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Bellawongarah is characterized by a brief moment of silence after sundown. The “symphony in the evening” then begins.
As nature awakens, the gentle rustling of the trees gives way to a cacophony croaks or hoots.
Nestled between Berry and the Kangaroo Valley in the NSW Shoalhaven region, about 130 people call the quaint mountain community home.
Surrounded by temperate rainforest and rolling valleys, it’s easy to understand Bellawongarah’s hold.
In recent years, however, things have changed.
First, the frogs and snakes disappeared, and with it the amphibians’ nightly melody — the side-effect of a drought that relegated dams to a “murky puddle” and dried out the once-damp rainforest.
Then came the bushfires.
Eleanor’s parents property was not damaged, but Eleanor saw the enormity of the situation as she watched wildlife fleeing the inferno surrounding them.
“It was quite scary because, for months on end, we just could smell smoke in the air just travelling up the coast,” she says.
“But it also made my heart want to act after seeing the impacts of climate change on my own life and in my local community.”
It’s personal for young Aussies
Young Australians are front and centre of the climate crisis and, in the face of extreme weather events across the country, it’s a story shaped by personal experience.
Our World, Our Say — the nation’s largest consultation of children and young people on climate change and disaster risk, led by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience and World Vision — We surveyed 1,447 young Australians aged 10-24 years..
The 2020 report found that than 80 per cent of participants aged over 16 years were concerned or extremely concerned about climate change.
Over 90% of respondents said they had experienced at most one natural hazard in the last three years. Only 33% reported more frequent disasters.
“We had to evacuate with the bushfires, which obviously was a major experience that I’ll always remember,” Eleanor says.
“People just think it’s climate change, it is just the world heating.” But it has so many major consequences.
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As large swathes on Australia’s east coast deal with the effects of flash flooding and sustained rainfall, the conversation is now turning to the nation’s climate response.
But this time, it’s the young people who are making a difference.
Tens of thousands of students gathered at School Strike For Climate rallies across America last month to support those who were affected by the floods. They spoke of becoming “climate refugees”.
“Have you ever had to flee from your house, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a storm, scared out of your mind because you don’t know what’s going to happen, or if you will survive, or if your house will still be OK, or if your friends are OK?” Ella O’Dwyer-Oshlack, 13 — who lost her house during Lismore’s flood catastrophe — told crowds outside Kirribilli House.
“It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Exposure to extreme weather events directly can cause severe damage
Emerging evidence from Australia and internationally suggests that children and young people who are directly exposed to extreme weather events are at risk of a range of psychological effects.
One study investigating the impact of 2020’s Black Summer bushfires on young people — led by researchers at the University of New England — found that those directly exposed to the crisis reported significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress, adjustment disorder symptoms, as well as drug and alcohol use than those who were not.
The study — which involved a survey of 740 young people in New South Wales between the ages of 16 and 25 years — also found that those who were directly exposed were more likely to believe that climate change was going to affect them, or people they knew.
Associate Professor Amy Lykins says there needs to be a greater focus on bolstering support services in regional and rural communities to build psychological resilience to challenges that climate change will bring.
“Building that up and building up that community capacity is really important to help provide better opportunities for resilience going into the future,” she says.
With the Black Summer fires preceded by severe droughts in some areas, and followed by floods in others, experts also point to the cascading and compounding impacts of successive major weather events, which can affect people’s ability to recover.
Doom and gloom are not always the right answer
The classroom has become something of a battlefield as young people are placed on the frontlines of climate change.
An abundance of water is available in Western Australia. Investigating schools’ responses to climate change is currently underway, while Victoria’s draft climate change adaptation plan is exploring what can be done to ensure schools and early childhood education services are able to “More extreme weather.”
While the complexity of climate change may leave some feeling there is little that can be done at an individual level, in a classroom in Canberra, one teenager is trying to change the climate around climate change, one student at a time.
For the high school student, it’s a topic as exciting as it is challenging.
When he joined his school’s environmental group, he faced a dilemma: How do you get a bunch teenagers to see recycling as interesting?
“I thought, “Why don’t you do something really different?” If it’s funny, it’s memorable and people are more likely to remember the messages,” Joji says.
During their monthly assembly, the group stages wheelie bin races and “Binja Warrior” style obstacle courses, where contestants must dodge obstacles to put rubbish in the bin.
It’s an unconventional strategy designed to “bridge the gap between our actions and impacts”, and create a connection between the smell of sorting bins and the camaraderie of competition.
Joji says, “Our work with the environment group has shown that people care and that they are able change their habits to improve the environment.”
“We can do little things to help some of these climate-related issues.”
‘We can just slow it down’
Joji candidly reflects on the future: “I believe there’s still time for change.”
“There’s definitely still time and that, if we change our habits now, we’ll be able to stop climate change from becoming a big problem in the future,” he says.
Eleanor, having seen the changes to her property first-hand understands that it is a sentiment that stirs mixed emotions.
The onus has been put on younger generations to come up with a solution to climate change, she says.
After fires tore through the landscape around Bellawongarah, the rains followed — and, with it, the once-lost frogs and snakes returned.
These days, life almost resembles what it once did.
However, the wood ducks don’t breed there anymore, Eleanor says, while animals once deterred by the temperature and altitude now feel at home further up the mountain.
She says, “It’s not just big things like icebergs melting.”
“Climate change can impact everyone, even in the smallest ways.”
The ABC’s Heywire Competition is open to all regional Australians aged between 16 and 22.
The annual competition gives young people in Australia, who are often marginalized, a platform to “tell it as it is”.
If you’re between 16-22 years old and would like more information about the program, ABC Heywire Competition, go here The ABC Heywire website.
