He travelled by bus to the march with 15 other activists from the Lismore area to join with thousands of others from across the state to take their concerns on environmental issues to the NSW state parliament.

“Our network was most encouraging and supportive of my attendance,” Mr Townes said.

Rally organisers timed the protest to mark one year until the March 2019 state elections, saying NSW is now at a crossroads.

“One road leads to clean air, clean water, renewable energy, protection of cultural heritage and healthy communities,” they said.

“The other road leads to more coal and gas mining.

“We can’t wait another year for action. Major decisions on mining and gas proposals will happen between now and March 2019.

“We need the government and opposition to act now to protect our communities, land, water and air. It's time to choose a future beyond coal and gas, it's time to choose renewable energy.”

The #Time2Choose march was led by First Nations people and followed by 25 horseback riders, including Inverell beef farmer Glenn Morris who made headlines in 2016 when he rode his horse Hombre across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to send a message to NSW politicians.

Here are Mr Morris’s reasons for joining the rally..

Nature Conservation Council Chief executive Kate Smolski said the Berejiklian Government is squandering a clean energy jobs and investment bonanza and, in doing so, failing to tackle climate change.

“We have one of the most coal dependent energy systems in the world, with 79% of our electricity coming from coal,” she said.

“The transition from coal and gas to solar, wind and storage will attract $25 billion of investment, the construction of about 2,500 wind turbines and installation of more 42 million solar panels across the state.”

“It’s a big job, but making the NSW electricity system 100% renewable is 100% doable. 

“The only thing missing is strong political leadership.”