Aurora’s Environmental Advisory Committee hosted a viewing of “An Inconvenient Truth” last night at the Town Hall, and the Green Party was represented there with a table and a few people to meet & greet and answer questions. I took the evening off from my night school to attend.
While not overflowing out the doors (as I remember the election campaign debates!) it was a full house with all of the seats full.
I had the chance to say a few words after the film, and then a number of people got up to make statements or ask questions. I’d have to say that I was ill prepared, not feeling too well, and certainly don’t feel that I did very well in getting my message across, but hopefully people will blame the messenger and not the message. Al Gore did a much better job than I did that night.
There are so many angles from this to discuss this issue that it is sometimes hard to pick one when you are limited for time. I could have talked about the science of climate change, the skeptics, or the potential impacts if we fail to address it in a meaningful way, but I thought that the film did an adequate job without me. I could have talked about efforts that are needed, Green Party policy, getting ourselves on a war footing, etc. In hindsight this may have been a good idea. But instead I tried to deliver one message only: that while we all must do our part, it is up to our elected representatives, local, provincial, and federal, to provide leadership and the economic framework to help make those changes be positive things for people. We need to demand better of our politicians and, if they fail to deliver, we need to demand better politicians.
For the record, The Green Party stance on Kyoto is summed up in a blog entry by Elizabeth May which you can read here.
I am hoping that the EAC will host such an event again, and that more people come out to be part of the local discussion. And I’m confident I’ll be better prepared next time.
