The GetUp! Climate Torch Relay will arrive in Lismore next Friday, September 5, and local organiser Alan Roberts is looking for people concerned about climate change to become torch bearers for the event.

There are five climate torches travelling around Australia displaying the message ‘Halve Australia’s Greenhouse Pollution by 2020’. Organisers will be collecting submissions along the torches’ route, which will be taken to Parliament House in Canberra by bicycle on October 12. A large-scale rally will accompany the presentation.

Alan says the torch itself draws power from four sources, which are designed to embody four solutions to climate change. It features wind and solar, which represent the established renewable energies GetUp! says could help solve the energy crisis. Extra power is generated by a hand crank, representing the people power needed to create social change, and the fourth source is a lemon. Fruit and vegetables, as well as people, produce an electric charge and two electrodes from the torch plug into the lemon, creating a fruit-battery that GetUp! says embodies the innovation and creativity that will create new climate change solutions in the future.

If you’d like to get involved as a Climate Torch Relay bearer or find out more, phone Alan on 6663 5224.