1 Million Women brings climate action to Launceston

The 1MREADY campaign - a new initiative from the Sydney-based 1 Million Women (1MW) movement - will launch nationally at Macquarie House in Launceston on June 27 with its goal of empowering women to act on climate change.

Founder of the global movement and author, Natalie Isaacs, will host the free event and will be joined by Bass Liberal MHR Bridget Archer in a conversation about women's capacity to lead the climate movement.

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1MW began in 2009 when Ms Isaacs, at the time working in the cosmetics industry, realised that she "had the ability to make a difference".

"I was disconnected to climate change and thought I was powerless; I thought it was someone else's problem," she said.

"But when I started being more vigilant around the house and saw I had cut down our household electricity usage by 20 per cent, I realised I had stopped this pollution from going into the atmosphere.

"It was almost like an epiphany, and I realised I had power and agency - I could make a change and I changed my life."

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Ms Isaacs began 1MW because she thought "there must be millions of women out there who felt like I did and weren't engaged in this issue".

The movement earned its name from Ms Isaacs goal of having a million members - a goal it continues to surpass.

It has produced significant campaigns across the globe, including a major pollution mitigation program where its community members pledged to reduce their carbon footprint by millions of tonnes.

Ms Isaacs said the event in Launceston on Tuesday, June 27, will be an opportunity for women of the Launceston community to make a difference in their communities and for the planet.

"Women are uniquely placed to address the climate crisis, particularly in a practical sense: they make on average 70 to 80 per cent of household carbon footprint decisions," she said.

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"They're in charge of which electricity provider the household uses for example."

The 1MREADY event will explore why having climate conversations with the others in the local community and leading those conversations with elected members of parliament is powerful; how anyone can transform their homes to be "climate superpowers"; and how women can "step into their agency and lead in whatever capacity they can".

"This decade is integral for climate action - it is the one that counts and we need everybody to do what they can," Ms Isaacs said.

The free event begins at 6pm on Tuesday, June 27 in the Macquarie House Event Space on the second floor of Macquarie House in Civic Square at 92 Cameron Street.

Attendees can register their interest at https://events.humanitix.com/launceston-1mready

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