As a social worker, I know that climate change is already affecting vulnerable Australians and I believe that governments must act on the principle of precaution. I am the National Director of the Repower Health campaign, which will empower health professionals to deal with the climate emergency we’re facing.

I am active in the global social movement which is calling for a proactive response to climate change, to rapidly reduce carbon emissions and eventually move to a zero net carbon global economy as well as for equity and care in responding to climate change impacts.

In 2008, I was awarded an Australian Post-graduate Award to conduct PhD research and chose to investigate the social dimensions of climate change.

I’ve written about some of the findings of my research study on how people are perceiving and experiencing the impacts of climate change.

And prior to that, I spent a year documenting the nature of climate displacement in the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2008, I attended the UN special Conference on the Environment, Forced Migration and Social Vulnerability in Bonn, Germany, and presented this paper on the campaign to protect the rights of people displaced by climate change in the Asia-Pacific.

Photo credit: Chris Clarke