Today Good Shepherd marched in School Strike for Climate, joining thousands of school students, parents, teachers and other allies on Wurundjeri land at Flagstaff Gardens in Naarm/Melbourne.
Good Shepherd delivers innovative, place-based services to women, girls and families around Australia, supporting them to live safe lives free from violence, and enjoy dignified income and financial wellbeing.
So why are we marching for climate justice?
From our nationwide, on-the-ground presence we know that the climate crisis is disproportionately harming women and families in their everyday lives. They face:
- Homes and living environments that are unsafe and lack resilience during disasters, heat and other climate extremes
- Exclusion from affordable, clean energy
- Additional risks of family violence and risks to child wellbeing
- Financial insecurity due to more frequent and severe disasters
- A lack of rights and representation in decision-making, to enable women and families to cope with the climate crisis, and to accelerate the action that’s needed to create a safe climate
Children are particularly threatened by the climate crisis, as the visual below shows.1
Unless stronger action is taken now to justly and drastically cut fossil fuel emissions, children aged ten or younger in 2020 will face a nearly four-fold increase in extreme events under 1.5 degrees of warming by 2100, and a five-fold increase under 3 degrees of warming. For a person aged 55 in 2020, these impacts will not be felt in their lifetime.2
Despite the threats children face, they have some of the most limited rights and representation in our parliaments and other places of power.
That’s why climate justice is a priority for Good Shepherd in our 2023-2027 Strategic Plan.
And that’s why Good Shepherd marched with school students today – in solidarity with their right to be heard and drive change, and to join their call for the better future that’s within our reach.
Good Shepherd will have more to share about climate justice for women and families in 2024.
[1] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, AR6 Synthesis Report, Figure SPM.1