This is a guest post from Gracen Johnson, Executive Director of 100,000 on the Hill, a Canadian grassroots campaign and one of our new partners!
There is a lot of discourse surrounding our present global community having the privilege and responsibility to fix things. We’ve dug a deep enough hole and it’s time for us to bite the bullet and make some changes. It’s an odd feeling to knowingly be making history, and odder still that each of us has a role in directing the story. How will it end though? It’s almost incomprehensible to accept that human beings, the exceptional protagonists, don’t have to win in the end. We could collectively tumble towards self-destruction, fully aware of our dangerous course. Alternatively, we could collectively decide that is not our future.
Canada is beautiful; there are not words enough to describe the world outside our windows. We love it over here, too. Unfortunately, Canadians have been sorely misrepresented internationally by our nation’s delegates in climate negotiations. In reality, we care deeply about the fate of the planet, including our forests, farmland, glaciers, wildlife, rivers and landscapes. 100,000 on The Hill is a convergence of our concern. We want to show our government that we demand strong climate policy and we expect proper representation and cooperation at the Copenhagen Climate Conference. On October 24th, 2009, 100,000 Canadians in person and signature will make the trek to Parliament Hill in solidarity with people around the world who want to rewrite the story of climate change. We do not have to accept the neglect and avoidance that our government has offered this issue.
100,000 on The Hill is a grassroots movement initiated by students at the University of Guelph who were tired of the climate crash course that Canada seems to be tightly geared to. We recognize that lifestyle changes are not enough to reverse this direction and we are trying to demand federal policy change in an unprecedented way. Of course, this demonstration is to be entirely peaceful and we hope very festive. We want to gather as students, families, artists, businesses, entrepreneurs, municipalities, faith groups, unions, etc. to demand change in the present for a better future. We hope that the world will see a new Canada in Copenhagen next December! Thank you for your interest and stay tuned!