Amalinde Mueller, a Muswellbrook student and the founder of Youth CLAN Upper Hunter, said she has always been passionate about the environment, but after attending a protest at the Port of Newcastle she felt there needed to be a 'friendlier' way for young people to get engaged with environmental issues.

Seeking a way to voice her concerns, Amalinde attended a Blockade Australia protest at the Port of Newcastle earlier this year and while she was glad she took part, she felt the style of protesting could easily turn people away.

"The people who were running (the protest) said I had to yell and it just seemed kind of aggressive to me," Amalinde said.

"I didn't find it a very friendly environment, and I'm very passionate about the environment so I still loved being there and it was a good experience, but I wouldn't have just walked up and just joined in because it wasn't a very friendly space."

The experience at the protest led Amalinde to form a new social group called Youth CLAN Upper Hunter, to provide a space for young people passionate about environmental causes to 'Connect, Learn and Act for Nature'.

Amalinde said she wanted the group to be a "friendly space for anyone to talk about what they want to do and what's going to connect them to the environment".

"It's more about natural lifestyle and having fun and connecting to nature and connecting with each other," Amalinde said.

After getting in touch with Muswellbrook Shire Council's sustainability officer Michael Brady, Amalinde said she was able to set up the Youth CLAN alongside other groups run by council to ensure things like insurance were all covered.

Amalinde's mum Samantha Cobcroft joined the group for its first meeting, which involved a nature walk along Muscle Creek while bird spotting and collecting rubbish, and said many of the parents she spoke to were happy their kids were enjoying the outdoors.

"The mums were actually really grateful that Amalinde was going to set something up every week which would force them to spend time in nature with their boys," Ms Cobcroft said.

"We've actually got beautiful natural spaces around Muswellbrook but we get so busy we tend to just not go out in them.

"(The kids are) actually meeting somewhere there's not any stimulus, not any alcohol, not any shops... It's about them just being together and also appreciating natural spaces around the town."

As well as spending time outdoors, Amalinde hopes to run activities ranging from craft workshops on how to repurpose secondhand items to making short films focusing on the environment and op shop excursions.

"One of the things I want to kind of promote with the Youth CLAN is reusing and mending and buying secondhand, not throwing away things," Amalinde said.

"But I would love everyone else to have ideas. You know, it's our Youth CLAN, not my Youth CLAN."

While discussions about climate change and the environment can often be contentious, especially in coal mining communities like the Hunter Valley, Amalinde and Ms Cobcroft said they weren't interested in the group having a political focus.

"We're interested in not being political," Ms Cobcroft said.

"Big action and striking and raving on to people all the time about problems with climate change, I don't think that works with everybody.

"We were trying to think of a way that you could get youth together where they could do productive things and have fun, but also learn at the same time about how we can live a little bit differently and it makes a big difference."

Ms Cobcroft said the aim wasn't to stop mines or promote activism, but to focus on learning about smaller ways to live more sustainably.

"Only a very small percentage of people actually want to go and protest or be in front of a blockade," Ms Cobcroft said.

"Youth CLAN is partly about saying everybody really needs to try and do something. So what is it that you can do?"

The Youth CLAN Upper Hunter plans to meet up fortnightly on weekends, with the next get together planned for Saturday, July 30, for a bird watching course along Muscle Creek alongside members of the Hunter Bird Observers Club.

Amalinde said anyone interested in joining the Youth CLAN Upper Hunter can reach out on Facebook or Instagram for more information.