GOThe Youth Against Adani

Thousands of people have marched through Australia's capital cities in protest of Adani's Queensland coal mine project.

Thousands of people have marched through Australia’s capital cities in protest of Adani’s Queensland coal mine project.

Recently in the news…

Thousands of school kids gathered in the streets of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns to protest the policy of Indian mining giant Adani’s plans to dig a new thermal coal mine in Queensland.

The youth have called on state and federal governments, as well as the federal opposition, to stop Adani going ahead.

It is time to stand up against the ignorance of our government and their disregard for the catastrophic impacts the Carmichael Mine will have on Australia, and the world.

Adani Mines has requested that our opinions are not voiced in an irresponsible, illegal and unsafe way. However, they seem to have forgotten that their own actions are destructive, illegal and endanger the future of Australians.

Sydney dweller Jean Hinchliffe, age 14, encapsulated the overarching sentiment, “This is something we’re not going to sit on the fence.“ She said, “We’re going to keep fighting until the Labor party rule out Adani’s coal mine and all other new coal mines for good.”

I think we can all agree that Jean here has the right idea.

Here are some facts that we need to be addressed;

If the mine goes ahead, and there is a development of other mines in the basin, their potential combined maximum output would result in more than 705m tonnes of CO2 being emitted each year. That’s almost 1.3 times Australia’s total current emissions.

Adani itself has estimated it will use 12bn litres of water a year. That is almost 13 Olympic swimming pools per day being poured into the production of coal.

As that water level in the region drops, farmers’ bores will run dry and unique ecological communities in the region that rely on the natural springs may be destroyed.

A report by Environmental Justice Australia provided detailed evidence in support of Adani’s reputation as destructive. They produced evidence of Adani’s support for large-scale illegal mineral exports. Furthermore, Adani’s previous violations of Indian environment laws have detrimentally harmed environments and communities across the globe.

They have forgotten the importance of our environment. Money and profit are of more value than our planet and our future. What the authorities cannot seem to grasp is that there is no planet B, this planet is all we have got.

Collectively, we need to change the idea that money is worth more than our environment.

The only way forward is together.

We urge our YOMM readers to become apart of this change, and contact environmental organisations such as Greenpeace, and Stop Adani, to donate, to learn more, or to volunteer. If you have never volunteered before, check out our article on volunteering and generosity.

It is time to take our planet back.

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If you have any opinions that you want to voice, please do in the comments below. Also, if you have done any work towards the #StopAdani movement, let us know too!