A message for students regarding the climate crisis

The following is an edited version of remarks made last week on behalf of Disrupt Burrup Hub at a panel discussion called 'Conversations on Change'. The event was hosted by Fossil Free UWA at the University of Western Australia.

Given you're all here - both at this university, and at this event, I'm going to presume you are rational, intelligent people. I'm going to presume you understand how severe the climate crisis has become.

You know forests in the south west of Western Australia are dying. You know fossil fuel execs make millions of dollars each year, while you and I struggle to make rent. You know there's forecast to be more than a billion climate refugees by 2050.

This is an unprecedented situation, and an unprecedented situation requires an unprecedented response.

With respect to the NGOs represented here tonight — they are not doing enough. With respect to my fellow direct action campaigners who are here tonight — we are not doing enough.

When I and others were formulating a strategy for Disrupt Burrup Hub, we decided that, to have any chance of winning, our tactics needed to be both escalatory and innovative. That is what the climate movement as a whole needs to be: escalatory and innovative. Whatever your role in the broader movement ecosystem, you can aspire to be this.

Students like yourselves have great power. You only need to look at the Gaza Solidarity Encampments springing up on campuses around the world to see that. Student power was also on display at the recent Woodside AGM. Two seventeen-year-old students were part of a creative intervention which successfully disrupted the meeting. An AGM for a fossil fuel company is a morally disgusting event, where profits made off the back of human suffering are celebrated. Such an event deserves to be disrupted. Media coverage of the action, as well as of other effective tactics used by different groups that day, gave an impression of Woodside as a company under siege. The day was a win for the movement, and these students played an important role in that.

I invite you to consider how you will step into your power. You can do so through nonviolent direct action, as practiced by Disrupt Burrup Hub. We practice nonviolent direct action because we believe disruption is necessary. Disruption is not the only thing that's necessary - we need a whole range of tactics - but it is an important part of any successful social movement. We need much more disruption. We'll get nowhere if we just ask for change nicely. We need to disrupt, and we need to do it en masse.

I sometimes hear students say they'd like to take disruptive action, but are worried doing so might impact their career prospects or reputation. Again, I presume you are rational people. A rational analysis suggests there won't be many career prospects left for anyone if the climate crisis is not adequately addressed. Whatever else the future holds, I trust those brave enough to follow their consciences in this time will be celebrated. Even now, you might be surprised how much people respect those who act upon what they believe.

When your actions match your principles, your life becomes meaningful. A life lived authentically is the most valuable thing in the world.