BSFG president Peter Holmes said he was impressed with the passion the students showed and was pleased with council's response.
“We presented council with a petition containing just over 600 signature on Wednesday,” Mr Holmes said.
“We were very appreciative of the number of questions and comments that councillors directed to us after the presentation.”
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Benalla P-12 Captains Lachlan Sands and Cheyane Vaughan joined vice-captains Jessica Patterson and Charlie Paterson to speak to councillors.
“We would like to voice our concerns about the impact that climate change will have on young people like ourselves,” Cheyane told the meeting.
“As demonstrated by the climate strikes, and the number of school students who attended in 2019, the issue of climate change (is) an extremely important issue to youngpeople.
“After attending the climate change presentation hosted by BSFG we (are) feeling increasingly concerned with the ever-growing facts surrounding the urgency of required change.
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“This urgency does not seem to be reflected by all levels of our community.
“Declaring a climate emergency will demonstrate to all . . . that our council recognises the problems which are very important to Benalla’s future.”
Charlie Patterson told council that declaring a climate emergency would show it was taking the initiative and recognising the concerns many members of the community had.
“It’s no secret that climate change will have an especially devastating effect on younger generations,” he told council.
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“Many of us will be just starting our families.
“What kind of future will our children have if we don't do something now?
“The number of local governments in Victoria that have declared a climate emergency can only increase, and Benalla has the potential to lead that charge.”
Mr Holmes also spoke at the meeting before handing over to BSFG member Dr Gerard Brownstein, who spoke about the health impacts of climate change.
He told councillors there was clear evidence that climate change would, in the coming years, lead to:
● Increased death and illness from heat stress;● injury and death from increasingly severe weather events;● increases in transmission of vector-borne diseases, such as dengue fever;● food insecurity from declines in agricultural outputs; and● increased mental illness.
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“We shouldn’t forget how a hotter and more unpredictable climate is affecting the 60 volunteer firefighters in the Benalla group that are in harm's way each fire season on our behalf, and people who earn a living working outdoors,” Dr Brownstein told council.
“The Australian Academy of Science made five recommendations in their 2015 report on climate change and health.
“One of these was to encourage local councils, and community groups, to exercise self-determination and not wait to be told what to do.
“As a community we should . . . follow the science and call climate change for what it is, an emergency that requires us to care for our most vulnerable.”
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