Our Horizon – Creating Awareness About Climate Change
- At July 17, 2014
- By Rosemary Wright
- In Global Issues
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Our Horizon – Creating Awareness About Climate Change
Our Horizon – Creating Awareness About Climate Change – Everyone can do something to help change the world. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by the problems in our global societies. Finding common ground culturally – economically – politically and financially is difficult – but – if we look at life in its simplest form – we know that if humans behaved with compassion – kindness – honour – personal integrity and genuine caring for our planet and all sentient beings – we would have a very different world.
Guest Writer
Robert Shirkey
We really can make a difference in our individual cities or countries. Have a look at how Robert Shirkey of Our Horizon is creating much needed awareness about climate change!
Please Take A Moment To Sign Our Petition – It Takes A Moment To Load
Our name is a rejection of the system that made BP’s offshore drilling rig the Deepwater Horizon a reality. This rig drilled over 10 km deep in the Gulf of Mexico only to burst and spill 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into our oceans in the summer of 2010. We then intentionally dumped 4.5 million litres of toxic dispersants into the waters to “clean” the oil. Since then, fishermen have been finding shrimp without eyes, crabs without claws, and fish with oozing sores.
This Is Not What We Want On Our Horizon – Robert Shirkey – Our Executive Director recalls being stuck in traffic that summer while listening to radio pundits all blame BP for the tragedy. As he sat there, he counted 14 lanes of barely-moving vehicles, all burning fossil fuel. There were thousands of vehicles idling within eyesight and millions more stuck in traffic all over the world at that very moment. While most seemed content to blame BP, he recognized that we were all complicit.
This Is How We Create Our Horizon – Unlike many environmental organizations, we do not solely blame industry. Our position is that we each share responsibility for this tragedy; indeed, it is the decisions that we each make on a daily basis that shape our collective reality and make such tragedies possible. When it comes to the big issues like climate change, the uncomfortable truth is that we are all responsible. It is only when we acknowledge our role in this unsustainable system that we will be able to take meaningful steps to create a much more desirable future. This is how we create Our Horizon.
We Find Ourselves in an unprecedented moment in human history. Our burning of fossil fuels has changed the basic chemistry of our planet and we’re running out of time to act. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has called climate change the greatest challenge of our generation.
The First Step in addressing any problem is to honestly face it. We talk about climate change, tar sands and pipelines, but we never question the simple act of pumping gas. There is a complete disconnect. The warning labels draw attention to this unexamined act. They disrupt the status quo and stimulate demand for alternatives. Businesses and governments will respond. It is a simple yet powerful way to shake us out of our sense of complacency and help move communities in a more sustainable direction. With warning labels already on cigarette packages all over the world, this idea has been primed to go global.
The Gas Pump – A Perfect Place For A Reminder
CAN A SIMPLE STICKER HELP US ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE?
The First Step in addressing any challenge is to honestly face it. That’s why we’re asking municipalities to require gasoline retailers to place climate change and air pollution information labels on gas pumps.
Our Horizon
Centre for Social Innovation
720 Bathurst Street – Toronto, ON M5S 2R4
Think Global. Act Municipal.
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