary school, my teacher taught us about climate change, and how it’s caused. He would explain that it would lead to things like rising sea levels, more extreme temperatures and worsening floods and fires. I understood what he said but at the time it was hard to actually imagine what it meant.
In 2019, I was in year 6. I watched on the news every day how the bushfires were getting worse. I’d see footage of the raging flames, of burning homes and firefighters battling the fires. I remember going to school one day and having the smoke be so thick it was difficult to see the other end of the school. Our teachers brought us all inside and shut every window to keep it out. That scared me.
As I’ve grown up, I’ve seen how climate change has worsened and how our government has refused to take action. I’ve seen heatwaves kill tens of thousands of people in Europe. I’ve seen winter storms leave millions without power or water in the US. I’ve seen our Pacific neighbours experience more extreme cyclones and rising seas. And earlier this year I watched footage taken by survivors of the Hawaii fires as they drove through burning buildings and people lying on the road. It terrifies me. The only thing that scares me more is our government’s utter incompetence in dealing with this threat.
The day the Australian government stops burning my future is the day I’ll stop protesting.
When Labor was elected, I thought that things would change, and that with Tanya Plibersek as environment minister, I could focus on my school studies and leave addressing the climate crisis to our political leaders. I was wrong. This year, the government has approved four new coalmines.
Every day that our government continues to contribute to the climate crisis, our future is put at an even greater risk. So why does the Australian government continue to jeopardise our future by continuing our reliance on fossil fuels?
It’s infuriating. I used to feel hopeless, and as a student, I believed I had no real say in what our government did. But eventually I realised that that simply wasn’t true.
So I joined School Strike 4 Climate. If the people in power can continue to burn our future due to incompetence, greed or both, then I’m going to do what I can to stop it.
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Which is why I’m going to be joining thousands of like-minded students today, to strike against the government’s inability to respond to an issue that threatens all of us, in Australia and beyond. To demand all Labor politicians step up, follow the leadership of our Pacific neighbours who are calling for no new coal and gas, and shift the power away from the fossil fuel industry.
And to the people who decry our acts of protest, who dismiss our concerns and voices because we are young, who tell us we should just keep our heads down and stay in the classroom – I hope you know that the day the Australian government stops burning my future is the day I’ll stop protesting.
To anyone else, if you’re worried, scared or angry about the climate crisis – you can join us. Organise, protest and show the Australian government that we won’t just watch our future, our planet and our home be destroyed.
Jeremy Phu Howard is 16 years old and lives in western Sydney