What is The Climate Project Canada?

The Climate Project Canada is a non-profit organization that serves as the Canadian component of a global movement of more than 3,000 diverse and dedicated volunteers from around the world. These volunteers have been personally trained by former US Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore to educate the public about the science and impacts of climate change as well as solutions to address the climate crisis. Climate Project presenters have already delivered presentations to over five million people worldwide.

Mission:

The Climate Project Canada seeks to raise awareness among all Canadians about the urgency of the climate crisis. We hope to motivate Canadians to become active participants in solving the climate crisis by:

• Training a diverse range of citizens from numerous geographic regions and walks of life, who will then communicate to the public about the urgency and impact of climate change.
• Engaging the public through presentations, news media and individual conversations as well as grassroots advocacy and activism so that they will make informed choices about public policy matters related to climate change.
• Promoting personal, local, domestic and international initiatives to solve the climate crisis.

History:

The Climate Project Canada was created in May 2007 with the objective of educating Canadians about the science and impact of climate change as well as solutions to address it. Based on the model of The Climate Project founded by former U.S. Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore, the primary means of disseminating this information is through trained presenters from all demographics, regions, sectors and backgrounds. These presenters give adapted versions of The Climate Project slide show as presented in the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

Between September 2006 and April 2007 Mr. Gore held several training sessions in the United States. It was during this time that Mr. Gore met his original target of training 1000 Americans, with a small contingent of 21 Canadians in the mix. Upon their return to Canada, these initial trainees were met with an ever-growing demand for Climate Project presentations. In May 2007, five of the original Canadian presenters (René Brunet, Peter Corbyn, Mike Gerbis, Shelley Kath and Désirée McGraw) co-founded The Climate Project Canada. They had a goal of bringing Mr. Gore to Canada in order to train hundreds more Canadians within a year.

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  Canadian Training:

  In April 2008, this was achieved when Mr. Gore trained 250 additional Canadians from all across the country. The Montreal training was conducted by Mr. Gore in the presence of several distinguished guests including the Premier of Quebec, the Honourable Jean Charest, the Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the Honourable Line Beauchamp, and Dr. David Suzuki.

  All Climate Project trainees make a commitment to deliver a minimum of 10 presentations each, on a volunteer basis, within 12 months of the training .The majority of presenters have followed through with this pledge, and many have surpassed this objective tenfold. To date, more than 272,000 Canadians have already participated in a Climate Project presentation.

  The Climate Project Canada works to equip these presenters with the information, skills, resources and general support they require to deliver successful presentations. These presentations focus not only on the science and impacts of climate change but, increasingly, regarding a range of solutions - from the personal to the global - to the climate crisis.

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  Moving Forward:

  In January 2009, The Climate Project Canada joined forces with the David Suzuki Foundation in order to strengthen its efforts to engage Canadians in the global movement to address climate change. Al Gore and the Climate Project team chose the David Suzuki Foundation for its know-how, energy and environmental leadership in Canada. Through this strategic alliance, the David Suzuki Foundation will host The Climate Project in Canada in its Quebec office and will play an advisory role as well as provide communications and administrative support. However, the two organizations remain independent with separate boards and organizational infrastructures.

  We are confident that this alliance will help us achieve our goal of reaching thousands more Canadians in 2010.