Daniel Spencer (born ) is an Australian

climate activist The climate movement is a global social movement focused on pressuring governments and industry to take action (also called "climate action") addressing the causes and Effects of climate change, impacts of climate change. environmental movement, ...

and musician. He has been a prominent member of the

Australian Youth Climate Coalition The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) is a youth organisation in Australia. When the organisation first began, the coalition consisted of 25 other youth organisations, which included the National Union of Students amongst many, however ...

Early life and education

Spencer was born around 1990. He is originally from Renmark in the southern

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria downstream to Blanchetown. The major town centres are Renmark, Berri, Loxt ...

region of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

,Spencer, Danie
"Meet Australian climate activist Daniel Spencer"
''New Internationalist Blog'', Australia (2012-10-26). Retrieved 2014-04-03. He grew up in Adelaide, in the suburb of Craigburn Farm. In year 12 at school, he led the initiative to create a school environmental group with a focus on

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. The group organised events and fundraisers, including a climate change awareness week. He studied music at university, but left his studies in 2010 to join the

(AYCC).

Career

Spencer has held prominent leadership roles in the AYCC. In 2010, he was part of an AYCC delegation attending

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

climate talks in Mexico, where he organised a youth-based action to bring awareness to the thousands of deaths caused by climate change each year. In 2011, he became the South Australian state coordinator for AYCC, and became involved in the "Re-power Port Augusta" campaign, which included the Walk for Solar. Much of his early work focused on promoting a vision and building community support for the replacement of the

coal-fired power stations A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts capacity. They generate about a th ...

at Port Augusta with a concentrated solar-thermal power generation alternative. In 2012, he participated in the Walk for Solar event, in which 100 people walked from Port Augusta to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, a distance of around , to raise awareness. He has also worked with young people across Australia who have been campaigning to protect the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

from the expansion of the

coal industry Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when de ...

, for renewable energy, and more action on comabating climate change. In 2016, Spencer appeared at

WOMADelaide WOMADelaide is an annual four-day festival of Music, Arts and Dance, which was first held in 1992 in Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. One of many WOMAD festivals held around the world, it is a four-day event that presents a diverse selec ...

. In 2018 he was appointed to a leading position relating to energy at the

Australian Services Union The Australian Services Union (registered as the Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union) is a trade union representing workers in a variety of industries. The ASU is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trad ...

. , Spencer is a member of the Premier's Climate Change Council members, chaired by Martin Haese. The primary role of the Council, which was created in 2008, is to provide independent advice to the Minister for Environment and Water on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change.

Recognition

In 2012, Spencer received the Bob Brown Foundation's inaugural Young Environmentalist of the Year award. Also in 2012, he was recognised by the

Conservation Council of South Australia The Conservation Council of South Australia, also known as Conservation SA and Conservation Council SA, is an environmental organisation serving as a peak body, representing over 50 member groups, representing over 90,000 individual members, in ...

with the Jill Hudson Award for Environmental Protection. In 2013, he received the

Flinders Ports Flinders Ports Pty Limited is a company incorporated in 2001 that manages seven of South Australia's ten ports fronting the Great Australian Bight, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent. It is the state's largest port operator, employing more than 8 ...

Environment Award at the Channel 9 Young Achievers Awards in South Australia.

Other activities

Spencer is also a musician, and was songwriter and lead singer for the roots reggae band Babylon Burning as of 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Daniel Australian climate activists Australian environmentalists Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) People from Renmark, South Australia