One of Chris Bowen’s more unusual souvenirs from his trip to Wollongong to declare the Illawarra’s offshore wind zone is a surfboard. But the Minister for Climate Change and Energy won’t be using it in the waves.

A beautifully painted artwork, the old board has been decorated with messages of hope by the 28 young people aged 14 to 25 who attended the Illawarra’s first Youth Climate Leadership Summit at Thirroul Surf Club in May.

“My chunk is ‘protect what you love’. It’s in pink, in the middle,” said University of Wollongong ecologist Georgia Watson, one of the summit’s organisers and speakers.

Georgia was one of a small group including some participants and their parents that gathered in Wollongong on Saturday to present Chris Bowen with the surfboard, as well as a Declaration of Support for Offshore Wind developed at the summit.

“I’m really happy to have been able to facilitate the messages of the youth of the Illawarra – that, to me, is really important," Georgia said. 

"We know it’s their future, and they’re going to live with the most climate impacts. So to be able to hand this over to the Climate Change and Energy Minister, a national leader, it really made me feel very warm and fuzzy.

“I’m feeling pretty stoked. I’m happy that we’ve seen this declared. I’m looking forward to more community consultation and hopefully we can see independent environmental assessment."

Youth summit inspired declaration of support 

Hosted by Surfers for Climate at Thirroul Surf Club on May 11, the youth summit featured a stellar line-up of local speakers, including Professor Tim Flannery; Electrify 2515’s Kristen McDonald; and Director of the Energy Futures Network UOW, Ty Christopher.

By the end of the day, the youth group had sufficient information to write a Declaration of Support for Offshore Wind.

Their declaration lists five principles to guide the development of responsible offshore wind in our region, including strong environmental research, community engagement and empowerment, job creation and economic growth, a clean energy transition and climate action.

“We believe that transitioning to renewable energy sources is essential to mitigating climate change and preserving a livable planet for all,” the young people wrote. “We believe that climate change is the greatest threat to our marine and avian ecosystems and the health of the oceans.”

The group also spent time summarising these commitments for their artwork. The surfboard was a black blank canvas, repurposed by local business Creative Kooks, which saves old boards from landfill. The young artists soon adorned it with colourful sea creatures and messages including “Our Future!” And “Green Energy!”

“People were drawing whales, they were drawing wind farms, the sun. There’s a lot of imagery of marine life, shells, seaweed. And so I think what it comes down to, what’s distilled onto that board is what people really care about, what they value,” Georgia said.

Young people welcome zone declaration

Thirroul law graduate Luke Gelder, a member of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and the Tomorrow Movement, was also at the handover ceremony on Saturday.

“Chris was very happy to receive the surfboard and then the youth declaration,” Luke said.

Luke is pleased that the offshore wind zone has been declared.

“We know that climate change is already here and affecting us so we need to get the ball moving,” he said.

“Basically I don’t think I’ve spoken to a young person who hasn’t either been supportive, like 'in principle' support where everything’s done right, or they just don’t know enough and would like to learn more, because they understand that climate change is one of the biggest issues that they are currently facing.

“We need renewable energy to transition away from the fossil fuel industry that’s perpetuating climate change.

“Chris Bowen was saying a lot about providing for local benefits and local jobs, so provided he can pull through on that front, that would be the best thing that we can possibly do on an economic front.”

More young voices needed

A science communicator who has been chosen for the prestigious Homeward Bound leadership program, Georgia believes more young voices need to be heard in the energy transition.

“We need to hear a diversity of voices, especially of young people,” she said. “We need to see young people’s voices because climate change is affecting their future the most.”

“We know that climate change is having huge impacts in the ocean already and so this offshore wind announcement’s a really positive first step.”

In 2022, Georgia travelled to East Antarctica's Casey Station as a research assistant and her talk at the youth summit drew on this experience to explain how the frozen continent is affecting our oceans.

“It’s going to be quite complicated as we see the effects of climate change affecting Antarctica in real time,” Georgia said.

“We’ve seen the lowest sea ice extent in both summer and winter in Antarctica; on the East Coast of Australia, we’ve been seeing marine heat waves for years. So as we see a shift in how the ocean is responding to climate change, we’re going to see different regional responses from whales.

“We know that in Antarctica's West Peninsula, they’ve already observed when krill stocks are low in the previous year, then the following year we’ll see reduced pregnancy rates of whales.”

Georgia said the young people who attended the Thirroul summit were “really curious” and “really concerned for the future”.

“We know that the only way forward through some of the eco grief and despair and eco anxiety is action. And so getting involved with a day like this, I think, was a really positive step for young people.

“We know that taking action makes a difference in their lives and I think the overall message of the workshop was of positivity and that there is hope for the future – but we need to act now.”

See Rising Up tonight

Georgia's current role is as LIFT Project Coordinator at UOW, working on gender equity in STEM and entrepreneurship. To help raise funds for her Homeward Bound voyage to Antarctica next January, Georgia is hosting a documentary screening of Rising Up, produced by Take 3 for the Sea ambassador Kal Glanznig, at UOW Science Space on June 19. After the screening, there’ll be a panel discussion by Kal and local climate advocates. Book here.

This article was updated on June 18.

Read more about Saturday’s wind zone declaration here, why protestors were happy to hear from the Nationals here and an opinion piece by UOW's Michelle Voyer and Ty Christopher here.