“You have been negotiating all my life. You cannot tell me you need more time”

Christina Ora, youth delegate at COP15 in Copenhagen, 2009.

Contrary to popular stereotypes, there are many socially-minded and politically engaged young Australians making a great contribution to our country’s public life.  Our guest on the podcast today, Heather Bruer from the Australian Youth Climate Coaltion (AYCC), is no exception.  Heather Bruer is a 21 year old Economics student at the University of Adelaide and is currently co-director of the AYCC in South Australia.

In December 2010 Heather was part of the Australian Youth Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Council of Parties 16 (COP16) climate talks in Cancún, Mexico. Heather has worked for the Oaktree Foundation and with climate action groups since 2008, including the Flinders University Climate Action Group, where she worked with Our Voice: Politics Albury-Wodonga chief editor Ben Habib.  Heather is no stranger to the border region, visiting Albury-Wodonga in May 2010 as part of the Make Poverty History roadtrip.

In the podcast, Heather chats with Our Voice: Politics Albury-Wodonga’s Ben Habib on the banks of the  Torrens River in Adelaide about her experiences at COP16 in Cancún, the reasons she became a climate activist and the moral imperative for young people to engage with the politics of climate change, as well as her thoughts on the current carbon pricing debate in Australia.

DOWNLOAD: Interview with Heather Bruer from the AYCC.mp3

VIDEO: Heather Bruer’s interview with IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri at COP16 in Cancún, Mexico.

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The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of Our Voice: Politics Albury-Wodonga.

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