24 November 2006Townsville BulletinJessica Marszalek
A university student will walk 1000km from Brisbane to Sydney to try to pressure the Federal Government to fight harder against global warming.
Sarah Bishop, 22, will begin her trek on January 27, finishing at Kirribilli House - Prime Minister John Howard's Sydney residence. There she will deliver a petition to be signed during the journey asking for the Government to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions and invest in switching to clean, renewable energy. "I think it's going to be pretty hard but I'm really, really focused on the outcome of it... and the awareness that I can raise,'' Ms Bishop, from Toowong in Brisbane, said today. She said global warming was close to her heart, having grown up on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait with her marine biologist father. She had been inspired to do something after reading books about influential leaders such as Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi and how they had given themselves to better their worlds. "I've had the most spectacularly amazing childhood going fishing and snorkeling and seeing baby turtles hatch and swimming with sharks and just these really amazing experiences,'' she said. "And I want to be able to do those same things with my children as well and it really scares me that they might not be able to do that. "I just figure it's really easy to sit around and complain that other people aren't doing anything about it but if I'm not doing anything I'm exactly the same as everybody ... a lot of people are asking 'why me?' but why not?'' Ms Bishop will meet community leaders and do presentations for young people along the way to raise awareness of global warming. She said she had already realised how little people knew after receiving mixed reactions to her plans from friends. But around 30 friends and family members will join her for different legs of the journey, including her two younger brothers who will skateboard alongside her. She said the whole project would be planned and participated by a majority of young people who were raising their voices to be heard. Ms Bishop's progress will be seen on her website during the walk - http://www.globaldawning.org - and people can volunteer to walk some of the way by contacting her through the site.
