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Publications, Reports and policy submissions
Academic publications
This paper outlines the theory of change which underpins the Western Australian (WA) hub of the Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) network. HEAL is an Australian national research initiative that aims to address the health impacts of climate and environmental change. The WA hub’s theory of change is focused on improving the health and well-being of the planet and people, including children, through centring Indigenous sovereignty, voices and ways of knowing and being in research, policy development and service provision. The WA hub also recognises it is essential for place-based, Community-led solutions, which strengthens responses to climate and environmental change, grounding mitigation and adaptation efforts in local priorities, knowledges and relationships.
h and Indigenous sovereignty - exploring the theory of change of the Healthy Environments and Lives
This article, published in Climate Policy, is about the relationships and organising processes that made WA's climate and health community of practice and inquiry (a world first) possible and set in motion more climate responsive policy processes in WA. We explore how care
Country.
It was a difficult story to tell because climate governance in WA is typically limited by fossil fuel interests and promotes unambitious top-down extractive technological and market based responses. This means that climate justice organising within public sector is highly sensitive and writing about it is risky. On top of that the relational and intersectional organising processes we examine are often underappreciated and overlooked. We are so grateful to the anonymous co-researchers for letting us share this story and the co-authors for pulling this story together!
This article, published in Environmental Education Research, is about how adults and climate movement organisationscan support young climate justice advocates. Young people are often excluded from adult-led climate movements and exposed to a number of risks when they do participate. The study examines how 13 young and three adult co-researchers learned about and applied collective care through a youth climate justice training program in Western Australia. Collective care in climate justice spaces is important for all ages, but especially important for supporting young to people mitigate their climate distress, develop their efficacy, and contribute to the effectiveness of climate movements through activism. This article is co-authored by members of CJU and CJU's youth advisory group.
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Climate change, activism, and supporting the mental health of children and young people: Perspectives from Western Australia (2021)
Reports
- Petro-pedagogy in WA
Parents in WA alerted CJU to the invasive influence of fossil fuel companies in their children's classrooms in 2022. Since then we have been investigating how the fossil fuel companies are influencing curriculum materials and young peoples' lives. Check out this info sheet, which highlights how petropedegogy occurs in WA and what people are doing about it. Huge appreciation to CJU youth members, parents and academics who have been a part of putting this resource together. Particular mention to Georgia Beardman and Evelyn Froend for their authorship and communication skills.
- A Just Transition for Collie that leaves no-one behind
> Report for Community members (shorter and not fully referenced): Community Report (2023)
> Report for Policy Makers (fully referenced): A Just Transition for Collie that leaves no-one behind (2023)
- Climate and Health Adaptation - Lessons learnt from a community engagement / research project.
In 2023 we were asked by the WA Health Department to work with community members identified as specifically vulnerable to the impacts of climate change to explore what their needs and priorities were, particularly in relation to the health system 'adapting' to these impacts. Here is an executive summary about this work. This is relevant for anyone working in climate adaptation and climate justice advocacy. More mini reports will be shared in coming months focusing on specific community groups.
- Youth Systemic Advocacy and Collective Care Program
In 2022 CJU piloted a Youth Systemic Advocacy and Collective Care which has since been adapted and run in WA high schools. This program report explains who was involved in designing and delivering the program, it's contents, and the tools and resources we created. The report also has a page of recommendations for climate movement organisations and adults in the climate movement about how to support young people in all their diversities be more effective and well activists.
- Youth Yarns - Youth, Climate Change, Health and Adaptation
This community comes from a community-led research process that aimed to understand the needs and priorities of communities in Western Australia (WA) who may be disproportionately impacted by Climate Change and the impacts of climate on their health. The research was facilitated by the Climate Justice Union of WA between June and August 2023 and it was designed to inform the WA health sectoral climate adaptation plan (2024-2029).
Submissions to Western Australian and Australian Policy and legislation
- CJU's submission to the inquiry into nuclear power generation in Australia (2024)
- CJU's submission to the draft objectives and priorities for the upcoming State Public Health Plan (2024)
- CJU's submission to Australian Submarine Agency Licence Application to Site a Prescribed Radiation Facility known as the ‘Controlled Industrial Facility’ (otherwise known as Nuclear waste facility at Meeandip (Garden Island). - Formal response from ARPANSA (2024)
- CJU's submission to WA Climate Legislation Bill (2023)
- CJU and community responses and input to WA's draft Community Disaster Resilience Strategy (2023)
- CJU's submission to WA's Community Disaster Resilience Strategy Community Consultation (2022)
- CJU's submission to the Inquiry into the response of Western Australian schools to climate change (2021)
- CJU's submission to the Submission to Statutory Review of the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation Act 2016 Healthway (2021)
We acknowledge that we begin our work as The Climate Justice Union on the Boodja (land) of the Wadjuk people of the Noongar Nation. We honour the Wadjuk people and their kin in other Nations and Country across these lands and waters, who have always cared for this place and all who lived here.
We acknowledge First Nations Elders past and present, and acknowledge that those of us living here, who came from across the seas, live on land that was taken, stolen. We acknowledge the responsibility that comes with this understanding and that we personally and collectively benefit from this theft.
As such, we all have a responsibility to decolonise ourselves, our lives and work, and to heal the harm these oppressive systems have inflicted.
Click here to read our full acknowledgements
We are a community union and do not cover you in your workplace. All Climate Justice Union members are also encouraged to join the relevant industrial union. Click here to find your industrial Union.