Page 33 - EarthHeroes

from their families and sent to new homes so that they would not be raised with their traditional culture and language. In 2008, the Australian Prime Minister apologised for these ‘Stolen Generations’ and today some ancestral lands
are being returned to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the government tries to correct some of the wrongs of the past. However,
as a result of their suffering, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today live in poor communities without access to the land of
their ancestors and with fewer resources to
deal with the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, droughts and lack of clean drinking water.
Amelia felt that Indigenous peoples
had important wisdom to share
but were not always heard, so she
was excited to be asked to give a
speech at a national climate change
rally organised by the Australian Youth
Climate Coalition (AYCC). There she
spoke powerfully on behalf of young
Indigenous Australians about why
climate change mattered to them.
She had arranged for 60 students
from her school to take part in the event,
but while she was thrilled to see so many
other young climate activists, she was disappointed that there were so few Indigenous campaigners among them. She spoke to the event organiser, Anna Rose, about her feelings and Anna invited her to become the AYCC coordinator for Indigenous youth.
In 2012, Amelia was thrilled to be selected to join the International Antarctic Expedition. She was one of a group of young people learning about the impact of climate change on one of the planet’s most untouched and unspoiled areas and thinking about how they could make a positive difference to the world.
Later that year, Amelia also had the opportunity to trek up Mount Everest in
Nepal as part of AYCC’s ‘Climb-it for Climate’ project. Here she marvelled at
the breathtaking scenery, but also learned from her local guide how changing weather patterns and melting glaciers were having a terrible effect on the people of the Himalayas. Climate change was a problem for communities everywhere.
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