The battle to define our generation, Cara Walker
The battle to define our generation Climate change isn’t going away any time soon, writes Cara
Walker.
Picture: Lucia Mai
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S A MEMBER OF Gen Z, climate change and its associated challenges are something I have learnt about and been aware of for as long as I can remember. Encouragements to recycle and to remember to switch off the lights in primary school. The promotion of Earth Hour, gardening clubs, education about endangered species, and global warming. Granted, there was talk of climate change in the 1970s, decades before I was born, but I digress. I believe and the belief of many others around my age that climate change will be the battle of our generation. The likes of Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Villasenor, and Jean Hinchliffe are at the forefront of climate activism, all young, passionate people eager to make changes and take heed of the climate crisis.
supposed to be key in reaching the goals of the Paris agreement have been postponed amid social distancing policies and the international shutdown of travel. With the parliamentarian, media, and public focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis, climate change does not hold the precedence it once did.
However, this is not an issue that simply goes away. I am not here to argue for the presence of an environmental crisis; science has already done that. The catastrophic events of last summers’ bushfires (which were, in fact, linked to concurrent floods in Africa), demonstrated the immediacy of the environmental crisis we are facing to some, and for others, merely provided an opportunity for political finger-pointing.
In the new light of 2020, additional, more unfamiliar challenges have arisen, which, in some ways, have pushed the issue of climate change to the back burner. The dominant voices of society have grown silent when it comes to the Black Summer fires, and summits
Global consumerism and mass manufacture 18
