Plus ça climate change

The keynote speakers were Dr. David Suzuki and former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, who also presented his slide show, ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’

David Suzuki answered a question that had been nagging at me: why do the words economy and ecology have the same root? I could have looked it up, but have never followed the passing thought. If I followed every thought that passed through my mind, I’d be unable to complete a … the two words do in fact come from the same root, the ancient Greek ‘oikos’, which means ‘home.’ Economy = home management, and ecology = home study. Ecology, like charity, begins at home.

My father was ahead of his time, econologically speaking. He was fanatical about turning lights off, rarely switched on the central heating, only switched on the hot water tank if you specifically asked for a hot bath, he kept a huge compost heap, hardly ever threw anything out (except me), and he used to drive my mother crazy by turning off the car engine and ‘coasting’ downhill in neutral, which my mother thought was an unsafe practice, which it is. He called this freeze-in-the-dark lifestyle “waste not, want not,” which is totally harmonious with nature, which wastes nothing. He did not think of himself as an environmentalist. I’m not sure the word existed. He might have thought an environmentalist was an outdoor psychic.

He did succeed in making me aware that we are all responsible for the energy, temperature and condition of the world around us. That’s also the message that Suzuki and Gore brought to Montreal’s young people. The globe is warming, we did it, and it’s up to us to stop it. I suppose it’s ironic to have lengthy speeches on the topic “Less Talk, More Action,” but a movement needs a motivator. David Suzuki can do that for Canada. He’s a compelling speaker, even without Al Gore’s Oscar-winning slide show.

Al Gore walks the walk: he’s recycling himself as an activist and motivational speaker, and if he doesn’t want to be in politics or business any more, he could enjoy a career as a stand-up comic. He remarked that the transition from vice president with entourage and motorcade, to citizen in family car, was difficult. I believe he referred to this experience as ‘phantom limo pain.’

There were two hecklers during Gore’s presentation, but they were hustled out rapidly to cheers from the crowd. Rumor also has it that Gore was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, but I can’t confirm that. He’s certainly gained a few pounds since the movie was made, probably because he’s on the road a lot, and spends so much time in restaurants. Jimmy Kimmel puts it this way: “… you can tell he's serious when he talks about the world ending because he appears to be eating everything in sight."

Gore and Suzuki’s call for action on climate change seems to have been effective. Within a week of their visit, the political climate in Quebec has completely changed. The dark cloud that has hovered over us for over thirty years seems to have lifted. With any luck, it won’t be back.



George Bowser is one half of the musical comedy duo Bowser & Blue.