In 2011 the Australian climate movement achieved some pretty amazing victories. But as the year draws to a close, we want to reflect on more than just the high-profile wins – we want to celebrate the thousands of small moments that these successes were built on.
Our movement is not created through media coverage or celebrity endorsements, but through the hard work and dedication of young Australians in every corner of the country. In 2011, thousands of AYCC members took action in their communities, and because they did we now have more reason than ever to be optimistic about what the future holds.
Here are a few highlights from the past year at AYCC – we hope you enjoy them, and would love to hear your stories!
Dancing for a price on pollution
The first half of 2011 was about one thing: securing a price on pollution. The big polluters and vested interests ran a huge fear campaign against the carbon price.
But although they had millions of dollars in advertising and the backing of radio shock-jocks, they didn’t have Murray’s dance moves.
A day with the Deputy Prime Minister
During our campaign Meet Your Member we connected young people with their local MPs . But what happens when your local MP is the Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan?
Well, Gene from Swan’s electorate of Lilley decided to find out. A few weeks after they met in a shopping centre cafe to talk about the carbon price, Swan decided he wanted to meet with Gene again – this time in Canberra, for the Climate Commission’s public forum.
Here’s what Gene wrote on our blog:
“If you are someone reading this who cares about climate change, and you don’t know if you can make a difference let me tell you, straight up: you are wrong…We don’t know how the world will act, but what we can control is what we do ourselves. We have an opportunity in Australia – an opportunity to take the first of many steps to tackle this complex problem. We can’t just say it is all too hard, that maybe we will rock the boat too far and end up capsized in the water.”
Building a renewable energy future
At the end of the Meet Your Member campaign, we brought 100 AYCC members from all over the country to Canberra. On the final morning we pulled off a creative media action outside Parliament House – here’s an account from Joel, our South Australian State Co-ordinator at the time:
“At the end of the Meet Your Member campaign I did a road trip to Canberra with about 20 other South Australians, and we joined a total of 100 AYCC volunteers. One morning, the hundred of us woke up in the early hours and travelled in the dark to Parliament House, where we built our own solar thermal power plant.
It was a special moment – the next generation of Australians, who’d just spent months meeting their MPs, coming to Parliament House to share their vision for how Australia could be powered by clean, safe, baseload solar power. It began to rain but nothing could extinguish our smiles. I still remember the beautiful people I met then in Canberra, the connections that were made, and the beginnings of our movement to reclaim the future we deserve.”
Bringing together our Brisbane team
When we decided to hold a 1000 person Power Shift in Brisbane, we knew we wouldn’t be able to do it without a fantastic local team. Our on-the-ground members in Brisbane rose to the challenge, and built a huge network which didn’t just pull of Power Shift, but is now leading dozens of local AYCC groups across the state.
Our General Manager, Glen, was in Brisbane for one of the first meetings of the new team:
“They’d literally spent an entire week personally phoning every person in Brisbane who had ever opened an AYCC email and inviting them to a ‘Brisbane branch launch’. Then, on a Monday evening the launch actually happened and there were forty people packed into the little deck outside the Brisbane office – people who were completely new to AYCC but wanted to help make Power Shift happen. For the first time it really felt to me like it was going to be possible to pull off Power Shift.”
Ahri’s Power Shift speech
At Power Shift Brisbane we had some great high-profile speakers – everyone from Jessica Watson to Dick Smith and Kumi Naidoo. But for many of us the the most powerful speeches came from AYCC members – like Ahri Tallon, who relocated to Brisbane ahead of Power Shift to help us build our Queensland branch. His passionate words gave us chills and reduced more than a few of us to tears – here’s a favourite quote:
“We know we need a movement, and we’ve got one in the making. But what does it feel like? Movements feel like a spine-tingling jolt of positive energy, hope and optimism.”
Claire, Ewen and Benedict from the Pacific share their stories
We travelled to the UN climate talks in South Africa to continue to build the international youth climate movement. We learnt from incredible young campaigners from all over the world, saw the birth of the South African Youth Climate Coalition, and were reminded of just how urgent the climate crisis is.
Here are the stories of three young people from the Pacific who we met in Durban. For them, climate change is not just another political issue – it’s the critical problem that is threatening their survival.
Repower goes local
At Power Shift we launched Repower Australia, a campaign focused on starting the transformation we need to become a nation powered by 100% renewable energy. It started with a petition to the Government and the newly formed Clean Energy Finance Corporation, calling on the pledged $10 billion for clean energy to go to real renewables, not coal or gas.
In the weeks after Power Shift, we were blown away by just how many AYCC members hit the streets with our petition. In just two months we collected close to 20,000 signatures, and had tens of thousands of conversations in train stations, shopping centres, and at local community events. Here’s an awesome video from AYCC Macedon Ranges:
What was your favourite moment from 2011? Leave us a comment below!
