Act Before It’s Too Late: UNICEF Youth Ambassador Eva Massey
Do we really understand our environment? Do we know what is happening around us? Have we tried to take a look at our surrounding by taking time out from our daily lives? Do we know how much we are polluting the environment? Is our government doing enough to save it? Is it our responsibility or government? So many questions and yet we are in the middle of the climate change crisis.
According to the state of climate report by CSIRO, the Australian climate is getting worse. Increase in heat waves, oceans getting warmer, decrease in rainfall, sea levels are rising and oceans around Australia are acidifying.
What does our young generation have to say about this because they are the one whose future is at stake?
According to the report of PLAN Australia, every young child feels it is the responsibility of the older generation, government and the current young generation to look out for their environment. Climate change is everybody’s concern. However, in a survey, 91% of the younger generation in Australia believe that the government is not using their resources enough to mitigate the issue and their future is in danger. The younger generation also makes a point staying, ‘actions of the wealthier countries like Australia is paid by the poorest countries in the world’.
What is our younger generation doing about such issues?
The young generation is trying to learn from the mistakes of the older generation and clued into the reality that there are solutions to climate change. They are coming with solutions of using reusable energy, greenhouse effects, reducing food loss and waste and science & technology to protect the ecosystem. At the same time, the recent climate strikes in well-known cities in the world such as Melbourne, Sydney, New York, London where school children are missing schools to find out solutions to climate change through government initiatives.
Among all these young people, there is one 17-year UNICEF Australia young ambassador, Eva Massey who is making a difference in the world as some of us cannot at this early age. Eva is from Melbourne and she has been an active socialist towards climate change from the age of 12. Eva grew up in a greener, safer and beautiful environment. She loved enjoying the beauty of Australia. However, when she was five years old, it was quite clear to her that the world is going to be much worse and the people who are affecting it are not going to experience the worse. She said in her blog with UNICEF that,
“I am not just thinking about my children or my children’s children. I’m thinking about me. I have to live with an environment that is changing for the worse”.
At the age of 16, Eva joined UNICEF along with with other seven young people as the powerful pack. She said while joining UNICEF that, “I felt that I had no voice. Being 16, not being able to vote, I felt like there was a lot of restrictions on what I could and couldn’t do. I saw this as an opportunity to get my voice heard.”
Working with UNICEF have given Eva the opportunity to do her part of the responsibility. Eva has actively participated in conducting surveys and listening to young children across the country. She worked with YouGov Galaxy to conduct an online survey for the young age group between 14–17 years of age those will be eligible for voting in recent time. She has also attended various public events that focus on education and climate change. She has written various blogs related to schoolchildren who strongly react towards climate change and its effects.
Eva’s childhood has always been around the environment and in her primary school, she has been taught to care for the environment, for example, sorting out the recycle bin. With the destructive activities around her, she has taken the actions into her hand and through UNICEF she is doing whatever she can do.
Are you doing your best to save your future?
