Global Climate Change Week (GCCW) activities ramp up at the University of Wollongong this week to remind the community “just how bad” the situation is.
Kate Simpson, secretary of the Wollongong branch of Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), assisted running the stall on Wednesday to get people involved in the activities and on board.
Ms Simpson said that some people believe that climate change is a far off issue, but it is already happening.
“I think [GCCW] is really important because we need to get more people aware of just how bad climate change is,’ she said.
“Climate change has become a desensitised word. Everybody hears about climate change but we don’t really understand how bad the crisis is and where we are headed.”
The AYCC stall included an interactive activity where participants could place a ‘frock on a croc,” in which students could express their stance in polluting companies paying for the fossil fuels they produce.
The University of Wollongong ran stalls on gardening, animal welfare, waste and nutrition to encourage students and the wider community to consider how they can reduce their carbon footprints. Interactive projects such as pot planting and coffee cup recycling were also included.
The Wollongong City Council’s Climate Change Mitigation Plan (2023 – 2030) was released last month which discusses an approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a local level. The earlier outline released in 2020 adopted practices like Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) collection bins and updating to LED lighting in the streetlight network
Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery said that future plans will adapt these actions until the community reaches net-zero.
“This draft plan introduced a 2030 interim target to reduce community emission by 50 per cent,” Cr Bradbery said.
“This isn’t a council plan, it’s a plan for everyone who lives or works in Wollongong, and those who visit our region. Together is the only way we can reach a net zero Wollongong,” he said.
AYCC Wollongong can be found on both Instagram (@ayccwollongong) and Facebook. The committee gathers fortnightly on a Monday and is open to the wider public.
