• Rob Stewart, director of Sharkwater (HUGE!) is going to be our MC for the day!
• His crew will also be filming the event as part of their new documentary, Rise Again!
• So, not only are you making history but it’s being caught on camera and put on one of those big ol’ screens over at the movie theater.

Good things come to those who Fill The Hill…

Rise Again is the new documentary by award-winning Canadian Filmmaker, Rob Stewart, whose revolutionary film Sharkwater (2007) has won 33 international awards and has become the second biggest environmental documentary, next to An Inconvenient Truth. Rise Again follows Stewart on a journey to change the world where he unites with conservation groups across the globe to start the sustainability revolution necessary to save our climate, species, resources and ultimately humanity.

For media inquiries, please contact Tyler MacLeod, Marketing Director tyler@sharkwater.com

Every great truth is fought with a great resistance. When we were told that we couldn’t fall off the Earth we insisted that we could, and when we were told that we weren’t the centre of the Universe we insisted that we were. When we were first told there were tiny little creatures that could make us sick, we laughed and refused to wash our hands. Today, some of us still refute the history of our own biology, as if evolution is something to be ashamed of.

It seems almost part of human nature, history we are doomed to repeat. Anytime science makes us reflect on ourselves, the issue becomes less of a scientific debate than a psychological struggle to deny what we don’t want to believe. Despite the abundance of evidence, we build controversy to mask the fact that what we are really lacking is the strength to conquer our fears, face facts and adapt to another scientific reality.

So here we are, right on cue, with climate change: One more unpleasant issue that reminds us that we are not the centre of the Universe and we have to stop acting like we are. This time around however, it’s different. Science has caught up to us whether we’re ready to accept it or not. We’re running out of time.

Climate change is not somebody else’s problem, sometime down the road – it’s everybody’s problem, right now, and if you think it’s only an environmental problem – think again. Climate change is not simply about penguins and polar bears, it’s about a global economy addicted to oil and the soldiers who die for it. It’s about farmers around the world loosing their crops and their livelihoods to either too much or too little rain. It’s about oceans that have become so acidic that they can no longer stock the fish we need to eat or the algae we need to breathe.

Climate change is more than the mild winters and rainy summers, it’s the increase in droughts, floods and hurricanes we keep pretending are acts of God when the responsibility lies elsewhere. It’s about the spread of malaria carrying mosquitoes in parts of Africa that were once too cold for their migration.

Climate change is all these things. If you can’t see the connections, then you haven’t been paying close enough attention. Destructive environmental behaviour has dangerous and long-term repercussions. We no longer have the luxury of ignoring this painfully obvious logic because it is costing us too much.

None of us are immune to the consequences of climate change, however it’s those who least contribute to it that will suffer the most. Unless we acknowledge this, social justice will forever be lost in the growing poverty gap. We can’t draw borders on the global ecosystem any more than we can pretend that what affects you does not affect me. We are responsible not just to ourselves and not just to our children, but to the rest of the world.

We are past the point of talking about climate change as if it were only an environmental issue. This is about progress and change, it’s about an intellectual evolution. There is no other species on Earth working this hard to insure their own extinction – why are we?

The time has come for a technological and economic revolution. Countries around the world have invested responsibly in clean energy while we continue to play in the tar sands. Governments around the world have employed thousands in expanding clean energy sectors, while our government bickers about the logistics of insuring the unemployed, and mumbles tired excuses for bad decisions.

We have the tools we need for our own salvation – why do we cling to our caveman ways? Our leaders told us for years we couldn’t afford green technology because it would destroy the economy. Well it collapsed anyway, and not because of change – but because of lack thereof – and the money we supposedly didn’t have to invest in a sustainable future was spent on bailing out a hopeless one.

As a society, we are ready to indebt ourselves for life to buy a house, but we won’t invest in our home for the sake of protecting life – why? The real inconvenient truth is that we are way past due for a cultural revolution and the really ugly truth is that we are endangering all life on Earth, and for some reason, we are choosing to do so.

All revolutions start in the mind, and they spread by word of mouth. So grab your friends and get down to Parliament Hill on October 24, 2009. Canadians are standing in solidarity with the rest of the world for a peaceful demonstration of a powerful message because the fight against climate change is a fight for everything that’s worth saving.

Our leaders will never learn to listen unless we learn to speak up – so come join us October 24rth and let’s make them listen.

Please take part in Blog Action Day! It’ll be great!

We throw around a lot of big numbers in the global climate movement, as our partners and supporters have mobilized unprecedented numbers of people to engage political world leaders to support a fair, ambitious, and binding deal in Copenhagen, this fall. The Global Wake Up Call, as an example, had our supporters organizing 2,682 events in 135 countries. Well, here is another big number for you. Blog Action Day, this October 15th, is going to reach over eleven million readers.

As of right now, 4,790 bloggers, writing from diverse perspectives, are going to write for their collective audience of over eleven million about climate change. Pretty incredible.

It is one of the real bright spots of my day, watching how online communities are leading in mobilizing people around the world on climate change. In fact some online communities are our partners, like Avaaz.org, which worked with our partners to launch the Global Wake Up Call. Here at TckTckTck, we believe in the power of online collaboration in building a global movement, which is why we are running an open campaign.

A campaign where we can embrace the fact that bloggers are jumping on board and putting up badges, banners, or even a whole TckTckTck campaign-in-a-box on their site, without needing forms, authorizations, or anything from us. We want people all over the world to join in the campaign, in a way that works for you.

Tell a story, upload a video, or explain why the Copenhagen climate talks matter to your readers, whether they are mothers, snowboarders, or even miniature boat builders, because no matter who your audience may be, we all share an interest in solving climate change and building a better, cleaner, and more sustainable world.

If you are a blogger, sign up today. If you represent an organization, tell your membership about Blog Action Day, you might be surprised by how many members probably blog!

If you want to do more than write one story, you can grab a badge, a banner, or even the whole TckTckTck campaign-in-a-box. That is all you need to get started.

With one week left to sign up for Blog Action Day, lets see how much bigger this number can get.

Kingston is rockin’ once again:

“In Kingston, there is a Town Hall meeting on October 19 at 5 p.m., and there are going to be free buses to Ottawa on October 24. If we are going to “fill the hill” we will need people from Kingston. Stay tuned for details.”

From Limestone Local – Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario

Here’s the whole article:

What is the day of action?

On October 24, the International Day of Climate Action will cover almost every country on earth, the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history.

There will be big rallies in big cities, and incredible creative actions across the globe: mountain climbers on our highest peaks with banners, underwater demonstrations in island nations threatened by sea level rise, churches and mosques and synagogues and ashrams engaged in symbolic action, star athletes organizing mass bike rides–and hundreds upon hundreds of community events to raise awareness of the need for urgent action.

Every event will highlight the number 350–and people will gather at some point for a big group photo depicting that all important message. At 350.org, we’ll assemble all the photos for a gigantic, global, visual petition.

The thousands of events on October 24 will drive 350 and all that it represents into the human imagination, and change the negotiating environment as we head towards the crucial UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen in December of 2009. Copenhagen may well be the pivotal moment that determines whether or not we get the planet out of the climate crisis, and your actions on October 24 will help our leaders realize we need a real solution that pays attention to the science.

In Kingston, there is a Town Hall meeting on October 19 at 5 p.m., and there are going to be free buses to Ottawa on October 24. If we are going to “fill the hill” we will need people from Kingston. Stay tuned for details.