The Climate Reality Project welcomes hundreds of new Climate Leaders

From June 5th - 7th, The Climate Reality Project (TCRP) hosted their 41st training delivered in partnership with the Queensland Government as part of the inaugural Climate Week Queensland.

TCRP Australia welcomed over 880 people to sunny Brisbane to engage in an active dialogue on climate change and become personally activated by former US Vice President Al Gore.

TCRP hosted participants from every state and territory in Australia. Participants also came from over 15 countries, including 45 representatives from New Zealand, 20 representatives from Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, and representatives from India and Haiti.

One of the core pillars at the training was the elevation of indigenous peoples and knowledge. 20 First Nations people were in attendance providing a crucial voice.

From the chair of major banks to primary school teachers from regional Australia, the diversity represented in the room reflected the fact that every person in our society has a part to play in tackling the climate crisis.

The conference ran over three days and was split up with a variety of panels, keynotes and breakout sessions, centred around Mr. Gore’s famous presentation on the global impacts of climate change and how we can all #BeAmbitious together to tackle the problem. Through the course of the training, participants heard directly about the current impacts from First Nations and Pacific Islander peoples, how different sectors such as farming and banking can work to galvanise their industries and how coordinated communities can speak truth to power.

“The voices of young people and those in our region who are most impacted by climate change need to be elevated” said Linh Do, TCRP Australia and Pacific Branch Manager. Young people had a strong presence at the training, led by a cohort of University of Melbourne students and alumni who won the Climate Impact Competition and were sponsored to attend the training. This complemented the Ministers Climate Challenge in which school children across Queensland pitched their innovative ideas to solve the crisis.

The TCRP team in Australia, led by MSSI's Professor Don Henry and branch manager Linh Do, and staff Liz Foley and Matt Nguyen will continue to support this active community to lead on climate. Over the next decade TCRP Australia plans to double the 840 Climate Reality Leaders from the region while ensuring that efforts to address climate change are grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion.