Episode 10: Vivienne Paduch - Climate anxiety, school strikes and the power of non-violent protest
Non-violent protest has fundamentally changed the course of Australian and global history, and has shaped many of the privileges and social norms that we may take for granted today. Research has found that when 3.5% of the population is engaging in non-violent resistance, governments cannot survive without some sort of flex. The School Strike for climate has erupted over the past 18 months - ‘The Greta Affect’ as it has been dubbed, brings out various emotions and responses – it has provoked a global conversation, inspired local action. The strikers have coordinated some of Australia’s biggest climate protests – bringing 330,000 people to the streets. To help us understand more, and get under the hood of this global movement, we speak to Vivienne Paduch, a year 11 student from Sydney’s northern beaches and one of the founding strikers here in Australia.
KEY QUOTES
“climate change is something that is really really scary… “There has been more and more research, and voices from young people coming out, that it is affecting their mental health and it’s a really scary thing to have to think about and have to deal with… but then organising going to the protest, and seeing all this hope and this energy… that’s my motivation.”
“There is a very distinct rule in school strike. Adults are only really there to give support. All decisions are made by young people. All you initiatives are driven by young people.”
“When you’re as in involved in activism as I am or other people in school strike are, you have to find a balance between school work and activism. Sometimes activism gets more of a priority, sometimes school work gets more of a priority”
“We are protesting for our future. For a safe future. For a clean future. For a future where we don’t have bushfire seasons like this last one. Where we don’t have droughts. Where we don’t have flooding in coastal areas. All these things are so much more important than school work”.
“in Australia, the debate is not how do we combat climate change, it‘s ‘is climate change real’, and ‘do we even have to do anything’. What I would like to see is for that debate to shift. That started after the bushfire crisis, but we still have quite a way to go.
“I do have my fair share of climate anxiety… I’ve stopped reading news about climate catastrophise and whatever new doomsday studies, because I can’t handle it. Activism really has been a saviour to me. Even something as small as sending out emails to supporters, it’s all contributing.”