“When I grow up, I want to be an Attenborough! No, not an astronaut- an Attenborough!”
Hi there! For this first article, I thought I’d introduce myself to you all and share my story. To start off, I’ll say that I am no average kid: I’ve got two pet stick insects, learn historical swordfighting (broadsword and longsword), recently folded 1200 origami fish for a fundraiser, have built a science lab in my basement, experiment with molecular gastronomy and am currently planning a charity event involving eating zoo animal rations for a week.
I guess my story begins two years ago now, when as an almost-15-year-old, I started volunteering at a discovery centre for Birdlife Australia an hour’s drive from my home. The thing about Birdlife Aus, though, is that the average age of their supporters is about 70, their “discovery centre” is several abandoned munitions rooms, and a busy day meant a dozen visitors. So all in all, I spent a lot of time drinking tea, talking with the other volunteers and browsing their library- I certainly wasn’t complaining!
Ironically, it was this rather monotonous placement that opened the doors of conservation to me- and it still bugs me to reflect on how difficult it can be for a young person such as myself to break through that wall of bureaucracy and unspoken elitism that surrounds it all. As the months passed, I soon found myself shovelling kangaroo poop at local zoos, feeding Weet-Bix to wombats, featuring photographs in field guides and goodness knows what else. It’s amazing how many opportunities there are for youth once you are in the networks, and yet also how impossibly difficult it is to make it there.
My most recent initiative has been founding and directing a new global wildlife conservation charity by the name of Human Nature Projects. Since its establishment in June of this year, the community has grown to include 1000 volunteers from 100 countries with dozens more joining by the day, and some 80% of them are youth. You see, with a few exceptions (Tunza among them), existing youth environmental networks fail to adequately engage their members. There is no opportunity for active participation in projects, no chance to share their voice and meet other like-minded individuals. HNP seeks to change this permanently, and it couldn’t have come sooner in my opinion.
So that’s enough about me. I’m a 16-year-old Sydneysider with a vision for a world in which people and animals can live in lasting harmony. Where, critically, youth are not sidelined but actively involved, and intergenerational learning is part and parcel of the whole. I hope soon that others will take on my mission as their own and join forces in creating a prosperous future for all.