Christine Carlisle lived for over 40 years in Mackay, a Central Queensland coastal town that is a central commercial and population hub for both the Great Barrier Reef and the coal mines in the BowenBasin and Galilee Basin. She has been engaged in environmental and social issues since the 1980s and is a founding member of the Environment Council of Central Queensland. The group is purely volunteer, and members are active in the wider environmental movement in Australia. Christine believes that the climate and biodiversity crises that we are responsible for, pose the greatest challenge to our existence that humanity has ever faced.