Australian Youth Climate Coalition

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) is a youth organisation in Australia.[4][5] The coalition consists of 25 other youth organisations, which includes the National Union of Students amongst many.[2][6] The organisation aims "to build a generation-wide movement to solve the climate crisis, through uniting diverse youth organisations around this common challenge"[7] Internationally, the coalition is part of the Global Youth Climate Movement.

Australian Youth Climate Coalition
AbbreviationAYCC
Motto"Building a generation wide movement to solve the climate crisis before it's too late"
FormationNovember 2006[1]
Purposeclimate justice
HeadquartersMelbourne
Region served
 Australia
Membership
150,000+
Official language
English
National Director
Gemma Borgo-Caratti
AffiliationsAustralian Climate Change Education Network, Affinity, AIESEC, Australian Medical Student Association, Australian Student Environment Network, Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, Centre for Sustainability Leadership, Engineers without Borders, International Young Professionals Foundation, Just Act, Law Students for a Just Community, National Indigenous Youth Movement of Australia, National Union of Students, Oaktree, Oz Green, Sai Youth, Student Organised Network for Architecture, The Otesha Project (Australia), UN Youth Australia, Vision Generation.[2]
Staff
20[3]
WebsiteAYCC.org.au

History

In 2004, organisations, which would later form the Youth Climate Movement, began to come together. Following on from the formation of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition in September 2006, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition formed in November 2006 with 27 youth organisations from across the nation at a founding youth summit.[1][8][9]

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition is a non-partisan, non-profit coalition with the aim of "educating, inspiring, empowering and mobilising an entire generation in the struggle for climate justice and a clean energy future."

In 2009, the then Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner awarded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition's co-founders, Amanda McKenzie and Anna Rose, as well as the current National Director, Ellen Sandell, with the Environment Minister's Young Environmentalist of the Year Award for their efforts.[10]

Campaigns
Demonstration in Melbourne (2009)

Every year since the formation of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, the organisation has sent a youth delegation to the United Nations Conferences on Climate Change to advocate on behalf of young people.[11][12][13] For the 2008 conference in Poznań, Poland, the Australian delegation travelled through ten nations to reach the summit.[14] Similarly in December 2009, the organisation sent a second youth delegation to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference along with other members of the Youth Climate Movement.

Main article: Power Shift

Power Shift is the name of an annual youth summit which was held in the United States for the first time in 2007.[15] Two years later in 2009, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, in partnership with the University of Western Sydney, GetUp and Greenpeace, organised the Australian Powershift Conference on 11 to 13 July 2009.[16] The summit attracted 1,5000 young people. Guests included former Vice President of the USA Al Gore, the swimmer Ian Thorpe and the actress Brooke Satchwell.[17] The event concluded with a gathering outside the Sydney Opera House.[18]

The AYCC ran regional Power Shift in 2010 in Adelaide, Canberra and Geelong. In 2011 Power Shift was held in Brisbane and Perth with 1000 young people. The summits included a range of speakers, events and workshops.

In 2013 AYCC will host Australia's largest ever youth climate summit, in Melbourne from 13–15 July.

Youth Decide

In September 2009 the AYCC organised Youth Decide with World Vision Australia. It was Australia's first national youth climate vote. 2,000 volunteers ran 330 Youth Decide events with over 37,500 young people voting.

In September 2011 the AYCC held a second Youth Decide, giving young people the opportunity to vote on the renewable energy targets they wanted the Federal Government to set.

2010 Election Campaign

During the 2010 election campaign the AYCC mobilised hundreds of young people to put climate change back on the political agenda. This included automated phone calls to politicians, hanging out scorecards rating the three main political parties climate policies and the very popular climate elephant, which was featured widely in the media and is now used as an example of excellent grassroots election campaigning.

Meet Your Member

In 2011 the AYCC ran a campaign called Meet Your Member. This involved young people from all across the country meeting with their local MP or Senator and express their view on Climate Change. Local volunteers also collected hundreds of signatures on postcards which they presented to MP's in the meetings.

Walk for Solar

In 2012 100 young people walked 328 km over 15 days from Port Augusta to Adelaide. This major event, organised by the AYCC, was part of the wider Repower Port Augusta campaign, pushing for investment in Australia's first concentrated solar thermal plant in Port Augusta. The event gained significant national media and political attention. The chief spokesperson for the project was Daniel Spencer.

gollark: What? How would that work?Also you could detect the suspicious mirrory behavior.
gollark: Totally worth it!
gollark: Just surgically implant cameras in their forehead and monitor the streams at 3x speed or something so you can continuously monitor them.
gollark: Unlikely.
gollark: I assume it uses the standard HTTP(S) ones.

See also

References
  1. "About Us". Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  2. "The Coalition". Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  3. "About Us". Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  4. "Australian Youth Climate Coalition". Wiser Earth. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  5. "Australian Youth Climate Coalition". Act Now. Archived from the original on 24 September 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  6. "It's the climate, stupid". ABC News. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  7. "Australian Youth Climate Coalition". Climate Lab. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  8. "Our Mission". Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. Archived from the original on 18 May 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  9. "Australian Youth Climate Change Coalition launched". Green Left. 24 November 2006. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  10. "Earthwatch wins PM's environment award". Sunday Times. 26 July 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  11. "Indian Government Opens Climate Debate To Youth". World Changing. 6 August 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  12. "Youth coalition challenges UN meeting to take stand on climate change". United Nations News Service. 24 September 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  13. "U.N. climate talks leave youth out in the cold". Reuters. 5 October 2008. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  14. "The thrills and spills of carbon-reduced travel". Melbourne: The Age. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  15. "Youth Leaders Shift Attention To Environment at Power Shift Summit in D.C." MTV. 6 November 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  16. Munro, Kelsey (11 July 2009). "Climate warriors march behind little green book". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  17. "Youth speak out on climate change goals". WA Today. 6 July 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  18. "Thousands meet in Sydney for climate change fight". Full Story. 10 July 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
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