We knew what the problem was. We knew what was causing it. We knew how to fix it.

And we knew what the consequences would be if we didn't take the simple actions we needed to take.

That was 30 years ago, and now my children are in primary school, learning about climate change, except those consequences I was warned about as a child are coming to pass.

After 30 years of failing to address climate change, the solutions might be harder than they were when I sat in Mr Kerr's class, but we still know what they are and we're still failing to do what we must.

We are, right now, living through the Earth's sixth mass extinction event. It's one we've caused and it's one we know how to end. But we're not ending it.

Clearly, education alone is not enough.

Becoming a parent has highlighted for me the ways our busy lives interfere with our inner knowledge of what is right.

Budgets are tight, long working days leave us worried about missing out on time with our children, and among these pressures, the state of our environment slips from the forefront of our minds.

This is something we need to change.

We need to implement knowledge of sustainability in our workplaces and schools and find ways to encourage businesses to protect and enhance our wellbeing.

We need our state and federal governments to do more to encourage schools and businesses to turn to a carbon-free future through things like enhanced solar power initiatives and rewards for those who do manage to cut their carbon footprint.

We should reward them not just through public praise, but with hard cash by favouring them in acquisitions policies. We should give our kids a role in turning this around. Give them natural spaces to play in.

Let them get involved in tree planting. Let them research and celebrate those carbon-free products we want Australian companies to produce and give them a say in the ones their schools will purchase.

We must, as a society, make our environment a priority. We must bake it into our sense of prosperity and wellbeing, so it can't slip from the forefront of our minds amidst the daily pressures of life.

I don't want my children, 30 years from now, seeing their kids in school learning what they are learning now - that we knew the problem and knew the solution, but did nothing.