A group of Ocean Grove parents are calling on the Australian government to act urgently to protect their children’s health and safety in the face of what they say is a “climate breakdown”.
United Nations World Children’s Day on 20 November commemorates the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which Australia has signed.
This commits Australia to protect the rights of all children to health and safety – rights which are being threatened by the government’s inaction on climate change, the group said.
“We are extremely distressed and that the government is not acting to protect our kids’ health and safety from the enormous impacts of climate breakdown,” Ocean Grove parent and founder of Australian Parents for Climate Action, Suzie Brown said.
“We are all so worried about our kids’ future.”
“We’ve already seen Australian children lose their homes and their family’s livelihoods to bushfires and drought. The future will only be more dangerous for our kids unless we act urgently to cut greenhouse emissions by ending fossil fuel use in Australia.”
Another local mother, Anthea Duff, was also concerned.
“Children are more vulnerable to the health impacts of climatic disasters, such as longer, hotter heatwaves, and increased asthma and allergies from bushfires and storm events,” she said.
“And I worry about the mental health of young people – many teenagers are starting to feel despair for their future.”
To act on her own anxiety about climate impacts, Anthea has organised a local screening of the film ‘2040’ at Barwon Heads Community Hall on 1 December at 3pm (tickets trybooking.com/565221).
A group of concerned parents formed Australian Parents for Climate Action in January and it already has more than 5000 members and supporters.
The open letter to Scott Morrison can be seen at ap4ca.org/world-childrens-day-open-letter/.
