Polluters and other enviro-offenders should probably watch their step in the Newmarket area.
That’s because there are two new climate crusaders in town.
Newmarket residents Roger Eacock and Michael Kewley won’t run around town wearing tights and capes in their efforts to keep the planet green. Instead, their enviro arsenal includes a laptop, projector, screen and plenty of notes.
And they want to share their knowledge with students and business owners.
For Mr. Eacock, 49, and Mr. Kewley, 41, their part in the ongoing call to climate action consists of giving slideshows based on former United States vice-president Al Gore’s 2006 Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
What’s more, the pair was instructed by the best during their stay at a special climate project retreat April 4 to 6 in Montreal along with some 200 other like-minded individuals. It was an incredible experience, both men agree.
They went through Al Gore’s “climate change boot camp”, Mr. Eacock said, adding it was facilitated and led by Mr. Gore and co-ordinated by environmentalist David Suzuki.
Participating in the retreat allows them to present the slideshow Mr. Gore presented in An Inconvenient Truth, Mr. Kewley said.
Seeing Nobel Peace Prize-winner Mr. Gore in person actually going through the presentation he gave in his Academy-Award-winning film was almost beyond words. It was almost hard to believe it was real at times, Mr. Eacock said.
“It was just surreal,” he said.
Equally amazing for the pair was to see two of the leading figures fighting against climate change, Mr. Gore and Mr. Suzuki, on stage at the same time. Each had nothing but praise for the other, Mr. Kewley recalled.
“There was a point in the presentation where David Suzuki said, ‘Of all the politicians I’ve met, he gets it,’” Mr. Kewley said. “It was all very amicable.”
And there was no reason to worry about toes getting stepped on, Mr. Eacock said. Neither man had an ego about the whole thing and they often deferred to one another or discussed out certain points in tandem. It was really something to see.
“Even when Al Gore was giving some of the nomenclature, he’d stop and ask David (Suzuki) for his input,” Mr. Kewley said. “It was really interesting.”
“They really fed off one another at times,” Mr. Eacock said in agreement.
The co-operation between Mr. Suzuki and Mr. Gore, as described by Mr. Eacock and Mr. Kewley, is not dissimilar from the level of like-mindedness that exists between them. It’s something made more interesting by the fact the duo only met at the climate project retreat.
As it turns out, they actually lived just around the corner from one another for years. Aside from locales, the pair also share a passion for protecting the Earth.
Through both their personal and professional lives, the pair has been involved in the environment, Mr. Eacock said.
Indeed, Mr. Eacock is a vice-president with SunOpta Inc., a leader in organic food distribution and Mr. Kewley works as a vice-president with Green Rewards, a company offering shoppers points that go toward eco-friendly rewards.
It’s similar to Air Miles for the environmentally conscious set, Mr. Kewley said.
And the interest in keeping the planet clean and green is, by no means, a new one for either individual. Mr. Eacock said he has been interested in all things Earth friendly since he was a child and Mr. Kewley isn’t much different. That’s why it was so important for both men to find employment to match their enviro-ethics.
It’s that kind of commitment to helping preserve the environment that made applying to the climate change boot camp such a no-brainer for both men. Luckily, they each made the cut and were selected out of thousands who applied.
And with their training completed and certificates, signed by Al Gore, in hand, the pair can now get down to the business of leading their own seminars on climate change everywhere from schools to office buildings. The response so far has been pretty positive and that’s definitely encouraging.
What’s also encouraging for both Mr. Eacock and Mr. Kewley is the younger generation, especially, seems to really get the message about climate change. There was no shortage of younger folks at the boot camp, Mr. Kewley said.
“I saw a lot of younger people between the ages of 25 and 35,” Mr. Kewley said.
“It’s these young people that are going to be the ones to really do this.”
Some of those being trained were so young they were still, literally, kids. One of the trainees at the boot camp was still in elementary school, Mr. Kewley said.
“There was an 11-year-old there already training to do presentations,” Mr. Kewley said. “She really gets it.”
And she’s not the only one.
Mr. Eacock and Mr. Kewley are both fathers and their children are already well on their way, in many respects, toward walking in the green footprints of their parents.
Mr. Kewley’s nine-year-old daughter, for example, is always giving her school friends tips on how to be more eco-friendly.
“She is now talking to all of her friends at school about (the environment),” Mr. Kewley said.
“She really gets it and that’s what I like to see.”
It’s definitely a positive step forward, but more still has to be done by the generation that’s currently in power, Mr. Eacock said.
The world simply can’t wait for today’s children to get older and set the environment right.
“The reality is that we can’t wait 20 years for the young people to grow up,” Mr. Eacock said.
Mr. Kewley agreed. The consequences of climate change may rear its ugly head long before today’s children even have a chance to become adults.
“Forty to 45 years is a modest projection,” Mr. Kewley said. “We could start seeing major effects in the next five to 10 years.”
Action is required sooner as opposed to later, both Mr. Eacock and Mr. Kewley agree.
Individuals can start with simple things such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones, driving less and conserving energy along with water and other resources. And those are just a few suggestions.
Another thing Canadians should consider is keeping the pressure on politicians to implement environmentally friendly legislation.
While it was encouraging to see Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Quebec’s Environment Minister Line Beauchamp, federal Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and other politicians in the crowd during the three-day retreat, both Mr. Gore and Mr. Suzuki were adamant lawmakers need to put environmental policy much higher on the priority list than it is today.
“One thing they talked about is that no political party in Canada owns the high ground when it comes to the environment,” Mr. Eacock said.
For more information, visit climateprojectcanada.org