Sarah Bishop has rapidly established herself as one of Australia's leading voices on climate change and youth. Admired for her courage, energy and optimism – Sarah is in high demand as an inspirational speaker and consultant on youth and the environment.

Raised by a marine biologist on Thursday Island, Sarah had her first taste of conservation through her childhood experiences in the Torres Strait which included turtle monitoring programs, rescuing injured animals, and cleaning up an oil spill.

In 2006 after watching An Inconvenient Truth and reading The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, Sarah made a personal commitment to raise the profile of climate change and embarked on a project titled One Giant Walk, where she walked from Brisbane to Sydney to raise awareness.

She spoke to a diverse range of groups along the way including schools, councils, mayors and local MPs, rotary groups, and other communities. She was invited to become the 2007 People's Ambassador for Earth Hour (www.earthhour.org) an initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature, and an ambassador for Get Up’s Climate Action Now campaign.

Her project received extensive coverage in the media and she appeared on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald, as well as in a diverse range of publications including The Australian, The West Australian, Who Weekly and Australian Women's Weekly magazines. She made appearances on the Today Show, and on Channel Nine's The Catch Up, and also appeared in several radio interviews on local, national and international programs including Triple J, ABC and BBC. Her websites and blogs received 40,000 hits including interest and messages of support from citizens all over the world.

In recognition of her commitment to raising the profile of climate change, Sarah was a finalist in the 2007 Queensland Young Achiever Awards, and has become a Leadership Ambassador for the Australian Youth Development Program.

Prior to the walk her background was in media and communications – having worked in radio, print and theatre. Sarah is passionate about using her experience to communicate the issue of climate change to the youth - utilizing new technologies and trends such as Myspace, Facebook and You Tube.

Upon finishing the walk she moved to Western Australia and began working for Rio Tinto Iron Ore in their Innovation division, in order to gain a better understanding of the mining industry and the challenges it faces due to climate change.

In September she was selected to be trained by Al Gore as a presenter for the Climate Project and upon returning to Perth, she resigned from Rio Tinto to focus on working full-time on the issue of climate change.

She has now joined the  for the Climate Change Coalition.

"I made a commitment last year to do everything in my power to help solve the climate crisis. Over the past year I have met and spoken to Australians from all over the country about how they feel about this issue. I want to be a part of the political process so I can ensure that these views are heard and that suitable action is taken to protect our future".

"In matters of legislation it is necessary to consult the major stakeholders when drafting policy. There is no larger stakeholder on the issue of climate change than the youth of this country and I believe that we should have a chance to have our voices heard"

Sarah lives Melville in Perth, with her boyfriend – an environmental advisor and scientist. In her spare time she enjoys surfing, swimming, camping, dancing, reading, attending concerts and festivals, relaxing with friends over a bottle of wine, and exploring the beauty of Western Australia.