I’m looking forward to spreading the word

After seeing “An Inconvenient Truth”, I was chatting with my friend Robert Safrata about the film and its impact on me; people I know and love – people I can put my arms around -- will be deeply impacted by global warming. Did I really want my grandchildren and their grandchildren wondering why my generation knew about this problem and did nothing? Suddenly, I felt like I should do something. I just wasn’t sure what I could do.

Robert owns an environmentally friendly courier company here in town, and he always seems to have his finger on the pulse of these things. He told me about the Al Gore boot camp program where people were getting trained on doing the presentation, and it just made sense for me to take part.

So, I applied to Gore’s training program, and, happily, I was accepted and suddenly there I was the day after New Years, heading to Nashville. The program trained 1,000 people to take Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” message into the world. There were a few hundred in my session, including scientists, environmentalists, politicians - an equal split between Republican and Democrats, as well as a few celebrities. In fact, Cameron Diaz was in my group, and she’s one smart cookie. She doesn’t look like she does in the movies. (I hope she doesn’t read this.)

Anyway, when I got back, I had a chat with a Globe and Mail reporter, and to my surprise the story hit the front page of the Report on Business section. This was starting to feel big. As my take away from the Gore program, I was expected to “Pay it forward” and spread the message by delivering the Gore presentation at least ten times in my community. I was worried that I’d have trouble filling ten slots. People saw the movie, did they want to see my giving the same presentation? I wasn’t entirely sure.

Let’s just say, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Since I did a few interviews in January, we’ve been flooded with requests for me to do the show. That’s a relief.I haven’t felt this popular since my fraternity days at UBC.

Since climate change has emerged as a major global issue and recent reports prove the science is no longer in doubt, everyone is looking for what they can do top help out. I’m now preparing my presentation, condensed the Gore show (my communications expert is calling this section Core Gore) and included a meaty “solutions” section that will focus on what people can do to take action against climate change. The nice thing about being at Vancity is that we have a lot of solutions a lot of other organizations probably don’t have.

I’m looking forward to spreading the word, especially to business audiences, who may now be waking up to the real threat of climate change and wondering what they should be doing about it.

We have our first show for our employees on March 7 and for our members on March 8. I’m not afraid to say I’m nervous. I’m not Gore. I’m not a scientist. I’m just a business leader and a person who has access to a lot of people and an opportunity to make people think and maybe even change their behaviour. But I’m preparing, and I’m rehearsing and I’m getting ready to take on this huge challenge I signed up for.

Not to go over the top here, but I do feel like we’re all standing on the edge of a new day here and are looking out at what could be a new future. The decisions we make over the next few months and years can determine how future generations live. It can change history . . .

Best not get ahead of myself here. First, let’s get through a rehearsal. More later . . .