John Seed is back in the US and Canada for his ‘Climate Change, Despair and Empowerment’ roadshow. I picked him up in Ottawa, Ontario 7 days ago and we headed north and west, deep into the Ontarian bush, through an expanse of endless pine forest.

The week began with a 2 day Deep Ecology workshop in Pembroke. About 35 folks attended from the surrounding region. It was a diverse crew; activists, scientists, Permaculture farmers, one totally amazing kid, and other local earth citizens.

Monday morning, John spoke with a group of about 50 teens from some local schools. Before handing it over to John for his presentation, the group began by pairing up and looking at where the other person’s shirt was made. Then we all marked a giant round map of the world with pushpins. Most, of course, were manufactured in southern Asia and Latin America. A great lead off to discussions about globalization; how corporations avoid having to deal with environmental regulations and workers’ conditions.

John speaking at the Freeway Coffee House in Hamilton, Ontario
Freeway website
Since then, we have done a presentation in a different town each evening, followed by a weekend workshop in a central location, where we use experiential deep ecology and eco-psychology processes to explore the emotional aspects of the issue, which can stun us into inaction and a deeper denial of the immediate threats we are facing.
I am filming the presentations for a video version that will be available for streaming on the web.
Click here to watch the video of John’s climate presentation
John has put together a great selection of video clips from Ross Gelbspan, Al Gore & Vandana Shiva. He speaks in detail about some of the things that were not covered in ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and addresses the problems that arise from rushing into solutions without thinking through the potential problems. One example he gives is the European Union’s effort to encourage a switch to biofuels, sparking the Palm industry to expand into the rainforests of Borneo, burning and destroying huge areas of ancient forest land to clear the way for oil palm plantations, releasing massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere and driving the Orangutan closer to the brink of extinction.
Oil palm plantations in and around Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.
Below are some links to articles about this issue.
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Another aspect of the tour is to encourage folks to start local ‘Climate Study Action Groups’ in towns where there isn’t a group specifically focused on the climate issue. John stresses the importance of further study into the potential pros and cons of any particular strategy or campaign. He feels that small local groups are the best way to influence larger entities, such as governments and industry, as well as to address the myriad ways in which we can change our lifestyle choices as individuals and families. He says, “The single most important thing to do is to start with a small group of like-minded people and reach out to your immediate community.”