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Talking things out makes for a better life Young People Matters represents the voices of young people in Byron Shire, presented by the Byron Youth Service bys.org.au is trying to teach me, why should they control everything I think? [Sure] put the ideas out there, let me grab them, but then use them for my own good.
Melanie*, 15. What has been the best experience in your life?
Moving out of the Catholic school system. I haven’t really done anything that great – I’m still young. Moving to Byron High made a really good change for me. It meets my criteria and I can have a really good shot at a future now.
What’s important in a relationship?
Trust. I think common values, definitely, if you value the same type of things. Attraction, but not so much physical attraction if you’re attracted by somebody’s energy. The person I want to be friends with or a boyfriend – I want to have very inviting energy and make me feel safe.
What inspires you?
My grandfather, definitely. He’s about 73 – he still works two jobs, I couldn’t see myself without him – he’s so hard working and amazing. I can’t think of anything I’ve done that didn’t require a little something from him – like his knowledge or money or talking to me. He’s a very good person. Who would you like to meet and what would you ask them?
I don’t know who relates to me because I’ve been through a lot. Oprah is a go-to kind of person. I’d like to ask how she turned her bad past into something positive. How she took that and used that to turn it into something good. What would you like to see happen in Byron Bay?
From my perspective, in my high school – a bit more union, a bit more unity. There are just so many groups by themselves… [It would be good if] everyone was more
Photo Yani Clarke
*Names have been changed. friendly in the streets, like it used to be. And less smoking. Especially at top park. Because everyone sits so close to each other, it could really divide the atmosphere; it breaks up groups, conversations. If there were a designated spot for them to smoke where it could affect nobody but themselves. When do you think a person becomes an adult and how?
When they are forced to take on adult responsibilities, I reckon that’s when they become adult. I don’t think it matters about age. When they take their own responsibilities, make their own appointments, travel, that’s what makes somebody a mature adult. What do you believe in?
Is that a god kind of thing?
I wouldn’t call myself a religious person. I believe there is someone there, but I don’t know who, or something that has a say over everything and puts obstacles in front of you for a reason. I don’t believe in war. I believe in a verbal community where you can say anything and express yourself and talk it out and not resort to those terrible things like war and violence. Because if you don’t speak about things, it builds up and you end up hating the person way more than you have to. What has been the worst experience in your life?
The second time my mum kicked me out was the worst, because it was resolved in an immature way; there was no talking. That made me resent authority because there was no talking. It was done in a scary way. She dropped me
off at the car – I had heaps of stuff with me because I had just came back from a camping trip and she said: ‘Get out of the car. Don’t call me Mum.’ I didn’t understand – that made me resent others in authority, teachers or friends, because if I don’t understand, that’s what happens. What would you like to change in the world?
In a very broad respect – authority. I think my age and my gender or my race shouldn’t impact upon my voice. If somebody says I can’t do it, but doesn’t give me an explanation, it makes me feel belittled. If they tell me ‘because it’s dangerous’ then okay, I can see, but if they say I can’t because I’m young or something like that without an explanation, I can’t see and it won’t stop me from doing it. Just because somebody
Pings! The Byron Youth Service initiative to give young people a place to voice their opinions about life, school, society, people. About discrimination: ‘Why are people so judging of each other?’ Anonymous, 13. ‘I think men, women, children and animals should all be treated equally and there should be no discrimination towards anyone no matter who they are.’ Anonymous, 14. ‘I hate that society judges you about how you look and what you like rather than your personality’. Anonymous 13. ‘In my opinion you should be able to love who you want, boy or girl, whatever the age, love is love’. Anonymous, 14. ‘I don’t understand why the school makes such a big
deal about people (especially girls) being sexually active.’ Anonymous, 14. ‘I don’t understand why I can’t do stuff that my brothers could do at my age and why boys can do much more stuff than some girls’. Anonymous, 15. ‘I don’t understand why people get judged on how they act and dress, when they are being themselves. Society has its own mainstream way that people follow, as if we are robots. We aren’t robots, we are all unique and different but we are always being judged for being the odd one out; being the odd one out is great.’ Anonymous, 13. ‘I hate how we are expected to conform to society and how from such an early age we are virtually brainwashed by those in power’. Anonymous, 15. ‘Why can’t we all live in peace, love and harmony instead of changing the world constantly like fighting and killing others because they aren’t “accepted” as they are different in some way or another just because they have the power to do so.?’ Anonymous, 15. ‘Bullying has followed me for my whole life and it still follows me. I’ve been punched, slapped, smacked, stapled and shot at with a BB gun. My life has been hell.’ Anonymous, 14. ‘I don’t understand society nowadays. People are judging one another about looks, weight, clothes. Why can’t people just be focusing on people without homes or money?’ Anonymous, 13.
Climate Council: Coal is the most expensive source of energy The Climate Council last week released a briefing paper on ‘clean coal’ and carbon capture and storage technology – climatecouncil.org.au. ‘There has been a lot of misinformation flying around the Parliament this week. Certain politicians have been either misleading or seriously out of date with their stance on the future of coal,’ said Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the Climate Council. ‘Today renewable energy is far cheaper that new coal plants. New coal plants are at least double the cost of wind and significantly more than the cost of solar. ‘New coal power stations
would need to see electricity prices to rise to up to four times higher than they are today to earn sufficient revenue to be viable.’
No fuel costs The briefing paper notes AGL’s Silverton Wind Farm will deliver power to the grid at a price of $65 per MWh, compared to new coal costing between $134 and 203 per MWh and coal with carbon capture and storage (CCS) costing more than $352 per MWh. Renewables, in contrast to coal, have no direct fuel costs. ‘Coal is always polluting. A new high-efficiency coal plant run on black coal
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(so-called clean coal) would produce about 80 per cent of the emissions of an equivalent old plant – so it is never clean,’ Ms Mckenzie said. ‘Carbon capture and storage is a theoretical technology with only two plants operating worldwide. These two plants use the technology for oil recovery, rather than to reduce pollution from the power station. The government has invested $590 million in CCS technology so far, but without a single operating plant. ‘We need a pragmatic, informed debate about Australia’s energy future, not false solutions and ideological posturing. Those vested
interests still promoting the false promise of “clean coal” are trying to distort the debate, but the numbers don’t add up.
Out of date ‘Politicians arguing that coal is cheaper are just plain wrong. They are out of date by about a decade. Renewable energy is now hands-down the cheapest source of power. ‘As the government and the Finkel Review have acknowledged, a decade of energy and climate policy uncertainty, coupled with the rising cost of gas, is pushing up household power bills. We must introduce more supply to bring them down.
‘All the evidence shows that industrial scale solar and wind power is now the cheapest source of power. ‘Any clean energy target should be genuinely clean. Coal is a highly polluting source of power and so
should not be included. ‘Tackling climate change means fundamentally phasing out polluting fossil fuels. It is impossible to continue to build more fossil fuel infrastructure and tackle climate change.’
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www.cawi.org.au • Ph 6685 1444 The Byron Shire Echo June 21, 2017 15