Opinion: I'm 12, And I Don't Understand Why Adults Vote To Destroy The Planet

My name is Clem. I am twelve years old and I live in a small town in Far North Queensland, Australia. Where I live is so beautiful and so precious. It is the home of the largest living structure on Earth - the Great Barrier Reef. Vast mountains surround me and there is bright red dirt under my feet. It is almost always lovely and quiet here. All I can hear is the distant chirping of birds and the rustle of leaves. And that’s how I like it.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living
 structure, is dying amid rising sea temperatures.

We had an election in Australia last weekend, and it did not go well. I feel angry and disappointed, because our government doesn’t take the climate emergency seriously. We don’t have a vote, but school students like me have been going on strike and working so incredibly hard to get them to listen.

Read the Buzzfeed story - “Opinion: I'm 12, And I Don't Understand Why Adults Vote To Destroy The Planet.”

‘Wake-up call': microplastics found in Great Australian Bight sediment

Plastic has been found in ocean-floor sediments 2km below the surface in one of Australia’s most precious and isolated marine environments.

The Great Australian Bight marine park, a so-called ‘pristine’ biodiversity
hotspot where microplastics have been found below the surface.

CSIRO scientists discovered the microplastic pieces while analysing samples taken hundreds of kilometres offshore at the bottom of the Great Australian Bight – a so-called “pristine” biodiversity hotspot and marine treasure.

Conservationists and scientists said the discovery off the South Australian coast should act as a “wake-up call” for governments and corporations to cut unnecessary use of plastics and to “legislate and incentivise” to tackle the growing ocean plastics problem.

Read Graham Readfearn’s story from The Guardian - “‘Wake-up call': microplastics found in Great Australian Bight sediment.”