"The earth is dying, bro": examining the local effect of climate change on Australian children

Australian children and young people are bearing the brunt of climate change. Depending on the landscape in which they live, they experience highly varied, and devastating, climate-related effects in their local environments and communities. This article examines the experiences and perceptions of 49 young people in three locations across New South Wales, including Western Sydney, the Upper Hunter and the Northern Rivers. Based on a seven-month research project involving multiple creative and participatory workshops with children in each region, the article highlights the specific climate-related challenges and fears that children face in each landscape, including rising temperatures and overcrowding in Western Sydney, the effects of mining in the just transition community of the Upper Hunter, and the impact of severe flooding in Northern Rivers. This article demonstrates that Australian children and young people are already facing the effects of climate change in their everyday lives, including access to resources, interruptions to schooling, loss of familial economic security, relocation of community structures and populations, and increasing amounts of eco-anxiety. It concludes that children’s perceptions and experiences of climate change are heavily influenced by geographic location and socioeconomic difference.