By ALENA HIGGINS
WHEN Warwick Collective president and local website developer Elizabeth Ure found out she had been chosen to rub shoulders with climate change crusader Al Gore next week, she almost fell off her chair.
“I squealed so loudly when I got the acceptance email that my dog was shaking for the next half an hour,” she laughed.
“I was absolutely stunned. I couldn’t believe I was chosen.”
Ms Ure and 700 delegates from all over the world will converge on Melbourne next week to hear the former vice president of America speak as part of his Climate Reality Leadership Training.
Ms Ure said she was “very proud to be representing our community at such a prestigious event”, but admitted the thought of mingling with the likes of New York environmental scientists was a little daunting.
Apart from educating participants on the latest climate science training and communications, the three-day program, which is said to take “great leaders and make them exceptional”, equips members with the skills needed to pass on the climate change message and inspire their communities to take action.
Once the initial training has been completed, mentoring is also provided for a further 12 months by a climate reality leadership graduate.
“My mentor is an engineering professor from the Queensland University of Technology, who has already delivered climate change talks to over 20,000 Australians,” Ms Ure said.
“I’m very lucky and will learn so much from him.”
It will then be Ms Ure’s responsibility to address as many people as possible across the region and beyond about the reality of climate change.
“As we, as Australians, are the highest per capita emitters in the world, we have lots of opportunities to change our habits,” she said.
“With the Warwick Collective, we have been helping the business community reduce their energy usage, our new cafe will be offering vegetarian meals made with local ‘ugly’ produce and we’ll be running repair cafes, to help people fix, reuse and upcycle household items and clothing.”
“There are lots of little things we can do to reduce our environmental footprint,” she said.
Ms Ure said after an abnormally warm autumn, with daytime temperatures four to six degrees above normal in some parts of Queensland, climate change action was becoming more pressing and concerning to the average citizen.
“There is an opportunity in the Warwick region for business and landholders to be compensated for their conservation efforts and improvements to carbon retention and energy efficiency,” Ms Ure said.
“If action isn’t taken immediately, our entire lives will change – from increasingly severe bushfires and droughts, increased cost of living (insurance, food, energy) to a faster rate of animal extinctions and global poverty.”
If your workplace, school or community group would like to hear Ms Ure speak, you can contact her by emailing at elizabeth@warwickcollective.com.au.
