Coffs can help lead the way on climate change

A LOCAL resident has returned from a Camp Earth Hour retreat on the Great Barrier Reef.

EARTH CAMP: Professor Lesley Hughes from the Climate Council and Liisa Rusanen.

A LOCAL resident has returned from a Camp Earth Hour retreat on the Great Barrier Reef.

Liisa Rusanen was selected to represent the Coffs Coast community at the workshop on Heron Island which brought together 40 current and future community leaders from around Australia.

Hosted by Earth Hour, it was designed to build on the successful Lights Out for the Reef campaign earlier this year.

Organisers say 31% of Australians participated in Earth Hour 2014, which also included the world first Lights Out for the Reef documentary broadcast on Network Ten.

Liisa, a co-founder of the Coffs Coast Climate Action Group, was one of 1100 Earth Hour event organisers from around Australia.

Liisa organised an event at Coffs Regional Community Gardens attended by about 50 people, which included a screening of the documentary film Two Degrees.

"Coffs Harbour is a coastal town dependent on tourism and agriculture, making us vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate," Liisa said.

"The great news is we know how to fix it and many of the solutions could actually bring economic and social benefits to our community. We all just need to be doing our part.

"This is the critical decade for action on climate and I'm proud that our community has the potential to show real leadership."