Realising common ground: Custodianship of country and youth climate action

Australian First Nations relational worldviews perceive an inextricable connection between the wellness of Country, climate health and holistic wellbeing. As Australian First Nations have much at stake in a climate crisis, it is reasonable to expect that Climate activist narratives reflect shared politics important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This chapter employs an Indigenous-led methodological approach to assess climate activism placards from a series of school strikes on Gadigal land in Australia. In doing this, we identify expressions of activism that include Australian First Nations visual and language narratives and contemplate the potential benefits of the overlapping dynamics between youth and Country-centred perspectives in climate change protest and grassroots activism. We understand grassroots activism as being informed by the politics of place, therefore our visual analysis is grouped into global, national, and local perspectives. This strengths-based First Nations approach reveals how climate activism can evoke strong covalence between Indigenous Custodianship of Country and non-Indigenous Youth allyship through shared intentions focused on the common goal of protecting the planet. This potential relationship acknowledges the importance of Indigenous Knowledges, place-based rights and sovereignties, and illuminates they are fundamental to grassroots climate activism and implicit in achieving successful and specific action.