For much of her young life local teenager, Monet Shortland, has engaged in what she describes as ‘a kind of silent activism’.
‘I’ve always been taught never to litter, not to buy single-use plastic and to be mindful of the beautiful environment we live in,’ says the 15-year-old from the north of the Byron Shire.
‘This being in the back of my mind, it’s kind of formed into this activism inside my head that I try to live by.’
So when the opportunity to become one of the leaders of a new environmental empowerment project for youth called Ocean Voices came up, Monet took the chance with both hands.
The brainchild of local social entrepreneur, Simone Roseler, Ocean Voices is a new project that aims to give youth a voice in the crucial public conversation about climate change and the future of the planet.
Top concern for youth
A recent survey of 19,000 young people conducted by Mission Australia found that the state of the environment was the top concern of youth in Australia, followed by mental health.
It was with this in mind that Ocean Voices came into being, grounded in the belief that young people have the power and the passion to create and deliver real change given the right environment and resources.
‘It gives kids like me the opportunity to have our thoughts, anxieties or whatever we feel about the environment to be heard,’ Monet says.
‘It also gives us a great opportunity to actually do something positive with this drowning feeling of eco-anxiety that has somehow ended up on the shoulders of our generation.’
Ocean Voices is funded through the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation’s Backing the Future program, which provides grants to individuals with an early-stage idea to support rural and regional young people.
While Ocean Voices is concerned with protecting the planet as a whole, it has a particular focus on protecting and preserving our oceans, firstly because they are at the centre of global ecology, and secondly, because they are such a key part of life in the Northern Rivers.
Part of this realisation was a desire to support work within the sustainable ocean economy, also known as the ‘blue economy’, and to encourage young people to be directly involved in shaping it.
‘I’ve witnessed the incredible outcomes of giving youth a voice in my previous work with a youth-focused environmental charity, and I’m committed to bringing this to young people in the Northern Rivers.
The core of the program is the Young Ocean Leaders – a foundation leadership group which helps to create positive solutions for the health of the planet, and empowers other youth to speak up.
Applications to join the leadership group are now open, with those interested, or who want further information, invited to email Simone at [email protected].
The leadership group will be front and centre for the project’s first official event, an Ocean Action Workshop.
The workshop will bring together speakers from a variety of environmental organisations and businesses to engage directly with the Young Ocean Leaders.
‘The essential part of this event is that it will give youth the floor to share their voice on what is important to them and the opportunities they want to explore,’ Ms Roseler says.
‘I can’t wait to see local young people like Monet given the opportunity to be heard, really heard, in a public forum.’
‘They are the ones who are really driving Ocean Voices and, in my view, the solutions we need to save the planet.’
