Sarah O’Carrigan is a community organiser, community researcher and women’s health trainer, Co-leader of Blue Mountains Parents for Climate, and co-founder of Bub Hub Blue Mountains Inc., a community-led organisation creating and advocating for flexible, affordable and family-centred childcare. Bub Hub was established by local mums in response to severe childcare shortages in the Blue Mountains and has developed grassroots models including co-working with on-site childcare.

With more than 20 years’ experience working alongside women, families and communities, Sarah brings a strong grounding in relational organising, community development and a feminist ethics of care. Her practice is informed by a commitment to First Nations solidarity, anti-racist organising and building movements that centre lived experience, inclusion and community leadership. She has helped create community-led spaces that support parents, children and care workers, demonstrating what becomes possible when solutions are built locally through trust, relationships and collective action.

Sarah’s climate work begins with the everyday realities of family life — extreme heat, rising living costs, energy security and creating healthy, resilient communities for children. Through Blue Mountains Parents for Climate, she helps create practical forms of collective action, including community clothes, toy and book swaps that bring families together around reuse, sharing and mutual support. These initiatives reflect her belief that climate action can grow from the relationships, needs and capacities that already exist within communities.

Sarah is passionate about building a climate movement in which parents and children are not understood only as people affected by climate change, but recognised as important sources of knowledge, leadership and collective power.

“I believe climate action starts with community. When we create spaces where parents feel connected, supported and empowered to act together, we can turn the everyday challenges families face into opportunities for collective change. Our children deserve a future where they can thrive—and parents have an important role to play in building it.”