Jarrah Gosbell
I first met Jarrah after he signed up on our volunteer form and said he had some computer skills. Being the computer guy around the AYCC at the moment, I got in touch with him to have a chat, and I was blown away by how Jarrah had found the AYCC, and what he’s been up to.
In year 10 at school, Jarrah hasn’t had any local climate action groups to be involved with. Instead, he’s just had the never-ending view of coal ships coming in to Australia’s largest coal port, Newcastle, to load up and head off to China. The sight of those ships, and the knowledge that the amazing Great Barrier Reef is deteriorating as a direct result of our huge fossil fuel consumption, was too much for Jarrah to take.
Coal ships waiting outside the Newcastle port. Photo: Jarrah Gosbell
Jarrah found the AYCC through online searches and also the advert we ran on Channel 10 calling on world leaders to take action. But before he found the AYCC he was already taking action. In 2008, Jarrah embarked on an ambitious campaign to write hundreds of letters to politicians with his views on how inadequate their climate decision were. He said he got started with some auto-generated ones, but took the idea and ran with it. One recent email begins:
Dear Mr Rudd
I have just finished listening to your interview on the 7:30 Report and would like to say that I don’t feel you are being whole-hearted and actually showing what you feel on the front of climate change.
Jarrah’s even in the process of creating a blog of his own to document all of his correspondence to the elected officials that are supposed to be working for us.
With the AYCC, Jarrah has been editing Climate Reality Week photos to present them online, doing research, and has even pulled together a highlights video from Climate Reality Week actions around the country to drive the message home to Rudd. Check out his video:
Jarrah, we’re thrilled to have you as part of the youth climate movement in Australia. Keep up the great work!
Morgan Goodwin is the Interim Online Director for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
